Unless you’ve just awakened from a coma, you know the New England Patriots completed the first undefeated regular season in the National Football League since 1972. It’s an amazing accomplishment in professional sports. Hell, it’s a great feat at any level of sports. For those who have played on an undefeated team, you understand the feelings Patriots’ players are having – or will have as the years pass.

Granted, the Pats’ season will be considered a failure if they don’t close-out the year with a Super Bowl victory. Great pro teams don’t hang regular-season banners, or even division championship banners. Just ask the Yankees or Celtics. Being 16-0 will lose its luster unless it turns into 19-0. However, I can tell you first hand that even if the Patriots lose in the playoffs, each player will always remember his undefeated regular season and his teammates – especially as the players grow older. Age promotes nostalgia. Just ask the ’72 Dolphins.

Now, let me preface my undefeated experience by saying I never played professional sports. The comparison is regarding sentiment – not the level of performance.

The year was…well, you guess. A stamp cost a nickle. Gas was about 35-cents and bread a quarter. My favorite songs were Groovin’ by the Young Rascals, All You Need is Love by the Beatles, Light My Fire by the Doors, and Brown-Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. The number one song of the year was To Sir With Love by Lulu. Best movie was A Man For All Seasons, but mine was Cool Hand Luke.

It was my junior year, and I was the starting point-guard for a high school rich in basketball tradition. As the season began, we thought we’d be good and had hopes of making it to the state tournament, which required 14 wins. As practice commenced, there was absolutely no thought of going undefeated. So, we were obviously ecstatic and extremely proud to finish the regular-season 20-0.

There were many wonderful memories that year, but what I remember most is that as the year progressed, practice became more fun…and more intense. And, unlike the Pats, we began thinking and talking about an undefeated season around the tenth game. Hey, we were just kids getting caught up in all the hoopla at school, around town, and in the local newspaper. But, with all the attention came pressure. It mounted with every win.

As game 20 approached, the school and town were abuzz. I remember the excitement, but, mostly, I recall the tension. We were playing a non-league game against a very good team that featured an impressive record of their own at 16-3. One of their losses earlier in the year was against us in a close game, so this was no automatic win.

Needless to say, we won the game to finish our perfect regular season. And while I remember the joy, I also remember the relief that emerged. The pressure was much too great for any 16-year-old to endure. However, after winning, the excitement and shared feelings with teammates and coaches made it all worthwhile. It was a moment in my life that I will forever remember.

Like the Patriots, the story didn’t end with the regular season. 20-0 was great, but, unfortunately, we had little time to enjoy it. We returned to practice the day after our 20th win to prepare for the state tournament. I remember practice being more fun than focus. And while our coach let us enjoy ourselves, he reminded us at the end of the session that there was yet more to accomplish. Subsequent practices returned to normal, as we became focused on the next game and a state championship. We had to put 20-0 behind us.

We won our first game in the tournament and were only one victory away from playing at the legendary Boston Garden on the famous parquet floor. We were two victories away from the state finals – most likely versus a Catholic school from our local area and against friends with whom we had competed for years as kids in the playgrounds. The head-to-head battle was greatly anticipated by both schools and multiple communities. Remarkably, they also ended their regular season 20-0, so a championship game versus two undefeated teams was a high school basketball match-up for the ages in the state.

Unfortunately, the game never happened. We lost. What made it worse is we lost to a team from our league that we had beaten twice that year.

So, was our year a failure? At that moment it was. We were devastated. Being 20-0 meant little to me for a long time. However, as time passed, I quickly realized that the year would always be one of the most cherished of my life. I will always remember my teammates, plus the joy, hard work, and success we experienced together. We accomplished something very special. And despite the tournament loss, we will always be remembered as one of the great teams in our high school’s illustrious basketball history.

So, if the Patriots unexpectedly lose in the playoffs, I know they, too, will be devastated and consider the year a failure. But, I also know that as the years pass and they become nostalgic, they will eventually look back at this year with great pride – and remember the bond they’ve made with their teammates and coaches during their special undefeated regular season.

By the way, the year was 1967.

As I listen to admissions and denials of players named in the Mitchell Report regarding steroid use in Major League Baseball, I am neither surprised nor disappointed. Since the McGwire-Sosa run at immortality in 1998, it has been apparent that Major League Baseball players had joined the ranks of Olympians and other professional athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. But for those thinking drugs in baseball began in the 90s, keep sticking your head in the sand – as most did during that fraudulent year the Maris family politely watch Roger’s record demolished by the two Hulk-like characters.

