As the popular line of t-shirts proudly proclaims, life is good.
At least that's true if you're a Boston sports fan this Patriots Day Monday in Massachusetts.
All may not be right in the world, but things are looking pretty darn positive when it comes to our rooting interests with so much going on in New England sports this day and this wonderful season.
The Celtics, less than a year removed from a run to the NBA Finals, have already begun another potential championship chase under Joe Mazulla's unproven leadership and the star power of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. One win down, 15 to go to Banner 18!
But the local five isn't even the best team in town these days, that honor belongs to first-year coach Jim Montgomery's record-setting Bruins. If this is indeed the "Last Dance" for Patrice Bergeron & Co., it's a Stanley Cup-worthy showstopper. David Pastrnak's squad gets underway at the Garden against the Panthers this evening with only one goal and one acceptable outcome.
Warm up the Duck Boats, as we so arrogantly like to say in these parts over, as Bill Belichick would put it, "the last 25 years."
Speaking of Belichick, even his Patriots coming off a second playoff-free, losing season in three years – something that snuck up on even owner Robert Kraft – have some positive vibes this April. New England holds the No. 14 overall pick in the NFL Draft, one of its 11 roster-retooling selections to work with. New-old offensive coordinator and hometown boy Bill O'Brien is back to bring credibility to the offense and help Mac Jones get his career back on track. Hope has returned to a team that was mired in hopelessness in the "experiment" gone wrong in 2022.
Oh, and how about our Boston Red Sox? No, they're not World Series contenders. Yes, they are, as we type, a last-place team in the ultracompetitive American League East. But they are at least a .500 baseball team. They send electric young starting pitcher Brayan Bello to the Fenway morning mound with a chance for a four-game series sweep of Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and the perpetually underachieving Angels.
And, of course, it's Marathon Monday. The 127th running of the world's greatest marathon, a decade removed from the horrific bombings at the finish line that directly and indirectly changed the lives of so many of us in so many varied ways. Whether it be elite runners or fundraising weekend warriors or even the seemingly endless energetic spectators that line the course from Hopkinton to Boylston St., there is nothing quite like the Boston Marathon.
Spring is in the air, the grass is growing, the birds are chirping and Boston sports are in full bloom! (The lower case "b" important to note. IYKYK.)
It's Marathon Monday. Late morning baseball at Fenway.
Cup-chasing hockey at the Garden. Celtics hitting their stride.
It's a great day, a great season to be a Boston sports fan.
The rest of the country, they're probably sick of us yet again. As the saying goes, they hate us 'cause they ain't us!
