That is the theme of Dan's column today, one day after the Celtics announced the acquisition of Kevin Garnett and the Red Sox traded for Eric Gagne to pitch the 7th or 8th inning.
Dan puts it all together in perspective and concludes the Celtics are the Eastern Conference favorites and the Red Sox are World Series favorites. Dan finishes with a list of all the star athletes playing in this town now, and it is very impressive. There are, by my count, at least four Hall of Famers in their respective sports playing in Boston right now. Two of those are in football, a notoriously elite Hall of Fame. Enjoy it while you can. Hopefully, in twenty years you will be telling your kids about what happened in 2007-2008.
"There never has been a better time to be a sports fan in Boston."
ReplyDeleteIs he insane?
1986: Patriots were in the Super Bowl that January; C's win NBA title; Red Sox come an out away from the World Series; Bruins lose in division semifinals.
2004: Red Sox and Pats win it all; Bruins have best record in conference before choking in playofs; C's make playoffs (though they shouldn't have; but then again, they were better than the Bruins are today).
That's just off the top of my head.
There's never a better time than after Boston has won. So let's wait until the current bunch wins something. Or make the playoffs. Sheesh, what a nutjob.
Unh, I guess I agree with Mike a bit here. Shaughnessy had a column in '86 which also had as its theme that it was the best time ever to be a Boston sports fan and back then, in addition to the Patsies, C's and Sawx, we also had Marvin Hagler and Mom's Command.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably take the present time over '04 though, but there's a lot to be said for the hometown of the 86-year losers and the sons of billy sullivan winning championships.
Which reminds me, the person who has done the most for Boston sports in the last 25 years has to be Michael Jackson. Without the Victory Tour, the Sullivans would still be mucking things up.
Here's an article Shank should read and take to heart...
ReplyDeletehttp://snipurl.com/1p2yl
;)
How about 2003? Yes, the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in the ALCS, but it wasn't because of the team - GRADY, YOU IDIOT! Amid this, the Patriots cut Lawyer Milloy, got thumped by Bledsoe and Milloy in Buffalo, then exploded to their greatest season ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd my all-time favorite Boston sports moment was October 2003 when the Sox were playing Game Four of the ALDS against the Oakland Athletics at the same time the Patriots were hosting the Tennessee Titans, and both games were among the wildest in either team's history and the Patriots crowd was cheering for the Sox at bizarre times (a penalty on Asante Samuel wiping out a Troy Brown kick-return TD at the same time as a Johnny Damon HR; the crowd erupting as David Ortiz drove in the game-winning runs amid a Patriots drive; Steve McNair running in a fourth-quarter TD as the Sox recorded the final out for the win) and Gil & Gino had to constantly give Red Sox scores during their NFL out-of-town score updates. "A great win for the Patriots, a great win for the Red Sox, a great day for Boston sports," as Gil summarized.
OB - 1976-88, the Sullivan-era Patriots had only two losing seasons. Bob Kraft would have eventually purchased the team (he'd already purchased the stadium) even without Michael Jackson.
ReplyDeleteThe team had two owners after the Sullivans and before Kraft. A winning record? Yeah, but there was always a sullivanesque moment such as the Fairbanks silliness.
ReplyDeleteAnd never forget, Kraft made a deal to move the team. The bum kissers tend to forget that.
OB, that they had a winning record even with Chuck Sullivan's ineptitude indicates they were, even in spite of themselves, doing something right. "They had two other owners before Kraft," as though that somehow meant they were anything but caretakers before Kraft - this was going to be Bob Kraft's team no matter what, he just had to get set up properly instead of rush into things.
ReplyDelete"Kraft made a deal to move the team." He made a deal with Hartford for a stadium, as though he was ever serious about going there; it was more posturing than reality, shown by the speed with which Kraft "changed course" and built a stadium in Foxboro with his own money.
All the Michael Jackson debacle did was speed up the handover of the team from the Sullivans to the Krafts with a couple of nitwit spoilers getting in the way but in the end not stopping the inevitable.