If you are a fan of sports, non-New England division, then we probably have a few things in common.
1) We hate the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and especially the Bruins.
Hell, Jocoby Elsbury hated the Red Sox, and he was their best player.
I have never been to Boston, though I do enjoy their accent and I am sure it's a nice place to visit, however, their 4 major sports teams have won 8 championships since 2002 and that my friends ain't cool.
As a fan of The Blue Jays, Raptors, Leafs and Coyotes, my teams have won a combined zero championships over this time. In fact, the two series won by the Coyotes 2012 remain the only two playoff series wins of any of my four teams since 2004, when the Red Sox won their first World Series.
I am sure it's fun to cheer for Boston teams, but believe me, if you are a fan of anyone else, teams from Boston are the worst.
2) We are cheering for the Canadiens
Considering the Bruins made that comeback in game 3 and the Canadiens blew a two goal lead in game four, it's crazy to think how they could already be eliminated, and yet they are now only one win away from the conference final.
Things are looking bleak here, and it's tough to see how this roster, with its experience and poise can possibly lose two game in a row now.
But that doesn't really matter. The Canadiens have to somehow pull this out because anymore Bruins victories will be unbearable.
3) We have some seriously conflicted feelings about #'s 1 and 2
It's easy to hate a team like the Bruins that wins all the time and yet, it is also hard to hate them: They are like that kid in high-school who is rich and good at sports and his dad bought him a car nicer than your parents drive and he turns down girls you can't even form sentences around and yet, he actually turns out to be friendly and likable.
The Bruins are like that: you want to hate them, but you can't.
This is a team who signs Zedeno Chara as a UFA. When my teams sign UFAs we get Mike Ribeiro, Jason Blake and David Clarkson.
The Bruins get the first overall pick, Joe Thornton, trade him away, and still manage to be great despite getting nothing for him (basically). They have been pretty great ever since. The only first overall pick my teams ever had was Wendel Clark and while he was good, it still hurts that it was only a year removed from Mario Lemieux.
How do you give away a Hall of Fame player who is a former number one overall pick and actually get better? The Leafs and Coyotes don't seem to get better when they win trades, let alone participate in charitable ones.
(I don't like Pittsburgh either: How can one team get Mario, Jagr, Crosby and Malkin? They are the NHL's version of the 1%ers)
The highest recent draft picks for the Leafs and Coyotes have been Seguin (traded before picked) and Turris. Those worked out great.
Everyone agrees the hardest players to acquire are first line centres. The Bruins trade them away for fun: Thornton first, and now Seguin. But it doesn't seem to matter they just keep winning. Instead of Thornton and Seguin, they have Krecji and Bergeron. The Coyotes have Antoine Vermette as their best centre.
Come on!
Also, their GM looks like a villain from 24. He can apparently do no wrong. The guy was about ten minutes away from being fired and all of a sudden his team scores four magical goals in eleven minutes and the Bruins win again.
Despite all that, the Bruins have a roster that is hard not to like:
Bergeron and Lucic are players who, if you don't like them, you don't like hockey. David Krejci may be the most underrated player in the NHL (outside OEL, of course) and he too is impossible to hate.
Chara is just a freak of nature, but he is still tough not to appreciate.
The more you watch the Bruins, the more there is to like. They play smart, tough hockey, they are pretty fun to watch and they always win. And that is the problem: You want to hate them but you can't.
My only problem with Boston is jealousy. It's hard to stomach that one team can have more success in five years than two teams I like can have in a combined 60.
They deserve some credit.
And two straight losses!
Thanks for reading,
Twitter@james_tanner123