Sox Offenders

Now that we’ve all had time to recover from the Red Sox winning their second World Series in four years, how do you feel? Other than the pending court case from a neighborhood celebration gone bad, and my unemployment resulting from too many post-game absences, I feel pretty freakin’ good. Over the next several weeks, between Hot Stove updates and some Gilligan’s Island trivia, we’ll wax poetic about the beauty of the 2007 and highlight some of our favorite moments. But today, we’ll take a step back and widen the scope of our fandom beyond Fenway Park. We’re talking about being a Boston…OK, a New England fan.

Since the start of the new millennium, the hometown fans have seen five championships: three Superbowl wins by the New England Patriots and two World Series wins by the Boston Red Sox. Kevin Youkilis was awarded the Gold Glove for first base, David Ortiz won his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger award, and Dustin Pedroia won the Baseball Writers of America Rookie of the Year award. As if that wasn’t enough, this season’s Patriots are 9-0, the new-look Boston Celtics are 5-0, and the New England Revolution are in the MLS Finals. Unless Alyssa Milano shows up at my house on Sundays to grill pre-game meats and give me a deep-muscle massage at halftime, I don’t know how things could get any better.

Not that long ago, former Celtic coach Rick Pitino dubbed Boston fans “the Fellowship of the Miserable.” Right now, that couldn’t be further from the truth. While the city does have its pockets of malcontents regarding sports, they all seem to gravitate to WEEI to share their expert opinions and offer hypothetical trades. Mark Twain said “it is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” Amen.

Over the next few days, Red Sox Nation will be on the edge of their collective seats, awaiting the news of a Mike Lowell signing or a Josh Beckett Cy Young win. On Sunday, the Patriots will undoubtedly give a beating to the Buffalo Bills. A bye week followed by a game against one of the worst offenses in the game? Sounds like 10-0 to me. Also on Sunday, the Revs will take the pitch against the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup. The way things are going, should we expect anything other than good news? Even non-soccer fans have to appreciate Twellman’s Pele-like bicycle kick goal to get them into the finals.

For the past several years at this time, Boston became a one-day-a-week sports town. We’d piddle away the days waiting until Sunday when the Patriots would play. Now, we have a second team to help pass the time – the Celtics. The ping-pong ball falling the wrong way in the lottery turned into a blessing in disguise. It was falling to the fifth pick that motivated Danny Ainge to start dealing. The result: the new “big three” of Kevin Garnet, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. It’s very early in the season, but these guys play with a passion and chemistry reminiscent of the original big three. And won’t that be fun to watch?

All I can say is, enjoy this. Boston had a similar run of championship-caliber teams back in the mid-eighties. The Celtics were collecting titles faster than they could raise banners to the rafters in the old Garden. Even though the Patriots got their asses handed to them unceremoniously in the ’86 Superbowl by the Bears, that team was great to watch. And we won’t talk about how the ’86 Red Sox season ended, but it was a great team as well. But these things are fleeting. The Celtics got old, as did Steve Grogan, and suddenly Boston was in a drought. The Sox would continue to tease us, but never got past the ALCS until 2004. Drew Bledsoe almost broke the streak, but he fell short thanks to four interceptions and a man named Desmond Howard in 1996. Can anyone even name a Celtic other than Paul Pierce or Antoine Walker in the nineties? Fleeting, indeed.

For now, we are Champion Town, and we will revel in the glory. The Patriots are on a mission, the ’72 Dolphins in their crosshairs. The Celtics will be more than just a bridge to Spring Training. As for the other team that plays on the ice…whatever.

Red and Denton appear daily at www.survivinggrady.com, you can’t escape them…