While Boston-area sports fans offered unwavering support for their Patriots in Super Bowl 51, many were left conflicted by the team’s ties to the Trump presidential campaign and current administration. Owner Robert Kraft, star QB Tom Brady, and head coach Bill Belichick have all offered written and verbal statements in support of Donald Trump in the past year, which didn’t sit well with many of the Pats faithful.
History indicates that sports fans have the uncanny ability to keep politics out of their rooting interests, but many on social media were able to reconcile the two thanks to a clever concept dreamt up by a socially responsible New England fan.
The writer behind the cause, Josh Gondelman of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, along with friend Emma Sandoe, inspired Pats fans to donate to causes such as the ACLU and Planned Parenthood every time New England scored, using the hashtag #AGoodGame.
Gondelman set the bar pretty high, pledging $100 for every Pats TD, but halfway into the game, it looked like that might not amount to much. Fortunately – for the charities, but not Falcons fans – the Patriots came together for a history-making comeback that would have netted Gondelman’s causes a cool $400 from four touchdowns and another $100 from two field goals.
Since the Patriots are among the most divisive teams in the history of the NFL, it didn’t take long for Patriots haters to get in on the fun as well, pledging money not just for ATL touchdowns, but for every time Tom Brady was sacked.
Those latter pledges may not have been Gondelman’s intent with the hashtag, but with the way things went yesterday, the Pats TDs and Falcons sacks made for a nice demonstration from fans who got to tie their team allegiances in with some socially responsible generosity.
