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| typical Patriots practice |
When someone uses the word Patriot around Boston, where I live, you can be pretty sure they're talking about the greatest, most beloved football team in the world. But in the country at large that word has an entirely different set of associations: Ok, so it probably just means the most hated football team in the world. But it also means something else, something a lot more insidious and downright villainous than even Bill Bellicheat's* nightmarish scheming: Tea Party Patriots.
Calling oneself a “patriot” represents the distillation, however misguided the term, of the pervasive rightward political movement of the past few years in the country. It's how “regular people,” or “real Americans”, the red-staters, refer to their “grass roots” approach to politics. No one really knows what it means, aside from a healthy mistrust of the other, and a got-mine approach to taxation, but there's no denying that it's a movement that's here to stay, one that seems to gain momentum with every idiotic exhalation from its Alaskan crown princess' piehole. And while we live in Massachusetts, where “those people” aren't traditionally as easy to find as in the giant, creamy middle of the country, the success of the New England Patriots, our Patriots, is conflating the two definitions of the word to an uncomfortable degree for those of us who consider ourselves faithful liberals first, and diehard fans of the home team second.
Or is it the other way around? The progression of this team into the powerhouse, unstoppable machine (that 2007 Super Bowl never happened) that it's become in the past decade is making it a lot harder to wear both hats proudly at once. In fact the football Patriots may be largely responsible themselves for helping to turn our reliably blue state a dumbed down shade of purple.
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| Massachusetts, pre-Tom Brady |
That premise flies in face of everything that's come to represent the story of this team. A team that is comprised of 21 undrafted players, a full third of their roster. Star players like Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead, and BenJarvus Green-Ellis were all picked up off the scrap heap by the team, as were other solid contributors like Dan Connolly, Kyle Arrington, Stephen Neal, Mike Wright, Dane Fletcher, Kyle Love, Gary Guyton and Shayne Graham. Others like Tully Banta-Cain, Julian Edelman and Brandon Deaderick were taken in the last round of their respective drafts, and of course everyone knows about Tom Brady, taken 199th in the year he was drafted. In other words, the conventional wisdom goes, this is a team of no-name guys, punching the clock, and just showing up to work every day and doing what it takes to win. A blue collar team, if you will.
So what's the problem there? Isn't that approach about as solidly Democratic as it comes? Maybe in the past, but the fact is, the working man is no longer synonymous with the political left. Somehow vast swaths of the working middle and lower class population have been convinced to align themselves with the concept of “patriotism” represented by the right. The myth of the self made man, one who pulls himself up by his bootstraps may play well in the sports media, and who doesn't root for overachievers like Danny Woodhead? But when you're fed a steady enough diet of stories like that through your region's most beloved sports franchise, it starts to infect the way people think about themselves. If a tiny, hard-working regular joe lunch pail like that can go out and have so much success is his field, well then so can I.
TLDR after the jump:
That right there is the single biggest fallacy that has pushed the working classes to the right, into a state of aspirational constituency, where they vote not for their own interests today, but for the person that they think they will become. How else can you explain laborers who come down against the estate tax, or factory workers who think the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy shouldn't be drawn back? Because everyone thinks they're going to be in that top bracket someday, and they just want to make sure the conditions are as ideal as possible for when they get there. Every time the undersized Wes Welker goes over the middle for a stunning catch, it subconsciously reinforces that thinking in Massachusetts.
TLDR after the jump:
That right there is the single biggest fallacy that has pushed the working classes to the right, into a state of aspirational constituency, where they vote not for their own interests today, but for the person that they think they will become. How else can you explain laborers who come down against the estate tax, or factory workers who think the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy shouldn't be drawn back? Because everyone thinks they're going to be in that top bracket someday, and they just want to make sure the conditions are as ideal as possible for when they get there. Every time the undersized Wes Welker goes over the middle for a stunning catch, it subconsciously reinforces that thinking in Massachusetts.
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| Patriots playbook |
My friend Dan Engber wrote about the psychology of rooting for underdogs a few months ago in Slate. The gist of it is that no one likes a team like the Pats that win all the time and have a handsome quarterback with that hair, and an asshole coach who has been caught cheating, he told me. (He's a Jets fan, so he may have been paraphrasing).
