Matt Cassel | Small White Ball...a boston sports blog

A star quarterback out for the season. A return to glory. A season full of injuries. A beloved player exiting amidst national controversy. A club previously belittled and mocked making their stand.
And that was just in the last 12 months.
In Wednesday’s review of the 11th-20th ranked Boston sports stories of 2008, we took a look at Bill Buckner’s emotional return to Boston, the Red Sox almost pulling off another magical comeback, a quarterback transforming a shaken fanbase and more. As we look at the Top 10 stories that dominated the region this past year, it’s a smattering among the three major entities in the city and for the first time in a long time, a certain club in black and gold entered the conversation.
Compiled with the help of some trusted advisers and by requesting feedback on sites like Yardbarker, Bleacher Report and Ballhype, here are the top 10 Boston sports stories of 2008, courtesy of Small White Ball.
10) The emergence of Matt Cassel – If you would have predicted in August that some Patriots fans would broach the subject of trading Tom Brady and keeping backup Matt Cassel during this season, you probably would have been tossed in the Charles River. But Cassel’s jump into the line of fire in the wake of Brady’s injury has been much better than expected, causing many to look at a similar time when a young Brady came in for Drew Bledsoe. The Pats likely need to win out in order to make the playoffs, but at 9-5, they’re a lot better than most expected thanks to Cassel.
While the concept of dealing Brady has thankfully subsided, the story of a guy that hadn’t started a game since high school has been an interesting one for a fanbase that is used to dominance – especially coming off Brady’s MVP season just a season ago. The USC product came into this situation at a perfect time as he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season and is likely looking at a Matt Schaub-style payday. Who expected that of out of Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Cassel, it would be the career clipboard holder making all the noise?
9) Tex, Tek and what the Sox should do with both – It’s very possible by the time you read this that Mark Teixeira will be a member of the Red Sox and manning first base for the better part of the next decade. It’s also very possible he won’t if you believe owner John Henry. Regardless of what happens, everyone has an opinion. The amount of Teixeira chatter is equal to how GM Theo Epstein should proceed with catcher Jason Varitek. For Red Sox fans, what to do with two guys named Tex and Tek has become a daily discussion point ’round here.
The other threads attached to this unraveling Sox sweater are what to do with Mike Lowell if Teixiera comes on board, who the Sox would have at catcher if Varitek doesn’t re-sign and what the long-term solutions are if Varitek comes back. The amount of chess moves that some with less brain power have come up with (moving Kevin Youkilis to shortstop or left field, trading David Ortiz, having Varitek apprentice a young catcher as if he’s a blacksmith, etc.) are staggering. All signs point to Teixeria coming in, Lowell heading out and Varitek returning due to a weak market and a need on both ends. Regardless what happens, the opinions of armchair GM’s everywhere will be heard.
8) The Boston Bruins play hockey again – Oh wait…they were here all along? Every bright light needs a shadow and the Bruins have been dancing in the dark for a long time. Partially because of owner Jeremy Jacobs, partially because of long-time GM Harry Sinden and partially because of the collapse of interest in the NHL here in the States, the Bruins fell so far off the Boston sports map that the Revolution threatened to take them over. Then, this season happened and things have taken a turn for the better…extremely better.
As of this writing, the Bruins are leading the Eastern Conference with a 22-5-4 record. They’ve won 12 of their last 14 games and are 17-2-1 in their last 20 games. They are dominant at home and posted an 11-1-1 record overall in November. Their goaltending combo of Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez has been lights out, while Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, Marc Savard and a host of others have helped knock the opposition’s lights out. The big bad Bruins are back and I’ll be damned if the fans aren’t responding to them in kind. Can the duck boats swim on frozen ice?
7) Jon Lester throws a no-hitter, becomes ace of 2008 season – In September 2006, 22-year-old Jon Lester was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Three months later, doctors pronounced him cancer-free and he became an unlikely face to associate with The Jimmy Fund, the long-time children’s cancer charity that has become synonymous with the Red Sox. Lester went 4-0 in 12 starts the following year, winning the final game of Boston’s World Series sweep of Colorado. But his starts were excrutiating to watch, routinely lasting five innings and 100 pitches.
Fast forward to 2008 and #31 was a different person, posting a 16-6 record with a 3.21 era. He showed two important ‘ity’s: velocity (consistently mid-to-high 90s) and durability (210 innings). But if there was one start that stood out, it was his May 19th no-hitter against Kansas City, the 18th no-no in Boston history. The emotion shared between coach Terry Francona and Lester post-game was as raw and real as you get in this day and age. In a season where Josh Beckett struggled with control and Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled with respect, Lester became the ace Boston needed and brought his heroic story full-circle.
