It's not good when a sports fan like me has to cover his ears and yell "la la la la" repeatedly at least five times a night while watching"SportsCenter."

That's because all anyone wants to talk about these days are the New England Patriots.

Even Stuart Scott has replaced his famous "Booya!" with "Bradya!"

Who? You ask. What about the Patriots? You, who have been in "the hole" or working on the InternationalSpace Station since August, query.

You wonder, lucky you, because you are the only one who has been sparred the incessant talk about the Pats, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, 16-0, blah, blah, blah since the NFL season started.

Hey. I think the Colts and the Pats play next week. I could be wrong.

Sure, New England has been as dominant as any football team in recently memory. The Patriots are playing as if the NFL is one big Madden video game — on rookie level.

But it's getting pretty hard to watch and listen to the hours of drivel about the team.

What may be fueling the fire is the fact the Patriots are more hated than Lord Voldemort, especially in Pittsburgh.

I think it's one of the Steelers Fans' 10 Commandments.

Thou must hate the Patriots, n'at.

So any news about how darn good New England has been is bound to be greeted with a flurry of expletives.

Here's a list of reasons, other than just because they are the Patriots, why we hate New England:

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Spygate. Coach Bill Belichick is a football voyeur who got caught cheating. Taping defensive coaches probably didn't help the Pats very much, but it's slimy and sleezy, and we all hate slimy and sleazy — at least when it is someone else doing it.New York Jets coach Eric Mangini, the former assistant who turned in his old boss for doing a Nixon, added a certain "General Hospital" plot to it all. In what may be bad karma, Mangini's Jets are 1-6 and New England is 7-0.•

Arrogance. New England was leadingDallas 41-27 when it scored a meaningless touchdown with 19 seconds remaining in the game. The Pats celebrated as if Mangini just choked on a chicken leg.Last week, up 35-7, the Pats faked a spike and added a TD to go up 42-7 at halftime. Late in the game, Brady was still slinging the football all over the field as if he was trying to break Peyton Manning's single-season touchdown record in one week.We don't like good teams rubbing our face in how good they are.•

Brady is pretty. If he had a scar or looked like Kyle Orton, maybe we wouldn't despise him so much.•

Sammy Morris. We don't hate Morris, per se, just the fact that the Pats can plug in any old running back and he can run like Gayle Sayers.•

Belichick. The same guy who released Bernie Kosar because of "diminishing skills" and was considered perhaps the worst coach of all time in the 1990s is now considered the best. It doesn't seem fair.Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.