My fellow Boston fans... the 2000's are over

When the game ended at the Staples Center Thursday night and Kobe and company were crowned as repeat champions, a thought crept into my head:

This wouldn't have happened in the 2000s.
If this were the 2000s, the Celtics would have drained a bunch of threes in the last minute and the Lakers would come up just short.

That's the way the 2000s were for Boston teams it felt like.
But it is 2010 now... and despite some nitwits insistence that it isn't a new decade yet, the results on the field, on the court and in the rink suggest otherwise.

For so long, the Boston sports scene was a place of futility. And after the 1986 Celtics title it was barren of titles.

After the Celtics beat the Rockets that year you had the 1986 World Series and the legacy THAT gave Boston.

You had Magic's hook shot over the Celtics. That along with the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, the breakdown of Bird and the M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino years turned the once proud Celtics into just another team on the schedule.

You had the two Stanley Cup Finals where Edmonton waxed the Bruins (and the lights were shut off in the Garden during one of the games.)

You had the Patriots in the Super Bowl against the Packers, only to lose and the Bill Parcells/Robert Kraft Soap Opera hanging over the entire game. And let's face it, the Patriots were an afterthought in New England.

For 16 years that was it. The 1990s saw each Boston team sinking into irrelevance and the Yankees AND Lakers transformed themselves into dynasties by the beginning of the 21st Century.

It was tough being a Boston fan. We thought Drew Bledsoe, Joe Thornton, Antoine Walker, Mo Vaughn and Nomar Garciaparra would be the next great Boston sports hero... but all fell short.

Then came the 2000s.

And the change in Boston sports came without warning. The tuck rule went the Patriots way, but the Super Bowl was going to be yet another mismatch like the Bears in 1986 and the Packers in 1997. The Rams were going to kill them.

But when Vinatieri's field goal went through, I remember my friend and current workmate Jon Corbett yelling with disbelief "I can't believe the Patriots won the Super Bowl!"

It is hard for young Boston fans to understand how unbelievable this was. Using my theory that you don't really follow a sports team until you are 8 years old, there are 16 year olds who only know Boston sports as a place where championships are expected.

But between the 86 Celtics and the Patriots first Super Bowl win, there was a grand total of zero victory parades in Boston.

That's a 16 year gap. There were 24 year Boston fans where that Super Bowl was the first real memory of one of their teams winning.

Then they did it again... but when Grady left Pedro in too long, it looked like more of the same for the Red Sox. Sure the Pats could win, but the order of the universe was still the same.

Then Dave Roberts stole second... and anything became possible.

Could the Red Sox beat the Yankees?

Yes and in humiliating ways never seen before.

Could the Red Sox win a championship?

You bet... and like the Patriots, they could have MULTIPLE titles.

Could the Celtics be champs again? Why not? And why not have one of the biggest thumpin's in NBA history for a clincher against the Lakers no less?

Could the Patriots go undefeated in a regular season? Check the videotape!

Could the Red Sox win an elimination game where they were down 7-0? Do you even doubt it?

The Duck Boats got a lot of miles on them and we Boston fans showed we could be just as obnoxious in victory as we were in victory.

There were so many new heroes in Boston sports lore that they threatened to push many older legends out of everyone's memory.

Tom Brady! Tedy Bruschi! Richard Seymour! Curt Schilling! Big Papi Ortiz! Josh Beckett! Paul Pierce! Ray Allen! Kevin Garnett!

And cult heroes like Kevin Millar, Ty Law and Big Baby Davis!

But it was more than just victory... remember with every victory there is a team defeated and for a glorious period of time some of the most hated figures in Boston sports kept wetting the bed.

The Yankees had two of their biggest collapses in team history in the 2000s with the 2001 World Series and the 2004 ALCS... and after 2004, they couldn't make it out of the Division Series and missed the playoffs altogether in 2008.

And the pick up of A-Rod seemed to blow up in their face as he kept folding like a tent and slapping wrists in the playoffs.


The Lakers imploded in the 2004 Finals and the team was dismantled to please Kobe... and the titles dried up as Kobe couldn't deliver a title without Shaq.

