New England: self-doubt, but hope

Sporting News, The, Jan 27, 1997 by Steve Marantz

Fast-forward to 1996. New era, same turmoil. The current owner, Robert Kraft, is making an honest effort to build a new stadium. He will finance it privately but wants public money for roads and sewers on the South Boston waterfront. The neighborhood, an ethnic enclave still angry about school busing 20 years ago, is opposed. Kraft may have to look at other cities.

The coach may get out of town ahead of the team. Bill Parcells, otherwise known as "Tuna," doesn't have particularly good taste. He and Kraft disagreed over draft choices last spring. Parcells wanted a defensive stud, while Kraft insisted on a wide receiver--Terry Glenn. Parcells sulked and referred to Glenn as "she" in training camp. The upshot is the Pats would not be in the Super Bowl without Glenn, a dazzling talent. But Parcells resents Kraft and is said to be weighing an offer from the Jets.

Given those uncertainties, the club's history and regional karma, the party could be a short one. Nonetheless, New Englanders are starting to peer through their mist of self-doubt. I am standing in a supermarket checkout behind two blue-haired women discussing Parcells' platooning platooning of linebackers Chris Slade and Dwayne Sabb.

"Sabb is better in the red zone," the first woman says.

The second woman clacks her dentures.

"He's wasting Slade," she says. "Slade covers more ground and gets into the backfield quicker."

"In a nickel maybe," the first woman says. "But in a 4-3, Sabb makes a better read on the run."

Huh? Blue-haired women talking like Will McDonough? Am I in Dallas? Are the Patriots really in the Super Bowl?

They are.

Dem bums.

Go.

Steve Marantz is a senior writer for THE SPORTING NEWS.