... Bowls, before the undefeated regular season, before the ascendancy of Bill Belichick and the dominance of an unknown named Tom Brady, the New England Patriots were the laughingstock of the league.

The Patriots began their life in the American Football League and were odd even for a new league. Their owner, Billy Sullivan, had essentially bluffed his way into "The Foolish Club", and never really had the financial resources to compete with other teams—especially after the AFL-NFL merger. They were vagabonds, playing in a number of venues before settling into Foxboro Stadium.

(Calling Foxboro Stadium, aka Schaefer Stadium aka Sullivan Stadium, "cheaply made" would be generous. It was perhaps the most generic stadium ever built, in addit...

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