So for those of you that don't know me, I am a mixed bag of Boston / New York fandom. Blame my father for growing up in the one neighborhood in Worcester Mass that was dominated by Yankee fans (aka the Italian section). As a result I am both a Yankee fan and a Bruin fan, so Friday nights debacle was eerily similar to 2004. For the fun of it let's just compare which was a worse collapse using six different criteria: Opponent/Opponent's Ramifications, Effect On the Franchise, League History, Games 1-3, Games 4-6, Game 7. Opponent / Opponent's Ramifications
The Bruins loss to the Flyers was against a local rival but obviously does not compare to the Yankees loss to the Red Sox. The Yankees were coming off the heart wrenching Game 7 win over the Sox in 2003 and pretty much had owned baseball for a decade. Both the Flyers and Red Sox were in long Championship droughts but even if the Flyers win this year it won't hold a candle to the Red Sox snapping the 86 year drought. Collapse Edge: Yankees
Effect On the Franchise
The Yankees loss prolonged what turned out to be a 9 year gap in titles which holds nothing on the Bruins who have not won since 1972. The Yankees went out afterwards and spent money on pieces that didn't work (i.e. Carl Pavano / Kei Igawa / etc.), the Bruins will likely continue their prolonged Stanley Cup absence as their team's best opportunity for a trip to the Finals was quite obviously this season. Collapse Edge: Bruins
League History
Hockey is historically the one sport where 4 game tail sweeps happen. The Bruins were the third victim of 3 games up and 4 games down in NHL history. Meanwhile the Yankees were the first MLB team to suffer the fate, a fate which really no MLB team has ever even sniffed before. Collapse Edge: Yankees
Games 1-3
The two series actually have a lot of parallels betweens game 1-3. Each team squeaked out victories in games 1 and 2 and then romped in games 3. Collapse Edge: Push
Games 4-6
The Bruins lost game 4 in OT but were pretty much outplayed the entire game and it was just the combo of a lucky goal and a last second goal that got them there. In games 5 and 6 the Bruins were completely outclassed. The Yanks on the other hand had Mariano in the game two times looking to slam the door. He failed twice. Collapse Edge: Yankees
Game 7
Game 7 is truly the game that puts the Bruins in the equation. The Yankees went out in Game 7 and were out of it by the second inning. Yankee fans just needed to sit through 7 innings of inevitability. The Bruins however got out to an enormous 3-0 lead, a lead that in most Hockey Games is pretty much a lock solid victory. Unfortunately the Bs returned to their game 5&6 ways in the second period and wound up tied going into the third. And in the 3rd, one dumb too many men on the ice penalty in the third was enough to wrap up the game, series and season for the Bruins. Collapse Edge: Bruins
The Bruins collapse was terrible but in reality it still doesn't quite hold a candle to the Yankees collapse. The Yanks collapse got the Sox their first title in the lifetimes of 99.99% of their fans. The Yankees were expected to win the World Series while the Bs were a measly 6 seed. The Bruins symmetry of going up 3-0 in the series and 3-0 in game 7 just to lose both 4-3 is brutal, just not as brutal as watching your archenemy parade with the trophy on duck boats.
Comments