The Bruins and Celtics had their shots at the postseason and being the center of Boston sports, the latter going on a tantalizing run that teased us all with another possible title. But that ran out of gas when Jayson Tatum proved his game wasn’t game enough for the biggest games of his career going head to head with Steph Curry.
The Red Sox, well they teased us with that mirage of June success only to watch the bottom fall out come July with embarrassing baseball that would drive even a Little League coach nuts. It's hard not to actually feel bad for Alex Cora. The local 9 look far more like a last-place baseball team than one with any kind of future, certainly not a squad worth investing in as either a fan or a G.M. approaching the trade deadline.
So even though it’s only late July and Boston is supposed to be in the midst of another Fenway summer, the reality is that it’s time to turn the sports calendar to football season.
Sure, real Patriots games are more than a month away.
Sure, it takes a lot of hope and optimism to see Bill Belichick’s latest roster as worthy of the playoffs in the jam-packed AFC or even being a true Super Bowl contender.
But at least the Patriots and their fans can still offer up that hope and optimism at this point, because those descriptive ships have long since sailed for the Red Sox on the heels of another series loss to an AL East foe, this one a sweep at the hands of the bashing Blue Jays.
Maybe even more notable is the fact that not only are the once-hopeful Sox sitting just a half game out of last place in their division, the biggest story surrounding Boston’s baseball team is the potential continued trend of selling off of superstar players. Mookie Betts is gone, but far from forgotten. Xander Bogaerts is a couple months from opting out of his contract, no respectful extension apparently to be seen.
Worst yet, the best developing hitter the Sox have produced in decades, the must-see TV swing king of exit velocity Rafael Devers appears his career is taking a possible turn down Betts Boulevard right out of town.
What once looked like it would be the foundation of not just Sox excitement but Boston sports entertainment for years and years now looks like it could be three historic infuriating stories of what could have been.
So it is with that Chaim Bloom/John Henry mess of baseball business as the backdrop that Mac Jones and the Patriots take to the practice fields of Foxborough this week for training camp with a new season on the horizon.
Jones is the newest, freshest would-be superstar face of the Boston sports world. The Patriots, coming off a post-Tom Brady playoff appearance last January that left them labeled pretenders rather than contenders still maintain that summertime hope, one yet to be dismissed by actual on-field action or boardroom business decisions.
Jones himself is coming off a Pro Bowl rookie season looking better than ever. His chocolate chip cookie-built belly is gone, replaced by a leaner look seemingly set for sophomore season success. Jacked and pumped for the Year 2 Jump!
The quarterback has spent the offseason not just working his physical tools, but displaying leadership skills that teammates and coaches alike can’t say enough good things about.
Sure, the All-NBA Tatum is a much more established star than Jones at this point, but his basketball career has probably somewhat plateaued until he gets over the championship hump for a team that’s reportedly suddenly talking trades for Kevin Durant.
Bogaerts and Devers are already champions, but the fact that their futures may lie elsewhere limits the investment fans can make move forward.
For their part, the Bruins core of stars are facing plenty of their own questions regarding age and contracts as the team begins the listen-first Jim Montgomery era.
Jones, though, is still pretty much in the honeymoon period of his professional life in New England. Even in the world of exploding NFL quarterback contracts the business side of things won’t be a real issue for two years. At the very least, he’s under the Patriots’ full control for the next four years and a couple after that if the franchise tag comes into play for the would-be franchise QB.
Jones isn’t the best player or biggest superstar in Boston sports just yet. But he is the next big thing about to embark on his season, on football season.
Football is still the unrivaled king of all sports, both nationally and in Boston, whether the other three teams and their fan bases want to admit it or not. And quarterbacks are the unrivaled kings of the football world.
It’s football season. Thanks to the Red Sox failures on the field and in the front office, it’s now officially Patriots season.
And it’s time for Jones to prove whether he’s ready to ascend, to go from impressive rookie to star veteran who might just be worthy of taking over the world of Boston sports.