The End of My Generation's Childhood

With the recent news of both David Ortiz's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and Tom Brady's retirement from football, I thought I'd update something I wrote five years ago. Now at 24 years old, childhood is a mere memory as adulthood takes over. Most of those memories are mixed in with the almost constant Boston championships in the early-mid 2000s. Now, these championships may no longer be common place. Even though it's only been three years since our last city parade, but it feels longer because of the frequency we had grown used to.

Those 20 years were good to us, and as our parents remind us, we were spoiled. Who knows what these next 20 years will bring and who knows when the next Boston championship will be celebrated. So for now, even as someone who isn't a diehard sports fan, I can't help but see the tides changing with the last chapter of our childhoods having started to collect dust.

Beginning in the winter of 2002, and continuing through the winter of 2019, I saw the four major Boston sports team win championships 12 times. For the past almost 20 years, I, along with every Bostonian in my generation, now working full-time or in graduate school, have only ever experienced the almost endless wins of our city’s teams.

But at almost 25, I sense this generation of winning and winning is beginning to end. It’s not about to end because our four teams are struggling; on the contrary, the Red Sox were one of the final four teams in baseball, and the New England Patriots made the playoffs with a rookie quarterback.

It is the end of this generation of winning because the children, who woke up with the news that the Red Sox had broken the curse of the Bambino, are now fully adults. It has been generation since Tom Brady began his legendary career and now that has ended. It has been a generation since David Ortiz dominated baseball and now his plaque will be hung up soon other baseball legends. It has been a generation since Boston wondered when their beloved teams might start winning again.

With both the Celtics and Bruins a decade or more removed from their most recent championship and the Red Sox and Patriots dominant but inconsistent, Boston sports is facing the beginning of a new generation. It has caused me to think about the amazing feats I have seen in my lifetime and what could happen to the city of champions in the future. And while there is hope for more wins, Boston sports are in the midst of changing eras.

I cannot honestly say I am the biggest sports fan but like every citizen of Boston, I have felt endless pride in my city and its teams when we wear our jerseys, celebrate with parades, and laugh off shrewd comments of Yankees fans.

My generation's childhood has been defined by Boston championships. I look back to the early-mid 2000s with a fondness and happiness that still feels so vivid. Driving to Dick’s Sporting Goods at midnight on a school night with my mom, brothers, and sister, will take the cake. There is something about walking into that store with every other ecstatic person and picking out our newest t-shirts. There is something about sharing the same bliss and pride with every Boston citizen. The championships have brought together Boston in times when we needed it most—particularly in 2013, after the Boston marathon bombings. The championships define each year, allowing us to think about our pasts in certain periods based on each championship.

But things have changed. In another five years, who knows where Boston sports teams will stand? All we know is that the next generations will only hear of David Ortiz and Tom Brady as sports figures of the past. These 20 years will be the stories my generation will tell our kids, similar to the ones our parents used to tell us about heartbreaking 1986 Red Sox. Luckily for us, our stories will end in trophies and confetti.

And hopefully, the next many generations will know the surprise of being shaken awake with the joy of another Boston championship like all twenty-somethings have been blessed with. I hope my own children can see many wins. I hope I can buy them t-shirts at midnight and see them walk off to school with them proudly on. I hope my children will always root for Boston teams and they can be filled with joy and nervous excitement as Boston wins again and again.