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.

I was a big fan of Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts. Many football insiders still consider him the greatest NFL quarterback ever. I actually remember watching him on black and white television in what’s called “the greatest football game ever played” in 1958. The Unitas-led Colts won the NFL Championship by defeating the New York “football” Giants with an exciting 23-17 sudden death overtime win. It’s hard to believe that was nearly 50-years ago.

So when Don Shula took over the coaching reins of the Colts in 1963, I quickly became a fan of Shula, too. While with the Colts, Shula won NFL Coach of the Year three times – in 1964, 1967, and 1968.

In 1970, Shula moved on to the Miami Dolphins, and I enjoyed watching Larry Csonka, Jim Kick, and Nick Buoniconti. When the Dolphins went undefeated in 1972, winning Super Bowl VII and later Super Bowl VIII, I thought Shula and his team were, respectively, the greatest of their time. His induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997 was certainly well deserved.

Shula has always been considered a class act, as his 1993 Sports Illustrated Sportsman-of-the-Year Award would indicate – despite that he and his 1972 team drink champagne after the last-standing undefeated NFL team falls each year. I’ve always felt that tradition to be questionable, but no big deal.

However, Shula’s recent “asterisk” comments about the possibility of the New England Patriots going undefeated this season is off base and causes me pause as to his sportsmanship image.

“The Spygate thing has diminished what they’ve accomplished,” Shula said in an interview with the New York Daily News. “You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. They’ve got it.”

Shula has certainly gained enough cachet in the NFL to have his opinion about “Spygate” deemed significant. However, to relate “Spygate” to this season and the Patriots’ run at becoming the second undefeated team in NFL history is irresponsible and appears more self-centered.

First, if the Patriots indeed go undefeated, it doesn’t remove the ’72 Dolphins from the record book. They will simply have to share that great distinction. And, secondly, if the Pats accomplish the feat, shouldn’t Shula and his Dolphins take the high-road as did Henry Aaron and show some class acknowledging the feat with congratulatory remarks?

As we all get long-in-the-tooth, we need to project wisdom more than bitterness.