Sports Q: Which Boston team is worthy of a 10-part documentary?
Pick the team you think is most deserving of the "Last Dance" treatment.
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What Boston team should be the subject of a multi-part documentary series a la “The Last Dance” and the Bulls? Seems like there would be plenty of options, but the 2004 Red Sox would be my choice. – Kevin B.
Bill Belichick directs practice in New Orleans, January 30, 2002, four days before Super Bowl XXXVI.
I agreed with you on the 2004 Red Sox as the choice when I first saw the question, Kevin. The array of compelling personalities – Papi, Pedro, Manny, Johnny Damon, Schilling – and their unprecedented accomplishment of overcoming a 3-0 deficit the ALCS to beat the Yankees and eventually end an 86-year World Series drought makes this an all-timer of a story.
My only concern with that is that the story has been told and retold plenty of times – in an ESPN “30 for 30” doc, most notably. It’s very familiar, and I’m not sure there’s much to unearth at this point that hasn’t already been revealed. Then again, if you told me a two-hour episode was dedicated solely to Dave Roberts’s steal, I’d set an alarm on my phone to make sure I didn’t miss a second.
I’d also love to watch one on the Larry Bird-era Celtics (I actually brought this up, semi-facetiously, to “The Last Dance” director Jason Hehir, who grew up in Newton and is a Celtics fan). But much of that is familiar territory, too, between NBC Sports Boston’s excellent doc on the ’86 team a few years ago, the “30 for 30” on the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, the Bird-Magic doc and Jackie MacMullan’s book, and so on.
So here’s what I’m going with: A look at how Bill Belichick turned around the Patriots from 2000 through 2001. That 2000 roster was a mess, with no depth after a bunch of terrible drafts, bad contracts for underperforming veterans (Bruce Armstrong, Chris Slade, and Ben Coates did not get to stick around and be a part of the 2001 magic), and salary cap issues. They also had four quarterbacks on the roster, including Michael Bishop, whom Pats fans were irrationally nuts for, and some scrawny sixth-round pick from Michigan.
The transition from that mess to a team that became arguably the most improbable Super Bowl champ of all-time is a story that hasn’t been told in great detail, probably because Belichick is still coaching and isn’t prone to that depth of reflection yet. But you have so many interesting angles – Belichick sorting out the keepers from those that weren’t buying in, his 5-13 start, Tom Brady climbing the depth chart, the 20-something veteran free agents that arrived before the ’01 season (Mike Vrabel, Antowain Smith, Roman Phifer, etc.), the Bledsoe injury, Brady’s improvement, playing after 9/11, Belichick decision that Brady would keep the job, the Snow Bowl, and so much more. Forget a 10-part series. I demand a dozen parts.
But what does everyone else think? What Boston team should be the subject of a documentary series? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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