Why People Love To Loathe The Patriots

A week before Super Bowl LIII, it felt just like game day at Gillette Stadium. Thirty-five thousand fans — nearly the capacity of Fenway Park — braved the cold on Jan. 27 for a "send-off rally" before the Patriots left for Atlanta to take on the Los Angeles Rams.

And all through the stadium, a chant familiar to any Bostonian broke out.

"Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!"

At the rally, there was a marching band and performances by the Blue Man Group and Patriots cheerleaders. And, of course, the Pats themselves were there. Forty-one-year-old Tom Brady, playing in a record-setting ninth Super Bowl, was greeted by a chorus of cheers that sounded like when The Beatles played Shea Stadium.

Brady had a simple message to the sea of supporters decked out in red, white and blue:

"Let's let 'em hear it all the way down in Atlanta," he said as he readied his flock for a new chant. "We're still here! We're still here! We're still here!"

For anyone who's not a disciple of the Book of Bill Belichick, the whole scene was enough to make your eyes roll out of their sockets.

It's no secret that of all of the NFL's teams, the Patriots hold a special place in the hearts of their opponents. Late last year, a Reddit user used information from Twitter to map which team was the most disliked by state.

New England led the league. Even Alaska and Hawaii sent their coldest regards, and they don't even have NFL teams.

So why the hate? For some Pats fans, the reasons are simple.

"As cliche as it sounds, they hate us 'cause they ain't us," said one fan.

"We're better than everybody else," said a fan who was a bit more blunt.

That may sound arrogant, but numbers don't lie. And the Patriots have better numbers than just about any other team: 11 Super Bowls played, the most of all time; five Super Bowl wins, currently tied for the second-most ever; three straight Super Bowl appearances.

But it's not just the winning that puts people off.

The Pats have been accused multiple times of cheating, whether that's illegally videotaping opponents or deflating footballs below their required pressure.

Manuel Moreno, the president of Rams Central, a Rams booster club, has been loyal to the team his whole life, even when it moved from LA to St. Louis. He realizes there are a lot of folks who'd like to see the Patriots lose.

"You know, I was talking to a friend of mine last week and I said, 'If the Rams play the Patriots, I think everyone across this country is going to be rooting for the Rams,'" Moreno said.

Moreno said he has a lot of respect for what the Patriots have done. But others can't shake a claim originally made in a 2008 Boston Herald story that alleged the Pats' video staff illegally taped the Rams practice before Super Bowl XXXVI, the first Super Bowl the Patriots won. That story was later retracted, but the charge still lingers among some fans and former Rams, including Hall of Famers like Marshall Faulk and Eric Dickerson, who called the Patriots cheaters in an interview on FS1.

"When players — respected players like that — say something, a lot of fans will jump right behind them, whether they know about it or not," Moreno said.

But it's not just about football. In a politically charged era, when the president of the United States routinely insults athletes and teams refuse invitations to the White House, it's worth noting that Donald Trump has consistently cheered on the Patriots.

The feeling's been mutual. Tom Brady supported Trump's 2016 presidential run before the election and even once had a "Make America Great Again" hat in his locker, while Belichick wrote Trump a letter of support.

While other Patriots like Devin McCourty have publicly said they disagree with Trump and declined to go to the White House after New England won the Super Bowl in 2017, the connection between the president and the organization has been troublesome for some fans. Even actor Daniel Radcliffe recently ripped into Brady's support of Trump.

But not every fan at the rally held those sentiments.

"I don't think that affects anything," said Michael Sandiford, a Pats fan from Bermuda.

For him, people's hate of the Patriots has more to do with the team's success than politics.

"I just think that the winning culture affects everybody else, because you want to be in the shoes of a winner," Sandiford said.

Esteban Bustillos WGBH News

The irony is that not too long ago, there was little reason to envy the Patriots.

David Lannan and his 33-year-old son, David Lannan Jr. from North Attleborough have been Pats fans their whole lives. They remember the days when games were blacked out on local TV because the team couldn't sell enough tickets. But now, they've gotten used to the winning and the hate.

"I can do this for the rest of my life. It never gets old," said Lannan Sr.

"I'm just kind of trying to enjoy it while I can and pass it on to my kids and make sure that they appreciate it while they can because things could change at any time," said Lannan Jr.

Now, Lannan Jr. is instilling those lessons in his daughter Delilah, who's 9. And while she may not yet understand why others dislike the Pats so much, she does know the mantra that's helped make the team so great. In fact, she screams it.

"Do your job!"

This post has been updated to reflect that the Boston Herald retracted its story alleging the Patriots illegally taped a Rams practice before Super Bowl XXXVI.