I haven't ever watched as much sports in my life as I did this year. Euphoria and heartbreak, thank god I have a 2 month break until the olympics so my heart doesn't explode. I am going to chronicle Boston sports from the last 12 months and recap this amazing year.
Since the Celtics just won their 17th title It seems fitting to start 1 year ago on draft day when the Celts traded their 5th pick, Delonte West, and Wally Szcerbiak for Ray Allen. This transformed the Celtics from a young inexperienced tanking team to a playoff contender. Just 2 months later they traded for KG which established them as a championship team. They started out fast right out of the gate and cruised to a 66-16 record. Then the playoffs were unbelievable watching The Truth become a legend with his game 7 against the Cavs, the NBA finals comeback from 24 down, and my personal favorite part was watching Lamar Odom finally deciding to play hard 30 pts down in an elimination game. After spending the last couple of years watching the impotent Celtics get hammered it was a treat to finally watch real basketball being played in Boston.
The Red Sox finally won the division over the Yankees for the first time in 12 years. In doing so they put together a young pitching staff which is evolving into the envy of the league. They came from 3 down against Cleveland to win in 7 during the ALCS, and subsequently swept the Rockies leading to their 2nd World Series title this decade.
The Patriots had one of the most exciting and media covered seasons of any team in any sport in history. Spygate left a black mark over the team, however I had fun for a while debating in the completely biased on both ends argument on whether or not the Pats titles are tainted. I put all of my thoughts into a blog on Spygate. Then week 9 rolled around for the most hyped regular season game in history against the Colts culminating in a Pats victory. They rolled to the first 16-0 regular season record and into the Superbowl. Then things took a turn. The game against the Giants was the biggest upset in Superbowl history, the amazing Tyree catch+ the fact that the O-Line all took 10 Ambiens before the game led to the loss. (How the F*** did he catch that ball?) I'm over it though really.
I even got into hockey again when the Celtics were playing for nothing and the Bruins were in the playoff chase despite being hobbled badly by injuries. They pushed Montreal to 7 despite being a far inferior team, but in doing so they re-ignited a once passionate fan base with hustle and Physical play. Sidenote: Milan Lucic of the Bruins is going to be a star, mark my words maybe not int terms of points but with fights and hits.
Finally, for me one of the few Boston College fans I got to witness a senior class that I loved to watch have a legitimate opportunity to play in a BCS bowl. Also, I saw one of the biggest victories in BC history over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. This was the wildest game I saw all year with broken play after broken play working for BC.
(Yes Matt its been a wild ride)
I understand why there are so many NE haters because when you have a year like this one where one of your teams is in a huge game seemingly every week there is an envy that comes with that. All I can say is that I hope every fan can experience this once in their life because it is great. I am going to spend the next couple of months away from sports in order for my heart to recouperate.
You probably don't follow soccer but also in the MLS the New England Revolution made it to the championship game before losing to the Houston Dynamo. This was the year of Boston
Don't you dare call losing in the Super Bowl heartbreak. Heartbreak is waking up every Sunday expecting your team to lose, knowing that there will be no meaningful games after October, and that it will most likely be that way for a few years. Don't forget the days when the Pats were battling the Colts for worst in the division, be happy that they are a perennial contender, because it's not going to last much longer.
Yes, Enjoy it while you can. It may be a very long time until all of your home/favorite teams are winning at same time again. Its been 20 years since L.A. teams were in the same spot.
Message for SRMGenius: True heartbreak is not even having a nfl team period. =( ...(no L.A. teams)
I wouldn't say the Pats are in danger of not being in the playoffs anytime soon. They have a very young offense with the exception of Randy Moss. Their defense got younger at LB and has one of the best young DL in the league. Plus there is some young talent in the secondary. I think their window for contention is as open as anybody not named the Cowboys or Chargers.
patsrock07, you're right. Until Brady starts losing his skills, I can't see anyone taking the division from them. Most of the starters on offense are pretty young. I wouldn't really say they got younger in LB since they drafted only 1 LB. DL is pretty good. They did draft a bit in the secondary so they do have young talent there.
Also, liked your Cameragate (I refuse to say the other word since it's inaccurate) blog. Sad people cannot understand that it was blown out way out of proportion. Let me find the links to a couple of articles that you may like as well about that situation. You will enjoy them trust me.
http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/20 08/05/why-spygate-is-the-most-disgr aceful-episode-in-recent-sports-med ia-history
Shows how much a joke the coverage of this was.
http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.co m/Articles/11_2142_Who_was_spying_o n_the_Patriots%3F.html
What this shows is that while the whole Rams walkthrough scenario came up NOBODY from the Media brought up that the Rams were spying on the Pats during their practice.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/colu mns/story?columnist=schreiber_leann e&id=3438752
This lady is great because she slams her own collegues with the way they acted to this issue.
Nice stuff here if I can say.
Not to add fire to a dead issue, but the media did respond to the market. The story was larger than life because of the nature of the team. Its like if Duke was involved with a recruiting scandal. It would be a bigger deal than lets say Texas because of the distaste for the team. Most people with some semblance of football knowledge know that in had a very minor bearing on the game. It kept fire though because of the 1000's of coments on each story.
It was the team yes but no one in the media has liked this team, including Boston media, since Belicheck took over. It is was Indy for example, the media's darling, then they would have total protection from the media from it. It did stay alive by how many comments there were.
I am a 17 year old kid from Massachusetts who loves football wth an unequivocal passion. During football season between my high school practices and games, BC games, and Patriots games I spend roughly 30 hours per week on football related activities. Thats not quite enough though so I write and comment on basically every NFL blog I can find.
(Yes Matt its been a wild ride)
