Sports Fan Paradise

While the 00s were a very successful decade for Boston sports, they were not without some heartbreak and disappointment. Our next category is Most Devastating Loss.

And the nominees are...

Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS: Red Sox @ Yankees

2007 AFC Championship Game: Patriots @ Colts

Super Bowl XLII: Patriots vs. Giants

Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS: Angels @ Red Sox

Well this isn't nearly as much fun to write about. The next couple paragraphs are going to be like a therapy session but without anybody to hug me and tell me that it isn't my fault.

I threw the Angels game on there for 3 reasons, even though I know it doesn't have the magnitude of an ALCS or Super Bowl: 1) We blew a lead in a game that was over. 2) We crumbled with Jonathan Papelbon on the mound. 3) I was there.

The reason this game can't win a Parish is because we were down 2-0 and it was just a Division series. Even if we won a few in a row to take the series there is no way we were getting past the Yankees. It just wasn't happening last season. What stung was the way we lost the type of game that we had been winning consistently for years, and we that it all went down with our best guy on the mound. There had been subtle cracks in Papelbon's perfection since 2008 when he began to blow a save here and there, but it all came crashing down on that October afternoon. He is still a great pitcher but his aura of dominance (and perhaps his tenure in Boston) took a significant (if not irreversible) blow.

AND, to top it all off, I had been in a wedding the night before and woke up at 7:00 AM to drive from Long Island to Boston in order to make it to Yawkey Way in time to properly pregame. AND, to top it all off AGAIN, the Patriots lost to Denver later that day which led to Josh McDaniels fist-pumping to the crowd with more aggression than Ronnie and J-Woww on a Saturday night at Karma. Black Sunday indeed.

But, like I said, this is an easy first elimination. The next game I'm going to knock out of the running is the 2007 ('06 season) AFC title game in Indy. When you blow a 21-3 lead to Peyton Manning in a playoff the only world for it is devastating. I don't think I have ever been as angry after a loss as I was that night. It didn't help that I watched it in Tampa with a couple fake-tanned douche bags who bet on the Colts, but that's a tangent for another day. Still, despite the obvious lack of devastation, the Colts were a great team and the Lombardi trophy wasn't on the line so it doesn't make the cut.

Down to the finals. Let me first say that you can make a great case for either of these games because they were about as devastating as they come. Some call it "The Grady Little Game" while others call it "The Aaron Boone Game," but whatever your chosen nickname this was as tough a loss to take as any in professional sports. The series had been epic, complete with plenty of drama and no team winning back-to-back games. We knocked out Clemens in the 4th inning and took a 5-2 lead into the 8th. Pedro had been lights-out with the exception of a pair of Jason Giambi solo shots, but was obviously tiring. It was time to hand the ball to Alan Embree, Mike Timlin or Scott Williamson, who had been dominant in the playoffs. Everybody knew it. The fans knew it. Pedro knew it. Somehow Grady Little didn't.

I have never been as emotional after a loss as I was that night. I'd be lying if I said that there weren't a few tears (fine, more than a few). And they weren't like Marley and Me tears either, they were Skylar-when-Will-says-he-doesn't-love-her tears. It was bad.

But then 2004 happened. As bad as this loss was, 2004 erased almost all of the pain and 2003 became one of the seasons that we talked about when people asked why everyone in Boston was so excited about winning a World Series. The devastation only lasted a year, which is why it isn't winning a Parish.

The Pats entered the Super Bowl against the Giants carrying an 18-0 record and a -12.5 point spread. They were the team with the MVP at the helm of an unstoppable offense and a genius calling the shots. They were supposed to win. Only problem is, nobody told the Giants. Brady was pressured for the first time all year and the wheels began to come off the wagon. The crazy thing is, despite how poorly the Pats played they were still in the game. Scratch that, they still should have won the game. It took one of the most inexplicable plays by Eli Manning to turn 19-0 to 18-1. ELI FREAKING MANNING!!! That would be like the Tattaglia family killing Luca Brasi, Sonny, Michael, Clemenza and Tessio only to be taken down by Fredo. The "Tyree Play" or whatever you want to call it is still the most absurd thing I have ever seen in sports, and I saw Mick Foley and the actor from Gridiron Gang win the tag team belts with the help of a sock hand puppet.

Never before has a loss brought a fan base down as many notches as that game. We went from the cockiest group of people on the planet to salty, angry and depressed within about 45 seconds. This game wins the Parish Award because we didn't get a championship the next season to ease the pain, instead we got a torn ACL, and the team has yet to fully recover from either.

