BRIGHTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 23: General manager Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins prepares for the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft at Warrior Ice Arena on July 23, 2021 in Brighton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Mike Penhollow/NHLI via Getty Images)
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led the Boston Celtics to their 18th NBA title on Monday, further cementing Beantown’s label as the 21st-century’s City of Champions.
Many cities may scoff at Boston sports fans’ complaints about waiting five-plus years between titles, but those die-hard followers could respond that the world has changed drastically in the last half-decade.
In non-sports news, there’s been a global pandemic, the end of one United States president’s first term, a presidential election and nearly another entire first term for a different commander-in-chief.
In Boston, the teams across the big four professional sports leagues have seen countless changes.
On the ice, despite four seasons of over 100 points (including a record-setting 2022-23 campaign), the Bruins haven’t advanced past the second round since 2019. They’ve seen a head-coaching change and the retirements of legends David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, who helped lead the team to their last Stanley Cup in 2011.
Before their breakthrough against the Dallas Mavericks, the Celtics hadn’t won a championship since 2008, even though they’d advanced at least to the Eastern Conference Finals three times (and the Finals once) from 2020-23. Joe Mazzulla has been their third head coach since 2021, and the team has said goodbye to the likes of (now enemy) Kyrie Irving and former fan favorite Marcus Smart in recent years. Legendary Boston figures like Bill Russell, Bill Walton and Tommy Heinsohn have passed away in the last three-plus years alone.
On the gridiron, the Patriots have steadily fallen into rebuild mode, but not before the departure of Tom Brady, who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, led them to a championship that season and subsequently retired twice. New England parted ways with iconic head coach Bill Belichick in January and hired former star linebacker Jerod Mayo as their next leader.
