Haters Gonna Hate (Our Duckboats)

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Another year, another championship, another parade for the people of Boston - and for those of us who have sadly left the friendly confines of New England, but always keep our hometown teams in our hearts.

The turn of the millennium signaled a shift change for the once-beleaguered fans of the Patriots and Red Sox (and for the less unfortunate Bruins and Celtics fans). Since 2000, New England sports fans have enjoyed an unprecedented run of success, with nine major sports championships in fifteen years.

Boston hasn't gone more than three years without witnessing a duckboat parade in that span. Sure, Boston has a competitive advantage over some cities simply by virtue of having a team each in the NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL... but New York has two of each, and Chicago has two MLB teams and one of each of the rest, yet Boston still has the edge.

So we're spoiled. And having moved to the New York metro area recently, I've witnessed firsthand that people are jealous.

But can I admit something? The jealousy of other city's fans (and particularly that of New York's fans) is absolutely delicious. I relish in their protestations about Spygate and Deflategate, and there's nothing I enjoy more than laughing in their faces when they spout absurd conspiracy theories about Curt Schilling's apparent affinity for ketchup.

Boston fans were once known for our inferiority complex, though whoever came up with that was obviously more focused on the "cursed" Red Sox and the previously-hapless Patriots than the winningest team in NBA history, the Boston Celtics.

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Every championship won by a Boston team is another nail in the coffin of the lovable loser reputation we endured for so long. Sure, there are benefits to being the perennial underdog, but I'll take jealousy and bitterness from other fans over their pity any day of the week.

So congratulations, Patriots! You've enhanced my pride at hailing from New England - even if many of my coworkers and friends could do without the smug smile I've been wearing all week. But as Taylor Swift recently put into song, haters gonna hate, and I'll happily enjoy their chagrin.

Shipping Up to Boston!

©Kayla Chadwick 2011

I'm still mad at myself for not going to the game on Wednesday night. Sure, my bank account is happy to still contain the $1000 it would have taken to get into the door - but can you really put a price on witnessing history?

I don't think you can, so I'm sacrificing more than $100 in gas money and my entire weekend to getting myself to Boston for the 2013 Red Sox World Series parade.

By way of a strange coincidence, I found myself at the Bruins duckboat parade two summers ago. Though my love for the Bruins pales in comparison to my devotion to the Red Sox, I had an amazing time, and I vowed to be there in person for the next rolling rally.

So I'll be there tomorrow, bright and early, with my two obnoxiously large cameras - I hope to see some of you out there, too!

Game 3 tonight!

It's never ideal to have an off day after a loss, and the Red Sox just dopped three out of four games to the Orioles, and have today to brood about it. Luckily for us Boston sports fans, there is something to distract our attention: Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I'm guessing that quite a few Red Sox players will also tune in, especially as many of them sport such fantastic Bruins playoff beards.

I'm twice as excited as I normally would be for this game. Beyond the normal adrenaline that comes from an overtime win and tying up the series, I get to watch the Bruins without ignoring the Red Sox. Yes, I'm aware that it's the Cup, while the Sox still have more than half of their season left to play, but I'm a baseball girl above all else, and I always feel a little guilty when the Red Sox are playing and I'm watching something else - anything else.

That won't be a problem tonight, since the Red Sox won't return to Fenway to take on the Rays until tomorrow, when they'll play a day-night double header and then a regular night game on Wednesday. Tonight is all about the Bruins, and I don't know about you, but if there's another overtime this evening I'm going to cry.

With more theatrics, Bruins even the series

After the exhausting debacle on Wednesday night, I have to admit that I was nervous and exasperated when the Bruins and Blackhawks ended regulation play last night, tied 1-1. I kept thinking how awful it would be to lose in sudden death for the second game in a row, and how annoyed I was going to be if I stayed up through three overtime periods AGAIN to watch the Blackhawks celebrate.

But thankfully, the Bruins came through, as Daniel Paille scored the winning goal with just over six minutes to go, tying the series at one game apiece heading back to Boston for Games 3 and 4. No matter what happens, there will be at least one more game in Chicago, and for what it's worth, I'm pretty confident that this series is going to go seven games.

In the first two games of this Stanley Cup Finals, these two teams could not be more evenly matched - we have yet to see a regulation length contest. For the first two periods of Game 1, it looked like the Bruins were going to take this thing easily, but it's become clear that it won't be that easy. I'm not sure I can handle this kind of excitement for five more games, but I know I'll miss it when it's all over - though if the Bruins bring home the Stanley Cup again, I'm sure I'll have an easier time dealing with that imminent hockey withdrawal.

