The buzz continues at mid week after the stirring victory by the local team, the New England Patriots in last Sunday's Superbowl 39. With this third championship in four years, the Foxboro footballers have brought a large measure of joy to sports fans in New England.

The win, coupled with the majestic triumph of the Red Sox last fall in the World Series, comes as a one-two punch of enjoyment for the region. We heard one national commentator this week refer to our town as the "City of Champions," a name that today can be rightfully claimed by Bostonians everywhere.

But the sports commentators, as is their wont, have gone overboard in their hyperbole, most every newscast and sports page asking the question whether the Patriots can now stake a claim to their term as a dynasty. A dynasty, imagine that! Tuesday night, a radio sports guy gushed that Las Vegas oddsmakers have made the Pats 4-1 favorites to win it all again next year.

We looked up the term dynasty and found two definitions:

1. A succession of rulers from the same family or line;

2. A family or group that maintains power for several generations: a political dynasty controlling the state.

Or consider these words, all synonymous with dynasty: absolutism, ascendancy, dominion, empire, government, house, regime, rule, sovereignty, sway.(Thanks to Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1)

Fact is, our Pats are the champions, again this year. They were not the most spectacular team to watch, certainly not the most fun. But they gave us all the satisfaction of playing the team game, and winning as a team. And for all that, Bob Kraft and company deserve our gratitude.

As for the question of football dynasty, let's leave all that aside. Now the Kennedy family, they qualify as a dynasty. The Bushes, too. Maybe even the Kraft family, Bob, Myra, now son Jonathan, building a multi-generational business concern that includes the Super Nowl-winning team.

As for whether the Pats win it all again next year - or even, the Sox get back to the World Series, we shall see.

For now, there's great satisfaction in playing host to these two squads of athletes who have brought themselves a measure of glory. And we can enjoy the reflected warmth of their winning ways.

- Ed Forry

Logic from Mitt Doesn't Fit

There was something unseemly about Bain and Company's Willard Mitt Romney's action last week in summarily firing the head of the agency charged with maintaining certain parks and roadways. The Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) was dumped within hours of a tragic accident on VFW Parkway. Remember, the DCR is solely the creation of this Romney guy- he abolished the old MDC and replaced it with this new, streamlined, high-efficiency agcncy. To hear Romney sell it, the MDC couldn't do the job - so he cut the budget and slashed some jobs.

Now, in one of the new agency's first tests, Romney's new efficient agency blew it.

Over the years, locals always knew the MDC roads were first to be cleared of snow. Gallivan Blvd., Morrissey Blvd. and other MDC roadways were known to be the safest roads after a snowstorm.

Not anymore, not since the Romney-ization of the agency.

Scapegoating the agency head won't suffice. Mitt, you have some explaining to do.

- Ed Forry