You'll not find Guy Fieri filming a segment for an episode of Diners, Drive-in's and Dives, though Barnies could certainly be mistaken for the latter. The crowd is usually late arriving and heavy drinking, weighed down with the burdens of life and not given to idle chatter - so when talk around the horseshoe shaped bar turns to football, people without knowledge are dismissed abruptly, as are know-it-all's and Giants' fans.
Time was that the Giants' fans dominated Lewiston, this being back before the NFL merger and the emergence of the New England Patriots as a dynastic entity...but now the old time Giants fans are dwindling in numbers as the faithful slowly die off, and are outnumbered in any bar around town 10 to 1 on any given night, their presense usually greeted with sneers and grumblings of hateful discontent.
Monday night will be no exception, though both Patriots and Giants fans would equally enjoy a New England victory as the Philadelphia Eagles travel to Foxboro to take on the Patriots in preseason action. For three hours these fans will share a common interest, but the tolerence for each other will end there and the barbs will be just as sharp - at least the ones that I can hear from my vantage point in the kitchen.
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The kitchen at Barnies Bar and Grill is about the size of a walk-in cooler at a normal restaurant. Between fitting a 6' cold table, 2 fryolators, a 3 foot flat top grill, a pizza oven and a traditional 3-bay sink system, not to mention storage of various pot, pans, plates and dry food, there is little room for error, mentally or otherwise. A step in the wrong direction or a lapse of concentration could mean disaster, or at least a big mess...
...which is exactly what the defensive coaching staff for the Patriots have been going through for a few seasons now, coaching up rookie and free agent castoffs as fill-in's for players that weren't even that good to begin with, usually just doing well enough to make sure that the high-powered offense had a little cushion to roll to victory on - except for the isolated step in the wrong direction or lapse of concentration, which is fine, I suppose, where having a great win/loss record is concerned, but that style of play is never going to win a championship, though they came within a dropped pass of doing the impossible last February.
That is a testament to the strength of the offense and it's impressive depth - but that is for other people to ponder on other nights. The offense is lethal and is a source of much confidence in and about the six weird little states that comprise the New England region - a far cry from how the defense is viewed given the fact that last season's Patriots' defense's margin for error was smaller than mine.
Sure, the defense appears to have improved and names like Jones and Hightower are being thrown about as demi-Gods and saviors, but it is not the just the new personnel that have knowledgable Patriots fans sitting up straight and paying attention, it is also a return to the attitude that made New England the World Champions 3 out of 4 years in to form the NFL's latest Dynasty - a return to the rough and tumble, to the mantra "Hit them when they have the ball, and hit them when they don't".
Call them the Beantown Brutes, call them whatever you like - just don't call them "bend but don't break", because that's not what this new breed of Patriots defenders are all about...
Tomorrow: Part II, To be or not to be - can the Patriots defense corral the illusive Michael Vick?
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