This Is Our City

Book excerpt: A celebration of the last two decades of sports success in Boston from the co-host of the #1 sports radio show in New England Boston is a unique sports city. Unlike New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, New Englanders' loyalties are not divided among competing franchises; in the four major American sports, the city has one team each: the Red Sox, the Celtics, the Bruins, and the Patriots. And, as any Boston fan will tell you, that loyalty runs deep. Sports just seem to mean more in New England. Over the last 20 years, those fans have been blessed with an extraordinary run of success, including 12 championships, six runners-up, and many more years of heated contention. In the 21st century, Boston became Titletown. According to Tony Massarotti, longtime Boston sports columnist and host of the #1 sports radio show in New England for the past ten years, this is not a coincidence. Massarotti's This Is Our City paints a portrait of the last 20 years in Boston sports, showing how one team's success has led to the next—how they have fed off each other, tried to one-up one another, and have supported each other. This is an account of an era where successes and failures stitched together the region, all playing out against major events such as 9/11 and the devastating Boston Marathon—which led to a memorably profane speech by David Ortiz, who declared, "This is our f@#king city!" Massarotti's This Is Our City is a valentine to Boston sports and will be loved by those fans, wherever they now live.