Massarotti: Giving Thanks To The Year In Boston Sports
BOSTON (CBS) -- Today, as we officially begin the holiday season, we stop to give thanks for the good and the bad, because one does not exist without the other, and for everything in between during what has been a typically eventful year in the indisputable Hub of Sports.
We give thanks, to start, for Bill Belichick and for everything he can be, from stubborn, snorting and uncooperative to focused, uncompromising and driven, because when you get right down to it, there has been no greater force in Boston sports – and maybe in all of professional sports – in arguably the last 50 years.
And because when all is said and done, Belichick's farewell montage will be set to the song, "My Way."
We give thanks for David Ortiz, one more time, because there is no overstating what Ortiz meant to the Red Sox during his career, now that all paperwork has officially been filed, and because the identity of the Red Sox has been changed, for the better, hopefully forever.
We give thanks for Isaiah Thomas and that Napoleonic complex that makes him who he is, even when Thomas speaks out, because a guy like Thomas would not be able to survive among the redwoods in the NBA if he weren't the NBA equivalent of Tanner in the "Bad News Bears."
Which is to say that Thomas has spunk.
And while we're at it, we give thanks for Brad Marchand for being Thomas' hockey equivalent, a relentless, human gnat who gets absolutely every drop out of his body and talent.
Ditto for you, Julian Edelman.
And you, too, Brock Holt.
We give thanks for Mookie Betts, the American League's most valuable player in 2016 even if not the Most Valuable Player, because, well, someone still has to explain to me how the MVP can come from a last-place team when there are other candidates on contending teams who had essentially the same production.
And we give thanks for those who voted Betts first, who did not rely on some subjective stat like WAR during an age where too many young people are making decisions based purely on the math and not on the logic.
We give thanks, as always, for Tom Brady and the territorial approach he takes to his job because, well, Brady wouldn't be Brady without it, and because sometimes the good and the bad are wrapped into the same package.
And because you have to accept both or you have to accept neither, and that is what it is.
We thank Belichick and Brady for their political beliefs, too, whatever they are, even if we do not agree with them, because the day we all try to control another's thoughts is the day we are all in truly big, big trouble.
We give thanks for Al Horford, who looks more and more like a poorer man's version of Tim Duncan, which is to say that Horford is professional, thoughtful, consistent and fundamentally sound, on the court and off.
Which is in no way to suggest that Horford is the same player.
Just that he might be the same kind of guy.
We give thanks for Tuukkaa Rask, for reminding us that you can still spell his name with two U's, two K's and two points, because the Bruins would not be where they are so far this year without him.
Because the Bruins have given us a hockey season thus far.
And because it feels like they might all year.
We give thanks for David Price, despite the playoff failures, because there are lots of players who avoid Boston like they avoid the dentist, no matter how big the payday, and because Price is, at his core, a pleasant young man who might be too thoughtful for his own good.
We give thanks, too, for Kelly Olynyk, Justin Coleman and Jimmy Hayes, because there are always going to be guys to beat up on, because that is just the way it goes, and because they are now filling that role.
And because that almost always takes the heat off someone else.
We give thanks to Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron for their continued leadership, to Dustin Pedroia for grit and continued commitment, to Dont'a Hightower and Devin McCourty for their pure professionalism and to Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart for their determination, because those are qualities we all take for granted from those players at one point or another.
Finally, we give thanks for another year filled with big games and great moments, even in the absence of a championship, because we know what it means to lose here just as surely as we have learned what it takes to win, and because Boston always seems to be building towards something, in baseball or basketball or hockey or football, and because that is a reflection on the standards that have been set here and because of the passion that exists.
And because that, ultimately, comes from you.