The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

My own personal sporting heaven

You know, once before in my life as a sports fan, I thought I was witnessing something special. Something once in a generation, if not once in a lifetime. I watched my two favorite professional sports teams win titles, with a third only a month away.

I wrote something heartfelt, something deep, something that I expected to only be able to write once. I wrote: "This year was Next Year."

Since that time - early into the New Year of 2005 - the Boston sports teams that I live and die with had combined for "only" one more major title - the Patriots over the Eagles a month later, their second Super Bowl in a row and third in four years, cementing their status as a bona fide dynasty. I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's been a drought, that we were long suffering fans, or anything like that. The Red Sox made the playoffs once, the Patriots twice, and I think the Bruins and Celtics even managed to win a couple games here and there.

But nothing, absolutely nothing I could imagine, had me even remotely prepared for what I witnessed in 2007. And I'm sad to see the year go.

I'm not nearly naive enough to think that anyone out there without a Boston affiliation has any interest in reading another drooling piece about the state of professional sports in 2007. Believe me, as a fan, I understand the disdain you all have for fans like that. I'm not going to say "we're better than you, and that's that." And I'm certainly not going to take the stance that somehow, because I'm lucky enough to support the teams that I do, that it makes me a better fan than you.

Because I understand just how lucky I am. I understand that I've been given an incredibly rare opportunity as a sports fan - the chance to watch and support potentially three championship teams in the course of less than one calendar year. The Red Sox started it with a World Series victory in October. The Patriots wrapped up what has to be one of - if not the single best regular season in NFL history. And the Celtics are currently on pace to break the all-time single-season wins record set by the Chicago Bulls when they finished the year at 72-10 - the Celtics have wrapped up their games in 2007 at 26-3 for a mind-boggling .897 winning percentage; one game ahead of the Bulls' pace, and one of only 4 teams with less than 10 losses (the only one with less than 7).

So when I hear people say that this was a bad year for sports, it makes me wonder; Why? Because of a couple scandals like Michael Vick & Tim Donagehy? Or because a Congressional Report told us what we already know - that give the choice between breaking a rule to gain lots of fortune & fame, or playing it straight and toiling in anonymity, most people would break the rule?

It's not like there wasn't always a lingering suspicion of gambling in major pro sports by players, coaches or officials. Let's face facts - there's just too much money to be made, and it's far too easy to keep it untraceable. And if there are people out there who honestly thought that Major League Baseball (or any of the major pro sports, for that matter) was completely clean, they are living in a fairy-tale world.

So what does that leave for arguments favoring a lousy year in sports? Monotony. Nobody likes to see the same people win all the time. Believe me - I know. I grew up as the Yankees, Cowboys, Bulls and Red Wings more or less dominated their sports for a decade. I had no stake in any of those teams, so I was more or less bored. My guys were consistently sent home early, if they even made the show at all.

So now that one specific city (or more accurately, one specific group of fans) just happens to be in the middle of one of the most unrealistic runs of all time, it makes everyone else bored. Disaffected. Angry. And to be honest with you, as a Boston fan, let me say this - we don't care.

We're caught up in the whirlwind around us right now, trying to soak in the fact that in the past two months the three biggest teams in the city have lost a total of three games, by a total of nine points (all by the Celtics). We're celebrating - not mourning - the fact that we just happened to luck into a perfect storm of fandom. And we're doing so because we all remember what it was like to watch everyone else do it.

None of us expect it to last forever. The Patriots will eventually lose another game (though not this season, and probably not for most of next). The Red Sox will enter 2008 as the presumptive favorites, but it's awful hard to repeat in MLB these days. And if the Celtics do manage to best the 72-win Bulls, they still have the little matter of beating the Western Conference if they make it to the NBA Finals.

But for now, we're just going to sit back and enjoy it. And if our best sports year ever just happened to be the cause your worst sports year ever, then so be it.

It could be worse. It could be Cleveland.

Labels: 2007, Boston, Celebration, heaven, New Year

posted by Big D @ 10:48 PM