It's Outrageous We're Just Now Hearing the Super Bowl LI Champion Patriots Slogan was 'FEA,' for 'Fuck 'em All'

“‘FEA’ means 'Fuck ‘em all,' man. They ain’t cheering for you, anyway, so you may as well go out there and win. We’re going to try and please everybody and get everyone to like us by losing. Fuck that. We’re gonna fuck ‘em all.” - Tom Brady, Episode 7 of "Man in the Arena"

A few weeks back, "Man in the Arena" director and co-owner with Brady in the Religion of Sports production company Gotham Chopra came on Do Your Pod to discuss the series. And I specifically asked him for no spoilers, just for moments like this. Because the beauty of his docuseries is that, even though we've all lived through these events, seen the NFL Films specials, gotten the Patriots "Do Your Job" DVDs as Christmas gifts and maybe even rewatched the recordings of the games we've kept labeled "Save Until I Delete," these episodes still have the ability to present us with parts of this tale we never heard before. 

Make no mistake, the saga of Brady and the 2016 Patriots is truly one of the GOATest stories ever told. It's like something out of a fable. A hero's journey of persecution and redemption. Of suffering and triumph. Injustice and vengeance. Facing down the villain who wronged you and then sticking your blade through him/making him hand you the MVP trophy. 

And this week's episode of Brady and Chopra's show does this particular chapter of the epic justice. Especially with this little nugget about "FEA." It's absolutely flabbergasting that no one has talked about this before. I mean, how many interviews and podcasts have the men who lived it sat down for and we're only just hearing now that their mantra was "Fuck 'em all"? Hell, I got interviewed for a documentary about Deflategate and the 2016 Pats and I could've used this bit of flair. Until now, the best catchphrase to come out of that season has been "No Days Off." And while it's catchy, made a nice t-shirt and fits well on the title page of a book you're signing, respectfully it can't hold a flickering candle to "Fuck 'em all." 

Think of all the time wasted. We're coming up on five full years since that glorious, redemptive comeback from 28-3. And had we known this at the time, "Fuck 'em all" could've been the war cry at the Duckboat parade. Adorned merchandise, bumper stickers and signs. Been a constant chant at Gillette. The unofficial state motto of Massachusetts, since it's pretty much the perfect Masshole sentiment. You could even imagine it in giant stainless steel letters at One Patriots Place alongside Mr. Kraft's "We Are All Patriots." But alas, that ship has sailed. An opportunity lost forever. Like a perfect insult or a fantastic joke that comes to you in the car on the way home from the party. 

So let's all, to the extent we can, at least keep these words in mind whenever we think of the 2016 Patriots. A team who lost their quarterback to a corrupt, anti-science witch hunt, got him back, triumphed over evil, and in the end, fucked 'em all. 

P.S. Free-to-swear Tom Brady might be my favorite Tom Brady. We need the FCC to suspend all their language rules, just as they apply to him.