So we've had some great games and some not so great games, but how about the players? I think it's time to give out a Parish for Boston's Athlete of the Decade.

The nominees were decided based on tenure, team success, individual success and memorable moments. They are Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Paul Pierce, and Manny Ramirez.

I'm going to start picking up the pace a bit as the producers have told me that we're already running 15 minutes over.

While I feel that the Patriots have had some truly great defensive players over the last 10 years I can't bring myself to nominate any of them. I won't say that they're simply "products of a system", but when you have the greatest defensive mind in the history of football telling you where to stand and what to do it makes your life easier. If Monet meticulously instructed me brush stroke for brush stroke I would probably come up with a decent painting but that doesn't make me a decent artist. Still, I will give Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, and the Lawyer Milloy/Rodney Harrison combination a more-than-honorable mention, but they just don't get any hardware.

The only reason Pedro Martinez isn't on this list is because he only played half the decade in Boston, and the same goes for Kevin Garnett and probably Randy Moss as well. And I apologize for leaving off all the great Bruins of the 00s...I just didn't know who they were.

But we're getting off topic and I promised to pick up the pace, so back to the nominees. I was going to give it to Manny because he is the most feared right-handed hitter in team history and because without him Yankees fans would still be chanting "1918!" Then I remembered that he was a selfish jackass who probably caused permanent health issues for Terry Francona, and character is always a factor when determining a Parish.

David Ortiz leads the other nominees in memorable moments, as his bevy of walk-off homers were as exciting as anything in sports, but he most likely did it dirty. Do I care? No, I don't. Would I put HGH in his mango salsa if it meant we wont another World Series in 2010? Yes, I would. But that's just my opinon. I'm a blogger. We have no morals. You should know that. Still, with what slight morality I have left I am not taking an award away from TB or the Truth and giving it to a guy who used a needle to put the Big in Big Papi.

Paul Pierce has started 748 games in Boston uniform this decade, more than any other athlete. That includes anyone in a Red Sox uniform, and they play twice as many games in a season. He currently sits 3rd behind a couple guys named Havlicek and Bird on the Celtic's all-time scoring list and was the MVP of their first NBA finals since the '80s. In any other city this would make him the player of the decade, but #34 happens to play in the same town as #12, which means he is just the first runner-up.

3-time Super Bowl champion. 2-time Super Bowl MVP. League MVP. Most touchdown passes in a season. And that's just what he has done on the field. He is just as successful off of it, impregnating every super model he shares an elevator with. People always try to compare him with Peyton Manning, but the comparison's end at their position. If you really want to compare Brady with a rival athlete it should be with a guy in the Bronx named Jeter.

The theme of this decade in Boston was new found success, and nobody embodies that better than Tom Brady.

OK folks, 2010 is putting the cocktail weenies in the oven and the champagne on ice so we need to wrap this up quickly. I'll be shifting to rapid fire mode to close this out.

Play of the Decade: Dave Roberts Steals 2nd.

Vinatieri hit some monster field goals and David Ortiz hit some clutch homers. Paul Pierce hit some great game-winners and Johnny Damon's Game 7 grand slam in the Bronx was epic. But nothing in my mind tops Roberts' steal. Everything that happened in the '04 ALCS prior to that was awful and everything that happened after was legen- wait for it...

Wait for it...

DARY.

Coach of the Decade: Bill Belichick.

I love Terry Francona like a 2nd father. I could listen to his press conferences for hours upon hours. He manages players egos as well as any coach in professional sports and handles the Boston media better than anyone ever has. But Bill has 1 more ring and a lot less talent, so the mad genius takes it home. I called him to congratulate but apparently he's busy doing what he needs to do to prepare for Houston.

Well it looks like it's time for me to go get ready to get my mingle on. Thanks for reading and I hope to write a lot more for SFL next decade. Here are a few more Parish Awards for you to read while pregaming. Happy New Year!

Haircut of the Decade:



Dance of the Decade: (tie) The Secondary Dance (Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Chris Canty) and the Rolling Dice Intro (Paul Pierce and Eddie House).

Doctor of the Decade: Whoever gave Big Papi HGH.

Acquisition of the Decade:



Blog of the Decade: the original "Sports Fan Paradise" blog.