And Peyton Manning had the stats, but Tom Brady was the CHAMPION.

Phil Jackson and Joe Torre wrote books about how rotten things were behind the scenes.

It was a glorious time and it was a petty time.

It was a time of happiness for our team's victory and for schadenfreude for other fan base's misery.

It was a perfect storm of our ability to celebrate and be pricks.

And it's over now.

Manning? He's a Super Bowl champ now and he's won one more recently than Brady because of the OTHER Manning.

A-Rod? He's a World Champion now and he hit key game tying homers and game winning hits in the Division Series, ALCS and World Series to get his ring.

Kobe? He has back to back titles now, the last one coming at the expense of our Celtics not being able to hold a 13 point second half lead. People are now talking about him in the same breath as Michael Jordan.

Since October 2009, Papelbon let up 3 ninth inning runs to eliminate the Red Sox, the Patriots got blown out at home in the playoffs, the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead and the Celtics blew a shot at the NBA championship with less than 6 minutes to go.

The swagger is gone and that sense of impending doom has sadly crept back into our consciousness.

It's kind of like the movie Awakenings. For a brief moment we were able to come out of our slumber to experience the joys of winning teams, only to slip back into our immobile state.

Now in full disclosure, I am not a Boston Bruins fan. I am a San Jose Sharks fan and they have their OWN issues!

And my devotion to the Patriots is tenuous at best. I would trade all three Super Bowls for J. D. Drew to get a double off of David Price in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS... or for the Celtics to hang on to the 4th quarter lead on Thursday night.

And I am sure my friends who follow the Bruins primarily would trade the 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series titles, and the NBA title for one Stanley Cup.

Maybe it will be good for us Boston fans to take a few lumps. It will help us appreciate what an amazing decade we experienced. What a huge class of water we had after a long thirst.

I'm not saying we shouldn't root hard for our teams. We should.
I'm not saying we won't see our teams win this decade. I bet some will.

But perhaps it was appropriate that Manny showed up t Fenway the day after the NBA Finals loss.

It was a reminder of that glorious decade where everything seemed to go our way.

We may never have a decade like this again.

Think of how lucky we are that we could experience it.

I feel bad for the kids born in 2002 and are 8 years old just following teams now. They missed out on a great decade.

Turn the page and let's give those kids some memories of their own!

Get Well Dave Roberts...

The Sox are down and they need a lift to spark a lifeless team... they need a Dave Roberts like jolt.

And today we all received news that puts the 2010 Red Sox's woes in perspective. Dave Roberts, the most beloved 4th outfielder in Red Sox history (sorry Hendu) has lymphoma.

Evidently it was caught relatively early, but still our thoughts, hopes, prayers or whatever you like to do should go to the man who gave all of Boston hope on an unlikely October night.

Good Luck Dave... steal another one... this time for yourself.

BRING BACK DAVE ROBERTS!!!!!

The Giants just released Dave Roberts.
Hey Theo!

Your pal Sully has an idea...

SIGN DAVE ROBERTS!!!!

I didn't even include him in my potential Red Sox reunions because I didn't think the Giants were going to cut him.

I know, Theo, that you are as sentimental as Spock...But come on! We can use a weapon like Roberts.

Who are out backup outfielders? We have Rocco Baldelli, but he's there to spell J. D. Drew against tough left handers.
Neither Jonathan Van Every nor Jeff Bailey are world beaters.

We would just need him for that late inning potential stolen base...
Remember when we once needed a late inning potential stolen base?














Remember what it led to?

















Remember how it ended?



















Come on! Is giving Jeff Bailey a roster spot so important that you don't want Fenway going nuts every time the Sox need a run late?

Just invite him to camp!

Strange... I'm not that nervous

Yesterday was supposed to be the center square on the Bingo Card.

Lester pitching at home... that was the "given" game.
That was the game that made us all not really sweat out the 11 inning game 2 loss.

"Hey, we're 1-1 with Lester on the mound. We'll take it."

