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PRO SPORTS: Fans enjoying golden time in New England sports


Patriots running back Corey Dillon signs autographs for admiring fans at Foxboro Stadium Monday night. (AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger)
By DEL N. JONES

FOXBORO - The streets didn't boil over with people screaming uncontrollably, turning over things or setting cars on fire.

Not many gun shots were fired into the night on Sunday as the final seconds ticked away with the New England Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXIX in another close and dramatic contest.

There wasn't even much civil disobedience at local college campuses, thereby shaking the collective heads of the rest of the sporting world with another television example of a city not knowing how to celebrate winning a championship.

Nope. New England was quite calm after Sunday's victory - much different than the scene a year ago that consisted of both good cheer and bad. Maybe enjoying a third Super Bowl triumph in four years has something to do with that or the new life of a winner that has made these happenings more expected than an out-of-nowhere surprise.

‘‘I think we're getting used to it,'' said Nancy Salvaggio of Braintree, who waited for the Patriots to return to Gillette Stadium yesterday with her two children, Jackie and Dan. ‘‘We know now what it's like, not that it's not a big deal because it is, but we're just so used to it that its like ‘OK, another year, another championship.'''

New England fans are living well these days that's for sure. Since the Pats upset the St. Louis Rams at the end of the 2001 season, the region has celebrated four world championships in four years - counting the World Series title the Boston Red Sox will begin defending in the upcoming baseball season.

Some major cities don't have four crowns total, so this new winner's existence is a special time indeed.

Sunday night when the Pats were busy securing their third Super Bowl victory by a three-point margin, fans enjoyed the action at home, at work, at parties, at the local pub or at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla.

As the faithful scattered around the country they all had one thing in common: confidence. The immovable belief that their team would find a way to win and the gridiron fairy tale would continue in their favor.

That wasn't always the case around here remember? It's funny how winning big affects people. Even the most casual supporters build a connection to the home logo over time and merge with it emotionally. While wins bring on chest-beating pride and huge spray-painted signs, losing can skew personal identity and perspective.

After years of intermittent success overshadowed by a steady downpour of losing, New England began to wonder if its sporting hand was a bad one.

Authors made money off of this vulnerability, selling funny stories of dubious fortunes and bad luck, and with each annual disaster on the playing field, more and more fans started to consider its supernatural credence as fact.

Whether it was the endless disappointments by the Red Sox, the instability of the Pats or the misfortune of the Celtics or Bruins, a sour trend had infiltrated New England sports and seemed here to stay.

This generation should consider itself cleansed.

A dynasty special down at Foxboro and the breakthrough season by the Sox have made that historic losing and laughing stock hard to remember with confetti in your eyes. Trophies on podiums have a way of locking time into just the magical moments.

‘‘It's incredible,'' said Dawn Morrison of Norton as she tossed a football in the Gillette Stadium parking lot yesterday with her 10-year-old son Corey. ‘‘We feel like winners ourselves.''

The players realize the new standard that they have created.

‘‘This is what they expect out of us, and this is what we try to give them,'' Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch acknowledged. ‘‘It's a great feeling for us to come back and touch people and their lives.''

Walk into your local post office, doctor's office or business, and team colors are proudly displayed like a New Year's Eve party that never ends.

As New England fans party into 2005, they truly hope that it never does.

Del N. Jones may be reached at djones@ledger.com.

Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, February 08, 2005