Wednesday November 4th, 2009

8:05 PM: "Whooo's yoouur daaaddy!?!" chants are reigning down on a 38-year-old Pedro Martinez as he takes the mound in the House That Taxpayer Dollars Built. He looks calm and confident. He may have lost a few mph on his fastball, and his change-up is no longer the unhittable anomaly that it was in the late-90s, but the bravado is still there.

Curt Schilling once famously said that "I'm not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than making 55,000 people from New York shut up." Schill and his bloody sock did just that in another Game 6 half a decade ago, and Pedro looks to do the same tonight, but with all due respect to Curt in the Car, he will never be viewed in the same light as Martinez.

8:06 PM: Fox's scouting report on Pedro calls him "wily and creative." Not exactly the adjectives that the once-dominant ace used to receive, another clue that this is not the same Pedro that once came out of the bullpen to throw 6 no-hit innings and win the deciding game of the 1999 ALDS.

Pedro was always the guy that opposing fans loved to hate, and nowhere was that sentiment stronger than in the Big Apple. There have always been certain athletes that seemed to thrive when playing in front of thousands of angry fans that wanted nothing more than to see them fail (Reggie Miller in Madison Square Garden comes to mind). Pedro has always been one of those guys, a man who would never shy away from the New York media or fail to give the type of soundbite that could cause riots.

8:33 PM: Joe Buck reflects that "Pedro Martinez could be pitching his biggest game in that career ..." as Fox flashes his career resume filled with Hall of Fame numbers accolades. Then, just as Buck mentions Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and how he "didn't have enough that night," Pedro grooves a 3-2 fastball into Hideki Matsui that the Yankee's DH promptly deposits into the second deck in right field, well over the short porch. 2-0 Yankees.

He was the guy that said that if somebody woke up the damn Bambino he would bean him in the ass. He got away with it because he was the most intimidating 170 lb man in baseball history.

8:39 PM: Martinez retires Nick Swisher on a fly ball to left to end the bottom of the 2nd.

If a young Boston sports fan asked me what it was like to watch Pedro in his prime, I would tell him this: Pretend Tom Brady only played quarterback for the Patriots one out of every five games. That's what it was like.

8:46 PM: A Jimmy Rollins sac-fly scores Carlos Ruiz. 2-1 Yankees.

There weren't the type of tears for Martinez upon his departure from Beantown that there were for the likes of Ray Bourque and Nomar Garciaparra, but that was Pedro. He was the kind of guy that you loved because he was your on your side, but you knew you would probably despise if he ever changed uniforms (Rodney Harrison comes to mind).

9:00 PM: Martinez drills Mark Teixeira to load the bases for Alex Rodriguez. This has all the makings of a game-making or game-breaking at-bat. Those 55,000 plus have not shut up yet.

My defining Pedro Moment was the 1999 All Star Game in Fenway Park, when he struck out five in two no-hit innings. To put his dominance that night in perspective, Mark McGwire was the only strikeout victim not to win an NL MVP award.

9:04 PM: Pedro strikes A-Rod out looking on an outside fastball that is only called a strike for a handful of pitchers. Luckily for Pedro (and Philadelphia and Boston) he is one of them.

Wednesday night will most likely be the last time that Pedro pitches in the Bronx, and possibly the last time we ever see him take the mound. It's an interesting conflict, because the bravado that keeps him thinking that he can compete will be the same bravado that won't let himself go out there if he doesn't truly think he can be effective.

9:07 PM: Matsui lines a 2-out single that plates a pair. As Tim McCarver astutely puts it, "4-1 Matsui." This is fitting, he always kills the Sox.

As Buck said, this could be the biggest game of Pedro's career, and it's difficult to argue that Game 6 of a World Series isn't as important as it gets. That said, and maybe it's the Sox fan in me talking, but I can't believe that any game occurring after 2004 could have equal importance in Pedro's mind as any of the heroic gems he through during his Boston years.

9:44 PM: Chad Durbin takes over for Phillies to start the bottom of the 5th. Four runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, a hit batsman and a home run. Not the type of line that will make 55,000+ Yankees fans do anything but prepare to party like it's 1999.

Tonight was not the Pedro Martinez that I remember, and there was no reason it should have been. It must have been like watching Muhammad Ali lose by unanimous decision to Trevor Berbick in '81. Of course, I don't remember that fight, I wasn't born for another few years. I came of age as a sports fan during The Pedro Era, and I'm thrilled to be able to say that.