Patriot Super Bowls have lost their spark

In the aftermath of last week’s Super Bowl, something felt different.

The electricity in the air leading up to the big game just didn’t sizzle like usual, and I found myself sighing, not smiling, in anticipation. And boy, did it live up to the hype (or lack thereof.)

Not only was the overall game painfully boring, tied for three quarters and making history as the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever with a final tally of 13-3, but I realized something else.

I’m so tired of the Patriots.

Seeing the New England Patriots take home yet another Super Bowl victory felt hollow — or maybe that was just the monotonous feeling of déjà vu.

It was the team’s third consecutive Super Bowl appearance, and every year it’s the same game, same outcomes, same disinterested shrug at the end. There’s no longer any excitement, no heart-rending defeat, none of the feelings that make sports worth playing or watching.

With their most recent win, the Patriots have won a third of all Super Bowls since the 2001 season, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Bowl wins ever, and quarterback Tom Brady just took home his sixth championship ring.

And I’m not the only one getting a bit weary of New England’s reign. A Seton poll from early this month showed that 46 percent of respondents said they were tired of the team. And only 25 percent of the same respondents said that the Patriots’ participation in the game made the game more interesting.

The stats didn’t improve when it came to Brady, all but the spokesman for the team at this point. Just 29 percent of those polled gave him a favorable opinion, down from 61 percent in February 2015.

I think I, like many others, would dislike the Patriots less if it weren’t for the rumors of cheating the have haunted the team for years. It’s not just 2015’s Deflategate, in which multiple players were accused of deflating footballs below NFL standards to make the balls easier to control and which resulted in a four-game suspension for Brady for likely knowing about the illegal activity.

The cheating dates back to 2007, when Patriots staff illegally videotaped opposing teams’ hand signals, sparking speculation that they’d won other games unfairly. It’s just plain hard to like a team with such loudly rattling skeletons.

And New England has gained infamy for relying on dirty tricks even when they’re not actually, technically cheating, like in 2014 and 2015 when they strategically used misdirection to confuse opponents about which players were eligible to receive the ball on any given play. Was it illegal? No. Was it lousy? Yup.

At the same time, the Patriots have a lot of massive fans, fans who say the team has cleaned up their act and that the trend of “Patriot fatigue” is nothing more than jealousy. And maybe they’re right. Sport championships don’t have to be, and arguably shouldn’t be “fair.” In football, it’s survival of the fittest and the most qualified, most talented and most successful teams will rise to the top.

Ultimately, it’s not the Patriots’ fault I’m sick of seeing them. They’re a formidable team, and have gotten where they are by sheer determination and hard work.

Mostly.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected]