The New England Patriots have enjoyed such a run of success in the 2000s that many fans may need a refresher course or introduction to how laughably inept the team was for much of its first four decades. Author Jerry Thornton replays those years, when the old Boston Patriots began in 1960 with a local businessman’s modest investment in a charter American Football League franchise. Even when the Pats, who claimed a regional New England identity with a move into their own stadium in 1971, had good seasons, something could always be counted on spoil the party. When they reached the AFL championship game in 1964 they lost to San Diego, 51-10, and in New England’s first Super Bowl (XX), they were shellacked 46-10 in 1986, only to be hit by a drug scandal in the immediate aftermath. For anyone who thinks of the current Patriots as the NFL’s equivalent of the Ruth-era Yankees, this is a reminder of how quickly and dramatically sports fortunes can turn.
Here’s an excerpt from From Darkness to Dynasty:
“On one Patriots road trip to Buffalo, the plan was for the team to fly in the day of the game and then fly home right after, rather than spring for an overnight stay in a hotel. They’d go right from the airport to the stadium with just enough time to eat, get suited up, and take the field for warm-ups. The problem was that the time of the flight to New York was changed to much earlier in the day. So, the team would have hours to kill and no place to do it. Patriots director Paul Sonnabend’s family happened to own a motel in Buffalo, and he made arrangements so that the players could get rooms for the afternoon. But the Pats also made a deal with the manager: no messing up the beds. Players could lie down on top of the bedspread, but they couldn’t sleep in the beds because he didn’t want to have to pay the chambermaids to come in later to make them up again. Any player who pulled back his covers would be fined ten bucks.”
