IS THERE ANY reason why I can’t leave well enough alone?

Just 10 days ago, we noted that "With two of its three teams sitting neatly atop their divisions, and the third just a game out of first place, it’s a great time to be a New England sports fan." Right. And how about these gems?

• "New England has a gut-check test at Tennessee next Monday night, and that game will go a long way toward determining whether the Patriots are on the right path to post-season play. Granted, the Titans’ schedule to this point has been littered with the likes of the Jacksonvilles, Baltimores, Cincinnatis, and Houstons of the NFL world, but 8-5 is 8-5, and Tennessee has won seven out of eight en route to the top of the AFC South."

Result? Tennessee 24, New England 7. Coupled with Miami 23, Oakland 17, and you have the Patriots a game out of first, with must-win games coming up the next two Sundays.

• "The Bruins continue to astound, as the Black & Gold have upped their lead in the Eastern Division to 10 points over Ottawa heading into Monday [December 9] night’s action. As they approach the halfway point of the season, the B’s have lost just four games in regulation all season, even as they continue to rotate goaltenders and tough out the close games. Heartbreaking losses are not part of the program this year, while stirring comeback victories are.... Yep, it’s nearly the halfway point, and the Bruins — picked by many to revert to previous seasons’ form and miss the playoffs again — are arguably the best team in the NHL right now, with no slump in sight and even a five-point lead over the defending Cup champion Red Wings."

Result? Five straight losses, and now tied for first in the NHL’s Northeast Division.

• " ... The Celtics are starting to blow out the teams that they should, and continue to play competitively on the road.... Five of Boston’s next eight games are on the Fleet parquet, and its only road tests during that stretch will be at weak sisters New York, Chicago, and Cleveland. Come January and February, when a brutal schedule will put the leprechauns to the test, we’ll be seeing whether the Celtics have the horses and continued depth to make another run to the Eastern Conference finals."

Result? Losses to Phoenix (snapping a five-game road losing streak for the Suns, and a Boston loss that cost Paul Pierce his two front teeth after a fall to the floor), a couple of wins over putrid Cleveland and New York, and then another pair of losses to arguably the worst two teams in the conference — 94-83 at Chicago and 91-81 at home to Miami. Uggh.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have lost out on free agents Edgardo Alfonzo (four years, $26 million to the Mets after a two-year deal was in place with Boston) and Jeff Kent (two years, $18.2 million to Houston after rejecting similar money from the Sox) while most likely losing last year’s most promising late-season acquisition — outfielder Cliff Floyd, who rejected salary arbitration with Boston — to other greener pastures. While the Sox pine for Cuban defector Jose Contreras or Montreal aces Bartolo Colon and Javier Vazquez, the Yankees have already signed Japanese superstar Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui, a guy who was a three-time MVP of Japan’s Central League, with 332 home runs and 889 RBIs in 1268 career games. And don’t be surprised to see the Yankees snag Colon as well, which in turn could mark the departure of Roger Clemens from the Bronx.

Woe is us. Or is it?

Sure, Boston’s sports teams have hit some hard times, and in some cases, justifiably so. But all is not lost in the big picture, and here’s why.

The Bruins, in spite of their recent slump, are still the top point-getter in the Eastern Conference. All teams have losing streaks, and until this past week the Bruins had appeared to be immune. Ah-choo! Whoops. Nonetheless, Boston still has an impressive 19-9-3-1 record, and is still apparently playoff-bound, unless it chooses to follow the course of the 2002 Red Sox. Would you rather wave your pom-pons for other Original Six squads such as Montreal (15-12-4), Toronto (16-14-3), the Rangers (13-17-4), or Chicago (15-13-4)? Didn’t think so. Whether this losing skid will be extended remains to be seen, but I think we are seeing the results of a tired club that was stuck playing 11 games in 21 days — with three sets of three-games-in-five-days thrown in — and, like this season’s Patriots, is now playing with a bull’s-eye where its spoked-B’s once resided ever since it made its improbable run to the top of the NHL standings. After a game against 9-10-8 Florida Saturday, the B’s will face stumbling San Jose (13-14-2) on Monday, a team that has already changed coaches and that got blitzed, 9-3, in Ottawa Thursday. Then the team relaxes with three days off for the Christmas break before resuming play in the Deep South over the weekend.

The Celtics’ back-to-back stinkeroos to Chicago and Miami can not be defended. Certainly, you expect more from a team that has three players each making $12 million this season (Antoine Walker, Pierce, and, ahem, Vin Baker). The Bulls were 7-16 coming into that game, and the Heat entered the FleetCenter with a 6-18 mark. In spite of those woofers, we’ll cut the Celtics a bit of slack, and note that they too have had a busy December (12 games in 21 days come Saturday). However, they had better not embarrass our fair city in front of a national-television audience (Christmas Day at NJ) as the Patriots did on Monday Night Football, and weekend games in Miami and Orlando will also help determine whether the Green’s 16-9 mark is smoke and mirrors, or a true reflection of the quality of this team. And if you value your health, don’t even look at Boston’s January schedule until you’ve had a coupla mugs of spiked eggnog.

Patriots? Well, earlier in the season they demanded a level of respect that should rightfully have come with the mantle of Super Bowl champion, but they will be worthy of none of that if they can’t even get back to the playoffs this season. Unless they beat the Jets and Dolphins at home on the next two Sundays, New England will have the dubious task of explaining to its fans how a team that came into camp much-improved could not emerge as one of the top 12 teams in the NFL. God knows they had their chances, but after the first two weeks of the season — crunchings of the Steelers and Jets — the Pats have not beaten one of the premier teams on their schedule, and that includes San Diego, Miami, Green Bay, Denver, Oakland, and Tennessee. What does that tell you? Either they’re not trying hard enough, or they’re not good enough.

Even if the Patriots do win their last two games to clinch the AFC East crown, their level of play thus far has not indicated that they can all of a sudden change their stripes and play again to Super Bowl level. At this juncture, I don’t like New England’s chances against any of the potential playoff teams, particularly if it has to play on the road.

It was a blast while it lasted, but it sure does seem like this season’s tale will not have the fairy-tale ending that last year’s edition did. Two first-round draft picks should help the cause for 2003, but this is an aging team that has been exposed for what it is this season, and that is — hard as it may be to admit — mediocre.

Which is a damn shame. But it was still a helluva fun ride, despite the fact that the fun house is about to close for the season.

Two tickets to ride left — enjoy.

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