Boston Sports '05: Not a Dissapointment

Last week, a writer for the Suffolk Journal went on a tirade on how it was a dissapointing Boston sports year. This outraged me. Insofar, I wrote a counterpoint to his article. You can see this article in cold hard print, or…read it here. Also check out www.suffolkjournal.net for the other kids article.

It is a non-point to say that success in professional sports is measured by how many trophies your respected home-town brings at the end of the season. Who plays little league baseball or soccer and goes home happy without a trophy? I know I cried my damn eyes out. But the point is that we don’t watch little league baseball/soccer/hockey/football with the same intentions as to which the professional sports teams play. That isn’t to say you don’t play to win. Instead, you play the season with realistic goals in mind as well. Two teams that play realistically are the Boston Celtics and Bruins.
No one at the beginning of the season expected the Celtics to come out and run the table in the Atlantic division. The Celtics are a work in progress and have been rebuilding since the Rick Pitino era of deconstruction. The Celtics have identity problems lacking a true captain (sorry Paul) and a consistency of coaching, going from Pitino to O’Brien then to Rivers. Yes, the Green are young and inexperienced…but talented. And for Mr. Collins to say that Danny Ainge is getting younger is wrong: Was it not Danny Ainge who traded younger studs (Davis, Banks and Blount) for veterans (Sczerbiak, Olowokandi)? Building for the future while trying to compete for today are incredibly hard things to do in tandem…yet the Celtics are doing just that.
The Boston Bruins are also in the mix for rebuilding, not just in their organization but in the entire league. After the strike of 2004, teams were thrown into chaos. The Bruins sought to re-sign key players during the off-season and disrupted the chemistry in the locker room. The Bruins are similar to the Celtics as they consist of many youthful prospects, with high ceilings and low experience. They also lack a true captain, pre-Joe and post-Thornton. Despite having an injured starting goalie’s, Tim Thomas, has stepped up. To quote also Mr. Collins in saying that trading “the face of the franchise, Joe Thornton, for three average professionals”, we again see a falsity. Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau are all solid players: Stuart and Sturm are all-star quality and Stuart is a player to build around.
The Red Sox were a great team on paper heading into 2005. But as we all know there’s only one type of paper that’s consistent in its use: I’ll give you a hint. It’s in your bathroom. Lacking a true ace and a dependable closer all season certainly did not help the Sox of ‘05. Many fans were coming off the high that was 2004 and expected similar in 2005. What is remarkable about 2004 is that not one of their starting pitchers got injured all year (barring Derek Lowes boo-boo on his thumb and the Schilling Bloody Sock, but really do those count?).With this in mind, the ‘04 Red Sox won 98 games. The ‘05 Sox won 95 games and tied for the overall AL East. Three wins less than the year before with no bullpen, no closer and no ace: Remarkable. And to make the playoff’s again as the wild-card isn’t disappointing so much as it is not 2004. Fans that should be disappointed should be that of the two New York teams, as they’re respected ownerships blew their bank up for the likes of Randy Johnson and Carlos Beltran, both busts of the 2005 season. The Red Sox paid their players what they were worth and got their money for them.
The Patriots were a similar situation to the Red Sox and were expected to repeat. But once again, it is wrong to assume that the ‘04 Patriots would be the same when they lose both Coach Crennel and Weis. Then key injuries to star players that Mr. Collins has eluded to as well as free-agent deals that turned bust. An aging running back put the season on one mans shoulders: Tom Brady. Brady had a career year, throwing for more yards and more touchdowns than years past. To say that injuries are disappointing is true; but what the team did with their disappointment is more important. They became an entertaining team toward the end of the season. Are we to be disappointed that the ‘05 Patriots didn’t repeat the ‘04 Championship? Of course, but for what it’s worth, could they really win with their injuries? And for Mr. Collins not to call them a dynasty, claiming that right is entitled to a team that should “win 3 or 4 more championships” I question this: Which team has won 6 or 7 Super Bowls with the same group of guys? The Steelers of the late 70′s and early 80′s won 4 in 6 years and are classified as a dynasty. Patriots are 3 out of 4. You do the math.
“It’s not about the end, it’s about the journey” some stupid high-school senior once wrote in their graduation speech. I was not that senior but I do believe in the hip jargon Just Graduated Johnny used when it comes to sports teams. The Yankees didn’t win all 26 rings from acquiring free-agents every season( Note to Mr. Steinbrenner: Try some home-cooking. Eating out all the time costs a lot and you can get sick). The teams that won consecutively were homegrown. They proved that growing the organization from within is a success unto itself. No team runs the table and dominates the league without going through some growing pains in years before. Just because the Red Sox and Patriots didn’t dominate or sprinkle fairy dust, and the Bruins and Celtics are struggling doesn’t mean the season(s) are a failure. They are more just another growing pain in the long life of an organization that will eventually lead to another parade down Tremont street. Oh and the Pittsburgh Pirates do have a chance. They’re just in growing pains…not the Kirk Cameron ones either.