Boston Sports Then and Now

Pat Patriot was the face of the Patriots from 1961-1992.

Wow, how scary is this guy?

Exactly.

For years, Pat Patriot was like the kid on the playground who wore thick glasses, picked his nose, and dressed funny.

The other kids made fun of him and beat him up.

As fans, we endured it because we figured a team representing New England probably should have a cartoon logo of a deranged Paul Revere, set to snap the ball.

Deranged Patriotism was the general idea, after all. Besides, he had that quaint charm going for him.

And, good fans that we were, after every disappointing campaign, we said, Man, those guys aren’t going to steal our lunch money tomorrow. We’re gonna get ‘em.

But when you’re watching your team play against guys with stars and horns and lightning bolts and birds of prey on their helmets, and your team is dressed funny, it’s hard not to wonder: Are they taking us seriously at all?

Look, I know there are those in Patriot Nation who actually like Pat. In fact, I read something about a Boston Globe survey last winter that showed that fans actually preferred Old Pat to Flying Elvis.

With all due respect to other people’s opinions, not to mention the remarkable talent of New England sports cartoonist Phil Bissell, the artist who created Pat Patriot, I think some fans have short memories.

To be fair, I have to say that Pat served his purpose back in the day. He was probably the most artistically intricate logo in the AFL or NFL, which has to count for something.

And Pat had been good enough to replace the original logo, an unrecognizable representation of a tricorner hat, which lasted less than one AFL season.

So the Bissell creation, Pat Patriot, held the job from 1961-1992.

But for as long as I can remember, there was talk among fans about how the logo measured up to others around the league.

By the late 1980s, the organization had caught on and began to search for a modern, more streamlined image.

Pat Patriot’s day had passed.

There were many ideas presented before someone finally came up with the original version of the Flying Elvis. He debuted in 1992, wearing a Flying tricorner of bright blue and red. And oh yeah, a silver face.

In 2000—now this is the key—the decision was made to switch to somewhat deeper shades of blue and red.

The new logo took some getting used to, but hey, welcome to the 21st century.

More to the point, welcome to a winning tradition.

The kid got contacts, stopped picking his nose, and started buying his own clothes. He bought himself a Harley and a 12-gauge and left the playground bullies in a cloud of dust.

I like seeing my team taken seriously.

And I like watching the playground bullies pick their noses.

Since the introduction of the first Flying Elvis, the Patriots are batting over .600 in regular season games and have won their division seven times.

They have gone to six AFC championship games, winning five of them.

They have won three Super Bowls, making millions of fans happy and totally pissing off many more millions of others.

Their quarterback holds the single-season records for touchdown passes and total yards.

TLane is a die-hard Patriots fan and also follows college basketball, especially the women’s hoops game. You can read more of his work on Bleacher Report.