Bruins fall in Game 1

Despite an early lead, the Bruins lost the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals early this morning during the third overtime period. For those of you not totally familiar with hockey, that means that the Bruins and the Blackhawks played the near-equivalent of two regulation length games, for a contest that spanned more than five hours and took place on two different days.

There was some speculation that the two days off in between each game were somehow excessive, but as one of the scores of fans who were up until the wee hours of the morning, I personally might need two whole days to recover. I was never good enough at hockey during my short failed high school playing career to truly understand how exhausting it is to play for an entire game. Indeed, I think I could count the number of shifts I played in two years on one hand - my field hockey prowess didn't translate well to the ice.

In any case, hockey has to be one of the most physically demanding team sports, combining the physical stamina required for basketball (but with the added challenge of skating rather than walking), with the hand-eye coordination of baseball (with the additional restraint of a huge layer of protective gear), with the brute force of football (only hockey hits can happen at much higher speeds). The whole thing is insanely intense, and two days to recuperate from last night's marathon game is only unreasonable if you think they deserve three or more.

I also think that the two days off will prove helpful for the Bruins in terms of momentum - by Saturday evening, Wednesday's loss will seem like ages ago. Any momentum that the Blackhawks might have derived from such an exciting OT win will have pretty much dissipated, and though the Bruins will be playing one game down, they will have had time to shake it off. They'll come back and win on Saturday, and go on to win the Stanley Cup.

Wins all around!

Today was an awesome day to be rooting for Boston, as the Red Sox took their second game in a row from the Indians and the Bruins took Game 5 from the Rangers, eliminating New York and propelling themselves into the Easter Conference Finals.

Job Lester went seven innings but didn't earn the win, because even though he managed eight strikeouts he also gave up four earned runs. Instead, Junichi Tazawa got to be the pitcher of record, as he was pitchign in the eighth when the Red Sox rallied for four runs. Andrew Bailey, hopefully off of the disabled list for good now, earned his sixth save of the season.

The Red Sox can clinch a series win tomorrow, as they guaranteed at least a split with today's win. Felix Doubront will look to get his fourth win, and lower his ERA - it's currently closer to six than five.

Rough night for Boston sports

On a night when the New York Rangers took their first game of the Eastern Conference Semifinal series from the Bruins, the Red Sox got absolutely clobbered by the Indians at Fenway Park. Sure, the Bruins are still up in the series 3-1, but if any fanbase can tell you about how comeback from 3-0 is possible, it's Boston.

I still think the Bruins will take the series, despite what people like to say about possible momentum shifts. As for the Red Sox, the only silver lining to tonight's defeat is that it means good things for former Sox skipper Terry Francona, now the Indians manager.

Like most Red Sox fans, I have a lot of fond memories of Tito, and I wish him nothing but good - except when his new team is playing the Red Sox. So far this year, it seems like Francona's Indians can do no wrong, as they boast a 26-19 record, good for first place in the AL Central.

I guess if the Red Sox had to return from a three-city roadtrip to a beating like this one, I guess I'm glad that one of my favorite non-Red Sox baseball personalities gets to benefit from it.

Bruins take game seven!

If you've ever read this blog before, you know I'm a baseball fan above all else. I love baseball. I am literally one of those people who eat, sleep, and breathe baseball (as in, I have Red Sox tableware, Red Sox bedding, and if I had asthma, I would get a Red Sox inhaler). But I also enjoy other sports, and naturally I'm a fan of all the Boston teams.

I always forget how much I love watching hockey until I'm actually watching hockey. I rarely tune in for a regular season Bruins game, instead making lame excuses about how it's hard to watch on TV (kind of true) and how much better it is in person (absolutely true). But I do watch the playoffs, and I'm not someone to miss a game seven in any sport.

I never even knew the basic rules of ice hockey until I went away for high school, and somehow found myself living on an isolated Maine campus surrounded by hockey nuts. It was pointless to resist their influence, and my first year I watched every single home game, boys and girls, JV and varsity - I don't do things halfway. I quickly came to love the sport, but now, five years removed from my high school graduation, I often forget how wonderful watching hockey can be.

