By Cameron Salony

February 4, 2008 | I am Cameron Salony and I am a Patriots fan. There, I said it! No bandwagon here, you can all point and laugh at me on campus. I'll be the one wearing the Tom Brady jersey. My only request is that you be somewhat considerate. Routing for a team to go undefeated for 140 days straight then seeing them lose on the dreadful and final Super Bowl day is worse than kissing a girl who chews tobacco.

I am also a Drew Bledsoe fan. He was a stud during the 1996 season. He led the Pats to Super Bowl XXXI only to lose to the Green Bay, uh, Cheese Heads or something like that. However, my 12-year-old pain could never compare to the anguish I felt on the night of Feb. 3, 2008.

Bledsoe continued to be among the league's best quarterbacks in those few years after the Super Bowl appearance, but in 2000, New England finished with a disappointing 5-11 record.

To my chagrin, during the second game of the 2001 season New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis hit Bledsoe as he tried to scramble out of bounds. I nearly cried as a watched the man who led game-winning drives with a broken index finger barely make it off the field. There goes the Pats season! Bledsoe is out! Who is this Brady guy?

As we all know, Brady would lead New England to four Super Bowl appearances (three of them wins). We would never have expected this skinny guy to also rack up Super Bowl MVP honors, earn an NFL MVP award, impregnate a Hollywood actress, date a Victoria Secret's model, or pose for Stetson ads.

This season was supposed to be the season to top all seasons. What kinds of emotions did New England football fans feel this year? Let me tell you . . .

Surprise: In April 2007, New England acquired the sensational but egotistical Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. My brother-in-law who is a die-hard Raiders fan picked the Pats to win it all once he got word of the acquisition. I slyly kept quiet. New England got Moss for practically nothing, and then Moss asked for a salary that was, well, practically nothing. Was the temperamental wide out a good fit for the no-nonsense football team from Foxboro? I didn't see this coming.

Grief: In May 2007, defensive lineman Marquise Hill was found dead after he fell off a jet ski in the lake outside of New Orleans. The team wore Hill's No. 91 on their helmets in memory of their fallen teammate. New England defensive end Jarvis Green, who also played with Hill in college at LSU, wore Hill's shoulder pads for the season.

Anger: In the second game of the season the team was accused of spying on the New York Jets coaching staff. Bill Belichick, say it isn't so! Is my team a cheater? Are the accusations truthful? Can the team win without knowing the opposition's play calls? Even after New England paid their debt to the NFL society, fans continued to call the league's first-place team cheaters.

Satisfaction: OK, New England is the real deal. They proved they don't need a videotape to win a game. Brady is the MVP and gets the regular season touchdown record. Players rave that Moss is a "team player" and Wes Welker plays bigger than his 5-fot-9 frame. Teams now claim that the Pats are running up the score rather than videotaping their sideline. Well, I guess New England can't do anything right. Well accept for a 16-0 regular season.

Shock: OK, Eli Manning is going to be sacked. Five defensive linemen are swarming him. Wait! What the . . . He got out of that and got the pass off? Did you see that guy who caught the pass with his helmet? Did the Giants really just pull ahead 17-14? There's no flag? They didn't call a timeout like the Baltimore Ravens did in week 12 of the regular season? Are the Patriots really 18-1?

I am glad I did not attend a big Super Bowl gathering. Do you think any of these Super Bowl party fans were cheering for the New York-football Giants to win it all last September? No way! But now that they were featured as the underdog, why not cheer against a history making 19-0 season? Well, at least I have sympathetic roommates. Jordan gave me a can of Campbell's Chunky New England Clam Chowder because he "didn't feel like eating it." Thanks Jordan, perhaps the potassium will help my muscles from cramping as I curl into the fetal position for the next week and dream of Brady hoisting his fourth Vince Lombardi trophy.

MS
MS