Lisa Guerrero: Take it like a man

Last Sunday, I was perched comfortably on my couch surrounded by chips and salsa, Twix, a glass of Chardonnay and my Direct TV NFL package. Heaven!

While clicking from one game to another as randomly as John Mayer has from one babe to the next, one image during the Dolphins-Patriots game shocked me into frozen disbelief.

With 14 minutes to go in the fourth quarter of a beatdown at the hands of Miami, the camera flashes to a shot of a mass exodus of Pats fans clogging the aisles at Gillette Stadium in a hurry to get home.

Or to a bar.

And they give L.A. fans a hard time for not staying to the bitter end. And it occurred to me, "Isn't this THE BEST SPORTS CITY according to the Sporting News and CBS Sportsline.com? Aren't these the most loyal fans in America?

Let me get this straight: Boston fans suffered through 80 years of Red Sox disappointment

but can't sit through the first Patriots loss in 21 regular season games?

I, of all people, should not be surprised. From 1992 to 1994, I was the director of entertainment for the Patriots. Believe me, those bleak years were anything but entertaining.

Back then, they played at Foxboro Stadium, best known for having the worst field conditions in professional football, in front of maybe 20,000 fans, best known for urinating off the upper terrace and assaulting women in the dirt parking lot. Really!

In other words, this was a drunken, dirty, obnoxious crowd. I don't mean that in a good way.

Those fans were an embarrassment. The team stunk -- 6-10 in 1991 and 2-14 in 1992 -- and there wasn't a lot to cheer about. Remember Dick MacPherson? Exactly.

But isn't that when true fans continue to show up ... and know how to use the indoor plumbing?

Well, exit Hugh Millen/Scott Zolak and enter Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady. Guess what? The crowds started showing up again.

It's easy to be a fan when your team wins three Super Bowls in four years, but one loss at home in a couple of seasons and the rats jump off the sinking ship like Tom Brady jumped off Bridget Moynihan.

This past Sunday, when the Pats took a beating, their fans couldn't take a hit.

-- Lisa Guerrero

Lisa Guerrero has covered Super Bowls, NBA championships and World Series, along with the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. As an actress, she has appeared on "Frasier,'' "The George Lopez Show'' and as Billy Baldwin's long-suffering wife in the award-winning family film, "A Plumm Summer,'' which she executive produced.

Comments

[Pauline]

Any article that can generate as much pro and con comments as the Patriots's fans item did, is doing what it is meant to do !!!! keep it up Lisa, and we will all keep reading !!!

[The Truth]

I guess the Pats fans don't believe that their team can make a late comeback like lets say, the Colts? If you want them to take it like a man Lisa, they have to be one first.

[newenglandfan]

Whys evryone gotta hate or be jelous talk all kinda smack,
Ive been a pats fan scince before their first superbowl win and heres the truth
they are an extremly talented football team with a great coach Probibly the best of all time oh yeah dont forget or freind tommy b- in my opinion will end up going down in football history as the best qb ever(this might piss off some 49er fans sorry)
STOP HATTIN !!! your favorite team probible sucks or was wooped by the pats!