For nearly 4 decades, although the Patriots did have some notable periods of fielding competitive, winning teams particularly in the early-to-mid 1960's and from the mid-70's to late 80's (1976-1988), they never captured the fan attention, focus, MSM exposure and marketing in the Boston-area. Until the late 90's/early 2000's, the most popular, well-liked Boston teams were the Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins and Patriots in that order.