FOXBORO, MA--All Rodney Harrison wants is a little respect--from the media, from opposing teams, and from the fans. His team is on the verge of winning its third Super Bowl in four years and being mentioned alongside the NFL’s great dynasties, yet they are still overlooked in some circles. Harrison received a stark reminder of this on Saturday when his was allegedly disrespected by his paperboy.

“First the national media, then the opposing team, and now this? The paperboy? This one hurts,” Harrison told reporters yesterday. “It just goes to show you how much people disrespect this team even after all we’ve accomplished. Jeremy is just a kid, but he’s old enough to know a great football team when he sees one. He’s also old enough to be attacked by my rottweiler, Hitler, who has just been trained on his scent.”

The alleged slight occurred Saturday morning when the paperboy, Jeremy Robbins, arrived at the door to collect his weekly fee. Harrison gave Robbins the money plus a generous five-dollar tip. He then asked the 12-year-old if he planned to watch the Super Bowl. Robbins said that he did, but turned away as Harrison attempted to high-five him.

“When I asked him if he was going to watch the game, he said ‘Yes,’ but I don’t think his heart was in it,” said Harrison. “I figured he was just being shy, so I put my hand up to high-five him and he turned around and left. He left me hanging. Is it possible that he turned around before I even raised my hand and never actually saw it? Yes, I suppose that’s possible. But a more likely scenario is that he was disrespecting me and my teammates. Well that’s fine. That just motivates us more. Little Mr. Robbins will be on our bulletin board this week, and I’ll be thinking about him when I go helmet-to-helmet on Todd Pinkston.”

The next day Harrison made good on his promise, and posted Jeremy’s photo in the team’s locker room, along with a caption detailing his arrogant dismissal of Harrison’s high-five. As Patriots players gathered around the bulletin board, many shook their heads in disgust, but some said that the disrespect was nothing new.

“Oh, this team is used to getting slighted,” said linebacker Willie McGinest. “We’re not flashy, we don’t have a lot of big stars, and we don’t put up gaudy individual numbers. Obviously, Jeremy doesn’t realize that we had a 21-game winning streak, we have the best coaching staff in the league, and we have one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks. But people are always underestimating this team. That just motivates us even more. Until they build a statue of us in every NFL city and immortalize our faces on Mount Rushmore, this team will feel like it’s underrated.”

Fellow linebacker Tedy Bruschi took a less diplomatic tone with regards to Jeremy.

“Who the hell does this kid think he is?” Bruschi asked. “We’re the defending Super Bowl champs and some goddamn 12-year-old thinks he’s better than us? Please. Delivering newspapers is one step up from being a shoeshine boy. I take shits bigger than that kid. I actually took one today that was much bigger. Frigging bran muffins.”

As the Patriots prepare for next week’s big game, much of the attention has been focused on the Philadelphia Eagles. The question of whether Terrell Owens will be able to play has dominated the airwaves, and much has been made about Philadelphia’s first trip to the Super Bowl in 24 years. In the state of Pennsylvania, hype for the Eagles has reached a fever pitch, with some even predicting the team will win the game. That kind of arrogance has added more fuel to the Patriots’ fire.

“I saw a Philly fan on TV the other day saying the team was going to win,” said a member of the Patriots front office “He just came right out and said it. He mentioned McNabb and Andy Reid and that defense, and not once did he acknowledge that the Patriots are one of the greatest teams in history. I even heard some Eagles fans will actually be watching the game thinking they might win or something. Talk about arrogance. These people ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

As for Robbins, don’t add the youngster to the list of non-believers just yet. When the paperboy was asked about his confrontation with Harrison, he denied being disrespectful, instead calling the whole incident “a big misunderstanding.”

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