Before Adam Vinatieri's last-second field goal split the uprights to defeat the St. Louis Rams and give the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl victory 10 years ago, Boston fans waited a long time for a championship.
Larry Bird and the 1986 Celtics took down the Houston Rockets in six games to give the C's their 16th championship. Things were looking good for Boston sports as the Patriots had made the Super Bowl, albeit getting crushed against the Chicago Bears. The Red Sox made the World Series, also with a sour ending, and the Bruins were a solid team that would soon make two Stanley Cup runs.
But once the 1990s came around, everything took a turn for the worse.
The Red Sox were irrelevant for the first half of the '90s before making several playoff runs. Unfortunately, they came at the height of the New York Yankees' resurgence. The Sox played second fiddle, watching Derek Jeter and the Bronx Bombers celebrate year after year, waiting for the Curse of the Bambino to subside.
The Pats started the '90s as one of the worst teams in the NFL, with poor records and sexual harassment scandals casting a negative shadow on a struggling franchise. Robert Kraft bought the team, sparking a resurgence that was highlighted by a trip to Super Bowl XXXVI, where the Pats lost to the Packers. Bill Parcells would leave, Pete Carroll stepped in and the Pats found themselves mediocre by the end of the decade.
The Bruins made the playoffs almost every year in the '90s, but had trouble getting out of the first and second rounds. The B's also watched their streak of 30 straight postseason appearances come to an end in the 1996-97 campaign.
The Celtics had it the worst. Following the retirement of Bird, Kevin Mchale and Robert Parish, the team went into the cellar. The tragedies and misfortunes included the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, the hiring of Rick Pitino, trading Chauncey Billups, missing Tim Duncan and many more to count.
The 1990s were the only decade in the 20th century in which no Boston team won a title. The Boston sports scene had no spark, and fans had to watch two of their arch nemeses, the Lakers and Yankees, threepeat, almost overlapping.
But it all soon changed.
Bill Belichick brought a new era to the Patriots, and with the drafting of Tom Brady ushered in a new attitude of winning to Foxboro. Vinatieri’s kick was only the beginning as the Patriots soon rattled off three titles in four seasons. The Patriots went from an average franchise to elite in no time.
Boston fans had championship fever, and it was becoming contagious.
After the Pats closed the door on the Carolina Panthers for their second title, the Red Sox got in on the festivities.
The 2004 Red Sox had their backs to the wall. Down 3-0 to the Yankees, it seemed as though the Bambino was going to claim another Sox season.
Everyone knows what happened next. Dave Roberts steals second, Bill Mueller drives him in, David Ortiz turns into the most clutch human being alive and then dancing in Yankee Stadium. The Sox rolled over the St. Louis Cardinals and eliminated numerous demons.
Then, just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, the Sox did it again in 2007.
The atmosphere began to change in Boston. No one was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Winning wasn’t hoped for — it was expected.
The Celtics and Bruins didn't have it quite as easy, but they soon began raising banners too.
Paul Pierce began to shine as the next Celtics great, leading the C's to some playoff appearances in the early 2000s. The highlight included an incredible run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002, where the Celtics took the New Jersey Nets to six games. The good times soon evaporated, and a 22-win 2006 season left many wondering if "The Truth" was going to be traded.
Danny Ainge had other ideas, and two big trades soon had Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen wearing green. The New Big Three was born.
Pierce, Allen, Garnett and Rajon Rondo ran away with the 2008 season, ending with a title in TD Garden. The win was most satisfying for Celtics fans, as it came against the hated Lakers, and not in a close one. The Celtics pounded them into the dirt for four quarters in Game 6.
All of the success in Boston soon found the Bruins to be an afterthought. Early round exits to lower seeds, plus a lockout, hurt the Bruins, but the B's soon found momentum.
A decade of misfortune and departing stars paid off when the Bruins took on the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final. The B's grinded out series victories against the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning before taking on Vancouver.
In one of the most epic Stanley Cup Finals in recent memory, the two teams soon forged a bloodthirsty hatred for each other. Trashing talking, biting, blowouts, overtimes — the series had it all. In the end, the Bruins were left standing, taking out the Canucks in Game 7 in Vancouver and ending their drought.
In case anyone lost count, that’s seven championships in 10 years. Boston's run is the best of any city that has all four major sports. No team has posted a losing record since the 2006-07 Celtics. Banners and parades are the norm. It is officially a Boston sports renaissance.
Now, 10 years after the first title, the Patriots will try to go for another when they take on the Giants on Sunday. With the possible exception of the Celtics, the franchises look poised to be title threats for years to come. The struggles of the '90s are an afterthought.
And it all started with that kick.
If you were to ask anyone before that 2001 season if this title run was possible, they would probably laugh, thinking that Boston could never be that lucky.
But fortune smiled in Massachusetts, where other areas haven't been so lucky. Cleveland would love to have even one season that any of the teams in Boston have had.
Sure, the teams have left some on the table and have had some tough losses (the Pats in '06 and '07, the Sox in '03 and '08, the Celtics in '10 and the Bruins in '10), but for the most part the area has been spoiled with riches.
Hopefully Sunday night can kick off a new decade of dominance.
