Boston Sports Then And Now is celebrating it’s first anniversary/birthday this month. We want to thank you,the fans!
Without you, none of this could be possible!
I personally want to thank Dean Hybl for giving me this incredible opportunity to untap a passion and skill I never knew I had.
Being out of work for nine months was a great learning experience for me. Between job searches, I was fueled by my passion for writing and building BST&N into a website which delivered great content about today’s Boston sports scene but also remembering the region’s rich history.
Through this site, I have met incredibly passionate fans and sports bloggers like myself. By networking I was able to successfully execute Boston Sports Blogapalooza this past May. It was perfect venue for bloggers to finally meet and collaborate.
And Blogapalooza II is coming this November, so stay tuned!
To say this past year was a fantastic journey, wouldn’t do it justice. It was a life changing moment for me. Even though I was in a bad situation, I made the best of it and found something I truly love.
So thanks again!
To Dean Hybl.
To my BST&N staff.
And to my new friends and fans, it’s been a gift to have met you all!
Can you still remember the exuberance and happiness you felt during last week’s Boston Marathon? The many different completed runs and all the wonderful finishes? So many faces like yours shining with excitement—not just thrilled with your own marathon result, but also with the tremendous accomplishments of your fellow marathoners? Your joy even helped to carry along those who bravely struggled to achieve their desired result on Marathon Monday and needed encouragement along the way.
Within the sounds of your footsteps during your next preparation for another running celebration or a different sporting event, these memories might echo. They may even allow you to go further and add more meaning to each step—a testimonial to what marathon magic is all about.
Those difficult 26.2 miles are a challenge beyond measure for some, a competition to achieve a certain time for others, and for many a way to prove they have the fortitude that will never let them give up. Read the rest of this entry →
The Massachusetts Miracle Men with BU official(middle).
The world was in a state of turmoil. The Cold War was at epic heights between the Soviet Union and the United States.
America was secretly funding the Afghan rebels to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan.
There was no love loss between the two countries whether it was world affairs or on the ice.
The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York was not just an international athletic competition, but a showing of superpower muscle.
And a band of collegiate hockey players from the Midwest and New England, were David trying to take down the Soviet Goliath.
Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Dave Silk, and Jack O’Callahan grew up playing hockey on rinks in the Boston area.
Jack O’ Callahan hailed from Charlestown, Mass.
Jim Craig called North Easton home.
Mike Eruzione grew up in Winthrop.
Dave Silk was raised in Scituate.
These four sons from the Bay State all attended Boston University, one of the country’s collegiate hockey powerhouses which was coached by the now legendary, Jack Parker.
People have hundreds of stories or reasons, but one of the top choices is probably sports.
I have been crazy for the #8 since I was a little kid. When I was a little kid, I LOVED the Red Sox (probably on Jared Carrabis level). I recall spending summer days in my family’s screen house watching the Sox on a little black and white television.
My favorite player was you guessed it, #8 Carl Yastrzemski. I loved YAZ and I am not sure why. I just gravitated towards him and have been a fan of his ever since (I have bought my share of Yaz shirts over the years).
I still remember vividly watching Yaz day on TV during the ’83 season which proved to be his last. It was such an emotional and wonderful day. He received many gifts on that day at Fenway Park. I can still see him sitting in the rocking chair that was presented to him (I even cut out all the pictures from the Boston Globe).
Who can forget his lap around Fenway Park slapping hands with all the fans?
Fenway will be the site of the 2010 Winter Classic.
When the Bruins take to the ice at Fenway Park to skate against the Philadelphia Flyers on New Years Day, it will undoubtedly be a curious sight. Trying to envision America’s most beloved ballpark transformed into a hockey barn might stretch the imagination of die-hard Boston sports fans, but the Winter Classic will not be the first time that the city’s hardball cathedral has hosted other types of sporting events. Not by any means.
Fenway Park has been home to an array of unconventional sub-letters during its illustrious history. Between 1963 and 1968, long before Foxboro, Fenway was actually home to the Patriots. Other football teams that hit the field included Boston College, Boston University, the Boston Bears, the Boston Shamrocks, the Boston Redskins (before they moved to Washington) in the 1930s, and the Boston Yanks in the 1940s. (It’s hard to imagine any team named the Yanks playing at Fenway Park and not being booed back to New York, but there you have it.)
Doug Flutie scrambled out of pressure before launching the game-winning pass against the University of Miami.
Hard to believe that it has been 25 years since Doug Flutie captivated the sports world with a special performance that culminated in one of the most memorable endings in sports history.
In a nationally televised game on CBS the day after Thanksgiving, Flutie solidified his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy by dueling with Bernie Kosar throughout the high-scoring affair.
However, in the final seconds it appeared that Kosar and the defending national champion University of Miami would edge Flutie’s Boston College squad.
With just enough time for one final play and with the ball sitting on Miami’s 48-yard line, Flutie rolled out to his right and launched the ball from his own 36-yard line (64-yards from the end zone) into the waiting arms of receiver Gerard Phelan.
The “Hail Mary” gave BC a shocking 47-45 victory and made Flutie a household name. He went on to receive the 1984 Heisman Trophy.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of this amazing moment in sports, below is a YouTube video recapping the game and Flutie’s amazing pass.
We honor Steve Grogan as the Boston Sports Then and Now Athlete of the Month. The former Patriots quarterback left it all on the field during his 16 year career. Grogan was playing the “Patriots Way” before Bill Belichick introduced it in 2000. He led by example and his teammates were always behind him.
Steve Grogan was drafted by Patriots coach Chuck Fairbanks in the fifth round of the 1975 draft out of Kansas State. He was one of the school’s all time passing and total offense leaders. Grogan not only beat you with his arm but he was exceptionally quick for a man standing at 6’4”.
The Patriots already had their franchise quarterback in place when he was drafted. Former Heisman Trophy winner, Jim Plunkett had been the Patriots starter for his first four years in the league. However, Coach Fairbanks was not afraid to make a move if a player was under-performing. It didn’t matter who he was.
Midway through the 1975 season, Grogan was given the reigns of the Patriots offense. He started the last seven games with only one victory to his credit. As a rookie, Grogan posted respectable numbers with 1976 yards with 11 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
He also added 110 yards on the ground with three rushing scores.
This would just be a sneak preview for things to come from the lanky quarterback out of K-State.
Set. 3, 1981 - The Red Sox and the Mariners play nineteen innings to a 7-7 tie. The game ends with the Mariners winning 8-7 in 20 innings when the suspended game is resumed the next day making it the longest game played in Fenway Park history.
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