So, whatcha do this weekend?
If you’re the Bruins, Celtics or Red Sox the answer is something exciting!
And if you’re the fourth major Boston sports team, the one that generally rules the headlines and the professional sports conversation in town, the answer is basically nothing.
The Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox essentially partied their butts off this mid-March, St. Patrick’s Day weekend, living it up with tales to tell and memories made. Spring is in the air and there’s a spring in their organizational steps.
Meanwhile the Patriots essentially stayed home, did laundry and cleaned the house. Sure, it all needs to be done but no one would pretend to want to hear about it.
Yes, Boston is still a Patriots town. Heck, we live in an NFL world. In season or out, football is the king of the sports mountain.
But these days, if you’re doing a power ranking of Boston sports based on interest and excitement, well Bill Belichick and Mac Jones’ troops are the bottom of the barrel.
Atop the list may just be the Celtics. A team that was left for dead around New Year’s Day, trudging through another barely-.500 meaningless, borderline unwatchable season is suddenly not just the talk of the town but the talk of the entire NBA. Forget questions of whether Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will ever be pillars of a championship contender, they are the foundation of a team that’s as hot as any in basketball and suddenly has title hopes.
Boston blew out the Nuggets Sunday night and now sits fourth in the Eastern Conference. The future is bright with Tatum and Brown, and the future is now.
Not to be outdone in a push toward the postseason, the Bruins made a monster trade. Boston landed big defenseman Hampus Lindholm from Anaheim and subsequently signed him to an eight-year contract extension. It’s a move that obviously strengthens the team’s burgeoning Stanley Cup hope dreams but also brings long-term stability. Like the Celtics, a Bruins team that was a bit adrift at points this winter has come out the other side of the Tuukka Rask experiment playing its best hockey of the season. Lindholm should keep that momentum rolling well into the postseason and the future.
Oh, and a Red Sox squad that came out of the lockout seemingly stumbling through an expedited roster process made big news with the big-money signing of shortstop Trevor Story. Take out the Covid-shortened 2020 campaign and the two-time All Star has topped 24 home runs in each of the last five seasons in Colorado. (Yes, in Colorado.) He adds pop to the Sox star-studded infield, likely sliding into the second base job for now and bringing insurance in terms of how Xander Bogaerts’ future plays out. Is Story worth the $140 million he’ll collect over the next six seasons? Who cares, it’s fun and it’s not really your money! And don’t you want Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom trying to upgrade a Sox team that reached the ALCS last fall? That little voice in your head doesn’t need to answer, of course you do.
Speaking of trying to upgrade a playoff team, that brings us to the Patriots. A team whose story this offseason is all about losing coaches – offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels landed in Las Vegas as the Raiders head coach – and losing star players such as free agent cornerback J.C. Jackson and traded guard Shaq Mason. New England has not made a single addition of note, instead re-signing its own aging leaders and pulling from the bargain bin of free agency.
Sure it’s the offseason, games are still more than five months away and maybe football should be on the back burner, right? That’s certainly not the case in places Las Vegas, Cleveland, Jacksonville or other NFL outposts. It also wasn’t close to the case in these parts 12 months ago.
Let’s forget about who’s furthest from competing for a championship right now, although that’s probably the Patriots, too.
The Patriots are certainly the least interesting, least exciting team in Boston sports these days and it’s really not even close.
