Boston vs. New York: <![CDATA[]]>A rivalry compared

Johnny Damon’s grand slam. Aaron Bleeping Boone. David Tyree’s helmet catch. These events are tattooed in the brains of hardcore Boston and New York sports fans. It doesn’t take much to fire up residents of either city when it comes to sports, especially when the cities play each other. The towns’ professional sports franchises have only met eight times in the postseason in the last 20 years. On Thursday, the ninth such meeting will occur as the Bruins and Rangers begin their Stanley Cup playoff series.

In addition to sports, the cities have something of a cultural rivalry going, with Boston’s perceived “little brother” status a constant sore spot for Bostonians and a source of false pride for New Yorkers. In hopes of answering the “who is better?’’ question, in the following slides we’ll compare the two cities while reviewing the sports history between the two rivals.

Rudest citizens

A recent survey named Boston America’s fifth-rudest city, while New York took the honor of being No. 1. Not that these polls are dripping with scientific merit, but even if there were a concrete way to measure a city’s rudeness, it’s unlikely either city would complain about being near the top. Visit either city as a tourist, and you’re likely to be called out for not being from around here. Talk too much to strangers and prepare to be ignored. There’s something comforting about being surrounded by people and being able to keep to oneself. If only the word “rude” didn’t have such a negative connotation.

1999 ALCS: Yankees over Red Sox, 4-1

Despite the storied history of both franchises, the Red Sox and Yankees met for the first time in the playoffs in 1999, four years after the implementation of the wild card. Like all of the previous playoff appearances for the Red Sox since 1919, this one didn’t end very well. Pedro Martinez (left) provided the bright spot for the Sox, striking out 12 Yankees in seven innings in what was supposed to be a duel with Roger Clemens. But Pedro provided the only win for the Red Sox in that series as the Yankees advanced, 4-1.

More effective mayor

You may have noticed that Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (who’s from Boston, by the way) have contrasting styles. Bloomberg’s media empire has made him one of the richest men in the country. Menino has enough trouble controlling his own message, gaffing on the names of popular Patriots like Wes “Wekler.” But Menino knows how to clean up after a snowstorm, and his poise following the marathon tragedy and his impending retirement have Bostonians singing his praises. Bloomberg can’t shake the reputation that — like many of New York’s elite — he’s out of touch.

2003 ALCS: Yankees over Red Sox, 4-3

It got worse for the Red Sox before it got better. Aaron Boone’s 11th-inning home run off of Tim Wakefield in Game 7 was the capper, but Sox fans will never forgive manager Grady Little for leaving a tiring Pedro Martinez in the game in the eighth inning. New York scored three runs off Martinez to tie the game before Boone won it in the 11th. Boston fans were used to crushing losses, but this may have been the low point.

Best beer town

Founder Jim Koch (left) has turned Samuel Adams into one of the most successful craft brewers in the nation, while Harpoon produces consistently good beer on South Boston’s waterfront. New York City is home to some fantastic breweries, including Brooklyn Brewery and Sixpoint. Brooklyn’s Local 1 (right) is a spectacular example of a traditional Belgian beer that’s made in America, and it’s a good gateway into nontraditional beers for the Budweiser crowd. Both towns are busting with great beer bars, including the Publick House Brookline and Lord Hobo in Cambridge, and the Pony Bar in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and the West Village’s Blind Tiger.

2004 ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees, 4-3

From the lowest low to the highest high, the Red Sox redeemed themselves for 86 years of futility with an impossible comeback from three-games-to-none down in the 2004 ALCS. David Ortiz (left) gave the Sox a 2-0 lead with a home run in Game 7 as the Red Sox routed the Yankees in the Bronx. The Sox had been down to their final out in Game 4 before Dave Roberts gave them hope with a stolen base. No baseball team had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a series, and that — combined with the opponent — helped make the Red Sox’ first World Series title since 1918 even more special.

Celebrity score

Boston’s simply not going to win the celebrity battle with New York given that just about every big star spends a good amount of time there. In terms of home-grown talent, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Mark Wahlberg are on Boston’s current A-list, while Jay-Z has given a voice to New York’s ability to draw star power. Some all-time greats like Streisand, Scorcese, and Woody Allen (right) hail from New York. It’s apples and oranges, just like the two cities.

