Sports: April 2004 Archives
At least one Boston team has won championships, in the four major sports, every decade since the 1900s, except the 1990s. And in onnly the 1970s did more than one team win a championship, when both the Celtics and Bruins won, two apiece.
(Note: I am using the common definition of "decade", which means the very first decade was from years 1 to 9, the second from years 10 to 19, and so on :-).
What does this mean? That I should probably give up on the Bruins, Sox, and Celtics until 2010. :/ Of course, I won't. The Red Sox are far and away the best team in the majors right now, and the Bruins are very close to being able to compete for the championship (being the best regular season team in the Eastern Conference two of the last three years). Maybe they won't win in the end, but I'll enjoy it for the duration it lasts.
(Note: I am using the common definition of "decade", which means the very first decade was from years 1 to 9, the second from years 10 to 19, and so on :-).
1903: Red Sox
1912: Red Sox
1915: Red Sox
1916: Red Sox
1918: Red Sox
1929: Bruins
1939: Bruins
1941: Bruins
1957: Celtics
1959: Celtics
1960: Celtics
1961: Celtics
1962: Celtics
1963: Celtics
1964: Celtics
1965: Celtics
1966: Celtics
1968: Celtics
1969: Celtics
1970: Bruins
1972: Bruins
1974: Celtics
1976: Celtics
1981: Celtics
1984: Celtics
1986: Celtics
2002: Patriots
2004: Patriots
What does this mean? That I should probably give up on the Bruins, Sox, and Celtics until 2010. :/ Of course, I won't. The Red Sox are far and away the best team in the majors right now, and the Bruins are very close to being able to compete for the championship (being the best regular season team in the Eastern Conference two of the last three years). Maybe they won't win in the end, but I'll enjoy it for the duration it lasts.
Sigh. The Boston Bruins have forgotten how to play defense, in their first-round series in the NHL playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens. All they need to do is pick up the open men in their own zone, and this series never would have gotten to a Game 7, let alone a Game 6. Go Bruins. Die Canadiens.
So Monday at 11 a.m., in Boston, the Red Sox will host the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, in the final game of four-game series in the biggest rivalry in baseball. Then the Boston Marathon will take place. Then, at 7 p.m., the Boston Bruins will host the Montreal Canadiens, in the biggest rivalry in hockey. And the NFL Network will spend almost all day showing clips of the New England Patriots. Now this could be a Patriots Day* to remember.
* Patriots Day is a holiday celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine, commemorating The Shot Heard Round The World, on April 19, 1775 (remember your Longfellow -- "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, on the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five; hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year" -- and note that Revere rode the night before the Shot).
It is celebrated on a Monday, and this year, it happens to take place on the actual Patriots Day. Every Patriots Day, the Red Sox play a morning game followed by the Boston Marathon. If you don't live in the area, or care not for sports, you could celebrate by knocking back a Sam Adams or two.
So Monday at 11 a.m., in Boston, the Red Sox will host the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, in the final game of four-game series in the biggest rivalry in baseball. Then the Boston Marathon will take place. Then, at 7 p.m., the Boston Bruins will host the Montreal Canadiens, in the biggest rivalry in hockey. And the NFL Network will spend almost all day showing clips of the New England Patriots. Now this could be a Patriots Day* to remember.
* Patriots Day is a holiday celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine, commemorating The Shot Heard Round The World, on April 19, 1775 (remember your Longfellow -- "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, on the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five; hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year" -- and note that Revere rode the night before the Shot).
It is celebrated on a Monday, and this year, it happens to take place on the actual Patriots Day. Every Patriots Day, the Red Sox play a morning game followed by the Boston Marathon. If you don't live in the area, or care not for sports, you could celebrate by knocking back a Sam Adams or two.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