“Everyone loves an underdog, which feels kind of like a Democratic thing to do, since the Dems present themselves as standing for the ethnic minorities, the working class, the underdogs, etc...” he says. “But the underdog effect can be really Republican as well, since it's based in large part on the founding rags-to-riches myth of American society: If plucky Butler can beat Duke, then anything can happen! Even my broke ass can win the lottery, in spite of all the political and institutional decisions that have widened income disparities over the past 30 years.”
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| via Boston.com/ my boyhood dreams |
For as long as I can remember, rallying behind the little guy has been synonymous with the left, but somehow it's become convoluted in the past decade to the point where even the bluest of the blue states like our own end up electing corporate-friendly fat cats like Scott Brown, our first Republican senator in forty years
“Rooting for the Pats just seems like such a Republican thing to me because of Brady and Belichick,” another friend of mine said recently “It's like Rove and Cheney or something.”
As a liberal Patriots fan, nothing hurts more than that. The more I started to think about it though, the more it seemed possible to me that the Patriots just might be as evil as most of the people outside of New England probably think they are. No, not because of Belichick's ethical lapses or curt demeanor, or because Tom Brady's hair is “gay,” but because they're the ideal example of conservative political philosophy at work in the sports world.
Success, whether it's in business, politics, or sports always begets a desire for more success. As sports fans, and as political actors, we're not content with what we have anymore, we want more, and we delight when what we have comes at the expense of others, like, say, the woeful New York Jets earlier this month, or some reviled political opponent. That right there is basically the entire premise of contemporary conservatism in this country in a nutshell. It's also the mindset of your average New England Patriots fan.
“I wonder if there's any correlation between New England sports teams consistently sucking and being underdogs, and Massachusetts being a solid blue state 10-20 years ago, and now that Boston sports is basically the Yankees corporate winning machine, every housepainter, cop and fireman named Sully, union or not, are all huge Scott Brown-supporters, Law & Order-watching, racist Republicans?” another friend opined when I broached this subject.
Maybe? Maybe my hero, my homeboy, the greatest sports-ball player in the history of the universe, Tom Brady and his overlord Bill Belichick are the ones who made my parents and a lot of my thirty something friends turn to the dark side over the past ten years through their cursed factory-like efficiency and brutally indifferent economics-style model of talent evaluation and unfeeling capitalistic approach to building teams? Republicans, if I can say one thing in their favor, tend to get things done. It's awful stuff designed to enrich themselves and their friends at the taxpayers' expense, but they sure can win a ball game, by hook or by crook. Reminds me of our coach. Liberals and Democrats are ineffectual do-nothings who may be trying really, really hard to do the right thing, but always end up failing in the end. Losers, in others words. That's what we used to be like around here before the Patriots had to go and ruin it.
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| that's racist |
It's no secret that we've become spoiled and greedy as sports fans in Boston, and being spoiled and greedy are the two pillars of the Republican platform. When you've got yours, and you still want more, and more, and more, well, that sort of thing has to have an effect on peoples' entire way of thinking. Rooting for the Patriots in that sense has become like rooting for Halliburton, or some subsidiary of Koch Industries.
It wasn't always like this. Remember in the 2001 Superbowl when the Patriots came out, introduced together, as a team? Who were the superstars on the team then? No one. It was about being a collective, subsuming your own ego for the greater good. It was downright Communistic, in fact. Maybe that's why they appealed to a state that was, at least back then, about as far to the left as it gets in this country, which, admittedly, isn't very far. Then we got a taste of the good life.
“Brady is like the anti-Flutie, and he reminds me of Kobe Bryant for some reason,” another Pats-guilty friend said. “He's undeniably awesome, but to me he radiates such a coldness and anti-everyman quality that I hate in athletes. He's like Drago in Rocky IV or something, not to mention his wife, his haircut, and his gay-ass ads for everything. I just root for that guy to fail and for Ray Lewis to end his career.”
Keep in mind the actual Flutie, perhaps an even bigger icon of little man overcoming the odds around here, was out there stumping for Brown in the run-up to the election.
Brady, of course, was never supposed to be anything remotely like what he's become. No one wanted him. He lucked into his role by an accident of fate. But luck plays a role in every successful person's rise, whether it's in business, sports, or politics. The humble ones recognize this, the entitled consider it all a product of their superior character and don't understand why everyone else doesn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps like they did.
