Venting and Reflection... One day after AFC Championship Loss

To be completely honest with everybody, I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. We got outplayed, fair and square. Congrats to the Ravens and Ray Lewis, they deserved to win that game. I, along with numerous other people all across the country, completely underestimated the Ravens. There is something that you can't measure on paper with any stat, and that's the will to win. As a fan of the game, I can totally appreciate the truly remarkable season they've had to make it to this point.

However as a Patriot fan, I have a lot to say right now. So I'm just gonna let it all out. Not only about this game, but the past couple years and how they've ended, and also the Boston sports scene as a whole.

Sitting here today, I'm still pretty depressed/confused/ angry about everything that's going on in the sports world. Not the national sports scene with Manti T'eo and Lance Armstrong dominating the ESPN network for the past couple days, that doesn't affect me nearly as much as what's beem happening in the sports stratosphere of Boston lately. Last night, I was obviously pretty livid that the Pats lost (biggest understatement in history). The past 9 seasons, yes count it out NINE seasons, have ended in disappointment for my beloved New England Patriots. In New England, more specifically in Boston, it's not about making it to the playoffs, it's about winning the big games when it matters. It's about making the most out of your opportunities, not making stupid mistakes when it counts, and winning the big games. I guess that's how it is everywhere, but Boston is different. The whole stratosphere of Boston sports expect championships, or else it's all for nothing. This decade, we've become so accustomed to winning that as fans, and  even the players think that winning will just come like that *snaps fingers*. What really is getting to me right now is that the Boston sports scene is on a slippery hill, and I can't do anything about it.
I've taken the liberty of writing of a bit on where all the Boston teams stand right now:

The Redsox: Almost too hard for me to write a big write up on them. I could hardly even watch baseball last year. I tried to block them out of my mind, but I guess now it's almost baseball season so I have to think about them again....
Two years ago at this time, the Sox were arguably the best team in baseball, on paper. While they did hold one of the best records in baseball for the majority of the year as well as control of the AL East until August. Then the shit hit the fan. We all know the story...the most epic, preposterous collapse in baseball history. The "chicken and beer" fiasco, firing of Terry Francona, the hiring of Bobby Valentine, just like that the Boston Redsox are a joke of franchise, in the cellar of the division and the laughing stock of well, everyone. This offseason, they've made some big steps to improvement with the hiring of John Farrell, and some free agent pick ups that should help this team going in a positive direction. As it stands today, we have no idea what to expect from this Redsox team. A team that looked to be World Series contenders for years and had so much promise has now become a franchise in the middle of a giant renovation and who knows when the scaffolding will come off...

Bruins: Disclaimer: In no way, shape or form do I consider myself a hockey expert in any sense. I don't know all that much about the X's and O's of the sport, I just love the Bruins.
The Bruins come into this short season as one of the favorites to win the eastern conference. Last season ended with an elimination in the first round at the hands of the Washington Capitals in seven game.
Listen I love my Bruins, and as I said above, I don't know a whole lot about hockey. That being said I know a couple of things about hockey and what it takes to win games. One of the things any team must have if there's any chance of getting into the playoffs, and hopefully get a shot at the Stanley Cup, is consistent goalie play. Tim Thomas, the hero from our Stanley Cup run 2 years ago, is not playing this season because he wants to spend time with his family, probably do some hunting, drink some beers, shoot stuff, you know Tim Thomas stuff... That right there is a huge loss for the B's. Now we have to put our faith in Tuukka Rask, who has not proven he can be a consistent goalie in this league yet. Do I think he can be? Yes, but there's certainly no guarantee with that. If he can somehow stay hot all year and into the playoffs that will huge for their success. If that happens,  I'll be pleasantly surprised, but not shocked. In any case, the success of the Bruins depends heavily on Tuukka's play in net this year.

Celtics: Right now, the Celtics are looking about as mediocre as a team can look. Some nights they look driven, on a mission, like the Celtics teams I have learned to love. But on other nights, they look old, tired, broken down, lethargic at times, you can use any number of ways to describe them. It's not surprising, though. This team was built on a 3 year plan by Danny Ainge with Pierce, Garnett and Allen as the foundation to hold that plan together. The Celtics were meant to win NOW, if we're talking from a 2007 point of view. And that's what they did. In the 2007-2008 season, they were probably the best team in the NBA for the whole season and they ended up winning a title in the first year of the "Big Three Era". The 2008-2009 season, they started off hot with a 27-2 record and looked poised for another run at the title, but Garnett was hurt in a game against the Jazz that cost him the last part of the season and kept him in street clothes during the playoffs. The Celtics ended up losing to the Magic in the second round after leading the series 3-2. In the 2009-2010 season, we were this close to beating the god damn Lakers in the finals, again. We probably would've won too, if it wasn't for Kendrick Perkins going down with a knee injury early in Game 6. That completely changed the Celtics' fate for the worse in that series. Fast forward to present time, January 21, 2013, Ray Allen is with the Miami Heat (sellout!); Kevin Garnett is 36 years old in his 17th year in the league, Paul Pierce is 35 years old and in his 14th year. This team is clearly centered around KG, Pierce and Rondo.... But there's a problem at hand.

