For New England Fans, Party Suddenly Is Over

New Englanders who flocked in high spirits to bars and house parties Sunday to watch the National Football League’s Super Bowl on television went home subdued after the Patriots’ 46-10 wipeout by the Chicago Bears.

“I thought they tried hard, but just went up against a strong wall,” said Sgt. Richard Conboy of the Boston Police Department’s downtown District A. “I thought it was all over after the first quarter.”

Extra police units were brought into District A in case of any trouble by celebrating fans following the game, but were not needed, Conboy said.

Bar owners throughout the city said spectators became subdued as the score mounted, and many establishments said the crowd began thinning out during the second half.

“At least I’m glad they made it to the Super Bowl,” said Maureen Racca, 23, of Saugus, Mass., among the crowd still at Jason’s in Boston’s Back Bay as the game ended. “But I’m kind of depressed they got slaughtered so bad.”

“They made it to the Super Bowl,” said Bunny Evendoll, manager of the Cloud Nine lounge at Logan International Airport. “If they play as a team again, they’ll make it to the Super Bowl again and probably win.”

She said an average of about 100 people watched the bar’s TV sets throughout the game.

Not every one who was aware of the game could be classified a football fan.

“I don’t really understand it,” Efrem Yankelevich, of Newton, Mass., son-in-law of Soviet dissident Elena Bonner who is in Boston for medical treatment, said of American football. “I understand the New England team lost. My condolences on the game.”

Chuck Cascio, a bartender at the Keg Room in Springfield, said he feels the Super Bowl game and accompanying hoopla is overdone.

“One out of every five (games) is a good one,” Cascio said. “The (media) coverage is blown out of proportion.”

“The Pats did their best,” said Gary Burnett of Durham, N.H., who watched the game at a house party in Concord, N.H. “I’m disappointed, but I’m happy to see them play in the Super Bowl.”

“What I can say is at least we weren’t shut out,” said Cheryl Phillips of Goffstown, N.H., who attended the same party.

“I’m choked up,” said Colleen Donohue, 26, of Brookline Mass., among the 250 people who packed the Dockside bar in Boston’s Quincy Market. “The first five minutes, I thought we really had it. Well, we tried.”

Another Boston bar with a packed house of 130 was the Bull & Finch in Boston, the model for the hit television series “Cheers.”

“I can’t believe they got shelled so bad,” said co-manager Bill Honeycutt, 24, of Medford, Mass.

Honeycutt said employees of the bar bet 60 shirts with at least 10 Chicago bars on the outcome of the game. At halftime Chicago bar workers started calling to give their shirt sizes, he said.

Some Bears fans were in evidence throughout Boston. Among them was Judy Perkins, 28, a native of Chicago now working in Boston as a speech pathologist.

“All my friends are really bummed out,” she told a friend over the telephone at the Dockside. “I’m the only person in the whole place who is rooting for Chicago.”

Stan Petrowski, 30, of Portland, Maine, also at the Dockside, said: “It’s frustrating. I thought the Patriots would really put up a better show.”

Bill Soares, owner of Jake’s in East Falmouth, said one of his 80 customers brought in a Teddy bear and put it in a corner of the bar before the game started.

“It kind of disappeared in the third quarter,” Soares said. “But, we’ll be back next year.”

George Panagiopou, owner of Casey’s pub in Worcester, Mass., had one word for the Patriots’ loss: “outclassed.”

Prior to the game, a number of television viewers commented on NBC’s silent minute of blank screen. The network said early the idea was to give fans a chance to take a brief break.

“I really didn’t understand what it was meant to be,” said Dave Hanke, 42, of Madison, Conn., at Cricket’s bar in Boston.

“Sitting in a bar, it doesn’t make a difference,” said Lisa Pitas, 23, of Greenwich, Conn. “People at home probably got up during that minute, but we’re getting service here.”

In Cape Canaveral, Fla., two New Hampshire education officials who planned on skipping the Super Bowl to watch Concord, N.H., schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe blast off aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia will now get to see both events.

McAuliffe’s flight was postponed Sunday morning because of the threat of rain. It was rescheduled for today.

As a result, state School Board Chairman Kenneth Paul and Roland Dubois, chairman of the state School Board Assn., flew Sunday morning from Florida to New Orleans to see the Super Bowl.

They are planning to fly back to Florida in time to see today’s scheduled launch.