I’ve never sincerely used the phrase “haters gonna hate” before the Patriot’s football deflation scandal—my preferred colloquialism being Ballghazi. The Patriots are a really good team and have been for a pretty long time now. Ballghazi is just an overblown response by people who despise the Patriots and think their fans are a bunch of fake people. Well I’ve rooted for my home team since before they ever won their first Super Bowl:
I used to play NFL Quarterback Club ’99 as the Patriots all the time and that was with Drew Bledsoe as quarterback! (A game so unrealistic, I scored most of my touchdowns by just running Bledsoe around the opposing defense.)
One of my favorite childhood memories is watching the Super Bowl in 1997 with my family. It was the Patriots vs the Packers. I didn’t even totally understand the game—too many rules—but I knew which team I wanted to win. The Patriots lost but that didn’t really matter to me because I was a kid and I cheered for the home team. I hung up a pennant in my bedroom touting the AFC Champions and I was happy to have that.
So this Sunday, for Super Bowl XLIX, I’ll be rooting for the New England Patriots, just like I always have.
