bill belichick

This one means the most to me. Yes, I grew up a Patriots fan and spent plenty of time watching the old Patsies getting their asses handed to them in the old Foxboro Stadium, so the first Super Bowl win was special.

But it was after the 2005 AFC Divisional loss to the Broncos that I realized that Brady and Belichick had an unknown end date and a finite number of chances to win it all, that my Pats passion truly kicked into another gear.

Then, in 2007, when my real job slowed to a crawl due to a strike, I found an ad on Craigslist saying you could get paid to blog about your favorite sports team. After a trip back to see the ‘07 Pats beat the Steelers, when I saw a banner being flown over Gillette Stadium saying the Pats’ Super Bowl wins deserved asterisks, I decided to start blogging.

Since then I’ve written exclusively about the Patriots, analyzing their team building process and schemes, breaking down all the wins and losses, through thick and thin. It’s been over seven years, thousands of blog posts and millions of page views.

The disappointment of the season endings from 2006-2013 was ever-compounding. Maybe Patriots fans are spoiled, but to miss out on the playoffs is one kind of disappointment. To keep getting so close to the ultimate goal on the biggest stages and continually fall one play short is another kind.

Needless to say my bond to this team has grown exponentially since becoming a Patriots blogger. So to finally win the big one again and to be able to “celebrate” it with my online audience and fanmates, this is a new kind of special.

I want to thank every one of you that have supported this blog with your clicks, questions, conversations and t-shirt purchases. You’re the ones who make this incredibly fun, and why I keep doing it despite it not being even close to a money-making venture.

It’s still sinking in this morning. When it looked like the Patriots were going to lose another Super Bowl on another miracle catch I was beside myself, pacing in another room away from everyone, where I could just see the TV.

I always say you can’t truly appreciate a win unless you’ve accepted at some point there’s a good chance you’re going to lose. Well I don’t think I’ve ever accepted a loss more than I had last night as the Seahawks lined up for their final two plays.

To have Malcolm Butler come through and make a huge play – a play the Patriots defense couldn’t make in 2007 or 2012, well, I am not sure the words that do it justice other than poetic and perfect.

I can’t even look at the Kearse catch this morning without re-feeling the pit that was in my stomach when he came up with it. Truth be told, I didn’t even have my eyes on the screen when he caught it. I had half the TV blocked and only saw Wilson throw it up, then listened for the result.

So today, the Patriots are once again Super Bowl champions and the razor-thin margin of victory is every bit as thin as it was in their two Super Bowl losses.

The win embodied everything the 2014 Patriots were. Clutch red zone stops by the defense and a surgical and diverse passing attack, led by the greatest quarterback of all time.

I’m going to enjoy this one for a while, but inevitably we’ll be back at the bottom of the mountain once again, looking up at Super Bowl 50, one that will take place in Tom Brady’s hometown, with a chance for Brady and Belichick to break every Super Bowl record in the book.

Not that I’m on to 2015 just yet, but still…