I apologize in advance for the angry nature of this column, but I am so sick of Boston sports teams and their fans. In the past few years, it seems as though the center of the sports world has shifted from New York to Boston. At first I didn't mind that shift, but my hatred began in late October when the Red Sox (and that pompous hypocrite Curt Schilling) won their second World Series title in four years. Red Sox fans just couldn't be happy with their sweep of the Colorado Rockies. They had to whine that A-Rod opted out of his contract with the Yankees during game four of the series. I haven't seen a Philadelphia championship in my lifetime and these morons care more about someone stealing their thunder than the fact that they just won a title!
I'm sure you heard by now (how could you not?) that the New England Patriots completed an undefeated season by beating the New York Giants on Saturday night. But here's the most irritating part: they bought this undefeated season! The Pats were successful this year for the exact same reason that the New York Yankees, Boston's sworn enemy, were so successful in the late 1990s.
The Colts and Steelers won the last two Super Bowls, so Bill Belichek, head coach of the Patriots, seeing the rest of the AFC catching up and passing his team, decided to go out and buy the best team he could find. He saw the Steelers win a Super Bowl with great linebackers, so he went out and spent $35 million on free agent linebacker Adalius Thomas. He saw Peyton Manning win a Super Bowl with great wide receivers, so he went out and bought Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker for a combined $51 million to go along with trade acquisition Randy Moss.
And don't get me started on Randy Moss, whose touchdown record deserves the same asterisk as Roger Maris' 61 homers. Jerry Rice's 22 touchdowns came in just 12 games because of a players' strike in 1987. It took Moss four more games to get to 23 receiving touchdowns, but that's barely mentioned because of the media's love affair with the Pats.
What about Tom Brady's new single season passing touchdowns record? Well it looks like Mr. Brady isn't such a team-first guy after all. The best thing for the team would have been him resting to make sure he's healthy for the playoffs, but he needed to throw those two TD passes to break Manning's record. Looking back at Peyton's record-breaking season in 2004, he could have padded his stats in the final game of the season, but he threw just two passes and then grabbed a clipboard in that meaningless game.
In fact, it seems like all Boston teams have taken to the Yankee way of life. Look at the Celtics. At 26-3, they're off to one of the best starts in NBA history. Why? Because they don't care about the NBA's luxury tax, and brought in superstars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
What about the Red Sox? Obviously, the Yankees were hit with baseball's luxury tax this year, but you'll never guess who the only other team was. Wait for it. Keep waiting...it was the Red Sox! After years of their fans crying about the Yankees buying titles, the Red Sox payroll keeps rising higher and higher, but I don't hear their fans complaining about how despicable it is to buy a championship. And I'm sure they won't mind spending $200 million on Johan Santana if they can swipe him from the Twins.
Even though they're an average team, I hate the Bruins, too. After Flyers defenseman Randy Jones injured Patrice Bergeron with a clean hit against the boards, the entire NHL world started calling the Flyers a dirty team. It was clean hit! If you don't want to get injured in hockey, don't stop suddenly and put your head down a foot away from the boards!
Despite all the success that Boston teams are having, their fans whine about everything possible. From ARod opting out of his contract during the World Series to the 1972 Miami Dolphins not giving them enough respect, Boston fans are just never happy.
Well I'm going to give them one more reason to be unhappy. I don't respect the Patriots. Not one bit. If A.J. Feeley, Kyle Boller and Eli Manning (a real who's who of great NFL quarterbacks) can almost beat them, I'd bet a cartoon-sized bag of money that Jacksonville, Indianapolis or San Diego knocks them off in a few weeks, rendering this undefeated season quite lame.