I’ve attended hundreds of Patriots games over the years.
As a friend recently pointed out to me, I’m exceptionally lucky in this regard.
He’s right. I’ve also attended eight AFC championship games and watched Tom Brady’s entire career from inside Gillette Stadium/
It was a hell of a run.
At the beginning of each NFL game, the stadium announcer introduces the starters for the offense or defense on the team, rotating between the two each week.
Except, of course, during Super Bowl XXXVI, when the Patriots took the field as a team, absent any individual introductions, and were fined for this breach of protocol.
Super Bowl teams have been copying this move ever since.
But here’s my complaint:
I have been repeatedly told since I began watching football as a boy that there are three phases of football:
Offense, defense, and special teams.
Special teams, consisting of the kick teams, return teams, and coverage teams (who are often also offensive and defensive players).
Though they take the field less often than offense and defense, special teams can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing a game.
Yet, unlike the offense and defense, special teams are never introduced in the stadium by the announcer.
Punters, kickers, holders, and special teams specialists never get to hear their name called out as they run through that tunnel.
What the hell?
Admittedly, I don’t think it should happen often. Perhaps only once per season, and maybe at one of the less anticipated games against a lowly team like the Jets, but still, if there are three phases of football and three teams within the greater whole, don’t they deserve to be acknowledged by the stadium announcer and the fans at least once per season?
