Crazy Patriot History Options

[Saints Rest]

From another thread:

Are you kidding?  That was one of the great moments in Pats history.  Fryar got hurt in the 1st half of a game in '86, left the Stadium at halftime and proceeded to hit a tree a couple miles away.

The AP blurb:
Its crazy insane stuff like this that happened to the Pats with regularity in the Sullivan era that makes what has occurred since 2001 almost inconceivable.

So what would be the top 10 craziest shit in Pats history?

Some places to start:
Off-field
-- Tuna planning his exit strategy while preparing to face the Packers in Super Bowl XXX.
-- Chuck Fairbanks taking the Colorado job, getting fired and then rehired as the Pats prepare to play the Oilers in the playoffs.
-- Steve Moore (et al.) waving his parts in the face of female GLobe reporter Lisa (grrr, can't remember her last name)
-- the great toilet flush water pressure test on the opening of Shaefer Stadium
-- the drug bust post Super Bowl XX
-- the aforementioned Irving Fryar moment

OnField
-- the fire in the stands that delayed the game while all the fans had to move down onto the field
-- Roughing the Passer
-- The Tuck Rule

[drleather2001]

From another thread:
So what would be the top 10 craziest shit in Pats history?

Some places to start:
Off-field
-- Tuna planning his exit strategy while preparing to face the Packers in Super Bowl XXX.
-- Chuck Fairbanks taking the Colorado job, getting fired and then rehired as the Pats prepare to play the Oilers in the playoffs.
-- Steve Moore (et al.) waving his parts in the face of female GLobe reporter Lisa (grrr, can't remember her last name)
-- the great toilet flush water pressure test on the opening of Shaefer Stadium
-- the drug bust post Super Bowl XX
-- the aforementioned Irving Fryar moment

OnField
-- the fire in the stands that delayed the game while all the fans had to move down onto the field
-- Roughing the Passer
-- The Tuck Rule

Off Field: Drew Bledsoe's stage dive

On Field: The snow-plow game
Player (Matt Chatham?) tackling the streaker during the SB.

[Tizzolator]

Off-field:
(Lisa Olsen was the name you're searching for)
Tuna's farewell press conference, when he instructed America on the proper way to shop for their groceries
Bob Kraft announcing the team's move to Hartford with a press conference in Hartford with the governor of CT, which he later recanted.

On-Field:
Darryl Stingley's injury

EDIT: you beat me to the snowlplow game, Dr.

This post has been edited by Tizzolator: Jan 10 2007, 03:09 PM

[Saints Rest]

I can't believe I forgot the SnowPlow Game!

[Smiling Joe Hesk...]

- Steve Moore (et al.) waving his parts in the face of female GLobe reporter Lisa (grrr, can't remember her last name)

It was Zeke Mowatt who did that, to Lisa Olsen.

Don't forget new head coach Clive Rush nearly being electrocuted by a faulty mic at his introductory press conference.

And GM Patrick Sullivan bankrolling the Jackson 5 Victory tour, which cost the Sullivan family millions of dollars and led to them selling off part of the team.

Will McDonough punching out Raymond Claybourne in the locker room.

Matt Millen slugging Pat Sullivan after the Pats beat Oakland in the playoffs in '86.

[DJnVa]

I'm not sure. I just started watching them.

[Tizzolator]

And GM Patrick Sullivan bankrolling the Jackson 5 Victory tour, which cost the Sullivan family millions of dollars and led to them selling off part of the team.

SJH, wasn't Victor Kiam involved in another disasterous business deal while he owned the Pats? I am almost certain of this, but I can't quite place it.

This post has been edited by Tizzolator: Jan 10 2007, 03:10 PM

[Smiling Joe Hesk...]

SJH, wasn't Victor Kiam involved in another disasterous business deal with he owned the Pats?  I am almost certain of this, but I can't quite place it.

Everything Victor Kiam did while he owned the Pats turned to utter shit, so it's possible.

I do know at one point Kiam had sold the controlling interest to the team and couldn't watch a game from a luxury box, so he stood on the Pats' sideline, in his KIAM 1 Pats jersey, pathetically alone.

[Tizzolator]

I do know at one point Kiam had sold the controlling interest to the team and couldn't watch a game from a luxury box, so he stood on the Pats' sideline, in his KIAM 1 Pats jersey, pathetically alone.

I totally forgot about that. Anyone know of a good book about the history of the Patriots, both the bad and the good? It would be a hysterical read. The material in this brief thread alone could provide a solid basis, that is for sure.

[Razor Shines]

Some recent examples:

The Doug Flutie drop-kick.

The David Patten Game (throwing, passing, rushing for a TD).

In both instances, it was the first time that particular event happened in recent NFL history.

This post has been edited by Razor Shines: Jan 10 2007, 03:20 PM

[Smiling Joe Hesk...]

