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First things first: New England’s teams rule the roost
BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Line ’em up, side-by-side, and tell me what you see. I’m talking about the NFL standings, the NHL standings, and the NBA standings. I’ll tell you what you see: New England in first place, Boston in first place, and Boston in first place. Look a little bit beyond the Big Three winter sports and you’ve got the New England Revolution soccer team heading into the MLS playoffs after their second-place finish in the league’s Eastern Conference. What? You want more? How about those Red Sox? Sure, they didn’t make the World Series, but they did get to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, coming within five outs of the Fall Classic, didn’t they? Still not enough? How about Boston College, the region’s premier Division I program, with a 5-3 record on the gridiron and apparently bowl-bound again? How about UMass as the fourth-ranked football team in the country in Division I-AA? And can it be? Is that the Harvard Crimson gridsters — make that the undefeated Harvard gridsters — ranked 16th in that same poll? And should we rub it in further? Five of the top 10 Division I college hockey programs (and seven of the top 15) are New England–based, led by Maine, which is ranked number one.

And how about Boston-based Mystic River as an Oscar nominee for Best Picture?

Well, maybe we’ve gone a bit too far on that one.

Still, is there a better time and place to be a sports fan in this six-state region?

I know, I know, you’re still a little bit mournful about the Red Sox’ sad ending, but there are obviously plenty of opportunities for optimism about the other pro teams in the area, and the success of these teams will go a long way toward eradicating the disappointment that still enshrouds the 2003 edition of the Olde Towne Team. The letdown that still lingers in the hearts of Boston’s baseball fans will indeed pass, and when it does, those same hearts should take wing and gain hope with the buoyancy and good tidings that the other regional squads have thus far provided.

So wipe away those tears, Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Lee Soxfan; just about every team around you is in the hunt for a successful season, a playoff berth, or — who knows? — maybe another championship banner.

Providing most of the soothing ointment to the brokenhearted is this year’s edition of the New England Patriots. Sure, there was a sense that things would be improved in Foxborough this fall, especially with the perception of a solid draft and the free-agent signings of some significant defensive specialists. Suddenly, though, things seemed to turn sour: guys got hurt. Big guys got hurt; major big guys got hurt. Make that: major big guys got worse than hurt; they got seriously injured, some for the duration of the season. It was apparently the curse of Lawyer Milloy; get rid of the All-Pro safety because you feel that your team has depth in the secondary, and boom! There goes linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, out for the season with a fractured hip. Bang! There goes LB Teddy Johnson with a broken left foot. Crack! There goes behemoth nose tackle Ted Washington with a fractured left leg. Crr-unch! Did you see that? Down goes another linebacker, as Mike Vrabel’s arm just snapped! In rapid fashion, the Pats also saw guys like center Adrian Klemm, Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Antowain Smith, and even QB Tom Brady get some ink on the injury list and/or some time on the sidelines. It was disheartening and frustrating to see the season go down the drain like this.

But wait! The season did not end up swirling down the pipes, and indeed the resilient team got even better as the 2003 campaign progressed. After the debacle in Buffalo, the team took five of the next six, and beat some pretty high-falutin’ teams along the way. Now, with eight games down and eight games left, the New England Patriots are not only surviving, but flourishing atop the AFC East. And with all the walking wounded, except for Colvin, expected to return before season’s end — and the experience culled by the second- and third-stringers in the absence of those key starters — this team might not only be playoff-bound, but has a real possibility of making some noise once it reaches the post-season.

While the Patriots are ripping up the turf in NFL stadiums, those whiz-bang Bruins are off to a rock-and-roll start themselves. Seemingly lacking in goaltending depth and defense — and having their offense MIA for the bulk of the pre-season — the B’s have gotten off to an impressive start for the second straight season. Granted, last year’s 19-4-3-1 start was mostly done with smoke and mirrors (and gradually faded to a 36-31-11-4 finish), this year’s Bruins are jelling on all levels, and they too have beaten some pretty decent teams to get to their position atop the NHL’s Northeast Division standings (at 6-2-2-1). The defending champion Devils, along with elite teams like the Stars, Avalanche, Kings, and Mighty Ducks have all gone down to the agony of defeat at the hands of the Bruins, and more impressively, Boston has gone 6-1-1 in road games to this point.

