MASHPEE – His dog is named after a linebacker, “Bruschi.” As for his three children, Leon Pinsonneault said, ““They know Dad’s a freak on game day.”
And his wife, Sharon, said, “On a typical Sunday, he gets up singing. He’s like, ‘It’s game day! It’s game day!’ He’s singing in the shower.” So as the New England Patriots prepare to play the Denver Broncos for the AFC Championship this Sunday, Pinsonneault was in an especially confident mood early in the week.
Leon Pinsonneault, Patriots fan.
Joe Broderick, a bartender at Dino’s Sports Bar, said of Pinsonneault, “He doesn’t believe they are ever going to lose.”
In fact, it was Broderick who directed Cape Cod Wave to Pinsonneault for this story. Asked for help finding a dedicated, rabid Patriots fan, Broderick said, “I know just the guy.”
Pinsonneault, 50, was raised in North Attleboro where he grew up playing football. “Everybody had their dream when they were a kid,” he said. “Football was mine.” He played plenty of backyard football when he was young, and high school football as a tight end, wide receiver, and cornerback.
But as a child, his father had season tickets from a bakery business he owned, and often let Pinsonneault sit in the worst of his seats, at the very top of the old Sullivan Stadium. “I loved it,” he said. “I have been following the Patriots ever since I was young.”
“Back then, you liked the Patriots but you always had to like another team because Patriots never went to playoffs,” he said. “My second favorite team was the Minnesota Vikings. I watched them lose four Super Bowls.”
Purchase Required
To read the rest of this one Longform story, please purchase access. The price for this one story is $3.00. To access all of our Longform stories, choose a $5.00 monthly membership or a $50.00 yearly membership.