Brady may have been the scrappy underdog at one point, the afterthought who worked his ass off and became the best at what he does, but that's precisely the problem here. It's stories like Brady's, and Woodhead's, and Welker's that make up the fairy tales people tell about themselves about how they too are going to make it big. They aren't, but that doesn't really make a difference in the way they think. The more successful a “nobody” like Brady becomes, the more it feeds into the idea that any one of us could be in his shoes. We just need to work harder than everyone else, because then we will attain our rightful position on top of the food chain, and screw everyone else who gets in the way.
Brady may have been the scrappy underdog at one point, the afterthought who worked his ass off and became the best at what he does, but that's precisely the problem here. It's stories like Brady's, and Woodhead's, and Welker's that make up the fairy tales people tell about themselves about how they too are going to make it big. They aren't, but that doesn't really make a difference in the way they think. The more successful a “nobody” like Brady becomes, the more it feeds into the idea that any one of us could be in his shoes. We just need to work harder than everyone else, because then we will attain our rightful position on top of the food chain, and screw everyone else who gets in the way.
As for the team's continued success? What's more conservative than glorifying the past? Rooting for a dynasty, even a sports dynasty, the very definition of entrenched power, seems like the most conservative prospect imaginable. The more we become used to the idea of being on top as sports fans in New England, the more we'll come to feel like we deserve the spoils. The Patriots are the best, they have always been the best, and they will always be the best. Four more years! (Also, lower my taxes because no one works as hard as I do.)
Taking race into consideration only further confuses things. The fact that players like Welker and Woodhead are white and “scrappy,” and further lionized for that, doesn't exactly hurt their appeal among the conservative-leaning voters of the region. Hard work and scrappiness and grit and so on tend to be characteristics associated with white ball players, and it's how aggrieved white voters who feel put upon by the system perceive themselves. It's no surprise that voters who are scared of the brown people coming to steal their jobs and have babies all over their flags or whatever the new threat is would be drawn to that.
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| Welker is wide open over the middle |
On top of that, the Patriot's entire concept of selfless team play is practically the blueprint for Republican obstructionism in the Senate and House. The only group that had more takeaways than the Patriots this year were the Republicans playing defense against Obama's proposed legislation.
And the list goes on and on. You know what happened last time I went to a Patriots game? I basically got called a treasonous commie by all the people in the stands around me when I didn't support the troops hard enough with some phony gesture or another. I wrote about it a while back in the Dig in a piece called The Death of Patriotism:
...It makes sense that in our sporting temples, where people are buzzed on competition, patriotism has been celebrated above all else. But unlike sports, politics and national interest have no defined boundaries. Their reality is arbitrary, messy and cruel.
I experienced this firsthand at Gillette Stadium two years ago. Neglecting to stand for some display of nationalistic pride, I found myself demonized by a group of overly concerned citizens. Perhaps they took the name of the home team too literally.
An unassuming, middle-aged woman transformed into a guardian of groupthink, and barked out marching orders: "Stand up. Why won't you stand up?" You'd have thought I'd denounced capitalism in French, then wrapped a bald eagle in an American flag and set it on fire.
If being a sports fan means chronically renewing a loyalty oath, I'll pass.
Maybe I'm too bleeding heart to be a Patriots fan any more then? Or maybe I'm questioning my allegiance to the Patriots out of some vestige of my liberalism, Engber said when I brought all of this up recently. “You're feeling guilty about loving the Pats because deep down there is just a dying ember of humanity in your soul that can't deal with your support of Brady and Belichick and their endless winning?”
It reminded him of a conversation we were having back in the lead up to to the last presidential election, something I'm sort of embarrassed to admit now. I told him I'd gladly give up a Democratic victory for two more guaranteed Patriots Superbowl wins.
“You were going to sell out your whole politics and your whole country for a couple of trophies,” he said “What's more Republican than that?”
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22 comments:
jesus christ this is long. a summary?
this about does it:
How else can you explain laborers who come down against the estate tax, or factory workers who think the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy shouldn't be drawn back? Because everyone thinks they're going to be in that top bracket someday, and they just want to make sure the conditions are as ideal as possible for when they get there. Every time the undersized Wes Welker goes over the middle for a stunning catch, it subconsciously reinforces that thinking in Massachusetts.
