The New England Patriots have won three of the last five Super Bowls. The Boston Red Sox have won two of the last five World Series Titles. The city of Boston and their fans from across the country have had incredible success in the world of professional sports recently. As a result, Deerfield’s campus has been polarized with discourse about Boston sports.
In the playoffs for the World Series, the Boston Red Sox defeated their arch-rivals, the New York Yankees and made their way to the championships. The Sox were matched against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, and they managed to secure their ninth title in the championship after winning in Game 5.
Sports fans across the Unit- ed States were impressed by this feat, and Jack O’Neil ’20, a Deerfield native and ardent supporter of all Boston teams, went so far as to say that during Game 2 of the series, when J.D. Martinez drove in the leading two runs he had, “never been in such
in the country for U17,” which allowed Deerfield to win the match overall. In their two most recent matches against Taft and Andover, the boys team has won 7-0 against both opponents, and all season, they have only lost to Brunswick and Avon Old Farms in tight matches. In addition to New England’s at the end of February, they have two more matches left before the end of their season.
The girls’ varsity team faced four incredibly strong opponents throughout the tournament. Ac- cording to Head Squash Coach Karinne Heise, “The girls defeated Penn Charter 6-1 in the first round and Choate Rosemary Hall in the second round 5-2, and they lost to Greenwich Academy 1-6 (the eventual national champions) and Baldwin 2-5 in the playoffs to compete for the 3rd and 4th rankings in the country.
Coach Heise reflected upon their season so far, saying, “It’s been a delight to coach this team, which does an exceptional job of balancing intensity, focus and all-out competitive play on the court with humorous fun, concern for others and dynamic team bonding off the court. Ashley Manning and Harbour Woodward have both proven to be terrific co-captains as they model great work ethic and positive team spirit.” Senior co-captain Woodward ’19 also spoke about their recent such
an electric environment in [his] life. [He] had [beverages] rained down upon [him], and [he] high-fived a ton of random strangers.” This “electric environment” is no anomaly. During the celebration parade, a Boston fan dented the World Series trophy when he tried to throw a beverage at one of the players, and his sub-par toss landed the can on the trophy.
In the 53rd Super Bowl, fans watched the Patriots face off against the Los Angeles Rams. Only 16 points were scored in total, making the game the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history.
Aidan Philie ’20 from Sandwich, MA, thought, “the Patriots were clearly the dominant team as they will always be.” He went on to say that, “we are living in the greatest era of Boston sports in history.” Commenting on the post-halftime play,
Jarod Harrington ’20 said, “For someone who watches a lot of football, the second half was especially enjoyable to watch be- cause there was fantastic defense on both sides of the ball.” For other fans, the reactions to the game were less than enthusiastic.
Coincidentally, the New England teams both won their championships against Los Angeles organizations, leaving fans from the West devastated. Max Wuchenich ’21, a Los Angeles native, stated that LA teams, “just don’t show up when they play New England Teams. It’s brutal.” There is no doubt that in defeating the Rams and the Dodgers, the Red Sox and Patriots have gained many new supporters. Tommy Gilmore ’20, an international student from Costa Rica, finds it “hard not to support New England teams when there are so many passionate students surrounding [him].”
Whether you are a Boston fan or not, the impact of the city’s recent success can be felt across campus. For better or for worse, Tom Brady won another Super Bowl and J.D. Martinez hit another home run.