6) Tom Brady out for entire 2008 season – The second Tom Brady didn’t pop right back up from Bernard Pollard’s tackle, we knew something was wrong. Our miracle man, our Joe Montana, our quarterback was hurt and the season of the Patriots went into the hands of some other guy we barely knew. We hoped that Brady would come back, that he’d be wearing that damn boot for a few weeks and then be ready to throw some bombs to Randy Moss just like old times. But that never happened thanks to a torn MCL and ACL and Brady faded away to some address in California to get surgery and rehab.
Can Brady can come back as good as he was before? Will he be a Daunte Culpepper or Carson Palmer? Will he be in the position to throw 50 TD’s again? Can Tom Brady be Tom Brady? On that September day, the cocoon of success Patriots fans have enveloped themselves in was ripped open and we were all treated to a glimpse of the way things used to be. In less than eight months, we’ll see how things will be. Your guess is as good as mine on how that’ll turn out.
5) The MVP season of Dustin Pedroia – Out of all the positions in baseball, second base is the one that is starting to emerge as a place to look for offensive output. Chase Utley, Dan Uggla, Brandon Phillps and Ian Kinsler are showing that it’s not only shortstops that can be regarded for their ability to swing the bat. Last season, Boston got in on that mix with a prospect that wasn’t highly regarded by anyone else but themselves. He hit .317, scored 86 runs and drove in 50 on his way to earning AL Rookie of the Year honors. No one expected what would happen in his sophomore season.
The 5’7″ West Coast kid finished second in the AL with a .326 average, slugging 17 homers and driving in 83. He ranked 1st in the league with 118 runs, 213 hits and 54 doubles. He started the All-Star game for the first time and won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. He became only the third player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive seasons (Cal Ripken, Ryan Howard) and became the first second baseman to win the award in almost 50 years.
To top it all off, the team bought out some arbitration years and signed Pedroia to a six-year, $40.5 million contract. In a year where David Ortiz was not David Ortiz and despite the Manny Ramirez circus, Pedroia went out day after day and did his job, even batting cleanup on occasion. Now, that’s an MVP.
4) Spygate comes to a close – By the end of the ordeal that involved football, Bill Belichick and videotapes, ‘Spygate’ became a dirty word around these parts and was uttered approximately 2 million times in a span of six months. The story that began in ’07 really got its media wings in 2008 when a former lowly assistant named Matt Walsh decided to get off the golf course in Hawaii and dig out some old tapes he had kept. Claiming he had evidence that wouldn’t make the team look good, the fires raged over what was on those tapes he had. As we know now, apparently nothing of consequence. The push to get Walsh to talk with NFL Commish Roger Goodell was its own story altogether, dragging out over months because of Walsh wanting immunity. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.
Along the way, we got too familiar with Senator Arlen Specter and writer John Tomase, one that was hell-bent on finding some further wrong-doing and the other apologizing for claiming he had a source that said the Patriots taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough practice prior to Super Bowl 36. We got too familiar with analysts opining on how the Patriots cheated and what you could summise from tapes. We got a smug Belichick claiming he misinterpreted the rules. Finally, we got closure. Until compiling this list, I hadn’t thought about Spygate in months. I can’t wait to forget about it all over again.
3) The Manny Affair – Back in August of 2007, I wrote a column called Manny: The Final 14 Months. I speculated on what things would like as we rounded the bend of his final contracted season with the Red Sox, but I didn’t seen anything of this coming.
Perhaps I should have, starting with the signing of Scott Boras as his agent and Ramirez’ erratic and eccentric past. It made too much sense for everything to go awry given the particular variables involved. A massive contract, questions about desire and health and a super-agent eager to get his man out on the market and paid with a new contract all were combustible elements and boy, did they explode.
Apparently not wanting Boston to pick up the two $20 million options, Ramirez either did or didn’t do yeomans work in attempting to sabotage that decision. Among the highlights: shoving traveling secretary Jack McCormick after the denial of his game-day request for 16 tickets in Houston, a televised dugout scuffle with Kevin Youkilis, his two-game sit-out due to knee ‘injuries’ (which knee was it again?) and the subsequent MRIs that showed nothing, the public comments on ownership and everything else that encompassed the final few months of the Manny being Manny era.