Of course it’s still early, but the team has gotten solid offensive production not only from its top line, but even from its third and fourth lines, and youngster Andrew Raycroft has been a remarkable surprise in goal, compiling a sparkling 1.65 GAA. Veteran Felix Potvin, brought in on the eve of training camp to stabilize the goaltending situation, has been no slouch either, with a 2.09 GAA and, like Raycroft, also having collected a shutout already. The season’s only at the one-eighth poll, but right now the team is playing loose and with confidence, and first-year head coach Mike Sullivan has guided this team with a steady hand.

To heck with the one-eighth poll, though; how about those Celtics in first place at the one-82nd poll? Yes, I’m aware that it’s illogical to extrapolate a team’s long-range success on the basis of just one game to kick off the season against a team playing its second game in two nights. Still, the first game of the Antoine Walker–less era for Boston was a rousing success, as the team’s 98-75 victory over the Miami Heat was marked by not only remarkable scoring balance and the apparent rejuvenation of Vin Baker’s career, but by the uptempo, end-to-end style that has been absent in the FleetCenter years. Six Celtics were in double figures — only three of which were starters — and the team racked up 28 assists and just 10 turnovers in the season opener. Captain Paul Pierce was not forced to be the sole weapon, and though he led the team in shots (15) and points (23), eight of his teammates also logged at least 19 minutes of playing time in the contest, and nine of the guys not named Paul scored. It was a refreshing game to watch, and without the aggravation of watching Walker hoist up ill-timed three-pointers, there was little to complain about for the fans gathered to get their first look at this new-look roster. And yes, one game does not a season nor playoff berth make, but it was nice to see a team not forced to rely just on two guys, and the speed and hustle exhibited by this year’s edition of the Green & White was invigorating and promising.

Playing a mirror-image season from last year is the area’s professional-soccer representative, the Revolution. Last season the Revs climbed out of a deep hole with a 5-0-1 finish to clinch first place in the Eastern Conference en route to a berth in the MLS title game. This season, when hope again was seemingly lost, the team went on a 6-0-1 tear to finish second in the conference. Getting hot at the right time seemed to work out well last season, and it remains to be seen whether the team can again capitalize on their late-season flourish to again challenge for the MLS Cup. This season’s title match won’t be played on the home pitch as last season’s championship game was, and the Revolution will be without top scorers Taylor Twellman (broken foot) and Chris Brown (same). Nonetheless, in the post-season anything can happen, and this bunch, like the never-say-die Patriots, have overcome injuries and adversity, and there are just eight teams left in the playoff hunt, so oftentimes the hot hand wins. Just ask the 2002 Pats.

(Not much else needs to be said about the Red Sox, other than the fact that the team’s hesitation in quickly hiring a new manager — and the Sox’ strategy of putting Manny Ramirez on waivers — must have something to do with being hopeful that a wild-eyed and furious George Steinbrenner will do something desperate and stupid. How stupid? How about firing manager Joe Torre, who hasn’t brought the pinstripers a title in three whole seasons, and upgrading the team’s offense, which batted just .261 in the Fall Classic loss to the Marlins. Hmmm; swap the enigmatic Ramirez and his remaining $100-million contract for the rights to Torre. Sound fair?)

Finally, the other local squads vying for our attention as well as post-season glory: BC football (at 5-3) needs seven wins to qualify for a bowl bid, and while one of its remaining games (against Rutgers) seems an automatic W, the others are less so (Pitt, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech). The latter two contests are at home, so there is certainly a solid chance for Tom O’Brien’s squad to reach a bowl game for the fifth straight time (which would extend their school record). Maine, UNH, BC, and BU are all perennial contenders for the NCAA hockey crown, and any one of those could give defending champion Minnesota a run for its money, but right now it’s way too early to offer prognostications on that. Just expect at least two of those squads to be in the Frozen Four in, yep, Boston next spring. Finally, UMass would love to be back in the I-AA football playoffs for another opportunity at another national championship, a title it last won in 1998. Still, one can’t dismiss Harvard, which is 6-0 overall and lately been making a name for itself outside of academia and hockey. But the team will finish its season at home against 6-0 Penn before meeting 4-2 Yale at New Haven in the traditional showdown.

Yes indeed, not at all a bad time to be a New England sports fan. And wait — this just in: UConn is the preseason pick to be the number-one team in college basketball this season?

Clear the parade route and reserve some flat-bed trucks: somebody around here’s going to be doin’ some celebrating sometime soon.

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


Issue Date: October 31, 2003
"Sporting Eye" archives: 2003 |2002
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