The Top 10 "Need To Knows" for a Boston Sports Fan

I wanted my first article to be close to home, so I decided to write about all of the current things going on around Title-town these days, and what the sports fan should know about us ‘nohh-thun-uhs’.

Let’s see, the Boston Red Sox are right in the thick of it. The Boston Celtics are foaming at the mouth to sign all their draft picks and start the season again. The New England Patriots are wondering what they’re going to do about losing defensive backs Asante Samuel AND Randall Gay this year.

Finally, the Boston Bruins HAVE to be feeling the pressure of the other championship-

winning neighbours. I really thought that the Bruins were going to actually be a threat this year.

Here is my list of things that a Boston fan should keep their eyes on, and how a true fan is supposed to act.

10. Manny packing Vanny. Good Riddance. Give your umpteen-million dollar salary to someone else, along with your drama queen primadonna antics. Will we miss his bat? This has been a debate everywhere there’s Boston sports talk. You be the judge, Newly acquired Bay is batting .423. We will probably miss the clutch hit, but time will tell.

9. Matt Ryan from Boston College plays for Atlanta. He looked great during the pre-season game against Jacksonville marching down the field and hitting star receiver Roddy White for the TD. Keep your eye on him…he was awesome in college, and I have no reason to believe that the pros will be too challenging for him.

8. Patriots Defensive Woes. Newly signed Tank Williams goes down on injured reserve and the Pats pick up who from the New York Giants Practice Squad? EXACTLY. Tom Brady better be curling kegs to get his arms ready for the kinds of deep balls he’s going to need to stay in most games, I’m afraid.

7. The Bruins Inactivity. Yeah, so they made the deal with the Blackhawks last month and got Center Martin St. Pierre. Other than that, check for a pulse on this team. If I were club owner Jeremy Jacobs, I’d be pooping myself from the pressure that the championships in this town put on me.

It is rumored that Jacobs and Company were on hand at the Garden when the Celts took the Championship. Were you paying attention? Did you turn the monitors off in the club box because it got to be too much?

Stop buying just enough talent to make it to the first round of the playoffs and flop; making it just far enough to put our asses in the seats. Look at Tony Dungy’s face when he watched Adam Vinatieri boot the game winning field goal for the Colts in an overtime championship game. He mouthed the word “money”. Did you catch that?

6. The ‘Mayo’ Spread. So the one bright spot on the Pats defense is newly signed Jerod Mayo. He looked fantastic in preseason play. Plus, this is great news, because the depth will allow the thirty-somethings that have been backing the line for years to catch their breath.

5. As Good As Gold. While there are 12 Olympians from Massachusetts, I’ll be watching for two that aren’t; Shawn Johnson competing in Women’s Gymnastics and Michael Phelps for Men’s Swimming. Both have amazing chances to take multiple golds for Team USA.

4. Title Winning Revolution. Sounds like a Boston Newspaper headline referring to the talented teams in the Northeast. In reality, it refers to the New England Revolution, the MLS team that won the SuperLiga Cup Championship on Tuesday defeating the defending cup champs, the Dynamo. Sorry, but it’s team names like “Dynamo” that turn me off to the sport.

3. Fantasy Props. For those die-hard sports fans that haven’t played in a fantasy sport league, this is for you. Let me tell you, play for more than one year (the first year is more of a learning curve, it can be confusing) and you will find yourself cheering during a stoppage in play.

Your screams will be directly related to the ticker at the bottom of the screen, when you notice that your fantasy football running back from San Francisco just ran for two touchdowns in the first half.

2. Boston’s Arch Enemies. This should be a no-brainer, but anyone with a clean-cut hairdo and pinstripes is SATAN. Also, as long as Peytricia Womanning is taking snaps under center in Indy, there will be hatred. It will be interesting to see who challenges the defending Champion Celtics this year. The longtime feuds between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Jets are resurfacing, too, which leads me to number 1.

1. Number 4.  Reserve all of your admiration, respect and gratitude (he’s worthy of it all, by the way), because as long as Brett Favre has a Jets Jersey on, he is the enemy. Maybe it’s pent up anger from the 1998 Super bowl, but to see him in New York makes me pray that Mayo “The Condiment” spreads his love all over number 4 in the backfield.