Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

The origin of "thug" is Hindi 'thag'.. litteraly thief. First known use 1810

Merriam-webster:
Definition of THUG
: a brutal ruffian or assassin


Sorry, I do not buy slang.. Or loose miss-interpretations.

In any account, that sort adds nothing to a team based on that premiss.

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

Brutal ruffian sounds a lot like what I said. There are gang members on the Saints as we speak bro; Gangster Disciples, Bloods, Crips, and Vice Lords I know several guys in both the collegiate and pro level and 60% of them were what would be called "thuggin" where I come from. The NFL is not filled with high character guys, its filled with actors and rehearsed answers.

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

And they don't take that sh1t on the field... Which negates your original point "You need a couple of thugs in the mix."

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

That violent mentality translates very well onto a football field. Remember our Super Bowl run? Forget about the bounties? Just because they aren't out there with their gang flags and a pistol doesn't mean the mentality isnt the same.

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

Didn't we just argue about Deion? Damn man, we've been going back and forth since yesterday. You want to just be friends or something?

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

Sure. Beer @ 5?

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

I don't drink, but I'll still hang out though.

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

I'm in Houston.... Not sure if I could make it by 5 anyway. :-)

I am it would seem 20 years older and come from a different time or maybe a different culture. When I grew up my roll models and heroes were my mother, grandfathers, and my stepfather. Not because they were famous, cool, or wealthy. It was because they had character and worked hard at taking care of the people that relied upon them with out complaint.

Look.... I fully understand your point and where you are coming from. However, the NFL and the military (im ex military) are similar in the respect that a % of the employees have questionable personalities and prior allegiances. Those things rarely translate to the football or battle field, there are rules and equalizers, and their opponents don't care or recognize what ever they were before they put on the uniform.

There are only 3 people off of the top of my head that were as much a badass at work as they were outside of work.... Lawrence Taylor, Mike Tyson, and Ray Lewis.... Teams steer clear of that as much as possible; not because they are a liability but because it usually equates to more bad habits that have to be broken.

Most thugs aren't bad asses at all, it's a front, a facade that they need to survive where they come from. They rarely come alone empty handed to a fight... This is why I say it adds no value on the field.

Re: Patriots have lost their 'Way'
 

I feel you. I just know that growing up, the best athletes were the guys you didn't want to mess with. The drug dealers. The gang members. The thugs. Most of them never made it because of those reasons, but that anger and hunger to remove themselves from their circumstances made them so good. I can remember my dad trying to instill that anger in me that he had growing up, but the only way he could do it was to come out there and make me mad face to face. Him and my mom took care of me. They hid my surroundings from me. So I wasn't angry; so I lacked aggression on the football field. I was the embodiment of Deion Sanders; a ball hawk. No throwing to my side. Hated tackling. Didn't want to get dirty honestly. So much so that if I go back to my high school to this day they call me Primetime.

But I'm to that age now where my friends and acquaintances are getting drafted to the NFL, and I know what they grew up as and how they are. It's one of the biggest factors of why they made it.

I guess I'm just comfortable being around the trash talkers and the bad attitudes. At times I was a part of it. It's just a cultural difference I suppose. I loved the T.O.'s. The Randy Moss's, the Primes, the Michael Irvin's. I still love the quiet players like Barry Sanders, but those showboats add color to the game. It's so much more fun. The quiet guys bore me. I like to talk! I want to talk! TALK BACK! Lol.