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Bowl ticket or no, Houston beckons
By Anand Vaishnav, Globe Staff, 1/29/2004

HOUSTON -- Memo to Patriots fans: Houston has you covered.
Thousands of football-hungry fans from Boston and beyond will descend upon the Bayou City starting late today and tomorrow for Super Bowl XXXVIII. But only a select few possess tickets to Sunday's big game. How, then, to satiate the masses who will take in the Patriots-Panthers face-off from a barstool?
Fear not. New Englanders with or without the coveted tickets can find something to do within Houston's 633 square miles, as the nation's fourth most populous city welcomes an estimated 100,000 tourists. They might even find something resembling the comforts of home, from the traffic to the trendy shopping to the . . . well, not the weather. (Temperatures this week are forecast to be in the 60s, with nary a snowflake in sight. Sorry.)
First things first: A bar outside downtown Houston has already established itself as headquarters for Patriots fans, plastering banners and pennants outside and flying the Patriots' flag. The Tavern on Gray expects hundreds of Pats fans to belly up to its 187-foot-long bar, which owner Charlie Watkins contends is the longest in the Lone Star State.
Watkins is a seventh-generation Texan whose forebears fought in the Battle of San Jacinto. (That was the battle that the Texan army won in 1836 after being crushed by Mexican forces at the Alamo.) He is coy about his football loyalties, although he rooted for the Patriots during the playoffs. But he professes admiration for one team: Boston sports fans.
"The Patriots bring Boston fans down here, which is a fun, fun football group," said Watkins, 47. "I feel Houston is very, very fortunate to have Patriots fans, because they're a big, loyal fan base coming into Houston. And that makes it much, much better to cheer the Patriots on."
Watkins transformed his bar into a Patriots fan den after receiving a telephone call from Brad Darr, a Pats follower who owns a bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. During New England's Super Bowl appearance in the Big Easy two years ago, Darr remade his tavern into Patriots central, and he plans to unleash the same hoopla at Watkins's place.
Darr is not a man who fools around. He and up to 45 Patriots fans flying in from New England will pack two recreational vehicles and drive to Houston tomorrow morning, heading straight for Watkins's bar. On Saturday night, they plan a voodoo ceremony with an unsuspecting stuffed panther.
"We've got some pins we're going to be sticking into the panther to get the crowd riled up," said Darr, 35. "After sticking some pins in, the last thing we do is cut the head off. That's what we did with a ram the last Super Bowl."
The Patriots, you recall, won that game against the St. Louis Rams 20-17.
New England fans can also celebrate at a free downtown street party called The Main Event beginning tonight and lasting through Super Bowl Sunday. In addition, the NFL Experience at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston will let children and adults test their throwing, blocking, kicking, and other pigskin skills.
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January 26, 2004

LOCAL NEWS HEADLINES PROFILE:

