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Feels like Hollywood Patriots' Super Bowl video already a blockbusterPosted: Wednesday March 06, 2002 2:06 AMBOSTON (AP) -- The plot held no secrets, the characters were familiar, and yet neither the players nor fans who gathered at the premiere of the New England Patriots' Super Bowl highlight video seemed to care that they saw most of the material before. "I never thought I'd be walking down a red carpet, going to a movie premiere,' Patriots safety Lawyer Milloy said Tuesday night before the showing. "I don't even know if I made the cut." Fans pressed against barriers, holding footballs and pictures to be autographed, as they waited for the Patriots' bus to arrive at the moviehouse next to the Boston Common. Inside, the theater filled with those who came to relive the team's first Super Bowl championship; Milloy couldn't find a seat and had to sit in the aisle. The Patriots came for a party: Wide receiver Troy Brown came dressed in a black suit and a black shirt, with one large diamond earring; Milloy had equally impressive stones in both ears and many more on the face and band of his watch; center Damien Woody wore a full-length fur coat. Usually dour head coach Bill Belichick even seemed to enjoy himself, and he brought his wife and sons along. (He gave no indication what he would do with his quarterbacks, and when asked whether he was prepared to go into the season with Drew Bledsoe on the roster, Belichick said, "He's under contract. He's a Patriot. Nothing's changed.") About a dozen Patriots -- including Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady -- as well as the coaching staff and owner Bob Kraft turned out for the movie's debut. As they were introduced, the cheers reached a crescendo as fans in the front turned away from the screen to give the NFL champs a standing ovation. Brown said before the movie that he was looking forward to seeing shots of the opponents' sidelines, "to see how many guys have got a foot in their mouth when the field goal went through the uprights, and to be able to say, 'I told you so.'" The film gave a glimpse of how confident every Patriots playoff opponent was, with Rams receiver Ricky Proehl saying before the Super Bowl, "Tonight, a dynasty is born, baby." Although it first went on sale this week, the video has already set a record for sports videos, according to Joe Amodei, the president of the production company. A total of 400,000 videotapes and DVDs have already been shipped, he said -- thanks to the drama of the game, the passion of the Patriots' fans and the fact that 10 minutes of the halftime U2 concert was included. But the highlight of the highlights was the recap of New England's shocking trip from a last-place finish in 2000 to Super Bowl champions. Early scene-stealers were Joe Andruzzi's firefighting brothers and Brady's entrance in Week 2 after Drew Bledsoe was injured. Milloy was so uninterested in the beginning -- the part that covered the Patriots' 0-2 start -- that he fiddled with his two-way pager, its backlit glow visible from aisles around. But he put it away by the time the film jumped to the six-game winning streak to end the regular season and the incomplete pass call in the playoffs against Oakland that kept the season alive. Still, even though everyone knew how it would end, the movie was in no way anticlimactic. When Adam Vinatieri lined up for a field goal with 7 seconds left, the viewers moved to the edge of their seats, and Milloy slid to the edge of his step. When the kick sailed through the uprights to give New England a 20-17 victory, Milloy joined the theater in applause, as if he were seeing it for the first time. "You know how it is: You get your favorite movie and you keep watching it," Brown said. "It's probably something I'll play back for the rest of my life."
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