Written by Lexi Landrigan and Anna Nichols
One bet. Two passionate Patriots fans. Anna Nichols and Lexi Landrigan. No matter what circumstance, the New England Patriots game is streaming in our house every Sunday. No power, no problem. We are always watching together in our lucky jerseys. Painted faces and endless amounts of buffalo wings are the norm at our Patriots’ parties.
The Patriots, America’s most hated football team. Hey, we can’t help that your team can’t stop them. We don’t give into the hate.
Among all the Patriots haters is Christopher Tomlin, freshmen Humanities World Culture teacher, and devoted Packers Fan. Tomlin, never misses an opportunity to make a quick remark when we are sporting our beloved Brady jerseys. That’s how it all began.
On January 28th, feeling confident about our chances, we made a bet with Tomlin. The bet was simple-if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, we can swap out the yellow and green for red, white, and blue in Room 231; however, if the Rams win, we have to swallow our pride and cover up our Pats jerseys for Green Bay ones.
Caroline Osborn and Isabela Mejias, innocent freshmen at Woodland, were there to witness the bet.
“I thought it was really funny to be honest because I know that you guys are big football fans, and you have so much loyalty to your team,” said Osborn.
We couldn’t agree more. And that’s why we went out the Friday before the Super Bowl to buy all of the decorations for Tomlin’s room. Not a cocky move, but a confident one. Just like the Rams fan who went out before the Super Bowl to get a tattoo, which declared the Rams Super Bowl LIII Champions.
Mejias was intrigued by Tomlin’s spontaneous attitude towards the bet. “It was interesting because students do not usually make bets with teachers, and he was actually willing to do it, and I wanted to see where it was going.”
With a handshake and a promise, the bet was sealed.
It was game day, and a lot was on the line. With tension in the air and screaming fans, Super Bowl LIII began. The first three quarters were a defensive battle between the Patriots and the Rams. After the halftime show, the game started to pick up its pace. Edelman helped the Patriots greatly as his catches brought the Patriots down the field. Gronk did not come to disappoint either. His catch brought the Pats that much closer to scoring, and the Patriots only needed two more yards to score the first touchdown of the game. The Patriots scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter and gained the extra point.
However, if the Rams were able to bring the ball down the field to score a touchdown, the score would have been tied. Our house was shaking with the rumble of all the rowdy Patriot fans. The Rams were close to scoring, but Stephon Gilmore from the Patriots made an interception on the five-yard line to save the Patriots from the Rams tying the score. Now all the Patriots needed to take the Super Bowl title home was a field goal to bring them up 13-3. Everyone was nervous, since Gostkowski, the kicker for New England, had missed a field goal at the beginning of the game. All the Patriots fans in our house froze, staring hopefully into the TV. When Gostkowski made the field goal, our house exploded. The Patriots had just won the Super Bowl!
We were ready to take on Tomlin’s room.
We came in with tired eyes but excited hearts. With our .87¢ Dunkin Donuts coffee to give us fuel and 45 minutes to finish we hauled all of our decorations into Tomlin’s class room. We worked quickly and even knocked down a Packers banner “by accident.” Once students came in they admired our work of big flags ballons and Patriots logos everywhere. Even the haters cracked a smile when they realized that Tomlin’s room was stuck in red, white and blue.
We gave Tomlin a coffee and our condolences, and basked in our glory sitting in Tomlin’s new and “improved” room.
