A weary traveler checks into a hotel late at night. He lays on his bed and drops his shoe, banging loudly on the hard floor; realizing how loud and rude he was being, he softly takes off his other shoe and places it on the floor. A few minutes passed and a man below can be heard shouting, “Drop your other shoe already! I can’t sleep waiting for it to hit the ground!” For the man on the floor below the traveler, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop on the floor; the inevitable conclusion of the man’s anticipation of the undesirable thud. Cowboy fans have witnessed the shoe drop after 1996 and their third Super Bowl of the ’90s. Bulls fans witnessed it after Jordan-era. Meg Ryan dropped the shoe after You’ve Got Mail. Now, the fans in/(of) Boston are witnessing it happen right before their eyes.
These are the years of the last championship seasons for the teams of The Hub – with the Bruins in 1971. In a decade, no city has enjoyed more championships than Bostonians in the Aughts. (Please send refuting emails to Dwight Schrute at beeswax@notyours.com). 2007: Celtics win their league-leading 17th championship, the Red Sox win World Series for the second time in 3 years and the Patriots win their 4th Super Bowl in 7 years; undefeated, no less. (It happened. Yes it did! Just leave me alone!). Okay, fine: 2004, Patriots win their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years.
Since then, fans have parachuted in on the Bandwagon of Beantown from all over the country. Well, I for one don’t mind all the bandwagoners seeing as how in this day of universally on-demand media anyone can follow any team no matter where they are. I guess what I’m saying is, there’s nothing you can do about them so we should just live with it. But I do have a message to those that may choose to stay: ”Things are about to get rough, so buckle up or get off.”
2010: the Patriots have expired their 5-year grace period for winning Super Bowl XXXIX. 2007 was definitely good year for the Pats but the first-round debacle of this year’s playoffs to the David Tyree Ravens combined with the humiliatingly, flukey loss to the David Tyree Giants in 2007 can swiftly lead to loss of good faith for their prosperity.
The Celtics are old. The Big Three can’t hold the team together any more. Leads aren’t preserved down the stretch without the intimidating defense of a truly healthy Kevin Garnett. The general manager actively tried to get rid of Rajon Rondo on two separate occasions before giving him an extension this year.
The Red Sox. I’m holding on to hope that last year’s sweep from the ALDS was an aberration, too.
Despite disappointing finishes the Pats did go undefeated during the regular season and won 18 games in a row, the Celtics and Bulls gave NBA fans an unforgettable 7 game series without KG in 2008 and the Red Sox…well the Red Sox added John Lackey to the rotation. (I can’t honestly think of something I’m excited for about the Red Sox this year or last year). The Bruins made the playoffs and lost to the Hurricanes in 7 games. Silver linings are everywhere. But how long will that hold?
Spoiled, like the cast of Jersey Shore getting paid to drink and fight. New Englanders just expect good things to come, easily forgetting hardships that came before this decade. You’re the father of a kid that will inevitably lose a game of basketball in the driveway because you’re getting older, fatter and slower and your kid is getting more agile, stronger and figuring out your weaknesses.
So what can you do? I can’t say whether or not I’m handling the situation very well. Every Celtics game I see, I have no reason to believe that they’ll win the game even with a 20-point lead in the 4th quarter. I didn’t even predict the Patriots to be in the Super Bowl (but there’s no way I predicted the first-round piss-fest) this year. The Colts have figured the Patriots out. The Chargers would have beat them too. (In hindsight, everyone in the playoffs could have beaten the Pats).
If you’re a bandwagoner and want to jump off, be my guest; you are entitled to your decisions and what makes you happy. If you’re a die-hard, you can join me and prepare yourself to endure the inevitability that the shoe is getting closer and closer to the ground. Take the insight of the late sportswriter Dave Halberstam, “If you need a victory by your favorite sports team to give you some kind of enduring emotional upgrade, then you are, I suspect, in real trouble.”
Go out and enjoy life. No lovable losers here.
