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Fans lament sudden trip to Loserville

E-mail|Link|Comments () May 18, 2009 05:46 PM

(Globe photo/Jim Davis)

Long faces as the Celtics' season came to a sad end.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The morning after the Boston Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs, Donald Given was a man in need. First the Boston Bruins, boasting their best team in years, had lost a decisive Game 7 in sudden-death overtime. Now this.

With a weary sigh, he looked down Canal Street at the TD Banknorth Garden, the site of the two gut-wrenching defeats. He stared intently, as if in search of answers. But none came.

"We had them," he said, hanging his head. "But it all fell apart."

Given, like sports fans across the region, was wincing today from a demoralizing one-two punch that knocked both Boston teams from the playoffs in unexpected fashion. No more Paul Pierce or Zdeno Chara. No more shuttling between channels when games overlapped.

In the blink of an eye, two seasons came to a crashing end, a sobering blow to a sports-crazed city that has gotten used to champagne and parades.

"It's a real check in the boards," said Tricia Farnum, a 50-year-old from Lynn who was "trying to move on" after the Celtics' decisive loss Sunday night to the Orlando Magic.

With the drumbeat of dour economic news, many fans turned to the winter sports teams for solace.

"People losing their jobs, losing their homes, it's crazy," said Johnny Lewis, a 55-year-old from East Boston. "This was an escape, but now you have to go back to reality. It's a shame."

Just a few days ago, things had looked so promising. After a stirring fourth-quarter comeback in Game 5, the Celtics needed just one more win to advance to the conference finals and continue their quest to repeat as champions.

The Bruins had rallied from two games down to knot their series, and had momentum and home ice on their side. Determined and talented, the two winter teams had been poised to make their deepest dual runs in years. With luck, the Bruins might even win their first Stanley Cup since 1972.

But it was not to be.

Farnum, like many fans, said both losses, coming in the second round of their respective playoffs, paled in comparison to the Patriots 2008 Super Bowl loss and last fall's Game 7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays that cost the Red Sox a second consecutive trip to the World Series. With star forward Kevin Garnett out with a knee injury, Celtics fans had accepted that a second title would not be in the cards, and hard-bitten Bruins fans learned long ago that hopes can be cruel.

Still, fans couldn't help being swept away by the teams' joint success, which brought back fond memories of the 1980s, when the Celtics and Bruins were consistent championship contenders. Fans had long pined for the return of those cherished days.

But as quickly as it arrived, the nostalgic revival vanished, snatched away by villains from the South.

"It takes the wind out of your sails," Farnum said.

Lewis, smoking a cigar on his lunch break at Government Center, was torn over the Celtics' performance. He admired their tenacity in fighting through injuries, and had made peace with their eventual defeat. But he and others also questioned if the front office should have done more in the off-season to deepen the team's bench, and were dismayed by the team's lackluster play in the final two games.

Star-crossed Bruins fans battled no such ambivalence. They felt disappointment and disappointment alone. Then the Celtics loss kicked them when they were down.

"Back to back, all in a week," sighed Rick Cudmore, a 40-year-old lifelong Bruins fans from Plymouth.

But for many fans, the wealth of local championships has softened the recent defeats. Where Boston fans once lamented that devastating losses were their lot in life, they now assume another title is all but inevitable.

"Let's go, Red Sox!" said Stanley Belanger, 40. "Time for another parade."