Many people say they hate Boston. That's a lie. We're so secretly jealous that all we can do is hate.
For me personally, living in the Bay Area, I envy Boston.
They have great teams that have been extremely successful lately. The Patriots have won three Super Bowls this decade, and were a David Tyree catch away from winning their fourth.
The Red Sox, long cursed, have won two World Series in the last four years, and are good enough to win many more in the near future. In fact, the Red Sox are now the hated Evil Empire. The Yankees are too mediocre to be hated and feared. The Red Sox are now the team that everyone hates, but secretly admire. The Celtics have three great superstars and have won a championship as well.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Boston has SIX championships this decade, more than almost every other city. How many do Bay Area teams have? Niners: zero. Raiders: zero. A's: zero. Giants: zero. Sharks: zero. Warriors: zero. That leads to a total of...ZERO.
The Bay Area is going through a huge down time right now. Our teams suck. Giants, Raiders, and Niners suck. The Sharks are good in the regular season, but choke in the playoffs. The Warriors can't play defense to save their lives, and aren't a championship contender. The A's are good, but they've choked in the playoffs as well.
I also admire the Boston fans (not the post-2004 bandwagon fan, I mean the true fans). They pack their stadiums every game, more than can be said for A's fans. The Boston fans are extremely passionate, more than can be said for the corporate Giants fans on their PDAs. Boston fans also travel to road games. A's fans don't even go to home games, never mind travel to road games.
I'm also jealous of the stadiums in Boston. Fenway is absolutely awesome. The TD Banknorth (have to give sponsors their moneys worth) Garden and Gillette Stadium are nice. Besides the Giants' AT&T Park, what does the Bay Area have? McAfee Coliseum? Oh, please. Candlestick? No way.
The Bay Area needs major stadium upgrades, but with the political system here, nothing ever gets done. The "Tree Hugggers" and their environmental reports prevent anything from ever being built.
All in all, Boston has great tradition, teams, and fans, and we're all just jealous.
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6 months ago
at least u are brave enough to admit it u also forgot BC hockey they won ncaa frozen this year 4 and BU recently as well.
from 6 months ago
Way to rub it in! No, just kidding.
Well, I don't follow hockey, I'm sorry to say.
from 6 months ago
its cool dude nobody does but honestly there must be something in the water up there it nutzzz
6 months ago
THANK YOU. I admire your honesty in admitting this. It's nothing to be ashamed of really. Every fan has their moment. At least you didn't take the bitter route and start a facebook group called "I hate Boston and everyone who lives there."
(Yeah, that group actually exists. Pathetic and sad.)
from 6 months ago
Well, to be a Devil's advocate, Boston fans have lost their humbleness.
They used to be lovable losers, but now they think they are the best ever.
Plus, its easy to be a fan of a winning team. Thats why many people jumped on the Red Sox and Patriots bandwagons. The older generation of Bostons fans is used to losing, but a new younger generation of Boston fans is taking winning for granted because of how often it is happening.
6 months ago
Good article. To be fair, we did have a couple of MLS championships, but that team ran out of town.
From the Bay Area myself, I agree that most of the Bay Area Sporting venues suck. The Oracle Arena is sick, went to the playoffs last year and there's nothing like it. I personally like it better than the Rose Garden in (Portland) and Staples Center. I think there are a few promising future projects. The new stadium being built in Fremont, although it's far from Oakland, looks nice and could be a gem of a ballpark in the future. I'm hating the fact that the 49ers look like they are moving to Santa Clara. Can you imagine this big stadium in the middle of suburbia next to Intel Headquarters. Give me a break. Candlestick, i'll admit is outdated, but the stadiuim next to the Bay and gazing out towards the Pacific...that's part of the identity of the identity of the 49ers. I'm from more for the 9ers moving into the Naval Shipyard site, that would be much better.
Yea everybody's getting jealous of Boston, but they totally bought that championship. That's not to say the same of the Lakers if they had won. It's one thing for a team like Detroit to have a midseason trade and get Rasheed and win a title, and a totally separate issue to have a team have KG, Pierce, and Ray Allen. The Pats look like they have a lot of baggage now with Spygate and former players coming out and talking of illegal practices and procedures. People are always going to question them now, just like people question the accomplishments of Barry Bonds.
from 6 months ago
The celtics traded for KG and Ray Allen.
6 months ago
Very true, Divya. I am very guilty of being jealous.
6 months ago
I AM A LAKER FAN BUT MUST ADMIT THAT I HAVE SPEND SEVERAL DAYS IN BOSTON AND THOUGHT
THAT THEY HAVE CLASSY FANS THERE , MUCH MORE THAN THE BAY AREA.
CALIFORNIA IS ONLY ABOUT MONEY.
CONGRATS TO THE BOSTON CELTICS. YOU DESERVE IT.
from 6 months ago
The problem with California fans isn't that they are not classy. I think they are classy.
The problem is they don't care enough. They don't have any passion, and just sit in their seats afraid to cheer. When fans do cheer, somebody else yells, "Sit down!!!!"
We're just too casual and laid back.
6 months ago
Hey, what a great insight from the above comment.
Anywhos, I would count states more than cities. I know this is a cliche remark, but the Patriots don't play anywhere near Boston, and would constitute a team that is admired by multiple states, rather than one city. The New York Jets play in New Jersey, and fans from both sides like/dislike the team.