Red Sox win 2007 World Series

The Sox didn’t face the Yankees in the 2007 playoffs on their way to capturing Boston’s second World Series title in three years. Still, victories over the Angels, Indians, and Rockies gave the Sox a second title and some bragging rights over their rivals from New York. Sox fans took to chanting “year 2000!” after the 2007 Series in reference to New York not having won a title since then. Of course …

Yankees World Series titles

… The Yankees would go on to win the World Series in 2009, capturing their 27th title overall and fifth since 1996 (’96, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009). That run capped one of the most dominant championship runs by any team, and the Yankees have won more titles than any other professional baseball team in history. Since we’re keeping score, the Red Sox have won seven World Series championships.

Proximity to evil

The Occupy Wall St. movement targeted New York’s financial capital because that’s where the greatest concentration of bad guys are. Boston, too, has plenty of one-percenters, with Fidelity and State Street serving as pipelines to lucrative jobs managing other people’s hard-earned money. All kidding aside, we should all make like Tim Thomas and move to Colorado.

2007 AFC Wild Card: New England 37, NY Jets 16

The New York-Boston playoff football rivalry has ramped up recently. The Patriots finished the 2006 season with a 12-4 record, winning the AFC East. The Jets finished 10-6, which got them the wild card bid. Coincidentally enough the teams squared off in the wild-card matchup. The Pats poured it on from start to finish, going up by 10 at halftime before adding 20 points to the Jets’ 6 in the second. Quarterback Tom Brady was flawless, throwing for 212 yards and 2 scores. Here, Vince Wilfork threw a stiff arm as he returned a Chad Pennington fumble.

Best former governor

Quick, name a politician with strong New York ties besides Bloomberg. Can’t? Now name a famous politician with a link to Massachusetts. After the Kennedys, John Kerry, Scott Brown, and Barney Frank, there’s former governor and recent Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (left), who threatened to continue the state’s legacy of putting Mass. politicians into higher office. Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, meanwhile, resigned after a prostitution scandal. Hillary Clinton was a New York senator, but she also went to Wellesley, so call that a wash.

Super Bowl XLII: N.Y. Giants 17, New England 14

Let’s face it: Boston isn’t a front-running town. So things had probably been going too well for us in terms of sports in 2008 when the Giants pulled off the upset of the then 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl. David Tyree’s helmet catch (left) — following a scramble by Giants quarterback Eli Manning — epitomized just how improbable New York’s win was. Either way, it was sweet revenge for the embarrassing way the Yankees lost to the Red Sox in 2004.

Best celebrity chef

Iron Chef winner Ken Oringer (left) is the chef and owner of seven Boston area restaurants, including South End gems Toro and Coppa. Eric Ripert (right) is the executive chef at New York’s Le Bernardin, one of the most decorated restaurants in the country. He’s also friends with Anthony Bourdain, which is just fine in our book. New York and Boston are home to some very fine restaurants. Chalk it up as a victory for both sides, and just be thankful none of us have to eat anything made by Paula Deen.

2010 NBA playoffs: Celtics 4, Knicks 0

The Celtics hold a 17-2 edge over the Knicks in overall championships, and one recent playoff series was similarly lopsided, with Boston sweeping the Knicks in four games. The last time the Celtics played the Knicks in the postseason prior to that, Larry Bird (left) was in the twilight of his career. New York rallied from a 2-0 deficit in that 1990 series and won Game 5, in the process breaking a 26-game losing streak at Boston Garden. With Patrick Ewing in the middle, the Knicks became one of the league’s best teams in the mid 90s. Without Bird, the Celtics faded into relative obscurity in the 90s and early 2000s before finally claiming the franchise’s 17th NBA title in 2008.

2013 NBA playoffs: Knicks 4, Celtics 2

The Knicks got the best of the Celtics in the most recent battle between the two teams, dispatching of Boston in six games in this year’s playoffs. The Knicks were favored as the No. 2 seed, and despite some hiccups they had a fairly easy time taking down the Rondo-less Celtics.

Best Ponzi scheme

Bernard Madoff (right) rocked the financial world when he pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies in 2009 after turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme. Along with his own reputation, Madoff brought down the fortunes of many New Yorkers with great wealth. Madoff, of course, was following in the footsteps of Charles Ponzi (left), who was defrauding some Bostonians of their wealth in the first few years of Fenway Park’s existence. Madoff was dealing with more wealth, but Ponzi was the originator

2010 AFC Divisional playoff: Jets 28, Patriots 21

The Patriots came into the game as the No. 1 team in the AFC after a 14-2 season. But they ran into an angry, motivated team in the Jets as Rex Ryan’s squad pulled off the upset. The Patriots trailed, 14-3, at halftime and never got it together. Tom Brady (pictured) threw an interception and fumbled the ball once as the Patriots exited the playoffs earlier than expected.

