Pennant or punchline? 2015 Sox are a mystery

Left of pesky pole: Long-standing loyalties cannot be deflated

In his writings about the importance of morality in American society, Tocqueville never once mentioned football air pressure. And yet, over the past week, I have endured a barrage of moral questions about my allegiance to the New England Patriots. Casual and apathetic football observers ask how I can justify my support for a team of cheaters. While I reflexively defend the team that I’ve supported since I could hold a football, I can’t help but reflect upon my loyalties.
For those that have avoided the excessive coverage of this football scandal and followed the real news over the past week, here’s what happened: The Patriots thrashed the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game, 45-7, to advance to the Super Bowl.
Immediately after the game, rumors started to swirl that the footballs the Patriots used were illegally deflated, making the balls easier to throw in the cold and rain. The NFL promptly launched an investigation into the matter, which has yet to yield any formal accusations of wrongdoing.
The Patriots have unequivocally denied intentionally deflating the balls. Coach Bill Belichick went so far as to give a physics lesson about the way in which the cold weather may have caused the balls to deflate naturally in a press conference.
Meanwhile, Patriot-haters have had a field day. Quarterback Tom Brady received more scrutiny at his press conference than President Obama. Players and coaches around the league have condemned the Patriots organization. Former Panthers General Manager Marty Hurney even claimed that the Patriots have “a culture of cheating.”
Unfortunately, such accusations are not completely unfounded. Before Deflategate, there was the Spygate scandal in 2007 in which the Patriots were caught illegally videotaping the signals used by opposing coaches. In the second of three Super Bowl victories, the Patriots defeated Hurney’s Panthers in 2004. It’s reasonable for Hurney to believe that this victory was tainted by foul play, although there is no evidence to prove it.
Some Patriots fans argue that these violations are not that big of a deal. They’ll say that everyone bends the rules, and the Patriots have just been caught because success breeds greater scrutiny from jealous opponents. Maybe so, but that still doesn’t diminish my disappointment. When is “it’s OK because everybody’s doing it” ever an acceptable explanation for anything?Sports are supposed to be especially immune from the corruption and moral ambiguity that exists in other aspects of life. Off-the-field issues aside, football ought to exist in a neat world of absolutes on the field: in bounds or out of bounds, win or lose. This simplification, combined with the unpredictability of the game, creates a wonderful escape for millions of fans.
If your team wins, you shouldn’t have to question how they did it or whether you picked the good guys. But that’s exactly what I will do if the Patriots beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
And yet, I don’t have a choice but to hope and believe that they’re innocent. I was born and raised a New England Patriots fan, and I will never relinquish that part of my identity. Some may question how I could possibly support a team that frequently flirts with the line of legality. How could I defend Bill Belichick who, in the eyes of many Americans, bears a striking resemblance to the evil Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars?
Here’s the thing: my dedication to this franchise is deeper than a coach, or a Hall-of-Fame quarterback, or the air pressure of a few footballs in one playoff blowout.
It’s inextricably tied to my pride for my hometown and this wonderful region that the Pilgrims stumbled into. It’s connected to the bond that I share with my dad and brother and grandfather, as we share in the joys and agonies that come with surrendering a piece of ourselves to this team that we have no control over.
It’s because of this emotional investment that I feel so much disappointment in my team when they (allegedly) cross the line. But, I can criticize the guilty personnel without giving up on the team and all that they represent in my life. Just as healthy patriotism requires a scrutiny of elected officials, so does football fanhood.
If you cheated, shame on you Mr. Belichick. But I will continue to root for the players that work to bring the Super Bowl back to New England, and I will continue to support this symbol of home and family. That seems like the moral thing to do.

Left of pesky pole: Isaiah Thomas: the lucky charm the Celts need?

Don’t look now, but the Celtics are about to matter again. The fourth wheel of the Boston sports world made a splash at last week’s trade deadline, acquiring a dynamic scorer with a famous name: Isaiah Thomas. No, he’s not related to Isiah Thomas, the Pistons Hall of Fame point guard and Boston’s Public Enemy #1 in the late 80s. He shares the name (with different spelling) because his father lost a bet in the 1989 NBA Finals. And no, he may not project as a future Hall of Famer. But young Isaiah gives the Celtics something they haven’t had since Pierce and KG left town: fire.
Thomas has a Rudy-esque underdog story. At 5’ 9”, he stands almost a foot shorter than the average NBA player. As a result, scouts doubted his NBA potential despite a stellar college career at the University of Washington. He was the final pick of the 2011 draft, earning him the title of “Mr. Irrelevant” for that draft. But he fought his way into relevancy in a hurry with the Sacramento Kings, making the NBA All-Rookie 2nd Team in 2012 and being one of 19 players in the league to eclipse 20 points per game in 2014 (20.3). The Phoenix Suns signed Thomas in the offseason to a four-year, $27 million contract, on the lower end for a 20-point scorer, and he played third fiddle behind two other point guards, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic. The chip on his shoulder just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Haters continue to point to his height or mediocre defense and say that he has the ceiling of a borderline all-star. But with the Celtics, Isaiah has a chance to break through into stardom. He becomes the best pure scorer in a three-guard rotation with Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart. He demonstrated that on Monday night, when he scored 21 points and hit two clutch shots down the stretch to help the Celtics beat his former team. The night before, Thomas also scored 21 in an overtime loss to the Lakers.
But his immediate impact on this team extends beyond the box score. He gives the Celtics somebody that can drive, as he fearlesslytakes the ball to the hoop against forwards that tower over him. And most importantly, the man visibly wants to win. On Monday, Isaiah stared down the Suns bench after hitting a big shot. His competitiveness even got him ejected on Sunday night, when he slammed the ball into the ground after a bad call and received his second technical foul. Foolish and a little immature? Sure. But he brings passion to a Celtics team that has looked like it has just been going through the motions for the last two years. Since the departure of Pierce and Garnett, the best players on the Celtics have been Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green. Rondo looked bored and out-to-lunch in his last few months with the Celtics, and Green was a shining model of Greek stoicism on the floor—no fun or emotion whatsoever. Thomas’ intensity should be infectious on this young team, and will help unleash the ultra-competitive spirit of rookie Marcus Smart.
For the fans, Isaiah gives us a reason to watch the Celtics again. With his diminutive size and underdog spirit, he will become a fan favoritejust like Nate Robinson was a few seasons ago. Will he ever be as loved in Boston as the previous Isiah was hated? That depends on whether he can deliver an eighteenth championship banner to the TD Garden rafters. For this season, he gives the Celtics a legitimate shot to grab the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, which would be a huge accomplishment for a team ranked 19th out of 30 in ESPN’s preseason power rankings. But, the Celtics are still one big piece away from title contention.
They need a center that can protect the rim and be a post presence on the offensive and defensive ends. We know the Celtics can score; they rank fifth in the East in points per game, and Thomas will only bolster that ranking. But they still rank dead last in points allowed per game in the East. Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger lack the toughness and height, respectively, to be the defensive presence that they need in the post.
Maybe Danny Ainge will work some magic in free agency and acquire a big man like Marc Gasol or LaMarcus Aldridge. But for now, let’enjoy the Celtics’ return to relevancy in the NBA and in the Boston sports world. Isaiah is bringing the fire back to the Garden, and this scrappy, high-scoring team may shock some folks come playoff time.

