As we (well, yours truly) at Small White Ball/Boston Sports Observer.com do our annual look at the top 10 Boston sports stories of 2009, there were some that didn’t make the final cut but did take up some time in our collective conscious over the past 12 months.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, we care about sports here in Boston to a point that is almost scary.
A mix of Red Sox player moves and non-moves, Patriots wide receivers appearing on the national media radar for the right and wrong reasons and more, this list represents the Honorable Mentions for the SWB/BSO Top 10 Boston Sports Stories of 2009.
We launch into the main event with No. 6-10 on Monday, 12/28 and 1-5 on Wednesday, 12/30.
In no particular order:
The on-again, off-again love affair with Jason Bay
You’d think a left fielder coming off career highs in homers and RBI that is good defensively would be a sought-after commodity by the Red Sox – especially considering he played in Boston for the last season-and-a-half.
But whether it’s the amount of years Bay is reportedly asking for or the total contract value, Theo and company aren’t biting and inked outfielder Mike Cameron to a stopgap two-year deal. But now reports in recent days have Boston reportedly interested again. Does that mean Jacoby Ellsbury could be on his way out in a package trade for Adrian Gonzalez or did Boston jump too early at Cameron? What does it all mean? The answers can’t get here soon enough.
Boston Bruins get No. 1 seed, then rip apart team
The Boston Bruins had a great ’08-’09 season, capped by a No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference – the first time that had happened since 2002. They met (of course) the rival Montreal Canadiens in the first round and somehow didn’t disappoint, sweeping the Habs and advancing in the postseason for the first time in 10 years. But that’s where the good times ended as they lost in a seven-game series to the not-so Original Six Carolina Hurricanes in the semifinals. Ugh.
In typical Jeremy Jacobs fashion, they decided to not keep the club together and dealt young star Phil Kessel to Toronto (!!!) for two 1st-round picks and a 2nd-round pick and also sent defensemen Chuck Kobasew and Aaron Ward packing. So far this year, Tuuka Rask and Tim Thomas has been great in net and the team has a winning record, but they are missing goal scoring…big surprise, right?
They’ve had some injuries, but Kessel’s absence and getting no one in return for him has hurt a lot. It’s great to dream of trading those No. 1’s for a superstar at the trading deadline, but I’ll believe it when I see it. These ARE the Bruins, remember?
MMA legalized in Boston
Finally, the UFC will debut at the TD Garden as Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill to legalize the sport in November,
opening the door for the largest MMA organization in the world to come to Boston. UFC Prez and former Boston resident Dana White (right) has promised a mega-show in late-August as getting Boston was a huge accomplishment for the group.
As the guy that partly makes his living writing for FIGHT! Magazine, my level of excitement at this is beyond words.
The emergence of Wes Welker
One of the refreshing and inspiring side notes of this strange Patriots season has been everyone else realizing what we’ve known here in New England for a while now: Wes Welker is friggin’ awesome. Through 12 games, Welker is four catches away from a new career high (113) and already has a career-best with 1198 receiving yards. Since he’s been in New England, Welker has three straight seasons of 100+ catches and 1100+ yards.
In a copycat league, I’m shocked more teams haven’t gone with the “throw to the little white guy in the slot” offense.
Theo’s “bridge period” comment
Always be careful of what you say in Red Sox Nation. In what he probably thought was a passing comment during the December GM meetings, head honcho Theo Epstein said the team was in “a bridge period” and that while they wanted to stay competitive for the next two seasons, they also had to balance not dealing off their top prospects in doing so.
Just Google the term ‘Theo Epstein bridge period’ or ‘Theo Epstein bridge year’ to see how well that went over – especially considering it came in the same week the New York Yankees traded for Curtis Granderson. This is Boston…there’s no such thing as a bridge year.
Red Sox start year 8-0 in season series against Yankees, then lose 9 of the next 10.
Let’s just move on.
Patriots channel 2007, decimate Tennessee 59-0 in October snowstorm
If a snowstorm in October wasn’t enough to make this a memorable game, the fact the Patriots destroyed the winless Tennessee Titans in record-setting fashion made it so. Among the various records, Tom Brady tossed for an NFL record five touchdowns in one quarter, the team had the biggest halftime lead in NFL history (45 points) and tied for the sixth-largest margin of victory in NFL history. Simply put, it was annihilation.
Red Sox trade for Victor Martinez
Long-discussed, the Red Sox pulled off a big deadline trade in acquiring C/1B Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Justin Masterson and some mid-level prospects. While the popular and flexible Masterson was tough to let go, Boston needed some offense with incumbent backstop Jason Varitek struggling to do anything that didn’t involve throwing down signs.
This also kicked off a merry-go-round of Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, Varitek, Martinez and eventually Casey Kotchman playing 1st, 3rd and catcher for the remaining months of the season. Martinez’ versatility and cheap option for ’10 made this a great trade. His competitiveness and bat also don’t hurt either.
Sox go with pitching and defense for ’10, ink pitcher John Lackey and outfielder Mike Cameron
After reportedly being rejected by outfielder Matt Holliday on a contract, the Red Sox changed gears and bolstered an already robust starting rotation by signing top free agent John Lackey to a five year, $82.5 million contract. Arguably the top pitcher on the market, the signing gives Boston three aces in its rotation to go with Daisuke Matsusaka, Clay Buchholz and Tim Wakefield. Personally, I’m finding it difficult to accept Lackey after so many years of snide comments toward the Red Sox while he was in the Los Angeles clubhouse, but I’m sure I’ll come around eventually.
The Cameron signing came as a surprise due to his age and what we believed were still negotiations with free agent Bay. However, with that deal looking dead (unless you believe reports saying otherwise), Cameron is looking to be the team’s opening day left fielder and will provide a flashy glove, 25 homers and a lot of strikeouts this season and next.
Pitching and defense may not be sexy, but it seems to be the plan for 2010 thus far. We’ll see how well the confines of Yankees Stadium respond to that challenge.
The villainous Randy Moss returns…or does he?
It’s hard to truly gauge exactly what is driving this winter’s debate about Randy Moss. Is he dogging it or playing hard and we just can’t tell? Is he the victim of playing against great cornerbacks or just making guys look better than they are? Are the Boston media just looking for a pound of flesh or reflecting what their national cohorts are pushing? Whatever camp you’re in, it’s undeniable that the perception of Moss has changed in the past month – partly because of performance and partly due to everyone’s opinion.
This story is going to come to an end sometime in early ’10 after the playoffs have concluded. I think we’ll have our answer then as to what the rest of Moss’ tenure is going to represent.
Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].
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