You’re familiar with the term Tebowing? Expect to see plenty of it tonight, some of it by wobbly-kneed Pats fans who began tailgating roughly a week ago Tuesday.
I do know, however, where this fan chose to find spiritual succor. A first-time pilgrimage to Patriot Place, shrine to The Franchise The Krafts (Re)Built, seemed especially timely with Tebow’s Broncos coming to town.
Not only does Patriot Place, a sprawling complex of restaurants and retail stores, surround Gillette Stadium, where the team’s hall of fame is housed. It also perfectly represents where professional football sits these days, at the confluence of three mighty rivers: sports, entertainment, and shopping.
Holy hoodie, Pats fans. I almost felt obligated to go there.
Before I went, I prepared myself as any devout disciple might. Seat cushion from Super Bowl XXXVI? Check. Nick Buoniconti throwback jersey? Download of “Gronk Nation,’’ Future’s hip-hop ode to tight end Rob Gronkowski (“I know you see me on TV / Catching passes, getting hype / Scoring TDs on those DBs / End zone dancing, then I spike’’)? Check.
My first stop was the Hall at Patriot Place, where the innocent get baptized in the waters of team history (“Dad, what’s a ‘tuck rule?’ ’’) and confetti literally rains down on the heads of true believers at the Hall’s hall’s exit. The Hall opened in 2008 and receives about 120,000 visitors annually, according to its staff.
Tours begin with an introductory film that quotes liberally from Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose homespun advice (“Hitch your wagon to a star’’) miraculously anticipated Tom Brady’s arrival 130 years later. Scenes of militia men tromping through the woods floated by, soldiers firing their muskets at a game but unseen enemy - possibly, it occurred to me, the annoying Rex Ryan, New York Jets coach. .