I have never bought the idea that blue-collar Republicans support the GOP because they think they will be millionaires some day. It’s too easy. Most people vote for the GOP because they grew up in a red state (or town), believe what they've been told unquestioningly, have never doubted whether they were doing the right thing in voting for their party and never sincerely considered the alternative because it’s literally inconceivable to them - which are the exact same reasons most Blue Staters vote Democrat.
Bottom line: if someone votes the same way as everyone else where they live it is more likely than not that they are just marching in step with the herd (perhaps while looking scornfully at another herd and going, “Can you believe those gullible nitwits?”).
That's all very true, except one group doesn't actively vote against their own interests.
That's all very true, except one group doesn't actively vote against their own interests.
That will be the response from both groups.
Which interests though? You know the interests of blue-collar folks better than they do themselves? It's more likely, I think, that they simply prioritize their interests differently than you (or I) do. And one could easily argue that most Democrats (who are white) are voting against their interests vis a vis Affirmative Action, for instance. I don't want to get sidetracked onto that issue though - I'm not saying anything other than that it is in the cold economic interest of white people to oppose legislation that mandates more non-whites be hired in place of whites. But Democrats like yourself prioritize their interests so that having a level playing field is a higher priority than their own economic gain.
Which is noble, btw.
That's a good point re: white liberals voting against their own economic interest by supporting affirmative action. But I would say that there's a big difference in voting against your own pocket book for something you see as working toward a fairer, more equal society.
Maybe the idea that "I earned it, I should keep it" is an equally fair and idealistic concept, but I don't think the upper tax brackets fairly earn their money anyway, so what do I know.
you're thinking about this the wrong way lukes. brady being awesome and lobbing 40 bombs to welkah and woodhead will have a trickle down effect that will make the whole league rich with scrappy white guys.
hoof
This had not occurred to us, dude.
These words in this order are good. Very nice piece, this argument has legs.
I'll keep voting and rooting blue, but considering this angle makes me even better prepared to dispatch delusional haters who claim they'd rather have their fallible QB than win Super Bowls.
Good point Thom. Imagine not being a member of the Church of Brady? Life would just kind of seem meaningless... I wonder how those heathens go through life with any sense of greater purpose?
He is the way and the light.
My life would be more meaningless than it already is if it weren't for Brady. /no joke
in a way though, before the uggs thing, brady was more of a liberal elitist amiwrong? peyton manning was out pimping subway and best buy or whateverthefuck joe punchclock could relate to and brady only did like high end watches or the type of shit that's advertised in the magazines luke pretends he reads. i do think sports radio is more prominent as a result of the patriots/soxies kicking ass and sports radio hosts were overwhelmingly in favor of george bush or scott brown b/c they are simpleton mouth-breathing retards. since the listenership is up a zillion %, it had to have had some effect. who gives a fuck though, BRADY WINNIN NUMBAH 4 THIS YEAR, KIIIIIIDDDDDDDDD!
I agree that the sports talk radio situation played a big role in electing Brown / making everyone stupid. Those sausage-titted blowhards were literally stumping for Brown in the middle of their shows.
Sports in general tend to be for stupid people though, as does this version of populist conservative politics, so who knows which came first.
As for Brady being a liberal elite? No. An elite? Sure. Money and extravagance are not synonymous with liberalism as much as Fox News has tricked most of these retards into thinking.
I DON'T LIKE THAT OVERCONFIDENT TALK ABOUT THE SUPERBOWL THOUGH! CUT THAT SHIT OUT! These bums could lose to literally any time left 58-7, and probably will.
not literally a liberal pinko, the royal pinko, the uhhh editorial...i was just kidding about the superbowl though. these bums are fucking lucky they got into the playoffs. like brady kid said, "we're now 0-0. we haven't earned shit, yet." still though, fucking welkah kid!
Can I get a 1200 word essay on Hogan Mankins okthanks
Dunno if I should bother reading this one. Still haven't finished the kunstler forecast like.
brady to obama for 6.
I would love to see that.
I tend to vote red in a pink state.... Mainly cuz I'm sick of working and sweating my ass off for the notion that somebody else will provide for me.... They aren't responsible for me... I am. So I work hard for my meals and I feed my family... Next time Blobama or fauxcahontas tells me I didn't earn what I got somebody else did I hope they have the guts to say it to my face... And then they can walk a mile and my shoes and prove me wrong. And by the way.... For a Silver Lake graduate you sure do have a lot of big words!
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