Patriots Fan's Premature Tattoo: Super Bowl 'Champs'

A New England Patriots fan was a bit premature when he got a tattoo declaring the team champions of a game they never reached—yet he says he has no regrets. Burke O'Connell, 31, says he strongly believed the Patriots would win the AFC Championship and advance to the Super Bowl. The Massachusetts native had a friend ink the celebratory tattoo across his calf two days before the Patriots lost to the Denver Broncos 20-18. The black-and-white tattoo depicts a Lombardi Trophy rising above the Patriots' logo, along with the Boston skyline, the number "50," and the word "Champs."

"Honestly, I just had a bad feeling right in the beginning [of the game], and they started losing," he tells WCVB. O'Connell, who now lives in Los Angeles, tells the Boston Globe he has no regrets, though. He says his chin tattoo of an ex-girlfriend's name—now covered up with skulls—was much worse. "I can't say 'live and learn,' because I didn't live and learn," O'Connell tells the Globe. "But the memories. That's what tattoos are there for. This one I'll never forget." (More New England Patriots stories.)