Jaylen Brown isn't rooting for the Patriots to win the AFC Championship, and that's okay


Word on the streets is that there's a pretty big football game happening in New England this weekend, and fans in Boston seem pretty stoked about it. For most fanbases, this would be a huge deal, but we've been in this situation every year for what seems like the last century. It's the AFC Championship game. Winner moves on to the Super Bowl. It is known. 



The media asked a few players on the Boston Celtics who they were rooting for to take the W: the New England Patriots or the Jacksonville Jaguars. Most guys chose the Pats, but Jaylen Brown took the underdogs, for a very reasonable reason: his cousin, A.J. Bouye, is a cornerback for the Jags.  

Many Boston fans aren't happy with his answer, and that's an understatement. They're lighting their torches and grabbing their pitchforks. Saying that they aren't Jaylen Brown fans anymore. Saying that he's disloyal and should be traded, or demoted to the G-League. Ridiculousness.


Relax New Englanders. Take a deep breath. It is okay for Jaylen to root for the Jaguars for a multitude of reasons, and here's a few:

First of all, I thought this was America? It's a free country!



Secondly, the dude's cousin plays for the Jaguars. His blood literally runs underneath a Jag's jersey. It's not too difficult to understand why he'd want Jacksonville to win.

If my cousin were drafted to the friggen Los Angeles Lakers, or played for Team Iceland in the Junior Goodwill Game, or was a damn MonStar, I'd root for all of those bad guys to win. That doesn't mean I'd bail on the Celtics, but I'd clear some space in my heart for those other teams. I mean, imagine your cousin raising the Larry O'Brien trophy. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it, and I have no athletic cousins, so I'm really using my imagination here.

I think that if you disagree with that take, then you've got to try less. You're being a hardo. Either that, or you just really dislike your family.


Professional athletes come from all over the world. They grew up rooting for various team. It was all around them, just like growing up in Boston has made most of us Celtics' or Patriots' fans, because it's everywhere. Just think about driving to the supermarket anywhere in Massachusetts: you'll see Pats bumper stickers on cars; you'll here idiot Felger and Mazz talk about them on the radio; inside the store you'll see posters on the wall and New England gear on the shoppers; then you go home and see the Patriots' schedule-magnet on your refrigerator. You can't escape it. You were probably dressed in Pats gear before you were old enough to walk, so you can't just expect these players to drop their fandom because they live in a different city. If you, being a Celtics' fan, moved to Los Angeles, would you all of a sudden trade in all of your green clothes for the purple and gold? Of course not. That's not how fandom works.

It's weird, because a few months ago, Gordon Hayward commented on Tom Brady, and there was no uproar from Boston fans.
I'm a Colts fan, so I can't stand him just because he plays for the Patriots. I think he's a good quarterback. Loyalty, right?
Exactly, Gordon! Loyalty. Couldn't have said it better myself. And check this out:



This all seems obvious, but Boston fans were going at each other today on Twitter. It was honestly a bloodbath. Best friends became enemies. Siblings became strangers. Hate was flowing through my timeline all day long, and it was all because Jaylen Brown was rooting for his cousin to succeed. It was unreal, like there was an evil influence behind it...

Everyone please listen to this and calm down. Thank you.



Also, Go Pats! 


Photo: NBC Sports