By Richard Pryor III
Executive Staff
Q: Richard, cue the duckboats as the Red Sox have won the World Series for the third time this millennium, marking the eleventh championship for a Boston pro sports team in that time – the most by any city and the only city to have championships in all four pro sports since 2000. Why is that?
- Bostonian in Benedict
A: Bostonian, cue the duckboats indeed as Piss Missile Steve Pearce and Davey Tingle Fingers Price have won the World Series again and I, like you, couldn’t be happier. (However, unlike you, let me note that this is the only team you root for that I am happy about – blame my parents for that.)
What is it that has made Boston so successful this century? It’s not money like the Yankees – the Red Sox have won double their amount of championships this century. There’s never really been the idea of athletes moving to Boston because they like the city like there is with New York City or Los Angeles either. With that idea, let me offer two potential reasons as to Boston’s domination:
Firstly, Boston’s GMs and Head Coaches are good. While almost no one can name either the current GM and Head Coach of the Boston Bruins (Don Sweeney and Bruce Cassidy, respectively), the other ones are well known and held in high esteem – Dave Dombrowski and Alex Cora of the Red Sox, Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens of the Celtics, and the infamous Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.
While some of their earlier years were cause for problems from the fans and players (remember when Paul Pierce wanted a trade in 2007?), there’s no doubting that Boston’s three best GMs are a trio unlike no other, and certainly the best in the country.
Secondly, Boston fans are rabid defenders of their teams. Ask any Patriots fan about the infamous Deflategate, and you will be regaled with stories about how Roger Goodell and the NFL is biased against Belichick and Tom Brady and the team as a whole. Take a shot about Boston sports in their presence and they’ll take five shots at you in return. And most importantly of all, they love their players.
A good example of this is Barstool Sports’ Red Sox correspondent Jared Carrabis. Carrabis, a long-time fan of the Red Sox, uses and embraces fan nicknames in his writing like the ones I used earlier and of course, my personal favorite, The Only Active Hall of Famer (Sandy Leon). What better place to play than somewhere that supports their players vigorously? No wonder they want to win championships – they’ve got fans to repay!