Customer Reviews

This Pats Year: A Trek Through a Season as a Football Fan

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Full disclosure: I am one of the people Sean writes about in this book.

I'm not here to persuade you to purchase this book, you'll have to make that call yourself.

I do, however, want to say that this book celebrates Main Street Patriot Nation that most of us know well (sports bars, bus tours) but also goes into many areas of of our fan fiefdom that I never knew existed--or I supposed in theory had to exist, but I'd never been there before. Sean sees these fans with seasoned columnist's eye for unvarnished detail, yet also adds the color commentary of a lifer New England sports junkie who can't help but remind us of certain things (the hopelessness of the Pats' plight for most of his lifetime, the complete intolerable nature of Jets fans, the joy of seeing the home team win a Super Bowl after...twice...after a lifetime of watching the Hugh Millens and Tommy Hodsons of the world give away 10 games a year).

The book is an interesting ride, for that reason.

The book doesn't give locker-room insights, geeky statistics on the season, or gossip about the players. Or an oral history of the AFL days past. Readers looking for that stuff will have to look elsewhere. What it does give, however, is a slice of some pretty darn interesting Pats fans' lives--I mean, how many of us would have the brass to go to a sports bar in Manhattan to watch the Pats play the Jets? Yet, the Patriots Nation does claim a settlement in that hostile land--and Sean went there to get the story. Each week, he met a different, yet equally compelling group of fans. If you're a Pats fan, you can't help but to go along for the ride and have a great time.

The review above by RC Sheehy seems to miss the point of the book. It's not about the Pat's history, it's about a trek through ONE year.

But never mind that, my review is this:
Baseball has lent itself to some great writing, while football usually hasn't. Oh, sure, there are interesting football books, but it's the story that moves things along in those books, not the writing.

Glennon changes that: He takes a great story and enlivens it with some pithy, humorous and compelling writing. His descriptions draw you in and make you feel you're rubbing elbows at the bar with him and his subjects, or give you the feeling you're in the brisk autumn air at Gillette Stadium.

The kicker is that you don't even need to be a football fan to enjoy it. While there is enough inside football stuff to satisfy the true fans, the book doesn't get bogged down in cumbersome descriptions of "nickel defenses" or other jargony crap that may alienate non-fans.

Not since Fred Exley's "A Fan's Notes" has football enjoyed the services of a real WRITER. While Exley's book was about a lot more that the Giants, the no-B.S., take no prisoners approach of Glennon reminds me of Fred's refreshing look at fandom. And while Ex's book was from the view of the fan himself (and a deranged one at that) Glennon's "passenger side" takes on fandom ring loud and true.

If this book sells well it would prove to the world that football fans aren't all face-painting knukleheads (which they aren't but...) and can appreciate literate, thoughtful narrative.

If you are a Patriots fan - I assumed the target audience - you will not like this book. The author is a die-hard Raiders fan and is very negative towards the Patriots. There are repeated references to his opinion that they are not even trying to win football games. There is also a one page gripe about what a bad call the "tuck rule" was in the 2001 AFC Championship game. As bizarre and obscure as the rule is, it is still a rule and was called correctly. I can't believe either the author or the editor couldn't take the time to look it up in the NFL rule book before going to print. Two years later this book sounds even more bitter and ridiculous, but don't worry, the author is now a Pats fan!

It was a stunning surprise to most of the Patriots Nation when the team finally broke through in New Orleans in 2002 to beat the St. Louis Rams for a Super Bowl victory. After that thrill, it was hard to know what to expect. Most NFL champions don't repeat. In fact, some don't even make the playoffs the next year.

Sean Glennon does a good job of capturing the ups and downs of that very peculiar 2002 season when the Patriots started so well . . . and stumbled so badly in mid-season. You probably remember the amazing come-from-behind win against Miami at the end of the season that left us with hope for the future . . . even if the Pats didn't make the playoffs.

With each game, Mr. Glennon tries to find another type of fan and fan experience. I thought he covered a wide variety of fans and their perspectives on the Patriots. I was impressed by the lengths to which he went to accomplish this. One week he even spent time in a gay bar to find out how gay people react to the homophobia that many football fans exhibit. He also found women fans and spent time to understand the game's appeal to them.

You get a good mix of casual and die-hard fans . . . true believers and perennial skeptics.

The book's strength is the diversity of experience and an emotional description of each game's action. The book's weakness is that Mr. Glennon isn't really a member of the Patriots Nation. He's a Raiders fan and thus sees the Patriots from a little more distance than is good for such a book.

I do recommend reading the book, though. It was a lot of fun to think about how much the 2004 season might resemble the 2002 season after winning the second Patriots Super Bowl.

The term "fan" is short for Fanatic. Fanatic is reserved for those loyal team followers. The ones who stay with a team whether they are going through the bad times as well as good. In this case, the men and women who comprise Patriot Nation. When I picked up this book, I expected a an indepth profile of these courageous people who make up the nation. What I read was a series of "cute" narratives about drunken fans at sports bars, various living rooms and the occasional trip to the stadium. The first chapter sets the tone: Game One against the Steelers. This was a very historic day for the nation: The first ever Championship banner was raised. A new Stadium was opened, and the Steelers went down in flames. As someone who was in the stands,I can say the atmosphere was electric. The author barely mentioned these events, but instead focused on the drunken behavior at the sports bar. To quote a "Happy Days" episode. The author "Doesn't have a nose for news". The author repeatedly talks about being a Raiders fan, who can't quite comit to the Patriots. Well, if winning a Super Bowl isn't enough to impress, then what is? Another example was going to a sports bar in New York to see the Pats-Jets. Again, cute, but how about going to the stadium and talking to the Pats fans. It would have added a lot of color. Lastly, the author sounded really surpised when a friend mentioned Coach Belichick had Drew Bledsoe's number and could stop him on any given Sunday. Even the most casual of Patriots fans figured out that one out years ago. The author did come around by the end of the season, but like the Miami game: Too little Too Late. All and all a huge disappointment for this Patriots season ticket holder.

This book makes a great effort at trying to understand how various types of Patriot fans react to the team but it just doesn't jell. For one thing not nearly enough attention is paid to the long term fans who were with the Patriots when they were horrible. Also, I can't help but feel a lot of the "fans" characterized in this book are the front runners who will drop the Patriots like a bad habit when the team is no longer winning. Also very little is mentioned of the icons of the Patriots over the years such as Gil and Gino and tailgating at Foxboro Stadium. If I had to sum it up I think this book attempts to be all thigns to all people and becomes nothing in return