FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2002 — Here at the Phoenix, it’s Fall Preview week, and that means we look ahead to what’s in store culturally and entertainment-wise on the local scene. I figure there’s no better time to take a page from that issue and preview (and in a couple of instances, review) the local sports landscape.

Depending on your point of view, there’s a lot to be optimistic about, although if you are a Bruins fan, or a disgruntled Red Sox fan (a redundancy if there ever was one), then perhaps you see little reason for hope. Nonetheless, here in September, where the Sox are still playing (for pride — nothing else), the Patriots are opening the defense of their Super Bowl title, the Bruins and Celtics are coming off highly successful seasons, and the Revolution soccer team is heading for yet another year of disappointment, it’s the most exciting time to be a sports fan, and nothing but the facts can get in the way of another bounty of championship-driven teams.

Revolution: Not even a brand new stadium and the league’s top scorer could lift the local soccer team to a playoff spot. Technically, the Revs are still in the hunt, but so are the Red Sox — and the hardball nine at least have a winning record. The Revolution, as is customary, got off to a so-so start, largely because their first four matches were on the road to allow time for then–CMGI Field to get the finishing touches. New England went 1-2-1 in those four, came home for a successful stadium opener on May 11, then proceeded to lose six of its next seven to fall into the Eastern Conference cellar. Right now, they’re the hottest team in the league, with three wins and a tie in their past four outings, but no final burst can hide the fact that Bob Kraft’s "other" team is still 10-14-2, and has the ninth-best record in a 10-team league. Like the Red Sox, their late surge cannot hide the fact that when it really mattered during the meat of the summer-swelter schedule, the Revolution failed miserably. And though the MLS Cup will definitely be hoisted on the Revs’ home turf next month, it unfortunately will be by somebody else, because only a flat-out miracle will bring the team to a spot in the championship game that they will host in absentia.

Red Sox: Four straight wins in Tampa, and a remaining schedule full of patsies will no doubt have the Sox patting themselves on the back this off-season, congratulating themselves on a 90-plus-win season and a great finishing kick. As noted above, though, when the games really counted in the critical summer months, the team played below-.500 ball, a feat that confounds anyone who saw the Olde Towne Team streak to a 40-17 start. Regular readers of this column have read my prior tirades and criticism regarding this team, but when a team full of all-stars and high-priced talent underachieve at this level, then a leadership void has to be a prime suspect in the team’s sorry summer. When you think about it, the Sox’ presumed triumvirate of generals, Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, and Pedro Martinez, is made up of vastly different, and complicated, personalities.

Nomar is all business all the time, a slave to routine, yet a man who prefers to be a leader by example, not through locker-room oratory. Everyone’s glad Nomar’s wrist has apparently healed enough to make him an everyday player this year, and his .310 average and 109 RBIs are nothing to sniff at. Nonetheless, he leads the league in errors at his position, and his .310 average is 50-60 points less than when he was a back-to-back AL batting champ in 1999 and 2000. Only once that we know about did he raise his voice in the dugout to spark the team, and that inspirational incident failed to carry over into subsequent games.

Ramirez is a leader only in stats, since he too often dogs it on the field, cares not a whit for any kind of team concept, and frequently does strange things that confound his teammates and fans. Too often we hear, "Well, that’s just Manny," but his recent behavior (not running out ground balls, seeming indifference and distracting behavior during Wednesday’s pre-game 9/11 anniversary ceremony) has turned a lot of the team’s fans against him. Unfortunately, we’re on the hook for six more years of Just Manny, and his eight-year, $160 million contract makes him untradeable.

Martinez, who launched a gallant comeback this season en route to a possible fourth Cy Young award, is no leader, either, since he is a role model and a fiery competitor on the days he pitches, but every other day he is the team’s game-day clown, dressing up in goofball garb or prancing around the dugout, presumably to ease the tension on the bench. Some players enjoy it, but others, like Garciaparra (shown ignoring Martinez’s dugout antics in a recent game), tire easily of his act. Nomar and the other players are probably also a bit peeved at the perceived preferential treatment that Pedro and Manny often get from Sox management, and that can create resentment in the clubhouse that translates to a lack of urgency on the field. With three disparate " leaders " doing a fine job of watching the wheels turn rather than greasing the skids, and a manager who is too folksy and mild-mannered to light any kind of fire under the bodies who inhabit the Boston uniforms, it’s no wonder that this team has failed.

Last year, the club was inhabited by a core of malcontents, and those poisonous attitudes brought down the injury-riddled squad come September. Remember these fine moments? The team refusing then-catcher Scott Hatteberg’s attempts to get players to chip in toward a team contribution to a 9/11 Fund; the players not even coming to the dugout steps during a pre-game memorial ceremony following the break in games after 9/11; clubhouse tussles; a reliever (Derek Lowe) and the star hitter (Ramirez) both lobbing F-bombs in the direction of their manager. A lot of those bad apples responsible for the tension were supposedly done away with this past off-season, but some of them obviously remain.

