Boston Fans are the toughest fans in the world..

I wish I was Boston Strong.. I dont mean to trivialize the entire Boston Strong movement. I am extremely sensitive to what happened on Boston Marathon day. I am only using the phrase to try and understand  what you guys have been through. Heartbreak after heartbreak. 86 Mets. Aaron Freaking Boone. Bucky Freaking Dent. The New york Giants David Tyree. Eli Manning in both Super Bowls when you clearly have had better teams. The Stanley Cup against Edmonton with the messed up ice and fog in the arena. And of course the the other night. 1 minute from forcing a game a 7. Yes you have redemptive moments. Beating the Lakers and giving Garnett and Pierce their one and only title. Beating heavily  favored Vancouver in 7 games in Vancouver ( which caused a riot) was awesome. The Red Sox down 3-0 to the Yankees and sweeping the next 4 games and then sweeping the Cardinals in the World series was the stuff of legend. How do you keep sane? When I went to the University of Massachusetts I used to argue/debate with my fellow classmates about what city had better sports or better teams. At that time the Celtics were supreme. The Giants and Mets were filled with super players so the debates was quite heated. i was at UMASS when the riot happened after the Mets defeated the Red Sox in '86. The wave of passion even went racial. The combatants were on Donahue of all shows in the 80's.
What I love about Boston fans is no matter how good or bad their teams are their fans show up and support their players. I am sure Celtic fans are mad at Doc rivers for bolting to the Clippers in Los Angeles of all places but I am sure they will applaud him for what he accomplished while the Celtics coach. They never booed Larry Bird when he coached the Pacers so I don't expect Doc to get a bad reception as the Celtics re-build. The Bruin loss was tough to see because i felt they had the better team and had the proper strategy to beat the upstart Blackhawks. The Bruins had several opportunities to score in the first period and exuberance caused them to miss out. Bergeron is a super hero. He has my respect forever. The Red sox are currently in first place in baseball. No one expects to finish there. The Blue Jays have just won 11 straight and are preparing for a huge run in the second half.  The Yankees have not had their team all season. Jeter and A-Rod have yet to play this season. Chris Davis is "crushing" the ball everywhere and Baltimore is here to stay. I don't want to jinx the Sox but things could get tough for them in the second half. The fans will still be there.  That is why Boston Strong is more than just a slogan, it is a way of life. You have my respect...

east coast bias??? what is that?

What I love most about being out here on the West Coast is listening to the bitterness people have about the east coast in sports. Can we help it? All of the major sports teams that matter most are located on the east coast. The NBA sucks if the Celtics aren't good. The Major League Baseball sucks if the Yankees or Red Sox stink in baseball. Even if the Mets suck baseball sucks for me. In football, when the Giants matter, the NFL is better. Despite what all of the Cowboy and Patriot fans think. In hockey, the 1994 playoff run by the Rangers put hockey on the map in this country. Detroit may win every year, but I guarantee you that if the Rangers win the cup this season, ESPN will buy the hockey package back because it will be devastated that it allowed their championship run go uncovered. The Lakers and the USC Trojans are the only show out here. Every year USC loses a winnable game and takes them out of the national championship picture. Kobe Bryant keeps the Lakers relevant out here even if he doesn't win championships because he is compelling t.v. He is the closest person to emulate Micheal Jordan so people enjoy watching his rise and fall. A month ago, the Red Sox and Angels played a game in Boston and the umpire seemed to be intimidated to make a call and it cost the Angels the game. Right after the game someone from the Angels said that the know of two parks where umpires wouldn't make that call. He didn't specify but we know he meant Boston and New York. Though he may right and based on what we have seen in the post season with bad calls helping the Yankees win a couple of games, what can we say. When the Bulls were winning championships, most people felt that they got a lot of calls that benefited them. Micheal Jordan only fouled out of one playoff game to my knowledge. Nowadays, people are saying that the university of Florida is getting that treatment. The two bogus calls against Arkansas that helped put Florida in position to win Saturday have people talking down south.
I guess the lesson here is win championships or have the media centers in the country located on your neck of the woods and then you can dictate to the world what you want. The fact that A-rod is delivering really shuts up people all over he country. When Mark Sanchez was winning for the Jets, he was the second coming of Joe Namath. In fact CBS out here has aired every New York Jet game this season. I know Sanchez went to USC, but the Chargers and Raiders play out here too. I know most of you think that I am biased being from New york and basically just trumpeted the New york area teams like a cheerleader, but you know what i say to be true. Even right now as the New york Knicks are struggling, the NBA is wishing that somehow some way that the Knicks can somehow win enough games to make the playoff. Or They are hoping that next season the Knicks could sign either Lebron James or Dwanye Wade. Amare Stoudamire would look great in a Knick uniform. The papers in New York would have a field day. The old joke about the east coast bias was based on the fact that many of the newspaper reporters would not stay up and watch the ends of games on the west coast so they seemed only interested in sports on the east side. Then Earvin "Magic" Johnson took over the west coast in basketball. Wayne Gretzky became a King and people began caring about west coast hockey Ken Griffey Jr. made me care about the west coast sports scene in baseball. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice made the west coast relevant in football after the Raiders started to flounder. Great players have been out here and have made the west coast relevant but i will take the energy and passion of the east coast any day of the week..