Hope springs eternal

Boston fans think more championships are near

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BOSTON (AP) -- The New England Patriots' improbable Super Bowl victory did more than end this city's major championship drought: It left fans feeling that perhaps the string of woe -- from Bucky to Buckner to Bourque -- is a thing of the past.

"Boston deserves this," Tom Berry said Monday while standing outside the brick walls of Fenway Park. "Boston sports fans are the greatest in the world."

Berry, a 54-year-old Harvard Club masseur, is legally blind, and watches games through a telescope-like apparatus.

Bedecked in a Patriots hat, shirt and coat, and clutching three full bags of newly bought Patriots souvenirs, Berry said he felt a new sense of optimism.

"Hopefully this will continue around town," Berry said.

Dan Reichgott saw the Patriots' last-second, 20-17 upset of the St. Louis Rams on Sunday as a sign of better things to come.

"I have a feeling the next championship will come down the street in Kenmore Square," said Reichgott, a 19-year-old Boston University sophomore who was referring to the Red Sox.

Reichgott is too young to remember the city's last title team, the 1986 Boston Celtics of the NBA.

Last year, none of the region's four major professional sports teams even made the playoffs.

With a new Red Sox ownership, and with the Celtics and Bruins poised to make the playoffs, many Boston faithful are proudly proclaiming that the drought is over.

A downtown parade was planned for the Patriots on Tuesday, and celebratory signs with phrases like '"We did it!" were posted all around the city. Drivers jubilantly honked their horns throughout the day.

Brian Codagnone, associate curator of the Sports Museum of New England, said Boston fans view the title as a reward for their loyalty.

"They're intensely loyal," Codagnone said. "They follow our teams, win lose or draw. ... We've had our hearts broken. There have been a couple of painful things, but we still stick with them."

The Celtics' 16 titles in a 30-year span spoiled Boston fans, said K.C. Jones, who played on eight of those championship teams and was the head coach on two more. He said this year's team can't help but be inspired by the Patriots' victory.

"If they watched it, they had to feel euphoric, like, 'We've got a chance to win this thing,'" Jones said. "It had to motivate them."

The Patriots, who joined the American Football League in 1960, were the oldest team to never win an AFL or NFL title.

The Bruins haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1972, with Ray Bourque symbolizing their frustration. He played more than two decades for Boston before winning a Cup with Colorado last season.

But the Bruins nearly have the best record in the Eastern Conference this season. That and the Patriots' win led Bruins fan Dan Nardelli to think their 30-year drought also will end.

"It's coming, it's coming," Nardelli said while shopping at The Souvenir Store across the street from Fenway. "I can feel it."

And then there's the Red Sox, who have not won the World Series since 1918. Perhaps no team has broken more hearts, and no team has contributed more to Boston's so-called "Loserville" stereotype.

Bill Buckner's misplayed, between-the-legs ground ball in the 1986 World Series is one of sports' biggest all-time gaffes, and so is Johnny Pesky's holding the ball while the winning run raced home in the Game 7 of the '46 Series.

In 1978, Bucky Dent's home run over the Green Monster lifted the New York Yankees past Boston in a one-game playoff for the AL East title.

On Sunday night, more than 1,000 fans filled Kenmore Square and chanted anti-Yankee slogans.

From his home in suburban Swampscott, Pesky said Monday the euphoria surrounding the Patriots' Super Bowl win can be contagious.

"This stuff spreads," Pesky said. "When good things happen, it spreads. ... It's just a feeling you get. I can't explain it."

The taste of a football title doesn't make him any hungrier for a World Series win, Pesky said.

"I've been hungry for 50 years," Pesky said.

 

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