MATTAPOISETT — The Patriots’ former team physician, Bertram Zarins, calls Mattapoisett his home in the summer, and appeared at his sometimes-local library to give a lecture about the team that he worked for for 25 years. 

Zarins was also team physician for Revolution, the Boston Bruins and the 1984 Olympic team in Sarajevo. He plans to retire to Mattapoisett one day. 

As team physician, he has gone to every single game, both home and away. He’s also seen the rules, player sizes and even team names change. 

In 1980 there were three players that weighed in at more than 300 players. In 2015, that number was 403.

The first part of his lecture was a history lesson on the team’s various owners, names and stadiums. Then he detailed the typical weekly schedule for players, and covered some of the most memorable moments. 

Sometimes he was able to make Mattapoisett connections in his tales. Zarin revealed that in the famous photo of Matt Millen punching Patriots owner Patrick Sullivan in the face, Mattpoisett doctor Elliott Thrasher can be seen in the background. 

The lecture had a surprising amount of nudity, as Zarins told a story of the 2005 Super Bowl streaker (including clips from Dutch TV that showed the professional streaker in more detail).

Of course, Zarins listed some of the most notable injuries that he saw (Drew Bledsoe and Teddy Bruschi). He also told the the audience, some of whom were dressed in Patriots hats, jackets or t-shirts, what it’s like in the locker room before a game. Apparently players can go from prayers to profanity pretty quickly. 

As for what he learned, he said that as a doctor it was interesting because coaches and team managers often infringed on the doctor-patient relationship, even going so far as to yell at him sometimes when he made a particularly unpopular call. He also learned not to talk to media. 

In a question and answer session after the talk, one audience member asked about dealing with concussions, and what Zarins thought of the concussion protocol. Zarins said that in the 1980s, many coaches treated concussions as minor injuries and would have been quick to find another team physician had he spoken out too much about it. However, he called the new protocol “a very positive step.” 

Another audience member asked if performance-enhancing drugs were more common in the 1980s. 

Zarins responseded that they were, because no one checked, and many athletes felt that to compete they had to take them.  

Audience members also asked how long Tom Brady would be able to play. Zarins responded that he didn’t know because he didn’t have the most up-to-date information, and it really depends how Brady does. 

After the talk, Zarins invited audience members to take photos with the six Super Bowl rings he received with the team.