Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Sports

Boston fans can be open-minded, except when Kobe is involved...

I came to Massachusetts from southern California, and I was always used to everyone having their own sports teams. There is a lot of diversity in which teams people root for, partly because there are two Los Angeles basketball teams and two baseball teams as well, but no football team. When I got here, I was introduced to the Boston sports fan. The one who roots for the Patriots, the Red Sox, and the Celtics, and only the Patriots, the Red Sox, and the Celtics!

Now, I will give Boston props for having a good year in 2007, but we must all remember that sports teams do in fact change from year to year.

My first introduction to Boston and the way that people think about their sports teams was when the Red Sox were working to clinch a playoff berth. I kept hearing people say that the Sox had it in the bag and there was no way they weren't going to make the playoffs. I kept thinking to myself, there is totally a chance they won't make the playoffs, but I was just brushed aside because it was "Boston" we were talking about, so how couldn't they make it.

So, then week one of football started. I had noticed that it seemed everyone tried to just push the Giants win out of their mind rather than except the fact that the Patriots goal for a perfect 19-0 season instead became a tarnished 18-1. Everyone was ready for Boston to rise to excellence once again, and then the world came crashing down halfway into the first quarter. Brady tore his ACL and MCL and was out for the season!

And then everyone just gave up on Cassel because he certainly wasn't going to be a Brady. Then there was the upset. How could the Dolphin's, who went 1-15 in 2007, end the Patriots 21-game wining streak? Here's how, the Dolphins got good and the Patriots aren't having the same season. It happens all the time, but it seems as though no one can accept the fact that it could happen to Boston.

So in order to occupy their time, rather than worrying about the Patriots all the focus was back on the Red Sox, since they made the playoffs and were matched-up against the Major League's best team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Everyone was talking about how there wasn't a chance that the Red Sox were going to lose, but no one paid attention to the fact that the Angels have some of the best pitching in the league, they had the best record in baseball, finishing the season with more than 100 wins, and the Red Sox had quite a few injuries. The Red Sox pulled it through, they won fair and square, and afterward it seemed like they had won the World Series.

Continued...

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