To the Current Patriots Organization:
Let me begin by saying that I am the reason you can do what
you do. Why you get to own and manage a
team and coach and play a game for a living.
I am a lifelong, tried and true Patriots loving, game watching, merchandise
buying fan.
I bet on the 86’
Patriots to win the Superbowl when I was in third grade. You let me down then,
but you didn’t lose me. I loved you in the lean years. The years that the Superbowl was a day to
watch other teams contend and my life did not need to be rearranged around the playoffs. I loved you through the Parcels years and the
Carrol years. And then came Bill
Belichick and Tom Brady and I’ll admit I may have started to love you just a
little but more.
Over the years we went from the Patriots Rock Radio Network
to the Sports Hub. We lost Gino and gained
Scott. A new owner, a new coach, a new
stadium and an ever changing roster but I was the same. You had me at every coin toss, every first
down, every overtime nail biter.
You disappointed me with Spygate and worried me when Brady’s
knee got taken out (I was at that game!). But still I bought my daughter her
Patriots’ onsies and myself a new pair of Patriots sweatpants knowing we would get
through it. The 2007 season was rough
for us. We had our highest highs and
then the lowest low. Losing to the Giants. In the Superbowl. To the Giants. With a Manning at the helm. To the Giants. That hurt. And then you did it to me again in 2012. To the Giants! But we soldiered on. Sometimes I wondered at your draft picks or
more precisely your seeming unwillingness to use draft picks and propensity to
trade them away. But I trusted in the
Patriot way. Crazy veterans came in and
settled down giving us the best they had. Chad Johnson? Okay you tried, it didn’t work, but that was
okay. You were my team.
You raised ticket prices and parking prices and merchandise
prices, but still I couldn’t stay away.
My collection of Patriot paraphernalia grew around my Tom Brady Bobble
head to include things like T-shirts and mugs and harder to find items like my
Patriots gnome, my Patriots socks, a collection of Patriots Christmas tree
ornaments and my Patriots Salt and Pepper shaker. I didn’t begrudge you the money too much. It seemed to always go to putting a
contending team together which was your side of the equation. I fulfilled my side pretty well too. I went to training camp, preseason games,
regular season games, I followed the team and players on Twitter, I bought the aforementioned
Patriots stuff for me and my friends. I
celebrated your victories as if they were my own and accepted the losses knowing
they were not the end. Your were my
team.
I have questioned personnel decisions before. I was not
happy to lose number four after so many clutch kicks. I didn’t love when you let Vrabel go, but I
understood. Harder was losing Deion
Branch and Asante Samuels. Why couldn’t you
pay to keep proven players who gave their all and brought the Ws? But I took a deep breath hugged my Patriot
pillow and trusted in the system that had given me so much.
Losing Wes Welker has given me pause. Could it be that this organization to which I
have given my heart (and more importantly to you my wallet) be this idiotic? This short sighted? This, yes I’m going to
say it, disloyal? I know it’s a business
to you, but it’s personal to me. This is
my team. Your management, your staff,
your players and even your coaches come and go but I am here and I have been
here and I deserved better than this.
Wes Welker deserved better than this.
I get it - you obviously think you can do better but here is
what my almost thirty years of loving this team tells me – you can’t! Welker was a PATRIOT in every sense of the
word. He embodied the Patriot Way. He came back from ACL surgery after like 7
months and was better than ever. Who
does that? He has led the league in
receptions three times. He has like 10
franchise records that will probably never be broken. He keeps his head down and does the work. The
work of receiving almost everything Brady throws his way. The work of crazy and seemingly impossible
yards after the catch. He takes the hits
and literally pops back up. You tried to
bench him at the beginning of the year because you thought you could do without
him. Did he pop off on Twitter, whine to
the media or ever fail to do what he was asked to do? No. And by the way how did that plan go? That “we don’t need you Wes watch us win
without you” plan? Yeah it sucked.
Watching him play was watching everything that was good about
football, about being a team player about being a Patriot. Him and Brady were one of best tandems ever
to share a field. And now you have taken that away from me because you couldn’t
find it in your heart (in your wallet) to keep him. This is the worst mistake you have made since
an eight year old girl with a dream climbed aboard your bandwagon all those
years ago. Shame on you.
I won’t go so far as to say I am rooting for the Broncos
next year. But I will be rooting for Wes
Welker, every game, every down. He is a
Patriot and always will be. I was here
before you and I will be here after you’ve gone so I have come to the conclusion
that although you get to decide who makes the roster every season I am going to
decide who stays a Patriot when you can’t seem to see beyond dollar signs and
brinksmanship.
I never had a Wes Welker jersey. Outside of my Brady bobble head I tend to
keep my gear team based because I am first and foremost a Patriots fan more
than a fan of any particular player. I
think I would like a Welker jersey now, but I will not contribute to the
Patriots coffers. I think I may buy my
first ever non-Patriots piece of football gear when the Broncos start cranking
out their own Welker merchandise.
Sincerely,
A disappointed fan
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