Pulling off the impossible

Posted 2/7/17

Doing the impossible is nothing different to New England. Religious tolerance seemed improbable until the Pilgrims sailed across the ocean blue. Independence seemed astronomical until the guns were quieted at Yorktown and the British flew the white flag.

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Pulling off the impossible

Posted

Doing the impossible is nothing different to New England.

Religious tolerance seemed improbable until the Pilgrims sailed across the ocean blue. Independence seemed astronomical until the guns were quieted at Yorktown and the British flew the white flag.

New England was where the revolt for liberation started, and the region and its allies to the south were counted out from the start. It took gusto and it took strategy, but America was able to come out on top, and it all started here – the burning of the Gaspee, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the first shots at Lexington and Concord. Unforgettable landmarks on the early timeline of the United States, and each of them took place in New England.

Ask some people these days, though, and some may (jokingly) say those moments pale in comparison to taking down the most loathed man in New England: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell put Patriots quarterback Tom Brady through the ringer for two years during the imbroglio known as Deflategate, tarnishing the reputation of the greatest to ever play the game.

That trademark New England muster was seen on a much lesser scale this Sunday night, as the millions across the six states let out a sigh of vindication and a roar of revenge. Their beloved football team engineered the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.

They had less than a 1 percent chance to win during the third quarter, trailing the Atlanta Falcons 28-3 midway through after scoring yet another touchdown. If it could be likened to the Revolutionary War, it was their Valley Forge. All hope seemed lost, and defeat seemed all but certain. After all, only three teams had ever come back from a double-digit deficit in the history of the big game.

Some would be quick to forget, though, that the Patriots were one of those teams back in 2015. Brady and his corps erased a 10-point margin, storming back for a 28-24 defeat of the Seattle Seahawks.

Turned out they had some more of that magic in the bag Sunday night in Houston. The Patriots scored 31 unanswered points to triumph over the Falcons, 34-28, in the first-ever overtime period played in Super Bowl history.

Patriots fans had witnessed their team vanquish another mortal enemy as the boos rained down on Goodell during the Lombardi Trophy presentation. The jeers may have been aimed at Goodell, but New England was showering the other 44 states as well.

It’s that “us-against-the-world/they-hate-us-’cause-they-ain’t us” mentality that has been cultivated through more than a decade of cheating accusations against the team.

It almost seems like a primal instinct of New Englanders to kitty-corner themselves in this pocket of land and figure everyone else is out to get them. Perhaps it’s a hereditary trait from their ancestors, who quite literally took on the world. As the old adage goes, “The sun never set on the British Empire.”

According to the Washington Post, Britain owned stakes in five out of seven continents around the time of the Revolutionary War. It was a formidable foe to oppose, but the rogues by the coast didn’t care.

It would be foolish to say that the foundation of the country is comparable to a football game. It’s not, but some parallels can certainly be drawn. New England is used to taking on the world as an adversary, whether metaphorically or literally.

If any region of the country has shown that pulling off the impossible is within reach, it’s New England. Just look at the record books.

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  • Justanidiot

    Bread and circuses.

    Tuesday, February 7, 2017 Report this

  • davebarry109

    Love the patriots and agree that Brady is the best ever...but he did cheat a little. All he proved is that he didn't need to cheat.

    Thursday, February 9, 2017 Report this