Denial is a trait most often used when it relates to oneself or a loved one. To be in denial regarding a baseball player’s use of steroids is bewildering. No one questioned the use of testosterone by the Soviet Union’s Olympic team in 1954. And lest we forget Dr. John Ziegler who aided the CIBA Pharmaceutical Company in the development of the drug Dianabol (methandrostenolone) in the mid-50s to help western Olympians compete with the Soviet Union. So, to think performance-enhancing drugs were only available to modern-day baseball players is naive.

How will all this steroid-use influence baseball writers who are entrusted with the privilege of voting for a player’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame? They negated McGwire in his first year of eligibility. What about Bonds, Sosa – and now Clemens? Is it a vote for all, or a vote for none? Are we to believe only Olympic athletes used performance-enhancing drugs during the Dianabol years?

So many questions, so many decisions for Baseball Hall of Fame voters.

The word greatness is often used callously in the world of sports. To me, individual greatness means Ali, Robinson, Ruth, King, Owens, and a few others. The top 10 most influential people in sports history are analyzed in an excellent piece published in HOFmagazine.com. http://www.hofmag.com/content/view/642/60/1/0/

Regarding great team dynasties, the consensus top three are the 1957-1969 Celtics, 1964-1975 UCLA Bruins, and the 1947-1962 Yankees. The order is debatable.

The Boston Celtics won 11 championships and were in 12 NBA finals in 13-years. The UCLA Bruins won 10 NCAA championships and were in 11 finals in 12-years. The New York Yankees won 10 championships and were in 13 World Series in 16-years.

After those top three, a plethora of teams are considered dynasties, including other Yankee and Celtic teams, plus the Steelers, Canadians, Edmonton Oilers, Packers, Lakers, Bulls, et al.

As the NFL moves into week 15, the 13-0 Patriots already fit into that second-tier of dynasty teams with 3 Championships – and with 30-year-old Tom Brady leading the way, who knows how long this run will last. A perfect 19-0 season this year would mean championship number four and would put them atop of the NFL greatness list.

Love them or hate them, this Patriots team appears unbeatable. From this seat, only the Colts might be able to derail them and enable the Dolphins old-guard to drink from their crusty cups. To the Patriots and the football world, a 16-0 regular season followed by a loss in the playoffs would mean failure. Like the Yankees and Celtics before them, only championships are acceptable.

If the Pats do run the table, then re-sign Moss, their road to greatness will continue. And don’t forget, even though they lost their number one draft pick to Spygate, they do have the 49ers number one pick which, at the time of this writing, is the number two overall pick in the draft. The rich get richer.

Naysayers beware…with a healthy Brady at the helm another decade, the Patriots could join the elite list of Celtics, UCLA Bruins, and Yankees by the time he hangs up his cleats.

Conspiracy theories always intrigued me. It began in 1963 with the assassination of President Kennedy. Like most Americans old enough to recall that dark, life-changing day, I remember where I was when I heard the President had been shot – and the painful days that followed.

The Kennedy assassination actually hit home for our family more so than the average American, as my father personally knew him during JFK’s years as a Massachusetts’ Congressman and U.S. Senator. So as I proceeded through high school and college, the Warren Commission Report and subsequent conspiracy theories captivated me. One of my best pieces of work in college was a thesis on the assassination. My conclusion back then, as it remains today, is that a conspiracy indeed occurred.

While the debate over the Kennedy assassination has been prominent, lest we forget the once-called “mother of all conspiracies,” as December 7th approaches.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, we painstakingly remember President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous quote about December 7, 1941 … “A date which will live in infamy.” However, conspiracy theorists believe President Roosevelt not only knew of the imminent attack by the Empire of Japan, but also actually provoked it with a succession of so-called “moral embargos” on Japan commencing in 1940 and culminating with an oil and fuel embargo in July 1941. Hence, a supposed reason for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was to protect its advance into the Dutch East Indies for much-needed oil by destroying America’s Pacific fleet.

The conspiracy theory relates to Roosevelt’s attempt to change America’s isolation stance to acceptance of war – and engage in Europe. Since neither the American people nor Congress wanted to enter the war, Roosevelt needed to sucker Hitler into declaring war on the United States. An attack by Japan on the U.S. would provoke him to do so.

As we know all-to-well, Japan attached Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. President Roosevelt declared war on the Empire of Japan on 8 December. On the 11th of December, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Roosevelt then immediately declared war on Germany and Italy…with the support of Congress and the American people.

If nothing else, conspiracy theories are an interesting read.