Embrace the Hate!

Fans of New England area sports teams are touted as being some of the most passionate and knowledgeable fans out there but there’s one thing we aren't very good at and that’s embracing the hate from other fans/fan bases.

There have been a few controversial calls against Boston sports teams as of late, most recently the non-call on the final play of this past Monday Night Football game against the Panthers.  There was also the call against the Patriots field goal defense team in Week 7 against the Jets costing them the game in OT.  And who could forget the obstruction call against Will Middlebrooks on what came to be the winning run in Game 3 of this year's World Series?

As the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox have amassed their various championships, starting with the New England Patriots Super Bowl victory in 2001, these big four teams have attracted far more bandwagon haters than bandwagon fans.
   
As a result, when controversial calls like these occur, bars, living rooms and social media sites erupt with various arguments from both sides.  The two main sides of these types of arguments become the Boston Fan vs. the Anti-Boston Fan.

Here is where us Boston fans need to learn to take a step back and embrace the hate.  Don’t waste your time trying to reason against such antiquated arguments as “its payback for the tuck rule and Spygate!”  Don’t even bother responding to accusations that the Bruins are so dirty and only get away with it because Greg Campbell’s dad used to be Director of Player Safety.  Oh, and most certainly do not even entertain the most bitter anti-Boston fan’s disturbing conclusions that the Red Sox World Series win was given to them as a result of the tragic events of April 15^th (disgusting, I know).

Trust me when I tell you, it is so much more satisfying to sit back and listen to these baseless arguments and unsupported character assassinations and smile.  Smile because you know that no one is as dedicated to trashing the Jaguars and Astros as they are to trashing successful teams like ours. Smile because you know players like Tom Brady and Milan Lucic would be just as popular if they played in any of these “hate Boston” markets.

If you really want other fan bases to stop hating your teams and players, it’s simple, lose.  If you want other fans to acknowledge that maybe your team did in fact get screwed on that call, stop beating their teams so much.

But if you want to see the wins and the championships continue to pile up, learn to let everyone else hate on your team knowing that the hate they live to express is just a product of the intense jealousy they try so hard to suppress.

C+ for Super Bowl Commercials This Year

The Ravens beat the 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XXVLLXLXLLXIIIXIVLMMMMCXIVILIII last night, despite everyone believing the game would be a defense-dictating, low-scoring affair at the Superdome in New Orleans. Joe Flacco won the MVP, and older brother John beat Jim Harbaugh. Ray Lewis' last ride went until the train ran out of tracks. A great game, complete with a power failure and a Jerome Boger as the head referee, but for this disgruntled borderline Patriot fans and for fans somewhere in the middle of the 3,000-mile gap between the two warring cities, their attention once again turned to the famous Super Bowl commercials.

SB commercials have had a long history of costing way too much money to air 30-seconds for either shock-value based trash or in vain attempts to get you to laugh. Their affects usually last only until the game comes back on, but there are always those two or three that you will remember. This year, there were about six that I'll remember, but only three that I like enough to talk about some more.

For starters, can someone explain to me what Doritos M.O. is? When's the last time you saw one of their commercials? February 2012? During the Super Bowl? Either way, their first appearance, just minutes into the game was a solid showing and one of my favorites on the night. Anytime there is a man and goat roommate situation, it will have my undivided attention and in this case, it comes in at number three.


Number two is from a brand that has been on my top three commercial list since they were using frogs and chameleons in their ads. The Budweiser Clydesdale commercial once again impressed, this time with an ending that could have conceivably made a grown man tear up...not that I know if any did or not, I'm just saying...



And finally, if you didn't think this was the best commercial going, then I'm not mad, I'm just angrily disappointed.


Plenty of commercials came and went, and if you were hoping for another showing of the GoDaddy.com commercial or the old people Taco Bell commercial, then you are out of luck, my friend, because I thought they were pretty terrible. They dragged on for too long and both made me uncomfortable in their own unique ways. But in all seriousness now, what is the point of these commercials? I understand over 100 million people will see them, but is it worth the money? Do sales of Doritos skyrocket starting that Monday morning, or have these commercials just become a spectacle?

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing them, especially in a year like this where I had no real investment in either team, but am I the only one who thinks that maybe just some of that money could be used for good? If I'm getting preachy, I apologize, but think about it. Lay's potato chips aren't going to start collecting dust on a grocery store shelf because they didn't run a commercial, are they? I guess my point in all of this is, take GoDaddy.com for example. How many of you know what they do? How many use that site? How many actually visit it thinking you're going to see someone naked that they didn't show you in a commercial? Answers: Not enough. Not many. And way too many.

Ray Lewis Dances on the Side of a Hotel

IT, IS, ALIVE!

How awesome is this?  The Ray Lewis pregame dance immortalized by a laser light show on the side of a hotel in Baltimore.

Hopefully they can transport that and get it to the top of Gillette Stadium to shine on the field after another victory for Lewis and the Ravens.  With that image in mind, now is a good time to explain my Super Bowl picks.

The Ravens and the Falcons.

Look, yes Tom Brady and Colin Kaepernick are good.  And before you Pats fans freak out that I mentioned Kaepernick next to your god, just know I respect Brady ('s acting career) and mean no offense.  The Patriots offense is even better than top notch, with or without players like Rob Gronkowski -- out with a broken arm for the rest of the playoffs -- and Danny Woodhead.  However, the Ravens defense is deserving of the same adjectives that you could use to describe the Pats' O.  It will be an all-out battle between Lewis and Brady. 

On the offensive side for Baltimore, Joe Flacco leads nearly the exact same offense onto the field as he did when Billy Cundiff missed a field goal to send them to the Super Bowl.  Well, minus Lee Evans who, if he had just caught the ball in the end zone, could have won them the game anyway.  The Pats secondary seems to be getting better game by game, but the Ravens receivers are white hot right now.

As far as the NFC side of things goes, I couldn't really care any less.  Matt Ryan looked like a champ in the first half of the Falcons eventual win over the Seahawks, but then whoever the crazy man inside his head is decided that he just wanted to continue to be terrible in the postseason.  Yada yada yada, they won by a field goal.  Not a strong case for them, I understand, but I'll get there.

When the 49ers made the switch from Alex Smith to Kaepernick, I thought they were going to fold.  Very wrong, as it turns out.  I'm not a believer in Kaepernick, because I don't believe in anyone who wears a baseball team's hat with the wrong colors on it.  He can run, so if they can hold him to less than 180 yards, we'll see...

Either way, my picks are based off of two people.  Ray Lewis and Tony Gonzalez.  Both of these players, veterans of 33 combined years, will be calling it quits whenever their playoff runs end.  One of the greatest tight ends of all time running routes covered by one of the greatest linebackers of all time in the Super Bowl?  Come on, that's an awesome story.