By Ron Borges

As your New England Patriots prepare this week to face the undefeated Dallas Cowboys next weekend in Dallas they may not yet quite be America’s team. That title still seems to belong to the surging Cowboys, who like New England will enter that game as one of only three undefeated teams left in the NFL this season. 

But the Patriots are something more than undefeated. Something more, even, than America’s team.  Apparently they’re Russia’s team.

When four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield went to visit the Kremlin over the weekend to hype his World Boxing Organization world title fight with WBO champion Sultan Ibragimov next Saturday night in Moscow, he and his entourage were stunned at what they saw.  As they approached the entrance there was a ticket taker wearing a touch of home. A New England Patriots’ cap.

So, while the Cowboys may be America’s Team, the Patriots have gone global. Of course, that’s the least the Russians could do after President Vladimir Putin allegedly pocketed Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl championship ring several years ago when the Russian leader mistakenly thought Kraft was handing it to him not for his inspection but actually as the Patriot owner’s idea of a house warming gift.

So now Putin has the ring and the Patriots have a fan at the Kremlin. Or maybe two.