Once Again Boston Comes Up Short When it Matters Most

These are the times that try men’s souls.  As much as it pains me to say this, I have to ask if we’re hitting a bad stretch for Boston sports.  Like I’m seriously beginning to wonder if the City of Champions isn’t turning into the City of Also Rans right before our eyes.  In the last four years the Pats have lost in all four rounds of the postseason.  The Red Sox are laughingstocks.  The Celtics were old and flawed before they lost Rondo.  Then yesterday Ross Miner, repping the Skating Club of Boston and carrying the hopes of an entire region of sports fans on his shoulders, came up just short.  It’s sad and disappointing to be sure.  But the worst thing is that it’s becoming all too familiar a theme around here.

I mean this as no knock on Miner. He did all he could.  His program – skating to the music of Errol Flynn’s “Captain Blood” – was terrific. He looked fabulous in the red pirate shirt.  He skated his heart out, opening with a quad salchow, no less.  And for a moment or two there it looked like if he just skated clean, he could capture gold.  But then he singled a Triple Axel and it was all but over.  Even though he roared back with a Triple Lutz/ Triple Toe Loop combination, it was too little, too late.  One little mistake cost him.  That one popped jump was the Wes Welker drop of Omaha 2013.

Of course it didn’t help any that he ran into a buzzsaw in Max Aaron.  Aaron is a former hockey player, courageously recovering from a fractured back.  And he was sensational, peaking at exactly the right time.  His “West Side Story” program was flawless, opening with TWO Quad Salchows and finishing on a high note that had Scotty Hamilton blowing the roof off the arena:

So it’s the same old familiar refrain.  Boston stumbles a little, the competition elevates their game, and once again we come up empty.  I’m happy for Ross Miner winning silver and look forward to him skating for us at Worlds and all.  I just can’t stop worrying that this business of Boston coming up short is something we’re getting used to.  @JerryThornton1