Tyler Seguin: Becoming the Greatest

There was a time when the Celtics and the Red Sox were in a friendly competition to see who mattered more in Boston. But 2008 was a lifetime ago. Now the Sox and Celtics are all but irrelevant. Not only does an NBA season seem far away, but an 18th banner seems even more out of reach. Danny Ainge spent four tireless years assembling a sublime group of players that won the title in style, and then spent the next three years liquidating key aspects of the roster like he was Gordon Gekko selling-off pieces of Blue Star. Powe -- gone. House -- gone. Posey -- gone. TA -- gone. Scal -- gone. Perk -- gone. The dementia of Celtics Management hit an all-time high last year when even Ray Allen wasn’t sure if his job in Boston was safe. Ray Allen -- a proven champion with a body in flawless condition, the hardest-working guy in the league, the greatest shooter in the history of basketball, a man playing as well as he’s ever played in his Hall of Fame career -- tradeable? Replaceable? What kind of horror movie is unravelling in Danny Ainge’s mind? What does he see that makes these situations reasonable? Ray had to post a sigh-of-relief on FaceBook after the trade deadline to tell the fans he was “still green.” How did Ray’s uncertainty ever get that far to begin with? Total Madness doesn’t even begin to describe the people in control of the Boston Celtics. With leadership like that, Celtics fans have to be grateful they won once.

I won’t delve too deeply into the collapse of the Sox -- it’s too soon. We need time to process it. But of all the people to go...Jonathan Papelbon? Tito? Theo? This is someone’s definition of Dead Weight? Someone saw this as fixing the problem? Paps, Tito and Theo are all winners. Forcing me to part ways with Theo Epstein reminds me of how I felt being forced to say goodbye to James Posey; someone in management is asking me to sever ties with a guy without whom a championship wouldn’t have happened. Papelbon was the only guy on the roster who stepped-up and took responsibility for the collapse. He’s gone. Tito was the spine of those two World Series teams. He’s gone. Theo was a baseball scientist, a prodigy, a chef you want fixing your soup. He’s gone. John Lackey and Jon Lester are still members of the Boston Red Sox, but Theo Epstein is not. The madness is so extreme that perhaps only a child to whom names are interchangeable could understand it. And if the method by which the Sox are searching for a new manager is any indication of their near future, then I friggin’ weep.

So half of Boston’s teams are in the freezer and in no shape to cook. What Boston’s left with are two red-hot teams that most cities would kill for. But it’s not necessarily the New England Patriots that are holding the most weight. When I look at the Pats, I feel the absence of Bruschi, Harrison, and Vrabel. They’re a Super Bowl contender, but the roster isn’t as strong as it once was. They have issues to sort and holes to fill; they’re gonna need a steady diet of unsung heroes like Andre Carter and Mark Anderson emerging and evolving throughout the year. The Patriots have a pool of players that can make this a Super Bowl team, but we don’t yet know who those players are or when they plan to put this team on their shoulders. Is it gonna be Danny Woodhead? Is Wes gonna stay healthy? Is the Andre Carter we saw against the Jets going to be the Andre Carter we see from now on? How’s Kevin Faulk gonna factor in? How about Kyle Love? Ridley? Nink? Spikes? Guyton? Chung? Some of these guys are gonna have to emerge as the James Posey and the Eddie House and the Leon Powe of the Pats if they plan to bring the Lombardi Trophy back to New England where it belongs.

But unlike the Patriots, this Bruins team doesn’t have issues to sort or holes to fill. Their biggest problem is a tendency towards malaise -- which is fixable. This roster is in it’s prime. Tyler Seguin is the most important athlete in Boston right now. Witnessing him blossom into a leader reminds me of watching Rondo fearlessly orchestrate the Big 3 in 2008. Every player on the Bruins is playing their best hockey. Given the demented and rampant urge for management to dismantle title teams from league to league, this Bruins squad is intact and in-control. Not since the 60’s -- during the supreme era of Esposito and Orr -- have the Bruins been the team that mattered most in Boston. This is a group of guys who are not only coming off a championship, but they’re actually getting better. That makes the Boston Bruins and the Green Bay Packers the only two teams in the big-four of American Sports who can make that claim.