For local fans, Pats are simply Super

LYNN ?They cheered, bit their nails and sometimes looked away in disgust but, ultimately, New England Patriots fans watching the AFC Championship game in local bars Sunday looked on with pride as their team advanced to its seventh Super Bowl.?You know you?re witnessing something special when the defense actually shows up for a game,” said Jeremiah Clark, a firefighter and EMT from Lynn, who watched the game at the Lazy Dog in Wyoma Square with about 30 other fans in red, white and blue jerseys.Unlike many of his fellow fans, Clark said he would hope to see the Patriots play the San Francisco 49ers in the big game.?Just because I couldn?t take seeing them lose to Eli Manning again,” he explained.Porthole patrons Ellen and Rob Kipfer, of Swampscott, said they would also be hoping for a Pats-49ers match-up in Indianapolis for sentimental reasons.?Today is our 28th wedding anniversary, and we got married on Super Bowl Sunday when the 49ers played the Raiders, so it all comes together,” said Ellen Kipfer, who grew up with Pats? season tickets. “Plus, Boston is like the San Francisco of the East Coast.”But the vast majority of fans said they?d love to see the Pats get their revenge on the Giants, who won in 2008 when David Tyree pinned the ball against his helmet for a 33-yard catch during the final drive of a hard-fought game to overtake the Patriots.?We need to redeem ourselves for that (game),” said Pauline Coulon, who watched the close game at the Lazy Dog with her daughter Karyn, a former Classical High School swim captain, during a fundraiser at the bar for high school swimming.?If they weren?t having a fundraiser, I?d be at my house pacing around the living room,” she said as the Ravens made a first down toward the end of the fourth quarter.Though the bar patrons could scarcely keep their seats during the second half, Karyn Coulon said she was grateful for an interesting game.?It?s a stressful game, but it?s more exciting than last week,” she said. “We?ve been from one extreme to other.”Sandy Almonte, who watched the game at the Porthole restaurant on the Lynnway, said Stephen Gostkowski was the second most important Patriot behind Tom Brady because he was the only one who could score. But it turned out to be the Ravens? kicker Billy Cundiff?s flubbed 33-year field goal that sealed the victory for the Pats after some monumental stops by a sometimes disappointing defense.As the final seconds ticked down and the Lazy Dog erupted in cheers and applause, lifelong fan Norval Bryant summed up the true fan?s outlook for Super Bowl XLVI:?It don?t matter who they play or what the score is as long as they win.”Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].