Boston Sports Then and Now

Men have shed plenty of Man Tears because of Boston Sports.

Man Tears \man teers\

-noun

The effect on human males during times of ultimate jubilation or extreme devastation. Usually associated with Boston Sports teams (i.e. Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox).

Now that we got the dictionary definition of Man Tears out of the way, let me share with you my personal Top 10 Man Tears Moments in Boston Sports.

Sit back and shed some Man Tears with me. Remember guys don’t cry or weep, but Man Tears escape our eyes when witnessing sports ecstasy and/or travesty.

#10-Boston Bruins Lose To Carolina In Playoffs (2009)

Scott Walker's goal caused my Man Tears to freeze in horror.

The Bruins always find ways to break our Black and Gold hearts. After ousting Montreal in four straight games for their first playoff series win in ten years, Boston trails the upstart Canes three games to one.

Boston shut out Carolina in Game Five 4-0 then won Game Six in Raleigh to force a decisive Game Seven. The game would go to OT before Carolina’s cheap shot artist, Scott Walker pushed the winning goal past Tim Thomas.

My Man Tears couldn’t flow from my eyes because they were frozen in disbelief and horror. Did the Bruins just lose to the Whalers, I mean Hurricanes?!

Wait until next year…..again.

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Thomas falling well below expectations for Team USA

Last night’s  Sabres-Bruins tilt told you all you need to know about Team USA’s goalie situation.
Tim Thomas started the season with a great shot to be the starting goaltender for Team USA and through mid-November was neck and neck with Ryan Miller. But Thomas, like most of his Bruins teammates, stumbled through the season as Ryan Miller lit up the league over in Buffalo and Ron Wilson’s decision quickly went from cloudy to slap you in the face obvious. Thomas, once again in his career, was getting snubbed. But for the first time he failed to respond.

Enter Tuukka Rask, the Bruins rookie netminder. Rask was completely snubbed from Team Finland. He’s not even third string. But unlike Thomas, Rask is playing like he has something to prove. He is playing like he should be Boston’s #1 and playing like he wants to start in the Olympics.

In a crucial match-up Tuesday night against the Sabres coach Claude Julien turned to Rask, not Thomas, to go up against Ryan Miller. Rask responded with a career high 43 saves, out dueling Team USA’s goalie and sending Boston to their second win in a row as Thomas watched from the bench. At a critical point in the season, when Boston desperately needed to reverse their fortunes, Tuukka Rask was between the pipes.

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Ryan Miller stifled the Bruins and stole a game for the Sabres.

“We were better, but unfortunately we’re looking at the end results, and it wasn’t there.” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “If we’re going to start winning hockey games, we can’t dig ourselves a hole every night and try to get out of it. But our whole game was much better than it has been.”

For the first time in a long time the Boston Bruins showed up but unfortunately the result was the same in a 2-1 loss to Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres.

Henrik Tallinder opened the scoring early when he threw a wrister on net through heavy traffic that Tuukka Rask saw just a second too late to put Buffalo up 1-0. Late in the first Thomas Vanek would add another on the power play when he beat Rask on a second chance opportunity right in the crease to put Buffalo up 2-0.

Early deficits on the Bruins recent skid often meant fans were “treated” to their team playing like empty shells, just going through the motions to get to the end of the game. But not on this night.

If you didn’t look at the scoreboard you would think this was 2008-2009. Vladamir Sobotka, Shawn Thornton, Milan Lucic and even Patrice Bergeron were getting into scrums and trying to send a message to the Sabres. Boston chased down every back, hit back every time they were hit and played with more ferocity than at any other point this season. If not for another spectacular Ryan Miller performance the Bruins may have had this one.

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