Tonight's game seven reminded me, as exciting games will. Patrice Bergeron scored that overtime goal and I leapt from my chair in exuberance. There's a certain kind of exhilaration that comes with sudden death overtime that you just can't capture with extra innings - hopefully the rest of the Bruins playoff run can have the success of this evening's win without the strain on my nerves.

Congratulations hockey fans, the lockout is ending!

I am not a diehard Bruins fan, but bandwagon at best: ask me to name five players, and I'll happily obige, but ask for five more, and I'll be stumped. However, I really do enjoy watching hockey. I went to high school at Hebron Academy in Maine, and if a hockey school ever existed, that one was it. I even joined the girls' ice hockey team my junior year, though I had never played before, hoping my field hockey prowess and my childhood ice skating would make me at least a mediocre player. It was, to say the least, a failed experiment.

All that being said, I am absolutely THRILLED that the NHLPA and the NHL have finally come to an agreement. Unlike many of my friends, the many months of missed games have not ruined my winter, but I will be very happy to have hockey in my life again.

I was only four years old when the 1994 World Series was cancelled because of a labor dispute, and to be perfectly honest, I don't remember it at all. I can't even imagine what it must be like to wait all year for a season that never starts - and for hockey fans, this is the second time in a decade, though at least this lockout will have a happier ending that the '04-'05 version.

What I'm trying to say (in my own meandering fashion) is congratulations Bruins' fans, and hockey fans all over! Lockouts hurt the fans much more than the owners or even the players, and this is a day worthy of celebration for YOU. Even if I'm not a diehard hockey fan, I know how the announcement of a season's kickoff feels, and after all you've been through this winter, you deserve some good news.

"Is he a giant?"

Courtesy of 25 YouTube comments that are actually funny.

Yes. The answer is yes.

Boston is Titletown

Let's face it.  We're spoiled.  Since the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002, Boston (with most of New England by its side) has celebrated a major sports championship in every year except 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2010 - and there were two in 2004.

Boston-area teams have also set another record, winning one of each major championships within a span of six years (Patriots in 2005, Red Sox in 2007, Celtics in 2008, and Bruins in 2011); the next shortest span is twety-one years, and that distinction is held by New York.

It goes without saying that I am a HUGE fan of this trend, despite the fact that my devotion to the Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots pales in comparison for my love for the local nine.  However, I think it also goes without saying that we need to be careful how we handle these new found riches.  Like the multi-millionaire who complains about the price of milk, we should probably tone down the crying when one of our teams goes through a minor losing streak.

I know what you're thinking: "HYPOCRITE!"  Yes, I moan about small misfortunes in this space all the time, but I don't honestly think that Boston fans have problems, not when compared to what I've seen my friends from Cleveland go through.

Likewise, I plan to try to avoid bragging as much as possible - after about a week's grace period to celebrate the Stanley Cup - lest I come off like an obnoxious Yankees fan who can't say anything except "TWENTY-SEVEN RINGS WOOOOO!!!1!!1!!!!"

However, since I have a seven-day window to celebrate like the loud and proud Boston sports fan I am, GO BRUINS!!! [And Red Sox since you're the only Boston team currently playing.]

Bruins take Game 7!

Since this is a baseball blog, I'll leave the commentary to this photo of Zdeno Chara with the Cup... At least until tomorrow, when I'll blog about Boston's SEVEN MAJOR SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THE LAST TEN YEARS!

Truck Day > Superbowl

I'm sure you've all figured this out by now, but I'm not the world's biggest football fan. Sure, I watched the Superbowl, and because I'm required by virtue of my New England birth to hate Peyton Manning, I was happy that the Saints won (and just a little jealous of the party in New Orleans that's sure to carry through Mardi Gras next week).

Approximately 10% of this crowd loves the Saints, 2o% are casual fans, 55% are just looking for a good time, 13% hate Peyton Manning, and 2% are simply confused.

To be honest, my favorite part of the Superbowl is that it marks the end of football season (though the beginning of Brett Favre speculation on SportsCenter). To me, the Superbowl means that it's almost time for Spring Training: indeed, Truck Day is this week, pitchers and catchers report the week after, and from there it's a hop, skip, and a jump to Opening Day [night?] on April 4.

Not just a truck, but a cause for jubilation in baseball-starved New England.

This winter has been even more difficult than most, with the Bruins underachieving, the Celtics battling scores of injuries, and the Patriots bowing out of the playoffs in the first round. If you're anything like me, baseball is arriving just in time to save your sanity... so rejoice! Because baseball is nearly here.