We’ve had it pretty good here…with eight Duck Boat parades celebrating sports championships since 2000…
There were three for the Red Sox.
One for the Celtics.
One for the Boston Bruins…
and three more for the New England Patriots.
But after watching the Patriots last night, and after seeing the Red Sox finish in last place, I think it’s only fair to say our days as “Title Town” are over.
For a while it seemed as if the teams had exchanged uniforms, but they hadn’t: the truth is, the Patriots were pushed around by a team they used to embarrass.
And this is the image that captures it all…Tom Brady, on the bench–uninjured–in the fourth quarter, the quarter when he has won so many games. It was a white flag of surrender, and it was deserved.
Now the question is: will we be embarrassed, as our most powerful professional teams fail and fall?
How much of Boston’s identity is connected to sports championships?
How much of our pride comes from Fenway Park, Foxboro, and the Garden?
We’re about to find out.