Left of pesky pole

Pennant or punchline? 2015 Sox are a mystery

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

February 13, 2015

It’s a depressing time of year for anyone living in New England, especially during this cold and absurdly snowy winter. For sports fans, that depression is compounded by the post-Super Bowl, pre-March Madness malaise.

The NBA and NHL are in the middle of their seasons, but at the moment they lack an intensity that won’t re-emerge until the April playoffs. Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, symbolized by the magic truck departing Snowpocalyptic Boston for that famous Fort in Florida.

On Thursday, the Red Sox equipment truck departed from Fenway Park for Fort Myers, Florida, where the first Sox players are scheduled to report on February 20 for spring training. On March 3, for the first time since late September, the men in red and white (and occasionally blue) will take the field. Yes, these will only be exhibition games, but with Papi-sized piles of snow still on the ground, there is something cathartic about watching the Red Sox play in short sleeves on fresh-cut grass.

Punxsutawney Phil may have seen his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter, but with spring training comes a whiff of summer in February.

Apart from the respite from the winter doldrums, why is it worth getting excited about the Red Sox? They were a painful lot to watch last season, impressively plummeting from the World Series Champion pedestal to the cellar of the AL East. They traded their ace pitcher Jon Lester to Oakland in July, then allowed the Chicago Cubs to outbid them in free agency for Lester’s future services.

David Ortiz, the cornerstone of the lineup for over a decade, is 39 and can only defy nature for so long. And Xander Bogaerts, the exciting young shortstop who was heralded as the second coming of Nomar Garciaparra, struggled with inconsistency all last season. Should we just start counting down the days until Patriots training camp?

Nope. Put away the Gronk jersey for a few months, and get pumped for the extraordinary uncertainty and hope surrounding the 2015 Red Sox. There are so many unknowns, so many unproven entities, that the Red Sox could win anywhere between 60 and 100 games this season. Their revamped pitching rotation is full of young arms with something to prove.

The Sox picked up two former all-stars coming off of mediocre 2014 seasons (Wade Miley and Justin Masterson) and a mid-rotation starter from Detroit (Rick Porcello) who can finally crawl out from under the shadows of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The elder statesman on the staff and master of inconsistency, Clay Buchholz, could pitch his way into Cy Young contention or out of the rotation. The Sox management chose not to shell out big money for another ace pitcher, gambling that one of these average starters will emerge as a star.

If the Red Sox disabled list stays relatively short this summer, this team will score a ton of runs. Newly reacquired Hanley Ramirez is a force to be reckoned with when healthy, as he hit .342 with 20 home runs in half a season in 2013. Former MVP Dustin Pedroia claims to be injury-free for the first time in years, but given how much tenacity he plays with, it is unlikely that he will stay completely out of the training room. David Ortiz is only 34 homers short of 500 and will do everything he can to stay on the field, but again, he’s 39.

Then there are the kids who were still in diapers when Ortiz signed his first professional contract. Twenty-two-year-old Mookie Betts showed flashes last season of being the leadoff man of the future, and after an abysmal summer, Bogaerts ended 2014 on a high note with a .313 average in September.

Rusney Castillo is the biggest question mark. Signed at the end of last season, the Cuban outfielder has a mountain of hype on his shoulders, but it remains to be seen how he will carry that burden. He epitomizes the 2015 box-of-chocolates Red Sox—as Forrest Gump would say, “you never know what you’re gonna get.”

In the middle of February, National Chocolate Lovers Month, I’m embracing the unpredictability of the 2015 Red Sox. If the 2013 Sox unexpectedly went from worst to first in the AL East, why can’t the 2015 squad? Spring training is all about hope. It’s about the promise of Big Papi homers flying through the warm summer air, and Dustin Pedroia diving across the spongy grass to make an insane catch. And it’s about the promise of October baseball returning to Boston in 2015.

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