The Patriots have been good to us, remarkably six AFC Championships, and we hope four Super Bowls. That can be a lot of shirts printed in the slow New England month of February. The history for us has been up and down. There was the ecstatic night in 2001 when the Patriots pulled out the amazing upset over the Rams. Adam Vinatieri’s field goal split the uprights and we all jumped up, yelled, and then ran into the other room and on four autos printed 50,000 shirts in 24 hours. We were very tired, but it was pretty exhilarating. Also our first experience with the fact that there just isn’t that much news in RI that relates to the Patriots and so news crews came and filmed us as they continue to do to this day. There was a story this morning even. The low was when the Patriots were undefeated and lost to the Giants when that idiot caught the only pass of his life on the top of his head in the Super Bowl. Not only was I disappointed from a fan’s point of view, but we had 100,000 shirts on the floor and a particularly easy print ready to go on the presses. Ugh…

Mostly neither the numbers of shirts nor the money is that great. It is hard work, relentless work, and it is tough working through the whole night. However, it is fun to tap into a small part of the energy of the victory. Also like the Patriots you have to have a game plan and work together to get your shirts done on time in the middle of the night. I’m proud that we always get asked, because we always make our numbers.

Last night the Patriots won 45-7. Mirror Image was supposed to have the last pick up at 6 AM this morning, Ray, Ruth and our crew had it done by 3:30 AM. Go team!