Last modified: Thursday, July 2, 2009 1:56 AM EDT Randy Moss and the record-setting Patriot offense provided fans many a memory during their undefeated regular season of two years ago. (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM) Fans can vote of favorite Pats' memories BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - Did Adam Vinatieri's 45-yard field goal through the snowflakes against Oakland in the final game at Foxboro Stadium give you chills that have lasted a lifetime? Was Vinatieri's game-winning 48-yarder in New Orleans to defeat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI more magical to you? Were you filled with joy on the days when Bill Parcells was named head coach of the Patriots, or when Robert Kraft purchased the team? Or do you still chuckle to yourself over the Tuck Rule call, or the memory of Mark Henderson negotiating his John Deere snow-sweeper into the anticipated path of John Smith's approach to a game-winning kick against Miami? All of those are memorable moments in the history of the Patriots - and now, the team is giving fans the opportunity to decide which of 50 nominated episodes rank as the 10 best. As part of the ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary season of the original American Football League franchises, the Patriots will ask their fans to vote online for the "Top 10 Moments in Franchise History." Recently, team officials asked reporters and others familiar with the Patriots' past to submit their suggestions for moments that could be considered among the most memorable in the 49 seasons of the team's existence. Fifty of them made the cut, and fans will be able to sort and rank them on the Patriots' Web site (patriots.com). Voting began Wednesday and will continue through Aug. 1. Results will be announced beginning in October on the "Patriots All-Access" program on Channels 4 and 38, and in editions of Patriots Football Weekly. As befitting the success enjoyed by the Patriots in recent years, the list of nominations is somewhat top-heavy with events that took place following the hiring of Bill Belichick as head coach in 2000; 29 of the 50 nominations are from the so-called Belichick Era. Present team owner Robert Kraft also accounts for three so-called memorable moments, including his purchase of the team, the response at the ticket counter to that news, and his celebratory dance with Troy Brown at the Patriots' victory celebration following Super Bowl XXXVI. Whether the latter truly belongs on a list of all-time memorable moments in the Patriots' history is open to debate. As it is, plenty of debate will be needed to whittle to 50 nominated moments down to a representative 10. There are the obvious no-brainers, such as Vinatieri's clutch playoff kicks, the Tuck Rule announcement, the "Snow Plow Game" against Miami and the "Squish the Fish" win over the Dolphins in the 1985 playoffs. There will also be considerable support for the hirings of Parcells and Belichick, Tom Brady's record-breaking TD pass to Randy Moss in 2007 and Tedy Bruschi's return from a life-threatening stroke in 2005. Fans with more of a historical perspective may vote for the awarding to the eighth and final AFL franchise to Billy Sullivan in 1959, Kraft's purchase of the team in 1994, or the openings of Schaefer Stadium in 1971 (without mention of the legendary traffic jams) and Gillette Stadium in 2002. And there are plenty of "hey, yeah, I remember that now" moments, such as David Patten's amazing performance (ran for TD, caught TD pass, threw TD pass) in a 2001 regular-season game at Indianapolis, the intentional safety the Patriots took in Denver to put them in position to come from behind and win a crucial 2003 game, Drew Bledsoe's pinch-hitting TD pass to Patten in the 2001 AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh, or even David Posey's game-winning field goal to give the Patriots their first-ever AFC East title in 1978. Those who are more aesthetically inclined may select the "snow fireworks" that followed Bruschi's interception for a touchdown in a post-blizzard regular-season game against Miami in 2003. Conspicuously absent is the 16-0 regular season in 2007, probably because the Patriots didn't finish the job and lost to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. Doug Flutie's "ickybalookey" touchdown run against Indy in 1988 and his drop kick against Miami in 2006 didn't make the list, either. The gossip columnists will probably rue the absence of Brady's marriage to supermodel Gisele Bündchen as well, and nowhere can be found the names of Victor Kiam, Ron Meyer or Pete Carroll. And because this is a list intended to honor the "greatest moments" in Patriots' history, several less-than-glorious but no less defining moments in the team's history are not included - among them, former head coach Clive Rush's near-electrocution from gripping a microphone during a press conference in 1969, the phantom roughing-the-passer penalty against Ray Hamilton in the 1976 playoffs at Oakland, Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough's decking of cornerback Raymond Clayborn in the locker room following a 56-3 win over the Jets in 1978, the Sullivan family's eventual bankruptcy following the Michael Jackson "Victory Tour" fiasco in 1984, the Lisa Olson sexual harassment episode in 1990, Kraft's failed attempt to move the Patriots to Hartford in 1999 and the recent "Spygate" videotaping scandal. All of those are probably better left to a search for the 10 most bizarre moments in Patriots' history, of which there are many. But the successes over the past 16 years have far outweighed the failures, giving fans plenty of shining moments from which they can choose their 10 favorites. ON THE WEB: Fans can vote for the top 10 moments in Patriots' history until Aug. 1 at http://top10.patriots.com.