It’s important to develop some perspective when following your favorite sports teams. Otherwise, you’ll go insane in a hurry.
For example, those of us who call ourselves ”Baby Boomers” grew up in an era when the Patriots were the joke of the NFL. With rare exceptions, the Pats were a punchline. Zeke Mowat/Lisa Olson anyone? Irving Fryar? Pot-gate? Generations of pro football fans outside the region had a swell time laughing uproariously at these incidents.
Then came Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and 20 straight years of unprecedented excellence and suddenly we all got amnesia and forgot the bad times. Instead, we developed a sense of entitlement. When the pendulum began to swing the other way, we acted as if the pre-Bill Parcells era never existed.
But it did. Bill rescued us from perpetual embarrassment. Brady raised us up to an elite category, and when he left, the Patriots began slipping again.
Now they seem to be back. Does anyone besides me feel that we’re darn lucky it only took four years to regain that swagger? We’re fortunate to have landed Drake Maye, who seems to have the ability to make good decisions on the fly — the same way Brady did.
Look around. The Cleveland Browns don’t seem to have that luck. The Miami Dolphins and New York Jets stink. Again.
Now let’s look at the Red Sox. In the early to mid-1960s, there were few teams as bad as they were. They were terrible. Worse, they seemed to be OK with being terrible.
Then came 1967, Carl Yastrzemski’s emergence, a pennant and a change in culture that, in some ways, still holds today. They may have a down period now and then, but every time they do, a large contingent of “Red Sox Nation” acts as if they’ve done something to us.
It may be true that owner John Henry overreacted to being burned on some bad contracts by refusing to get caught up in bidding wars. That’s most likely why they ended up losing Mookie Betts — OUR Babe Ruth trade.
That trade no doubt led to this current malaise — a slump that they seem ready to shake, judging from this past season.
There’s just so much about competitive sports that depends on the situation. The Celtics and Lakers can play 10 games with the same players, and there’s no guarantee that the Celtics win all 10 even if the talent level is ridiculously unbalanced. All it takes is for Jaylen Brown to miss his first six shots (which HAS happened) and the whole paradigm shifts.
Baseball and basketball are two sports in which the competitive level shifts within the same game. The eighth and ninth innings of a baseball game don’t resemble the fourth or fifth in any way possible. The game gets tighter and the participants — particularly pitchers — start feeling different kinds of pressure. That’s why closers make so much money.
They say basketball is a game in which you need only watch the last five minutes and you’re good. That’s true much of the time. That’s because baskets are harder to come by during that period. Some people get nervous. Other players, Steph Curry, for example, seem oblivious to the pressure and take off. Team A can be ahead by 12 points until the final five minutes and end up losing by six.
It can be exasperating sometimes when a team that’s just been scorched by Curry or Jayson Tatum gets accused of choking. That ignores spectacular examples of players meeting the moment. There’s a reason players such as Brady always came through in the fourth quarter. They could keep their heads when things tightened up.
Developing that perspective is tough, though. How many times, in the 60s, did I watch the Baltimore Orioles beat the Red Sox in the eighth or ninth innings? The O’s had good players who managed to take control of these games while the Red Sox had ordinary relief pitchers who could not meet their moments.
It all comes down to perspective. You know, as a fan, that no lead against the Lakers was safe as long as Kobe Bryant was on the team. Ditto the Warriors and Steph Curry. You could set your watch to these guys putting on the capes and carrying these teams on their backs.
And historical perspective — if you have any — can prevent you from acting like a victim because the 20-year dynasty finally timed out.
Sports are cyclical. And perhaps that’s the hardest perspective of them all to appreciate.
