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This article was published 16 year(s) and 6 month(s) ago

2008 in Review: History defeated itself as Giants stunned Pats; C’s rebounded

mdinitto

December 31, 2008 by mdinitto

History defeats itself: By now, we’re all too familiar with it. The Patriots were 17-0 and their trip to Phoenix for the Super Bowl was simply a formality. They’d beat the Giants and take their place as the best single-season team ever in the NFL. Only it didn’t turn out that way. The Giants won, 17-14, because the offensive line couldn’t protect Tom Brady, and because the defense couldn’t make one play down the stretch to preserve the victory. Fans will be hearing David Tyree’s and Plaxico Burress’ name in their sleep. (Last month, Burress accidentally shot himself with a .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol at a Manhattan nightclub.)The rafters finally have company: The Celtics finally hoisted up banner No. 17 – 22 years after No. 16 (the longest championship drought in their history) – thanks mainly to the trades that brought Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the team. In the end, the victory was extra delicious as they came back from the dead in Los Angeles in Game 4, and they destroyed the Lakers at home in Game 6.You mean the Bruins DO exist?: Up until last year, the Bruins might as well have been playing high school hockey in Billerica, for all the interest they generated. Then came the seven-game playoff series against Montreal (a loss, but a terrific series nonetheless). Now, after the first half of the 2008-09 season, the Bruins are a lot of fun to watch, and they have the second-best record in the NHL to boot and a bona fide star in Phil Kessel.Manny unhappy returns: This could (well, it is!) be the subtitle for the Red Sox season in 2008. Manny Ramirez was the overriding story, both while he was with the team and after he left. Manny was Manny one too many times, and the Sox concluded he was too far gone to keep. They traded him to the Dodgers, where he promptly tore the National League apart and led Los Angeles to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Red Sox regrouped, made the playoffs and took a healthy Tampa Bay to seven games – including a memorable comeback in Game 5 – before bowing out.Wounded Knee: It hasn’t been a banner year for Tom Brady. First he got sacked five times as the Giants upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and then – 15 plays into the 2008 season – he went down in a heap with a torn ACL and MCL. He had all kinds of complications after the operation, and is reportedly well behind schedule in his rehab. The only bright spot? Depending on who you read (and believe) he got engaged to Gisele over the holidays.King of the Cassel: As a result of Brady’s injury, the Patriots had to fight for everything they got. But an unlikely hero emerged – backup Matt Cassel. Yes, the same Matt Cassel everyone wanted to run out of town before the season started. It may have taken five or six games, but Cassel allowed the Patriots to do almost everything they did last year on offense. It was their defense, however, that betrayed them in a few games. They were in the hunt for a playoff spot right up until the Jets tanked.Ecstasy: The BC hockey team, which lost an NCAA hockey final many thought it should have won in 2007, got one back this year, beating Notre Dame to win the whole thing. Saugus’ Kyle Kucharski was a member of that team.Agony ? again: BC’s football team had to win one more game – the ACC title game against Virginia Tech – to go to the Orange Bowl. But the Eagles, who perhaps overachieved through most of the year, couldn’t get over the hump. As a result, it’s the Hokies and Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl ? and BC vs. Vanderbilt in today’s Music City Bowl. On the bright side, ex-Eagle quarterback Matt Ryan was named the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year.Curses, foiled again: It’s been a while since the New York Yankees were able to thump their chests for having outmaneuvered the Red Sox (2005 was the last time, when they pried Johnny Damon away from the Red Sox), but they did it again, right before Christmas, snatching first baseman Mark Teixeira out from under their noses and signing him to a lucrative contra

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