ATLANTA -- Place that hate in your hands, hold it like a fistful of beach sand and then let it slowly dissolve through your fingers until it is going, going, gone. The New England Patriots deserve nothing but your unmitigated respect and admiration. Simply put, we will never again see anything like them in our lifetimes.
For the 44 states in the union that don't call the Patriots the home team, Sunday night should mark the end of a dysfunctional relationship and the beginning of something pretty special. New England beat the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3, in Super Bowl LIII, winning ugly to claim its sixth championship since the day in September 2001 that sixth-round pick Tom Brady took the field as a gaunt and barely coordinated game manager and started developing into the finest football player who ever lived.