THE INSIDE STORY All Five for Boston in 2002

Author: David Lindholm

This is Boston's year. We've been sitting quietly since 1986, waiting for a chance to pounce on the sports world and dominate completely. It wasn't the Curse of the Bambino, but the Red Sox' loss in the '86 World Series (the recollection of which still makes me cringe) sent the city's teams into a slump that was broken only a few short weeks ago. The Patriots' victory has awakened a sleeping giant that cannot be underestimated.

The Patriots have already started the year in motion with the first championship of 2002. "We shocked the world!" was the quote of the moment, and it's true; the world had forgotten that Boston teams could win anything. It was the first championship for my hometown teams since I started caring about sports.

Next comes June, when the Bruins will capture the best trophy in the world, the Stanley Cup. Right now, at the Olympic break, the Bruins are in first place in the Northeast Division, tied for first in the East, and tied for the second-best record in the league. Joe Thornton has turned into the beast that everyone know he would be, Sergei Samsonov is still staking through people's legs and scoring goals, and giving up Anson Carter for Bill Guerin turned out to be one of the best moves the Bruins could have made. The Red Wings, everyone's favorites at this point, are antiques and can't last through the playoffs.

The come the Celtics; they've faltered a little lately but they'll be back. Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker are leading the team and will be good for years to come. If the Celts can pick up a couple solid players in trade soon, they'll be serious contenders for the crown. If Shaq and Kobe are healthy, the Lakers will be tough to beat, but injuries have been common and Los Angeles isn't quite invincible.

One Boston team has been favored to win more than any of the others, and that's the Revolution (the soccer team, you should know that by now.) The Revs had an unbelievable offseason, picking up the scoring champions from the last two years, Alex Pineda-Chacon and Mamadou Diallo, and, combined with Ted Chronopoulos and Juergen Sommer, have formed one of the hardest-to-spell quartets in soccer history. The Revolution are favored to win Major League Soccer Cup 2002, a game that will be played in Foxboro at the Revs and the Pats' new CMGI Stadium.

Lastly, in late October, the Red Sox will take out the Yankees in the American League Championship Series (the Yankees will barely beat out the Mariners for the wild-card playoff spot) and then dispatch the Braves to break the aforementioned Curse of the Bambino and win their first World Series since 1918.

Yes, that's right, five titles this year. Guaranteed.