San Francisco, here we come.
It’s officially “Super Bowl Week.” Remember that?
I realize it’s been awhile, seven years to be exact, since you and I have experienced what we’re going to get the next seven days.
But we all have a recent history with this all-consuming week.
Your New England Patriots are back and it’s apparently still a problem for a lot of people that follow football in the good old US of A.
Owner Bob Kraft, still intact, appears to have found the other two key ingredients for competing in multiple championships: a quarterback, Drake Maye, drafted third overall in 2024, and a head coach, Mike Vrabel, who has performed instant magic.
In other words, they are not only in California for America’s biggest sporting event, Super Bowl LX, but they have the troika and means to be around this time of year for a long time.
This is not my first Patriots Super Bowl rodeo. In fact, it’s my 12th, with an extra Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, when the Ravens beat the Giants, for good measure.
It started in New Orleans, with another shocker of a team, Bill Parcells’ 1996 Patriots, my first introduction to Bourbon Street and the mighty billion dollar industry called the NFL.
These are meaningful trips. Accessibility to athletes, coaches, owners and family in pro football, in a sport where accessibility comes with an asterisk — everything is scheduled, Monday through Sunday — is at its optimum. You could argue, as I have, sometimes there is too much accessibility.
But that’s the price for an event of this magnitude. This week, per the NFL, is about non-fans, too.
The Patriots are underdogs, and if I’m being honest, deservedly so. They have a few more question marks than the NFC’s No. 1-seeded Seahawks do.
But I’ve been to several of these Super Bowls when question marks don’t always matter. Big plays – particularly sacks, fumbles, interceptions and, of course, penalties – seem to supersede the best talent.
The Patriots have been on both ends, historically euphoric and, yes, historically miserable.
The wins over the St. Louis Rams (2001), Seattle Seahawks (2014) and Atlanta Falcons (2016) were the exact opposite feeling of the losses to the N.Y. Giants (2007, 2011) and Philadelphia Eagles (2017).
Honestly, you just never know.
Here’s my deal. Each day in San Francisco my goal is to bring you to Super Bowl Week.
I will be posting a video – might be a Patriot, some celebrity or my rambling thoughts as the big day, Super Bowl Sunday, nears.
I will also be uncovering some outside-the-box stories that come with the biggest spectacle in sports.
Finding local fans who have ties to our North of Boston Media group region – from southern N.H., to the Merrimack Valley, to Cape Ann, the North Shore and Greater Newburyport – and telling their Patriots story, is a minor obsession of mine, so please oblige.
Back home, in chilly New England, the kids will be allowed to wear their Patriots jerseys, T-shirts and hats to school. That’s among the best parts of this: sharing experiences.
Local businesses are part of it, too, flourishing as they always seem to do when our Boston/New England pro teams win.
Thanks to Commonwealth Motors of Lawrence — “Shop us last, you’ll love us.” — for sponsoring our coverage this week. When it comes to stepping up, the Daher family’s track record is second to none.
Enjoy the week. Enjoy the stories. Most of the names have changed, but the thrill of high-end expectations has returned.
And by Sunday, probably before, the talking will be done inside the white lines.
Let Super Bowl Week begin.
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.