This past Sunday football fans throughout the country gathered around their TVs to watch what was expected to be one of the best Super Bowl matchups in recent history. The storyline going into the game was the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, going up against the future star of the league, Patrick Mahomes. In what was predicted to be an absolute gunslinging contest between the two, fans were in for a much different matchup. In a game that featured the two best offenses in the league, the phrase “defense wins championships” held true as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive front, led by coordinator Todd Bowles shut down the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs offense, not even allowing a touchdown. But as a Patriot fan, it was not the defense that drew my attention, but rather the Brady-Gronk connection that I grew up watching in blue and silver, now wearing white and red. 

The two former Patriots superstars connected for two touchdowns, with Gronk having 67 receiving yards and Brady throwing for 201 yards total, on 21/29 pass attempts. The two players proved again why they are so great, giving Brady his seventh Lombardi trophy, more than any franchise. Brady was also awarded the SuperBowl MVP, his fifth award, breaking his own previous record of four MVPs. If for some reason you did not think that he was the greatest quarterback to ever throw a football, then I do not see how you are still denying it now. 

While I respect Tom Brady’s greatness, I am far from happy that he won a championship in a different uniform. After the game was over I went onto social media, as one does after a big sporting event, and what I saw was a little shocking. Patriots fans, posting Instagram stories of Brady hoisting the trophy as if their team had just won. Let me make it clear, there is a difference between respecting Brady winning a Superbowl, and being happy he won the Superbowl. To those who were posting pictures, celebrating the Buccaneers winning a championship, I don’t consider you a Patriot fan anymore. What I do consider you is a Tom Brady fan, and what I can infer is you were really a Tom Brady fan the whole time, and do not care what jersey he wins in. A true Patriots fan such as myself absolutely hated seeing Brady win.

A prominent Patriots fan who embraced the feelings I had, and still have, after seeing Brady win, is Barstool Sports CEO, Dave Portnoy. In a video posted to his Instagram (@stoolpresidente) Monday morning, Portnoy started by saying “I feel sad… I just feel sad, I’m melancholy.” In the post, Portnoy went on to explain, “I’m just empty… I don’t like watching Tampa Bay fans celebrate, he’s not your guy, he’s my guy, he’s our guy… You see Brady and Gronk, that’s us.” Portnoy shared the same sentiment that I, along with a majority of true New England fans shared.

This seventh championship for Brady really showed me who was/are true Patriots fans, as well as pointing out an undeniable divide in New England between the two. Any true Patriots fan would have hated watching that game, and the ensuing trophy ceremony. While the “fake Patriots fans”  posted pictures of Brady donned in a shirt that read “Tampa Bay Buccaneers.” If I were to guess, this will not be Brady’s last Super Bowl appearance and probably not his last Super Bowl win. And if this prediction does come true, it will further expose that some people really are just Tom Brady fans, and do not care about the team he spent two decades with, anymore.