Bob Lobel: When a Win Feels Like a Loss

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

When does a win not feel like a win? Right now, Patriot Nation, right now! 

When does an emotional swing from high to low become such a burden? Right now, Patriot Nation, right now! 

And there is nothing we can do about it. 

Bob Lobel: The Patriots Still the Envy of the Football Universe

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

There is nothing like a Monday after a Sunday like last Sunday. 

The Red Sox explode on an Ortiz clutch home run, and few people are talking about it. Buchholz implodes, and few people are talking about it, because they won a very big game. The Patriots… They've grabbed the spotlight just because. 

Just because what? 

Bob Lobel: Are the Patriots and Jimmy Ready for the Opener?

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

How much help will the Patriots give backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in his first, and probably last, four starts with this team?

All you have to do is check out the mural of Tom Terrific that covers the lighthouse at Gillette. There is no way to interpret a larger than life portrait  of a player who is already larger than life. It is not exactly a morale booster for number 10 to feel number 12 hovering more than he already was, by just existing. 

The team really seems to have more interest in putting the commissioner in a position of total humiliation, at least locally, than they are of pumping up a quarterback who has been thrust in a position of big trouble in their opener. It's true that the next three next games at home can be won by playing former Kent State quarterback Julian Edelman at the position, but that’s not the point. 

What is the point, Bob? The point is New England's misguided purpose of glorifying a guy who needs it not, instead of supporting a guy who could use all the support he can get. 

Bob Lobel: You Can't Always Get What You Want (in Boston Sports)

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

Knowing what you want is easy. Asking for it is much more difficult, so it stands to reason that getting what you want is really tough, since you pretty much always have to ask for it.  

So, every once in a while it's probably good to figure out what you want and then ask for it. Let's begin to ask: I want the Boston Red Sox to figure it out, because they are driving me crazy. What if they figure out that David Ortiz is struggling, and they need to get him out of the lineup in a year where his celebrity has never been higher? I think that’s probably not going to happen. 

I want the fans to give Alex Rodriguez a standing ovation at some point tonight, and them give him a boo beyond boo. It would kinda recognize the conflict within for those of us who really wanted the Red Sox to get him when that opportunity was there. Count that group. 

I remember the  phone call I got at 8 am from Peter Brown, our news director. I said “hello” and he said “we got him!" 

Lobel's Question of the Week: Could You Ever Bench Brady?

Every week, legendary sportscaster Bob Lobel wants to hear your opinion on something that caught his eye over the weekend.

Now you know why "any given Sunday" is in our football vocabulary. The phrase means, of course, that anything can happen and Murphy's Law is always in play.

If it can happen, it will happen.

Bob Lobel: The Growing Legend of Tom Brady

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

So Yoda (nickname Brady) and his young Jedi warrior (nickname Jimmy G) are the chosen ones for “the force.”  

Brady, in typical Yoda fashion, will say to his understudy, “fumble or interception, I do not want. My job, take it not!”  

Not yet anyway. "Three more years, Yoda does want.” And so it goes. 

Ryan Mallett has turned to the dark side and now there are the Brady/Belichick understudy three: Mallett, Hoyer and Cassel. All pretty, good but not our Tom. 

Bob Lobel: Jimmy Garoppolo's Magical Preseason

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

Jimmy Football is the heir apparent, apparently. 

This is what our eyes tell us from three preseason friendlies with the Patriots playing one more. And that one more will supposedly be the Jimmy Garoppolo coming out party. Seriously, other than the Mankins trade, has there been any other story line out of Foxboro than the back up quarterback contest?

We all know why this has become so important. 

I Hate Being A Patriots Fan On Draft Day

Look at that handsome devil, all ready to ruin the last few years of Tom Brady's career.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Being a Patriots fan on Draft Day is a rather interesting experience. In my many years of being a Patriots fan, there have really only been two drafts that I left feeling genuinely fired up about who they ended up with. In 2011, they took Nate Solder in the first round (which meant that Matt Light would quickly be on his way out - this brought me great joy, as I've held a grudge against Light ever since he performed dismally in the 2007 Super Bowl) and picked up Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen in the second and third rounds (nothing against BenJarvus Green-Ellis, but he didn't/doesn't have a very high ceiling). And the next year, they traded up twice to grab both Chandler Jones and Donta Hightower in the first round to shore up a then-abysmal defense (it's only now slightly less abysmal, but at least they're making progress).

Most years, the Patriots have an infuriating draft.