This feature originally ran in The Standard-Times on Feb. 9, 2005.

By Nick Tavares
Standard-Times correspondent

BOSTON — Greeted by nearly a million cheering fan,s the New England Patriots yesterday celebrated another season of dominance and another three-point Super Bowl victory, taking their "Rolling Rally" through the streets of Boston.

In what is almost beginning to seem routine, the NFL's newest dynasty boarded World War II-style amphibious duck boats to travel from the Hynes Convention Center along Boylston Street Tremont Street and Cambridge Street.

The players were exalted by a crowd Boston police, estimated at almost 1 million, who came not only to celebrate the team's 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Superbowl XXXIX, but to witness a moment in sports history. To gain a glimpse of the players, spectators stood on sidewalks, snow banks and mailboxes.

They hoisted signs, proclaiming everything from "Boston '3' Party" to "Brady 4 Pope" to "36 38 39 = Dynasty."

Fans from up down and across New England chanting "DY-NAS-TY! DY-NAS-TY!" came to pay tribute to the champs on an unseasonably warm February afternoon.

"This is my third parade, and this year I made sure to get here early to get a good spot to see everything," said Dan Mercryo of Wakefield.

"This is exciting!" said James Ryan, 5, of Plymouth. "I like baseball and the Red Sox too, and then they both won this year."

James, decked out in a blue Tom Brady jersey, was attending his first championship parade with his father Jim. "He really got into (the Patriots) this year," said Mr. Ryan. "He fell asleep in the third quarter ,so I woke him up to see the end. Between this and the Red Sox ,he's had a good year."

The celebration was also an excuse for some to get out of school.

"This is his first parade, so I called the school to tell them that he wouldn't be in, because he had Patriots Fever," said Jennifer Yang of Braintree with her son Thomas, 7.

Bill Belichick was front and center wearing his standard gray hooded sweatshirt and holding aloft one of the team's three Vince Lombardi trophies. He was flanked by personnel director Scott Pioli and team owner Robert Kraft holding the other two.

Tom Brady and Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch followed to the loudest ovation, joined by departing offensive coordinator Charlie Weis.

Richard Seymour and Troy Brown were right behind them, showing off their previous rings on a separate boat.

This year's parade differed from past Patriots parades in that it was not capped by a rally at City Hall Plaza. The latter is still filled with a massive amount of snow from the Jan. 22-23 blizzard and crowd control was also a concern.

The large crowd was mostly peaceful, but several people were led away from the parade route in handcuffs yesterday. Also near the end of the celebration, a fight erupted at a downtown intersection and police circled the area.

Emotions aside, some experts have speculated that this could be the final chapter in the team's amazing run. With Weis and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennell leaving, some have wondered whether the team will be able to fill those holes.

But fans had no doubt yesterday that the future would be anything but great.

"They're totally capable of doing it again," said George Gommatos of Lynn. "They're the best organization in football, and I bet there will be a lot of teams copying them now."

"It's Pioli who's the most important guy anyway," said his friend Jim Paragion.

"Yeah the 'evil genius' Belichick will come up with another plan with him to keep winning," added Mr. Gommatos.

None of questions the team may face in the coming months mattered to those attending yesterday's celebration. The Patriots, league doormats for years, are now the class of the NFL reveling in their third championship in four years.

And as Tom Brady said, you never get tired of winning.

This story appeared on Page A1 of The Standard-Times on February 9 2005.