And just when we thought he’d be here to stay, the announcement was made that ManRam was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-way trade involving the Pirates. He made nice with the L.A. media, said he loved it there and hoped he would stay, much like we thought he would. He tore up the National League’s pitching and helped the Dodgers make the postseason, much like we thought he would. And last week, the free agent Ramirez began to whine about retirement because he’s not getting the offers he expected…much like we thought he would.
2) New England carries undefeated season into Super Bowl, get upset by NY Giants – The stage was set for the coronation of the king, but somebody forgot to tell the New York Giants. The improbable became reality and as Michael Strahan, Plaxico Burress and Tom Coughlin celebrated amidst the confetti and adulation, the Patriots and their legion was left wondering exactly what the hell happened on that Arizona field.
It was a season that seemed too good to be true: an offense led by Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and others that sits among the greatest of all time, a defense led by last-chance veterans mixed in with emerging talent and a coach that had gone 3-for-3 in previous Super Bowls and seemed hell-bent on revenge for Spygate. But in the week leading up to the game, everything began to disintegrate. It started with the questions about Tom Brady’s ankle and escalated with all of the questions that had to be answered about supposedly filming a walkthrough practice prior to Super Bowl 36.
After the game began, it was a lot tighter and tougher than people expected. The Giants defense swallowed the Patriots’ offensive line whole and the storied offense sputtered. But Brady connected with Moss like he did all season and with 2:42 left, the Patriots had the lead and trusted their defense to shut the Giants down. Alas, it was not to be and fans will always wonder what might have been if Asante Samuel and Brandon Meriweather had made those interceptions, if Rodney Harrison could have swatted down that pass to David Tyree and if Eli Manning had fallen down after having his jersey nearly ripped off while scrambling. As New England fans found out, coronations aren’t guaranteed and neither are perfect seasons.
1) Celtics renew rivalry with Lakers, defeat LA in six games to win 17th World Championship – There was a time when the Boston Celtics were among the most respected franchises not just in basketball, but in sports. The team had won a record 16 World Championships, taking home a record eight straight from 1959-1966. After establishing a big three of Hall-of-Famers Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale in the 1980s, glory returned to the hallowed Boston Garden, earning titles in 1981, 1984 and 1986. Since that last title, the luck of the Irish began to fade away with the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, failed draft picks and a general malaise that befit a once-proud franchise.
Things couldn’t have got any lower following a 24-58 record in ’06-’07 when expectations of drafting Greg Oden or Kevin Durant evaporated with the pull of a lottery ball that said #5 on it. Who knew that would be the catalyst for what would happen next? First, the team made a trade for shooter Ray Allen that was grumbled about because of his ankle surgeries, followed up by not taking ‘no’ for an answer and pulling off a huge deal for power forward Kevin Garnett. For the first time in a long time, Paul Pierce had playmakers around him and there was cautious optimism over what this new Big Three could do.
What they did was spectacular. Garnett’s intensity was off the charts and the TD Banknorth Garden went from a hospital atmosphere to a raucous atmosphere. The Celtics started the year 26-3 and were the beast of the Eastern Conference with a 66-16 mark, their best since the ’85-’86 title year. After hard-fought series with new rivals Atlanta and Cleveland and a six-game victory over Detroit, it was time to renew their long-time rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers. It was David Stern’s dream come true.
Closing it out at home in six games, the final 131-92 blowout gave us time to reflect on what we had seen the entire season. A team went from horrendous to top of the world in a year’s time, fueled by three players who set their egos aside and just went out to win. Danny Ainge’s drafting brilliance came through as homegrown talent like Leon Powe, Rajon Rondo and even Glen Davis played big roles.
A region that wanted to believe was suddenly revived and the Celtics joined the Red Sox and Patriots as contenders in the market. Most importantly, they established an expectation level that fans should come to expect the Celtics to be competitive from here on out. In other words, no more 24-58 seasons.
The Celtics made basketball matter in Boston again and that’s why they’re the top Boston sports story for 2008.
>Top Boston sports stories: #11-20
Josh Nason – josh [at] smallwhiteball [com] – is the publisher and main writer of Small White Ball, an all-encompassing sports blog that began in 2007. You can also read on mixed martial arts, boxing and pro wrestling at brother site RopesRingandCage.com. If you’re using any part of this post, please link back to http://www.smallwhiteball.com. Thank you!