Hey all! Yeah, I guess it's been a little while since I've posted here.

Well, there was the whole talk recently of one Mr. Alex Rodriguez being traded to the Spankees. Of course, being a Red Sox fan, I am very pissed about this. Not as much as if I were a die-hard fan, but pissed nonetheless. But, spring training starts soon, and like every year, hope springs eternal, especially in Red Sox Nation.

I saw an article recently...not sure if it was the Globe, but it definitely was at least Boston.com...anyway, it was about the "fall" of UMass basketball. If you follow that kind of thing, you may remember the UMass Minutemen men's basketball team during the John Calipari (and Marcus Camby) years, especially their Final Four year of '95-'96, when the team went 35-2 (the 2 losses being the tourney losses). Unfortunately, I started UMass in '96, when Calipari left, so I got stuck with the Bruiser Flint years, which, let's face it, sucked in comparison. Well, the point of the aritcle was about now how the program's in decline, and all that stuff.

That, plus the off-season Red Sox stuff, and the Patriot's Superbowl win, made me think about being a sports fan in New England. In short, I think that a New England sports fan demands nothing short of perfection. Anything less is a disappointment. Sure, there have been recent teams that have done very well, but some...er, most... of those teams haven't "gone all the way", and we just kinda go off on our "coulda, woulda, shoulda" rants.

Sure, we loved it when the Pats won. You may have seen some of the celebrations. And, while there was the obligatory top-news-story coverage for a couple weeks there, the general feeling, to me at least, was, "Yeah, we won. Whoo." I don't know, maybe I'm listening to a little too much sports talk radio.

Anyway, my point is, people love what the Pats have done, and what they have become...the textbook definition of "team". And "champion", too, I guess :) But we aren't super-seriously impressed by it, since that's what we expected from them all along. The thing is now, everyone wants the Bruins, Celtics, and especially the Red Sox to take a look at the Patriots, saying "THAT is how you are supposed to be." 2 years ago, it was "Hey, maybe this'll rub off on the other teams"...now it's "Hey, maybe this'll rub off on the other teams HINT HINT"

Sorry if this rant's getting a little disjointed, I'm up late. Oh, and if you notice a missing comic...it's not missing, just really late. I was busy working on a project for a deadline, and I'll hopefully be able to share that with you soon.
posted by Tim at 2:49 AM