Best place to be a hipster

Allston (above) is where Boston hipsters go to drink tallboys and snub their noses at music they didn’t produce themselves with recycled hub caps. Brooklyn is where New York hipsters thrive, and the Williamsburg section might be considered the epicenter of the urban hipster’s world. If being part of a co-op with Jake Gyllenhaal isn’t your thing, living with six other BU students on Linden St. probably isn’t, either.

Super Bowl titles

The Patriots haven’t fared well against New York football teams as of late, but New England still holds the edge in recent titles won with three (2001, 2003, and 2004) compared to two (2008, 2012) for the Giants. The Giants hold the overall edge in Super Bowl titles, 4-3.

Best place to get an education

Any Ivy League school can produce the Federal Reserve Chairman, but Harvard seems to be better at it than most. Want to be president? You should probably go to Harvard Law. Columbia is one of the world’s finest academic institutions, and Yale’s proximity to the city makes it somewhat of a New York institution. But Boston is considered by many to be one of the world’s education capitals, and just about anyone who is anyone in the world has probably gotten a burger at Bartley’s.

Celtics win 2008 NBA title

The Knicks haven’t won an NBA title since 1973. The Celtics have won six championships during that time, with the latest coming in a six-game victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008. The Celtics also made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2010. The Celtics have claimed 17 NBA championships overall, the most in the history of professional basketball.

Best monument on a harbor island

Situated in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty (top) is one of the most famous monuments in the world. Deer Island (bottom) in Boston Harbor is home to a $3.8 billion dollar sewage treatment plant. On the surface this is a win for New York. Dig a little deeper and Lady Liberty’s just going to stand there and rust, while the Deer Island plant has transformed Boston Harbor into one of the cleanest urban waterways in the nation. Be a little more realistic, and New York wins this in a landslide.

Bruins vs. Rangers history

Heading into their series this week, the Bruins and Rangers don’t have much of a playoff history. The teams haven’t met in the postseason since 1973. The Rangers’ last Stanley Cup victory (pictured) came in 1994 They’ve got four Stanley Cup wins to six for the Bruins.

The Bruins haven’t even faced New York’s other hockey team, the Islanders, since falling 4-2 in the 1983 conference finals. (We’ll leave Buffalo out of this discussion, since we’re talking city/greater metro area rivalries here)

2011: Bruin win Stanley Cup

The Bruins took home the Stanley Cup in 2011, their first championship in 39 years. With the win, all four major Boston sports teams have claimed victory in their sport since 2004.

Most infamous mobster

South Boston native Whitey Bulger (left) was one of the most wanted men in America before his capture by the FBI in 2011. John Gotti (right) was mob boss of the infamous Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti died in 2002, but organized crime still exists in New York City. Both men are representative of a Mafia culture that has been popularized by movies and shows like Goodfellas, the Departed, and the Sopranos. It’s a sordid topic, and it’s not one that shines either city in a positive light.

Super Bowl XLVI: Giants 21, Patriots 17

The Patriots had a chance to redeem themselves for their Super Bowl loss in 2008, but a second loss to the Giants closed the gap between the recent success of the two franchises. Bill Belichick (left) and Tom Brady are still among the all-time greats, but not beating the Giants in the Super Bowl may ultimately stay with them.

Best claim to Tom and Gisele

Tom Brady took some grief for wearing a Yankees hat in New York City a couple of years ago, and he and wife Gisele Bundchen owned property there as well. There was also the impression — Uggs — that the model and quarterback/model couple might fit in better in New York. But fear not, Patriots fans. The couple has sold both their New York apartments and now own homes in Boston and Brady’s native California. The Golden Boy is all ours.

Your turn

The Bruins are the fourth seed in the East and the Rangers are No. 6, but seedings mean very little in the NHL. Oddsmakers have the Bruins second, at 7-2, to win the Eastern Conference with the Rangers right behind at 4-1.

How do you see the series playing out? Cast your vote below.

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