And before you could ask "What does B. J. stand for?" we were down 5-0.

And yet here I sit typing this blog entry... and I am not a bundle of nerves.
I am not panicking.
I'm not really even that worried.

Let's list the reasons and find the Silver Lining in a Katrina like cloud.

1. It was quick

As I stated before, 9-8 losses are the worst. But 9-1 losses, those I can handle.

Those are games where nothing went right. There's no one play that nags at you after a 9-1 loss. No stifled rally, no bad call. It was a decisive ass thumpin'. And hopefully the Sox can just shrug and say "We'll get them tomorrow."



2. The Paul Byrd Factor

By taking the bullet and going the remaining 3 1/3 innings, Paul Byrd allows the Sox to set up the bullpen perfectly for games 4 and 5.

Papelbon, Masterson, Okajima and Delcarmen haven't pitched since the Saturday marathon... so Paps could go two innings. And the others can each go at least one. With Wakefield on the mound, it's good to know they can get as many as 5 innings from their top relievers.



3. We've Heard This Song Before!

It's almost exactly a year ago today that I told Red Sox Nation to calm the f--- down.

Yeah being down 2-1 to Tampa sucks.
How is that worse than being down 3-1 last year, IN Cleveland, facing Sabathia and Carmona for games 5 and 6?

How is that worse than being down 3-1 in 1986, IN Anaheim with Mike Witt dealing?

How is that worse than being down 2-0 in the 1999 Division Series, no Pedro, no Nomar, no life on the team and Cleveland's bats going nuts?

How is that worse than being down 2-0 in the 2003 Division Series facing Oakland's pitching?

Seriously... how is this worse than being down 3-0... 3 outs from a sweep... the Yankees in Pedro's head... Schilling on the operating table... Rivera on the mound... bottom of the order coming up?

How soon we all forgot Dave Roberts!



4. The Wakefield Factor

Call me insanely optimistic, but I think that with Tampa's offense clicking, now's as good a time as any to wheel out Tim Wakefield.

Seriously, they've been smacking the ball around left and right and their timing is just on...

Maybe some of Wake's knucklers floating into the zone is just what the doctor ordered. Maybe they'll be flailing at it. Maybe they'll be overly agressive. Either way, it will force them to change their approach to hitting which, safe to say has been working!



5. It's already been fun!

Don't get me wrong. I want the Red Sox to win the 2008 World Series as much as anyone you will ever meet.

And don't think for a second that I won't be incredibly disappointed if the season ends with the Red Sox watching another team celebrate.

But I won't be devastated.
Devastation ended in 2004. The feeling of "Oh Crap... I can't believe I was so stupid to think they'd actually win" is long gone.

And this isn't even the intense disappointment of 2005 either.
That year the Red Sox and Yankees finished the season tied... but because the Yankees won the season series 10-9, they were the Division Champs and the Red Sox were the Wild Card.

One more single win in 2005 would have meant the Sox would host the Angels (who they always beat) in the Division Series instead of starting the post season on the road against the much better (and eventual champion) Chicago White Sox.

The Red Sox were clobbered in game 1 in Chicago and lost two close games to end the defense of the World Series by being swept.

The end of the year left a disappointing emptiness. Not to mention the fact that the team was old and clearly breaking up. (Mueller, Damon, Millar and Arroyo will all be gone by the next opening day... Nixon, Foulke and Kapler would be gone the next off season.)

This year the Red Sox already pulled off the upset of the 100 win Angels with 4 unforgettable games including a 2 run 9th inning game winning homer from J. D. Drew and the series ending single by Jed Lowrie.

Between those games and the Dice-K game 1 win in the ALCS, the Sox have provided infinitely more October memories than the last time they defending a World Series title.

Plus with Lowrie, Papelbon, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Lester, Masterson and Bay all still young and not going anywhere... there isn't a sense of this being the only shot.


So let it be known I am rooting full steam ahead for the Red Sox to repeat as World Champions... but I'm not at all panicked.

Emotionally we are playing with house money.

That being said, I hope they kick Tampa's ass tonight.