Like many who grew up there, I loved the four local teams with fiery passion. But I feel like there was something in the air that went beyond normal fervor. Largely because the entire city was caught up in the attitude of "the curse."
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Enter Bill Belichick. New Englanders conveniently like to forget how they felt about him at first: a prickly square who basically ducked out of the Jets organization to take the pay day here. His first season they went 5-11.
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The media treated him mercilessly, but it turns out it would be his only losing season. Everything was about to change, but for a lot of reasons people forget.
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Cause people forget that Tom Brady was an accident. Drew Bledsoe was our tried and true superstar with his rocket arm. Brady was just some kid who was a safe back-up. But when Bledsoe got hurt, Brady came in and despite low numbers, he just kept winning.
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People also forget that in the AFC championship, Brady actually got hurt and Bledsoe had come back in to finish and win the game, leading to much talked about "quarterback controversy" going into the big game.
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Of course, there really wasn't one. You go with the guy who got you there, but that didn't stop the media from having a field day and Bono from lending his two cents and saying they should start Bledsoe (really).
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And everyone definitely forgets that everyone LOVED that patriots team. Yup! The plucky young upstarts against The Rams, who had won the year prior and people were getting sick of the "Greatest Show On Turf" attitude. No one remembers this shit.
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And they especially don't remember how the patriotic angle of it all was played up in the months after 9/11 (which is literally why kraft said his famous line, "we are all patriots tonight.")
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But it was also my first "real championship." I was pretty young for the Celts 80's ones and so I just have little images in my brain. But now I was in college in Boston and holy shit I could take it all in surrounded by friends going nuts.
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It sure helps that the game was incredible. With a thrilling last second win, I just remember running into the streets in pure elation. I'm not sure how many of you have that sheer unadulterated joy before, but it's a high that's almost indescribable.
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It was also the turning point of everything. The patriots would win again two years later. And more importantly for our "cursed" city, the sox would have their famous 2004 wins against the Yankees and Cardinals to win it all.
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I actually moved out of Boston right after that at the end of 2004, heading east to LA. I knew I was definitely going to take my fandom with me, but there was still something cathartic about me being there to experience all of that before I said goodbye.
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But when I moved here it was an odd feeling. Boston is small and insular and now suddenly you're in this city where everyone is from everywhere and liking everything and nothing in equal measure.
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You're not going to be believe it, folks but after years of conditioning from Boston to be judgmental of other teams? I was *judgmental* about all this. Saying it's not real sports city, etc. etc. And I tried to wear my boston on my sleeve.
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I would drive for hours down to Anaheim for sox games and miss work. I would pay insane money to see the c's in town (man I miss when clippers tix were cheap). I would try so freaking hard those first few years to hold onto this thing that was built into me.
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At the same time, the gluttony of Boston sports hit a fever pitch. With the famous 2007 almost-undefeated season, they went from a team that people were bored of to the most hated on the planet
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They were exposed as blatant cheaters, the new evil empire, the ones who suck joy from all other teams. And fun fact: I went to that 2007 super bowl and barfed after! I didn't even drink!
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Then in the next few years the Celtics would form their out of nowhere super-team and then the Bruins would win the stanley cup. The red sox won again. Suddenly Boston was now "title town." And I felt my relationship to all of it change.
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But it wasn't sudden or marked by singular events. It was a slow act of erosion.
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First with the absurd Fenway cost increases. I remember talking to my dad about how much he hated the red sox now and their lurid prices and he said: "baseball isn't baseball unless a working class family of four an afford to go to a game."
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Moreover, I watched the city of Boston, myopic to begin with, become irradiated. Because it's not like the chip on the shoulder magically disappears, it goes to "we earned this, we're the best" and it's like all greed, it just keeps going.
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You keep feeling disrespected and like more will keep proving... something? But you're just a dragon sitting on top of a pile of rubies. And that's when the defenses really come out.
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I would talk to friends from home, see posts on social media, and finally living outside it all, I could see the incredible callousness. Most notably in how out of step they were with the national sentiment... I didn't want to be like that.
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I'll admit this goes hand in hand with realizing how much it all tied into my relationship with Boston's toxic masculinity, something I still feel like I'm trying to work my way out from under it.
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But really, I just got tired of it all. Tired of driving to anaheim. Tired of the damn intensity... And got fucking help me when Brady and Kraft went in with the MAGA shit. I was apoplectic. But far more importantly to the process, I began falling in love with LA.
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Not the LA that had been built into my head by stereotypes. The real one. The brilliant, vibrant city full of so many amazing cultures and foods and joys. That's the secret no one wants to tell you. This city is amazing.
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The one that is also full of incredible Dodgers and Kings fans. The one that still passionately loves the Raiders even though they've been gone for years. More importantly, I came to realize that there's genuine joy in the fan diaspora.
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Suddenly things become a different kind of fun when you're best friends are Cavs fans, or A's fans, or genuinely love going to every Galaxy game. In turn, I went with friends to watch what they loved.
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And it's exactly what allowed me to go from a Boston fan to a Sports fan. I stopped paying for NESN. I gravitated toward the NBA and started watching every random game.
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I also started going to dodger stadium 1) because i love it there and 2) for the dodgers, at first under the reasoning of "they're in the national league, it's not cheating." But with pressure and time, they just became the team I watched.
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And when I hit the world series this year and the dodgers played the red sox? I didn't even have to make a choice. It was the dodgers. This was my life now. And that's okay. Things change. Often for necessary reasons.
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