Rondo's team? Or Pierce's team?
Watching the Celtics this year, it's not the same team I've watched in the past. Everyone knows that Paul Pierce singlehandedly carried the franchise for his whole career until the Big Three were assembled. That is when he, KG and Allen all unselfishly took less of a role in the offense for the good of the team. For the most part,  the Boston Celtics were still Paul Pierce's team. Most of the time Pierce would be the one taking the final shot, as well as being relied on to be a consistent scorer. Now he's a little older, he doesn't quite have that same Paul Pierce swag that he used to. Don't get me wrong, The Truth can still ball, just not so hard that moth** f**kers wanna find him (Kanye and Jay-Z reference everyone).  The Celtics are considered by many to be Rondo's team, as he's seen as the building block for the future of this team. I think Doc knows that, and has to try to run the offense through him now. Meaning more shots for him, and maybe a little less for others.
Sometimes when people talk about sports, we only look at stats and what's right in front of us, but what is important to remember is that these are human beings. Not just any humans... professional athletes...and not just any professional athletes... these are basketball players. Now what do all/most athletes have in common?
If you guessed they all have egos, you're right. Everyone has an ego, some big (Floyd Mayweather) some not as big (most people in the world). The thing about pro athletes is that they have egos that are built up for them. Athletes like to take pride in their craft, and to be successful as a professional athlete you have to have that extra confidence that most people just don't have.

What does that have to do with what I'm talking about? Well Rondo has been known to have a bit of an ego, I mean he called himself the best point guard in the league over the offseason in an interview. Paul Pierce, although he's generally soft spoken, definitely has an ego and some pride left in his game. This has been Pierce's team forever, and he's been given full reign of the offense for his whole career for the most part. Now everyone is saying it's Rondo's team, that Rondo needs to be more assertive with his shots, pass a little less, take that final shot, which had previously been all Pierce, is now suddenly Rondo's shot to take. I don't think Pierce enjoys this one bit. As I said, these men have individual egos and self-pride that come into play all the time. Pierce still wants this to be his team, and in his mind he knows that it really is Rondo's, but he doesn't just want to give it up that easy. I haven't heard about any conflict between the two teammates, it's really just a thought that I have. Rondo, Pierce, KG, every Celtic Player and I think every Boston Celtic fan is quite aware the Celtics are Rajon Rondo's team now, and that the Boston Celtics are only going as far as he takes us.

Patriots
Ugh, what a depressing day today has been. The day after the Patriots lose a big game in the playoffs never feels good, but it's been a New England tradition for the past 8 god damn seasons. Disappointment after disappointment, it seems to never end around here. Every year they have high hopes, sky's the limit, so much potential, Brady, Belicheck, blah blah blah. And every year they do win, in the regular season, maybe even a couple playoff games, but they just can never seal the deal. I'm not even going off stats or anything here, I'm not looking up any numbers or figures right now because it would be completely unnecessary, so if I'm off on a year or number you'll understand.
 I've watched this team from 2001, when I was just a little kid, to now, as a young man at 18 years old. I've seen it all, from Tuck Rule game, to Rodney Harrison picking off Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship game in 2004, to David Tyree in the first Super Bowl against the Giants, I remember them going for it on 4th and 1 on their own 20 yard line against the Colts in the Divisional Round a couple years ago, I remember 16-0 that turned into 18-1, I remember all this vividly in my mind. I've seen more football than people think. I know the sport, I played it for 9 years and clearly I've been watching it for even longer. And right about now I'm sick of the Patriots. Right now, I can not stand anything about that football team. I hate them. I don't hate the Ravens right now, I really don't. They deserved to win. Why do you hate the Patriots right now Roger?
Well, I'm glad you asked that, imaginary Italics person who lives in my computer (I'm not crazy, I'm really not). I'm going to answer your question, in a new paragraph so my thoughts are organized because that's what I was always taught in English class.