Anaheim, led by brash former catcher Mike Scioscia, and Oakland, propelled by a different hero daily on a bargain-basement-priced roster, have shown what can be done when a team plays with heart and a sense of purpose. And as much as Sox fans hate to admit it, even the Yankees are a model of efficiency and across-the-board leadership, a team (almost) worth rooting for. Those teams will be playing on; our guys will not, contrary to common sense.

Well, there will be more cleaning house this Red Sox off-season, and some of it will be painful, as the new owners have reportedly mandated a payroll reduction for next season. That could mean the departure of such 2002 contributors as Cliff Floyd, Alan Embree, and Rey Sanchez. For some others it will be "good riddance," but for the prospects of the 2003 Boston Red Sox, we may be arriving at spring training with the belief that 2002 was our last best chance to break the jinx of 1918.

Bruins: Training camp opened this past week, and while this team still has the components that could make up a playoff team, they are missing two key ingredients from the team that finished as the top seed in the East following last year’s regular season. The free-agent departures of goaltender Byron Dafoe (who remains unsigned by anybody else) and sniper Bill Guerin are huge losses to a team that invested a fair amount of cash in other free agents last off-season. This year, the Bruins are saving significant dollars by not re-signing Dafoe or Guerin, but they have not inked adequate replacement help, either. The goaltending tandem of newly signed Steve Shields and AHL veteran John Grahame may make up for Dafoe’s absence, but the void left by Guerin’s dash for the cash will be considerable. Glen Murray, Brian Rolston, Joe Thornton, and Sergei Samsonov will all have to step up their efforts, and Thornton and Samsonov in particular will be eager to shine, as they are up for free agency at the end of this season. (Danger! Danger!) Also, star defenseman Kyle McLaren is without a contract and is holding out of camp, asking to be traded. There will be a lot of kids fighting for roster spots as camp unfolds in the coming weeks, but it is unlikely that any of them can compensate for the losses of Guerin and potentially McLaren, and it could point to a lackluster season at the FleetCenter. Some good days, some bad, but nothing that could lead one to believe that glory days are approaching for this proud franchise.

Celtics: A bit of optimism for the Eastern Conference runners-up, but the addition of Vin Baker is the only significant addition in the wake of the departures of Kenny Anderson, Erick Strickland, Rodney Rogers, Joseph Forte, and Vitaly Potapenko. Also troubling is that the Celtics’ best player, Paul Pierce, was part of the USA team that just embarrassed itself at the World Championships in Indianapolis (a sixth-place finish). Pierce was the star of the team early on, but the team finished with three inexplicable losses to Argentina, Yugoslavia, and Spain, and Pierce — by virtue of early performances, a candidate for MVP of the tourney — did not even make the All-Tournament team. The Celtics have no experienced point guard, and Baker’s readiness to turn his career around is very much a question mark. Although New Jersey and Detroit seemed to improve themselves on paper, the Celtics should be in the thick of things again next spring as long as the one-two punch of Pierce and Antoine Walker don’t run out of gas. That could be the deciding factor because the talented tandem will again be expected to lead the team in nearly every area.

Patriots: Other than last February’s Super Bowl victory, has there ever been a more satisfying victory for the franchise and its followers than Monday night’s 30-14 thrashing of the Steelers? This New England team clamored for respect throughout the summer and pre-season, but it was still picked as perhaps the fifth- or sixth-best team in the league. That all changed with the Monday-night performance, and by Tuesday morning Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and CBS Sportsline all had vaulted the Patriots to the top of their power rankings. A tough battle against the Jets is on tap for this weekend, but no team has made New England’s legions of fans feel better about themselves than this one, and this team plays with the intensity, desire, and heart that is obviously sorely lacking in its Fenway counterpart. The Patriots could go 0-15 the rest of the way, but it probably won’t affect the embrace that local fans have wrapped around this band of overachievers. New England has the league’s most admired coach; one of the league’s most exciting young quarterbacks; a defense that is feared by all opponents; a team-wide sense of purpose, character, and chemistry; a new facility that is the crown jewel of the NFL; and an aura and duende that others wish they could match. No, the Pats may not win the Super Bowl again this coming January, but they are doing everything they can to make people forget about the disappointing Red Sox’ campaign, and they make us all proud to be New England sports fans.

Unlike the Red Sox, the New England Patriots have shown again and again that they are the team that seems to care as much as their fans do, and for that we can be grateful. The Bruins and Celtics will no doubt work hard and hopefully provide entertainment and playoff berths next April, but right now, we continue to bask in the warm afterglow of a Super Bowl title, and the opportunity to watch a team that right now looks even better than the one that gave us that improbable miracle on that magical February night.

Yep, we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays on BostonPhoenix.com; Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com