LiveWire

Can’t Libs just calm down for a few hours and enjoy the game?

Via WSJ.

….You’d think this was shaping up to be an incredible year for Patriots fans. But there is a problem. It comes down, like so much of this nation’s discontent, to politics. The problem is Donald Trump….

In 2015 reporters spotted a “Make America Great Again” hat in Mr. Brady’s locker. He later acknowledged, “We’ve played golf together many, many times and I’ve always had a good time with him. He’s been a friend of mine.” As for Mr. Belichick, he was photographed with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago not long after winning the Massachusetts primary. And they were smiling! Mr. Kraft has described Mr. Trump as “a very close friend.” On the eve of the election, Mr. Trump announced that the coach and his star quarterback were supporting his bid for president.

All this was too much for some fans, like the one who told Fox Sports last year, “Brady, I don’t like him anymore now. With him voting for Donald Trump, he’s got to be out of his mind. I also care for Kraft and I don’t understand what Kraft’s doing.”

Fans in another time would no doubt say, “So what? Play the game.” Richard Nixon was a Redskins fan. Everybody in Washington hated Nixon but remained in love with the Skins.

But there are Patriot fans in Vermont who cannot shake the hurt and sense of near-betrayal. Troy Hermansky…grew up a New York Giants fan. But after living and working in Vermont for 30 years, he had become an admirer of the Patriots, and especially of Messrs. Brady and Belichick.

“You know, I am a fairly forgiving person, especially as a fan,” he told me. “I forgave Tiger Woods for cheating on his wife. I forgave Brady for Deflategate. I have forgiven all sorts of bad behavior by my favorite rock stars. But this . . . it honestly does change things for me. It has turned me into a Falcons fan this week.”….