Boston, like a lot of big cities, are blessed with a long history of co-existence with sports to have multiple sports teams. When the Oklahoma City Sonics come around, Oklahoma City can't be jealous of Boston, because thye have had less chances in their history ( of negative-0 years ) to have the same ability of fan-hood, money, and consistently decent teams to capture a championship.
On top of that, even when teams are out of town, but within the state or region, people tend to root for that team if the opposition is outside the region. A lot of Californians ( only based on my small sampling size of friends, and blogs ) who weren't even from Los Angeles were rooting for the Lakers. If anything, from that conjuncture, since it tends to be more of a state-wide consistency ( exceptions: in state rivals such as Giants-Dodgers, Umass-Boston College ), I think the usual jealousy is more toward the state. California has so many teams, I think there is an exception because of the grandiose amounts of professional sports your state is blessed with.
But I would say I am never truly jealous. The Patriots were really bad ( Pete Carroll didn't do so well in the NFL ) before Belichick & Brady, and I am blessed with the fact that the system is pretty good, and not necessarily that we are winning from it. OK, I can see the NFL jealousy.
But in the NBA, the Celtics only won one in how many years? And 5 years ago, we were all going crazy to beat the Nets, even though the winner of that series were going to be the sacrificial lamb to the dominant Spurs. The Spurs have been the envy of Boston fans, and not just because of the championships. But because we had the best shot to land the 1st pick in 1997, and we didn't. Tim Duncan was selected that year.
In baseball, the Red Sox have enjoyed some success, but we haven't been really good. We have won as many championships as the Marlins, and I envy them because sometimes it doesn't even look like they are trying to win. We still haven't won as many championships in the last decade as the Yankees, and we are far away from a dyanasty.
In Hockey, I can sum it up in onomatopoeia: hahahahahahaha!
If anything, I feel we SHOULD be envied on two leves:
1: Sometimes we have the greatest teams, and sometimes we have the worst teams. But rarely are the die-hard fans bandwagon jumpers. I remember the Red Sox in the late-90's when the Indians use to kill us mercilessly, and our best pitchers were Tom Gordon, Erik Hanson, and Aaron Sele ( I didn't overlook Wakefield, just making it more dramatic ).
A lot of fans would go through the hell seasons of the Celtics, when callers would call up to WEEI to express how great Brett Szabo is. That is how you know how die-hard a fan is: When your most promising prospect for a sports team is Brett Szabo. Look him up, and Marty Conlon too.
My whole point is we go through a lot of heartache, and although there are some meatheads who haven't a clue what is going on, they still stand by their shitty teams, no matter how many years it takes to return to greatness.
2: Boston fans have, on the overall level, just more insight on sports than average fans elsewhere. When A-Rod got caught with the blonde girl and it was shown on the cover of the Post, that same day, the Yankees were playing the Sox in Fenway, and thousands of fans came to the stadium wearing blonde wigs. That is insane, because the news broke out THAT MORNING! For people to be as knowledgable as to be able to buy a blonde wig off of a street vendor before the game, only demonstrates the passion ( and somewhat the insanity ) of the average Red Sox fans.
I know a girl who's favorite player was Darren Bragg, and she barely knows anything about baseball. The average female Boston fan, although the median is somewhat close to below average in their knowledge of sports, can argue with you on sports issues way beyond any man's dream outside of beantown.
OVERALL, don't be envious. I feel, as a fan, I have gone through hell and back with all the horrible things that have happened to our teams. I love the passion that I have for sports, but sometimes, I do wish that I wasn't so close to the verge of insanity being a part of it.
6 months ago
Finally, someone admits the truth. We here in NE have much to be envied, but most people outside NE don't have the gonads to admit it. So they just hate. No reason to be nasty about it, is there?
from 6 months ago
You're an idiot. Bahstun sucks. The Patriots lost the Superbowl. Terry Francona is a Yankee's fan. Tom Brady is a classless pretty boy.
6 months ago
You sound pretty bitter there, Bruce. And I am not an idiot. That would be, um, you. What are you, a Chargers fan or something? Whatever the case, you have my sympathy.
from 6 months ago
I'm not bitter, I'm just correct. Good luck at your team picking and going back to being losers.
from 5 months ago
You don't even make sense, Bruce. Are you 12? Face it, ugly boy, you are jealous as hell, and you lack the emotional maturity to cope with it. You could maybe get some help with that. Let me know if you need a psych referral.
6 months ago
The lovable loser aspect is so played out. Boston fans are vocal about sports, always have been.
6 months ago
This a good read. I am a avid fan , and we are passionate about our teams and we need to appreciate what they are doing now a day's
5 months ago
Boston fans have paid their dues after 1986 there was a 14 year drought among hockey, baseball, football and basketbal.
The Patriots and Celtics had to bottom out before rebounding.
The Red Sox had to suffer through near misses again st the Yankees their chief tormentors.
Bruins, had a competitive series aginst MOntreal, but still have a long way to go.
The Celtics have a short window with the Big Three and gambled their future with all theirt chips. Fortunately, it paid off but paid a very steap price for Allen and KG with 10 players and picks.
Within 4-5 years they will have to rebuild.
The Patriots will be a contender as long as Brady is around, but in 5-6 years when he & Belechek retire we'll also have to cherish the "glory days" as other dynasty fans due such as the 49ers.
The Red Sox have some nice youngsters, but Ramirez and Ortiz are the heart and may be on their last legs with the team. With their big bank roll they can afford to try to replace them, but only with mere mortals.
It's been a great period for Boston sports. But, for those over 30 we have invested had many of anguish and enjoying tears of joy and fear uncertain futures for our teams.
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