NFL: Top Ten Reasons to Embrace the Patriots

Bob Kraft 

As a sports fan, what do you want from an owner?

Shut up, sign the checks, and stay out of the way.

Bob Kraft does just that. He lets his people make the decisions; he stays out of the way.

But he also saved the Patriots when they were in trouble of being re-located. In 1992, Kraft, a lifelong Patriots fan and season ticket holder, went above and beyond, paying $175 million to buy the Patriots and save them from re-location.

Now, $175 million seems minimal for a pro sports franchise, but in 1992, the Patriots were one of the worst franchises in sports, and many in the business world laughed at Kraft.

As fans, we loved him because he kept our team from moving. Sonics fans would love for some Robert Kraft-type person to come in and save the team.

(On a side note, I am hoping that something like that does happen.)

Making the World A Better Place

If you are a fan of the NFL, you love the rumors, the trades, the drafts, and the games.

But unfortunately, we have to put up with a whole lot of other crap, like Michael Vick, Chris Henry, Pac Man Jones, and numerous others.

With a few rare exceptions, like Willie Andres, the Patriots stay out of trouble. Not only that, but the Patriots have taken in supposed “bad-seeds” and have seen no incidents.

Randy Moss did have an issue with a former girlfriend, but Moss vehemently denied any problems, and the charges were dropped. Other than that, Moss has been a model citizen and model teammate.

Corey Dillon came in with a bad reputation, and had a successful, incident-free tenure with the Patriots.

Don Tomasso

Bleacher Report writers Stew Winkel and Kevin Ryder know Don very well. The rest of you probably don't know him at all.

Let me give a small background. Don Tomasso is a lifetime New Englander, who, like so many of us, grew up loving the Red Sox and Celtics.

His primary sports love, however, is the New England Patriots. Don can recall plays from games that happened 15 years ago, and other than his family, Patriot games were the most important thing in his life.

Don is your classic “life of the party” guy, and he brightens every room which he enters (a cliché, but with the man they call DT, it is very true). He is completely stuck in the 80s like no one I have ever met, and he can amaze anyone with his memory of events from the 80s.

Don had some pain on his side recently, and even though he hates going to the doctor, he told his wife to call an ambulance. They went in for what was believed to be a relatively routine appendix removal; they discovered during this procedure Don actually has cancer.

He has significant internal bleeding, and has been on a respirator for several days. The situation has gotten worse, and Don has been in and out while the doctors prepare to remove one kidney.

On top of all this, Don’s wife is nine months pregnant and could give birth to their second child at any moment.

If this was a Lifetime movie, you would ask your girlfriend or wife to change the channel.

But for Don, his friends, and family, this is very real, and we all spend every waking moment praying for the best.

My point is that at the end of the day, we all love sports, we are all very passionate and loyal to our teams. But once in a while, step back and remember what is truly important in this world and what is just a hobby that we all enjoy on the side.

No one is guiltier of forgetting this than me, but whoever your favorite team is, send some kind wishes to Don and his family in this unbelievably trying time. 

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