I totally forgot about that.  Anyone know of a good book about the history of the Patriots, both the bad and the good?  It would be a hysterical read.  The material in this brief thread alone could provide a solid basis, that is for sure.

There's some good info in the Pats' entry on Wikipedia. Lots about Kiam:

The Sullivan family lost millions of dollars on expensive investments, including The Jacksons' 1984 Victory tour. Additional pressure was placed on the ownership when they calculated that $100 million was already invested in the franchise. These financial losses and demands forced the Sullivans to sell the team. In 1986, Francis W. Murray arranged financing to keep the team afloat and, in return, was granted an option to purchase the team. When Murray tried to exercise his option, the Sullivans refused to acknowledge his rights and Murray sued and won in court. As a result, Murray agreed to partner with Victor Kiam to pirchase the team in 1988. Kiam and Murray purchased the team for $84 million — $16 million less than the cost of the team. Although Kiam was now the majority owner, he decided to keep Billy Sullivan and his son, Pat Sullivan, as franchise president and General Manager respectively. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Robert Kraft began his involvement with the Patriots by purchasing Sullivan Stadium (previously Schaefer Stadium) on November 23, 1988. Essensially, Kraft owned the stadium and Kiam possessed the team. During this leadership change, head coach Berry was replaced by Rod Rust — a change that was short-lived.

The Patriots' worst season in franchise history — a 1-15 record — came under Rust in 1990. During the season, the Patriots were thrown into the middle of a sexual harassment scandal when Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson was sexually and verbally assaulted by several Patriots players in the team's locker room — a bad situation made worse by Kiam first deriding the reporter as "a classic [explitive]" and by making lewd jokes at public events about the whole affair instead of allowing it to die quietly. Following an investigation into the scandal, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined the team $50,000, and players Zeke Mowatt, Michael Timpson and Robert Perryman $12,500, $5,000, and $5,000 respectively. Rust was fired and replaced by Dick MacPherson at the end of the season. The Olson scandal and the 1-15 record are cited as the two primary reasons why Rod Rust was told to leave.

God what an awful mess the Kiam era was.

[Lippa]

Tales from The Patriots Sideline by Felger covers most of the crazy shit the franchise has been involved in.

[Tizzolator]

The Olson scandal and the 1-15 record are cited as the two primary reasons why Rod Rust was told to leave.

I wonder what the third reason was.

[Boo Ferriss'...]

How could no one mention the Robert Edwards "Rookie Beach Bowl" disaster?

[soxfaninyankeela...]

And GM Patrick Sullivan bankrolling the Jackson 5 Victory tour, which cost the Sullivan family millions of dollars and led to them selling off part of the team.

Which also led to Pat Sullivan, GM and part owner of an NFL team, living in a luxury box in Sullivan Stadium.

This post has been edited by soxfaninyankeeland: Jan 10 2007, 03:25 PM

[PedroKsBambino]

Matt Millen slugging Pat Sullivan after the Pats beat Oakland in the playoffs in '86.

The amazing thing is that Pat Sullivan has proven to be the better football mind of the two. I would never have imagined I'd be saying that.

[Tizzolator]

Which also led to Pat Sullivan, GM and part owner of an NFL team, living in a luxury box in Sullivan Stadium.

Please elaborate ... I thought I had heard them all, but this is a new one for me.

[Smiling Joe Hesk...]

Also, in reference to the Fryar incident listed above, the previous year he had gotten into an altercation with his wife at home and she cut him in the finger with a kitchen knife.

After he drove his car into a tree Jim Donaldon of the ProJo, in the only inspired moment of his career, wrote "First a knife in the kitchen, now a fork in the road."

Fryar of course would later on find God and become both a productive WR with Miami and Philly and a model citizen. He also scored the only Pats' TD in the SB loss to the Bears.

[Lippa]

My dad always tells me this story from when the Patriots played at Nickerson Field. There was one guy who was one of the last cuts, didn't get the axe until the day before the season opener. One of his buddies took him out that night, got him completely wrecked, and when he and his buddy went to the game the next day, they were both hungover. As they take their seats, his buddy goes up and gets them beers.

While his buddy is gone, he gets paged to report to the Patriots locker room. Apparently someone had gotten hurt, so they had him suit up. He ended up making the tackle on the opening kickoff.

[Smiling Joe Hesk...]

My dad always tells me this story from when the Patriots played at Nickerson Field.  There was one guy who was one of the last cuts, didn't get the axe until the day before the season opener.  One of his buddies took him out that night, got him completely wrecked, and when he and his buddy went to the game the next day, they were both hungover.  As they take their seats, his buddy goes up and gets them beers.

While his buddy is gone, he gets paged to report to the Patriots locker room.  Apparently someone had gotten hurt, so they had him suit up.  He ended up making the tackle on the opening kickoff.

I've heard that story as well, although I don't remember the player's name.