In my August 18, 2016 blog post, I wrote “I’ve cast a disdainful eye on television in the years I’ve been blogging.  I referred to it as ‘Tee Vee’ and taken a position that “it’s like a termite chewing through the gray matter of the nation’s collective brain.  Regardless of what I think about the current state of ‘Tee Vee,’ with its preening weather puppets and veneer-toothed news readers, once upon a time I watched it.”

Indeed, once upon a time I watched it.

If you’re a long-term reader of this blog, you know I’m a New England Patriots fan.  Not necessarily a lifelong fan, but at least since 2006 when I met Mike Vrabel at a work meeting.  The Patriots had only won three Lombardi trophies at that time.

Good or bad, my love of this team has enhanced my relationship with my father, as we’ve watched more than a few games together.  It’s also created stronger bonds with my hometown friends as I’ve been a frequent Sunday afternoon guest at their homes.

And even though I was somewhat secretive about it, I did attend the February 5, 2019 “rolling rally” in Boston.

Talk about extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds…it was a once in a lifetime thing, being swept along with the marijuana-smoking mobs.

Being a television-seeking nomad on Sunday afternoons has been complicated.  I’ve never been opposed to listening to the game on the radio, since Southern Maine’s big rock and roll flame thrower, WBLM, broadcasts the Patriots Radio Network with Bob Socci and Scott Zolak.  But I didn’t have a lot of options.  It was either the radio or couch-surfing with high school classmates.

So I broke down and bought a Tee Vee.

It’s not like I don’t have a firehose of technology running through my house.  It was just a matter of flipping a switch.  And all that stuff I used to stream on my laptop?  I can just stream it through my “Smart” Tee Vee.

As they say in the common parlance, “it’s all good.”

So far, I haven’t watched much broadcast television.  I’ve watched a ton of “Food Wishes” episodes on YouTube and I made some incredible short ribs for Sunday’s opening game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, thanks to Chef John Mitzewich’s Tee Vee tutelage.  They were crazy, insane delicious.

Poor Pittsburgh.  Did they even show up?  My friend SK and I traded a few texts during the game.

JAB:  “Surprised how shaky Roethlisberger looks.”

SK:  “His days are over.  He hasn’t looked good in years.  Soft and doughy.  He needs to subscribe to the TB12 Method.”

Dough Boy sure does need some help.  He himself admitted to ESPN “I wasn’t good enough.”

While Pats fans across the region were grilling, swilling, and preparing to watch the game, a new cloud of drama surrounded the team.  The signing of former Steelers toxin, Antonio Brown.  Will he destroy the team from the inside out?  Or will he adopt the “Patriot Way” and do his job?

Some sycophants even suggested this move was just another Belichickian mind game foisted upon the football-mad crowds.

“He’s Gandhi,” said one sports-radio talker.

Don’t know.  Don’t care.

Next Sunday at 1:00 p.m. I’ll be planted Buddha-like in front of my own Tee Vee for the New England Patriots visit to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.  We’ll see what Bill Gandhichick has planned for the Dolphins.

Bring on the haters!