Why do I hate the Patriots right now?
The Patriots are now the image of what I do not like in my sports teams. First off, the two "faces" of the organization, his holyness Bill Belicheck and our majesty Tom Brady, have failed when it matters most be it in the Super Bowl or any other playoff game. Yes, they do look great in the regular season to get to the playoffs. All I hear about is what a well-oiled machine the Patriots are, how business like and professional of an organization it is. Oh c'mon give me a break. This team has not accomplished anything since 2004 when they won their last Super Bowl, which happened to be the third in four seasons.
The immortal Tom Brady has proven time and time again that he is not a clutch quarterback, and that he is in fact very easy to beat in the playoffs (ex. 2005, 2006, 2007,2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and now 2012.) Brady has been known as being Mr. Cool or Mr. Clutch, unphased by pressure and always calm cool and collected. He built his reputation on his performances from 2001, 2003, and 2004 where he did indeed have amazing post season heroics. Back then though, he was different. He was underdog Tom, 199th pick in the draft, trying to prove himself in the league. He played like he had nothing to lose, which helped win him those close games in pressure situations. But times changed, Tom Brady is now a superstar, model, husband to a gorgeous wife, father of 2 kids, and many people think he's the best quarterback of all time. Now, he has absolutely nothing to prove to anyone. Everyone knows he's a legend,  and a first ballot hall of famer. He has his money, lots of it, to go with his Super Bowl rings, MVP awards, Pro Bowls, All-Pro team selections, you name an award, Brady probably has it. He always says he wants that ever so elusive ring to add to his collection to make up for the previous years shortcomings. Season after season I hear this, and I see that calm, cool, collected Brady for the majority of the season where he'll put up some ridiculous stats and do everything and more that we ask him to do. Then comes playoff time, and it's a whole new ball game. Win or go home, pressure's on. Most of the time, I have confidence in Tom to get the job done and lead the Patriots to the promise land. However recently things have changed. People know how to beat Brady now. It's quite simple, you copy the Pats gameplan in the Super Bowl against the Rams, disrupt the wide receivers, try to rattle the quarterback and throw off the rhythm of the offense. Because when he get's a little rattled, forget about it. It's game over, we've already lost nine out of ten times. It's that easy to beat the terrific Tom Brady.

Ok, I need to calm down right now. The Patriots have had some really bad luck recently in the postseason. One inch more in Indy on that 4th down play by Kevin Faulk maybe we would've gone won that game and went on to win the Super Bowl. David Tyree drops that pass, we would've gone on to win that game. If Welker catches the pass in the last Super Bowl against the Giants, that would've given us a first down and probably another Lombardi Trophy. Or flashback to yesterday, if Welker caught that pass from Brady in the third quarter that would've given them a first down, instead we had to punt the ball away, give the Ravens a short field and boom, touchdown. And how about that time management at the end of the first half in that game, huh? That's the pure genius, the utter mastery of Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. Anyone could see that you need to call a time out in that situation to get a couple shots at the endzone. Instead you settle for 3 points and the Ravens get the ball at halftime. Little plays like that end up costing us big...

I've been very contradictory to everything I believe is right in this blog, questioning Belicheck and Brady, basically the whole organization as a whole. It's almost unheard of around these parts to speak bad about either of those two, but I needed to get this off my chest. This outburst (if you call it that) has been building up, it's not just from this one game... No, no, no, it is from all these years of hope and confidence that gets built up during the course of a season only to have it shoved back in your face. What this franchise could have been is almost unfathomable. I could make the case that the Patriots could have 6 or 7 rings right now, on the way to their 8th or 9th in this era. But year after year the what ifs just keep adding up, and creeping back season after season. Close but no cigar, year after year. How much can a man make take of this disappointment?

I have to wrap up this blog right now, I've spent practically all day working on it and I think it might be a tad bit too long. The original point I wanted to make is about the Boston sports scene as a whole, in particular the Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots. So here's my point... We've been to the mountain top (MLK reference on MLK day), now we're on our way on a steady decline. The way I see it is that the Patriots maybe will compete for a title for a couple more years with Belicheck and Brady running things before they retire, but I think their time of dominance is over. After they leave, I can't even fathom what the Patriots will look like, I'll just leave it at that.The Celtics I believe will go through some rough seasons, transition years, very soon. Right now we're a .500 team, and I think it will get even worse the next couple years as much as I hate to say it. As for  the Bruins, I think they'll be competitive for a long time, they have a solid front office, talented young players, they will be successful for a long time I believe. The Sox are just all over the place right now. They're heading in the right direction with John Farrell as manager, and I'm also interested to see if they can make a run at Félix Hernández to build that pitching staff around in the near future.

More evaluation and predictions will be coming soon....

Thanks for reading,
R.B.