Is the golden age over?

This weekend the Celtics finished off an abysmal week for Boston sports with a lackluster 4th quarter effort that ousted them from the playoffs. But perhaps something more than that ended last night as the buzzer sounded and the Garden goes quiet until October....

Back in April of 2001, the only championship this city had seen in 15 years was a BU hockey national title in 1995 (and we all know how I feel about that). Since then, BC has won two hockey titles (and been to 2 other national title games), the Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls (and been to a 4th), the Red Sox have won 2 World Series, the Celtics won an NBA title, and even the Revolution have been to 4 MLS Cups and won the SuperLiga and the US Open Cup. It has truly been a magical 8 years in the Hub. But there are signs this era may be ending.

Injuries have been the biggest problem that is hindering these teams and how those injuries will affect the long run will determine if this is truly the end. The Pats have to face the fact that Brady's knee injury could severely alter his career and they may only have a small one or two year window to win it all again before having to rebuild for a few years. The performance at that last Super Bowl against the Giants may not have been an aberration but a sign that some retooling must be done for them to reattain their past glory. The stalwarts of those Super Bowl champion teams (Vrabel, Bruschi, Brady, Law, Seymour) are either gone or are probably on the downside of their careers.

The Celtics reached an incredible summit last year after years of mediocrity. They looked poised to make another run this year but the injury to Garnett was just too much to overcome. Despite their incredible play against both Chicago and Orlando, in the end they just did not have enough. Knee injuries can level a man's career. Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill will both attest to how a bad knee injury will take you from a star to a role player. The Celtics need Garnett the star if they want to win.

For the Bruins, the future may not be as bad as they do not face an off-season with injury questions but instead actual roster questions abound. If the salary cap actually does go down as many have predicted, the Bruins will be obligated to cut payroll as they are currently up against it. Letting people like Mark Recchi and Manny Frenandez will help but they still have free agents that they need to keep and they are going to be faced with tough decisions in the next two years. The Kessel versus Krejci debate is already raging on many sports pages (my call is Krejci - more complete player with a bigger upside) and the chemistry that existed with this season's team may be hard to duplicate. In addition, no one is going to over look this team next year as many did early in the season. It was truly sad that such a great year had to end in such lackluster fashion with a team unable to raise their game for a home ice game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

BC hockey is looking at a complete retool year. Nothing seemed to work for them, the defense was a mess, Ben Smith and Joe Whitney took huge steps backward, and they could not score. From one source at the Frozen Four, the Rant learned that Tommy Cross was fighting a knee injury all year, Brock Bradford was not a very motivating team captain, and more than likely this injury for John Muse was not something that propped up out of nowhere. More than likely this will be a very down year but with players like Philip Sammuelsson, Steve Whitney, and Chris Kreider coming in the next two years the 2010-2011 Eagles should be back in the think of things in the national picture. We just have to wait it out.

Which brings us to the Red Sox. As mentioned in this space recently, age is catching up to the final holdovers from the championship teams (Varitek, Ortiz, and Wakefield). Varitek is largely the same as he has been (still batting in the low .200s with a little more power but unable to thrown out anyone on the basepaths), Ortiz struggles have been well documented and do not need to be rehashed here, and while Wakefield has had a strong start can a man of his age keep it up over the whole season as he has broken down late in the year recently. Cap that with the struggles of Lester and Beckett and the absolutely horrid defense at shortstop between both Lugo and Nick Green (cost the team at least three games that I can think of off the top of my head) and you have a recipe for disaster. This team is struggling and may need to make some real change and trade some players to make a difference. One thing we should all have learned since 2003 is that the Sox are willing to make those changes in order to succeed.

All these teams have serious issues facing them if they want to maintain their recent successes. They can't all keep up this level and it may make the end of Boston has the beacon of sporting success it has been for the past 8 years. I'll be sad to see it go but I certainly enjoyed it while it was here.