He's 'The Patriots Guy'
By James J. Gillis/Daily News staff
If you've watched a few New England Patriots games on TV the past few years, you've seen this guy.It's usually for a second or two, but the camera easily finds the hairless head of John "Westy" West a few times a season. And if you've attended the games at Gillette Stadium, West is easy to spot, leading cheers in his section and dancing on the stadium's big-screen Jumbotron. "I'm just a fan, a fan who likes to have some fun," said West, 40.OK, maybe he's not just a fan.In the past dozen years, since he started faithfully attending Patriots games, West has become linked with the team. He is well known in Peabody, Mass., where he lives and where he is dubbed "The Patriots Guy." And when he visits his hometown of Newport, old friends say they've caught him in TV crowd shots."I like to go to Ben's Chili Dogs whenever I'm in Newport," he said. "And I've had guys stop me and say, 'Hey, I see you on TV during the games.' It's a lot of fun."A few things you should know about John West, Rogers High School Class of 1981: First of all, he is a family man, with wife, Tina, and son Derek. He works as a shipping and receiving manager. He's a youth sports coach and appears to live a life well placed in mainstream America.Except at game time.Then he gets decked out in red, white and blue Pats garb, sometimes with a jester-type hat, and heads to Foxboro to find his buddies. For a 1 p.m. game, he leaves his house at 7:30 a.m. for a 45-minute drive to the stadium.Then the serious tailgating begins until game time and resumes after the game. "I usually don't get home until 9 or 9:30 at night," he said.So, as you might imagine, West is in fan frenzy this week. Boston's Channel 4 has called about doing a story, shooting footage of his basement packed with Pats souvenirs. Meanwhile, he's trying to find his way to Houston for Super Bowl XXXVIII.No, he has not gotten tickets. He failed to win any in the season-ticket lottery. But he is undeterred. And tickets or no tickets, he expects to celebrate somewhere in Houston late Sunday night with other Pats fans, convinced that the Patriots will beat the upstart Carolina Panthers."I'm sitting here with my cell phone in one ear and my work phone in the other," he said, e-mailing and calling people about tickets and accommodations.When the Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, West and his wife joined another couple in New Orleans. West and his buddy scored tickets, while his wife and his friend's wife watched from a Big Easy spot called the Corner Bar, which served as an oasis for New Englanders.After the game, West and his wife managed to make their way into a Patriots victory party in the team hotel. A couple had VIP wristbands and, on their way out, turned them over to the Wests."The players and their families were there, some fans," West said. "It was incredible. Players shook hands and signed autographs. My wife has it on video. It was great to be part of something like that."So now he wants to be part of another big win, Texas-style. The Pats are favored by a touchdown and West expects the team, which has won 14 straight games, to come through."But I know I'll start getting nervous when it gets closer to the game," he said.West's father, John H. West of Middletown, gets a kick out of his son's enthusiasm. The elder West is a Pats fan as well, but not nearly as obsessed. "He really started getting into it about 10 years ago," West said. "And as the Patriots have ascended, he's gotten more attention."His father said the younger West calls his parents hours before every game, as he gathers with friends for the tailgating ritual, which incorporates a tent, cooking supplies and a TV set. "These are people who have responsible jobs," his father said. "But on Sunday, they become something different. John is a father and husband and he works all week. On Sundays, he becomes this mad Pats fan. But he has a lot of fun with it, and I'm glad for him."Westy himself is aligned with Pats fans all over the place. A guy named Bo, who is often shown on TV with his head painted silver, is now a friend. But Westy's best Pats pals are Peter Gifford and Wally Kulas, who got him hooked on the team in the early 1990s.The franchise at that time was the NFL version of a Building 19 store. The old arena, Foxboro Stadium, was often half empty. The team usually lost more than it won and players were always embroiled in controversy - drug issues, sexual harassment of reporters, you name it.That changed when coach Bill Parcells, quarterback Drew Bledsoe and owner Robert Kraft arrived. Gifford and Kulas invited West to some games and he got hooked. In the meantime, the Patriots became a top-flight franchise.And West, now a season-ticket holder, is enjoying his role. He's become friendly with a player or two through the years, including All-Pro defensive lineman Richard Seymour. From his seats at Gillette Stadium, he hangs a banner in praise of Seymour. In return, Seymour often waves or pumps his fist at West and friends."It's been a great, great ride this season," West said. "There's been snow and freezing cold and some great games."West usually wear shorts, even during the holiday season. But he switched to long pants for the frigid January playoff games.Against the Tennessee Titans a few weeks ago, with sub-zero wind chills, West put on six layers of clothing, Michelin-man style. "It was absolutely freezing, bone-chilling, stupid cold," he said. "Anyone who says they weren't cold is full of bull. You just had to keep cheering, keep dancing."West said he is fortunate his wife supports his Pats fever and son Derek is also a fan. Tina West maintains his Web site (www.patsfanwesty.com), which features scores of photos and passionate pro-Pats essays, and has become a Patriots convert."She is really still learning the game of football, but she is getting into it as much as I do," he said.West knows that one way or another, the dream season will end this Sunday night. If the Patriots win, he'll prepare to cheer the team at a homecoming parade in Boston.Then life goes back to normal until late summer, when training camp opens and exhibition games start. "It'll be tough for a while," he said. "I definitely go through withdrawal when the season ends."
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Peabody man is the ultimate fan

By Ben Casselman ~ Staff Writer
PEABODY - By 7 a.m. on Sundays, West is awake with the game day jitters. At 9 a.m. he pulls in the gate at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, ready to begin his pregame rituals. By the time the national anthem plays, he's ready for some football.
Westy isn't a player, though. He's a fan, one of the jersey-wearing, banner-waving, diehard fans who always seem to end up on the stadium Jumbotron. And for John "Westy" West, a 40-year-old Peabody resident, being a fan is not a calling to be trifled with.
"I've missed weddings, funerals, birthdays," West said yesterday, as he basked in the glow of yet another Patriots' victory. "I'm starting to think about seeing a psychiatrist about it."
West has been going to Patriots games with friends Peter Gifford and Wally Kulas for some 12 years now, back before the Pats were Super Bowl champions, before they were led by top-tier coaches, and before seemingly everyone in New England made a Sunday ritual of watching the team play.
During football season, West's life revolves around the games. Every week, the anticipation builds, until by Sunday morning, West said, he feels like "a little kid on Christmas." He and his friends spend all day at the stadium - tailgating before the game, cheering wildly during it, and hanging out at a nearby restaurant afterward, hoping to run into players who are known to come by after games. He frequently doesn't get home until 8 or 9 p.m.
"It's a whole way of life," said West. There through it all is West's wife, Tina.
"She's a saint - I have to say that," West said with a laugh. "A lot of her friends who know me and know her tell her that."
But over the years, she's gotten into it, too. West's season tickets were a 10th anniversary present from his wife, and it was Tina who urged him to head down to New Orleans for the Patriots' improbable 2001 Super Bowl win. She and Kulas' wife watched the game from a New Orleans sports bar as their husbands headed to the stadium, and all of them ended up at the official team party that night.
This year, both Wests have had plenty to be excited about. After a rocky start, the Patriots have won 12 straight games to go a franchise-record 14-2 on the season, the best record in the league. The team is undefeated at home, too, perhaps a credit to the furious cheering of West and his fellow fans.
"I would have said at the beginning of the year, 'You're crazy', if you'd said 14-2," West said. "It's slowly starting to remind you of the championship year."
And if the Patriots really do make it to the Super Bowl again, look out for West to find a way to get there as well.
"I'm going to do my darnedest to get there," West said. "Where there's a will, there's a way."
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