Best of Boston Sports sequel should be a question of when, not if

In November 2005, City of Champions: The Best of Boston Sports made a nice, timely move with a self-explanatory purpose. But its execution left more to be desired, and there has since been much more to cover under its roof.

Twice in barely three months, whether to their elation or exasperation, sports followers have reset their count-up of days without a Boston Duck Boat parade. For the second time in as many decades, the Patriots have won the Super Bowl immediately following a Red Sox World Series conquest.

After the first of those occurrences, Rabid Films and Warner Bros. unleashed City of Champions: The Best of Boston Sports. As if the circumstances in between were not conducive to an addendum, this past year’s developments are.

Conceptually, the first Best of Boston Sports DVD was nothing short of sensible. When it came out in November 2005, the long-moribund Patriots had just won three titles in four seasons. The afterglow of the Sox’ historic 2004 Curse-busting run had barely tapered off.

And then there were glimpses of more distant memories and figures. The most notable was a tribute to Ted Williams, who had passed away three years prior. Larry Bird and Bobby Orr, among others, also got decent mentions and retrospectives on one of their defining moments.

Since then, though, all of the market’s four time-honored major professional franchises have piled on an embarrassment of new memories. With that, dating back to 2002, the city has not gone longer than three years without a championship. As of this writing, that hot streak cannot cool off until February 2022 at the earliest.

In this calendar decade, the Boston area has also gained a pair of professional women’s hockey teams. Before moving to Worcester for this season, the CWHL’s Boston Blades won two Clarkson Cups, beating Montreal both times. In 2016, the NWHL’s Boston Pride won the inaugural Isobel Cup over Buffalo.

But even 13-plus years ago, there were signs of spoilage among viewers. On New Year’s Eve 2005, Robert Spuhler of DVD Talk submitted an unfavorable review of The Best of Boston Sports.

In its defense, the basic execution was far better than nothing. Incidentally, that was exactly what Boston’s pro sports scene had in the way of championships for years before 2002. Maybe that was why the 2005 project fell short of champagne-worthy. Perhaps New England had forgotten how to handle summit-level success in sports.

Regardless, Spuhler accentuated the DVD’s aspects that did not do the market’s newfound merry mood justice. He harped on the “lazy” soundtrack selections and incomplete scope of content. He singled out the Beanpot and the Marathon as two traditions deserving more attention.

Spuhler’s conclusion: “If this is the first in a series, it is a great idea. City of Champions: The Best of Boston Sports is the type of disc that could, with some work, be a hot seller to the diehard sports fan. But if it is a one-off just to celebrate Boston's recent success, the city deserved better.”

One nursery-to-junior-high upbringing and a full variety pack of eight (or 11, or even 15 if you count NCAA hockey) championships later, it is still a one-off. But it is never too late to change that fact, even if another company takes on the sequel.

Given all of the memorable moments — not all of which are championships — that have befallen Boston since 2005, the soil is patently fertile to make this a series. The chief question is whether to wait until Tom Brady and/or Bill Belichick retire. And there is an emphatic lack of a timetable for that right now.

The Patriots quarterback and coach have been the scene’s lone constants in their respective roles throughout this thrill ride. Regardless of their legacies’ legitimacy, ardent New England fans will surely want a segment dedicated to each.

As it is, the existing Best of Boston Sports barely had time to squeeze in highlights of the Pats’ third Super Bowl victory. The market’s pigskin posse has since doubled its all-time banner count to six. It attained its fourth and fifth titles on a last-play interception and historic rally for overtime, respectively.

Before that, it went 16-0 in the 2007 regular season and nearly consummated its perfect slate in the 2008 playoffs. (Hey, the first DVD did not shy away from Boston/New England’s crushing defeats. Why should any hypothetical sequels?)

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have tacked on three more World Series titles in the last 13 years. The catalyst of two of those runs, David Ortiz, has since retired. As such, the Brady and Belichik segments might as well wait for a third film, leaving more room for Big Papi.

After all, even with three rings and bountiful clutch hits, Ortiz’s impact on the region stretches deep into intangible territory. The last championship he played in capped off an emotional 2013 season that began with the Boston Marathon bombing. If any single sentence sums up that storyline, it is his “This is our (expletive) city!” rally cry.

 

At some point, this obligatory sequel will need a segment on what it means to be Boston Strong. It must capture how, despite the horrific circumstances, the locals collectively rediscovered the meaning of Patriots’ Day (aka Marathon Monday). It must illustrate how, with the help of the Sox, Bruins and Celtics, they seized the opportunity to show they were not afraid to carry on with their way of life.

And of course, the two TD Garden cohabitants have each raised a banner of their own since 2005. In both cases, it was the team’s first title since leaving the old Boston Garden, a move many once believed had robbed them of an irreplaceable home-ice/court advantage. In addition, their respective rides included a triumphant playoff series against their most time-honored rivals.

With the 2008 Celtics, you had a throwback to the 1980s with a six-game NBA Final ouster of the Los Angeles Lakers. Three springs later, the Bruins overcame the Montreal Canadiens as their first of four obstacles to the Stanley Cup. (The final victory over Vancouver halted the Hub’s longest 21st-century championship drought to date at 36 months.)

While the first Best of Boston Sports aptly highlighted the history of Red Sox-Yankees and Celtics-Pistons, other feuds were glaringly lacking. But a sequel would be a slam-dunk/empty-net opportunity to rectify that with C’s-Lakers and B’s-Habs segments.

A featurette on Boston College-Boston University hockey would not hurt either. The two schools constituting the Green Line Rivalry have combined for four Men’s Frozen Four championships since 2005. BC won three, and BU flipped a late 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 overtime victory in the 2009 final.

Selecting precise subject matter and exemplary moments to punctuate each segment would be an unenviable task. But the same essential format as the original, allowing any interviewee to weigh in on any entity or event, need not change. That approach lends The Best of Boston Sports its uniqueness, as it demonstrates the city’s camaraderie transcending all sports.

In spite of Spuhler’s critique, the absence of a narrator is not an inherent detriment. Most stories benefit crucially when a disembodied voice tells them, or at least bridges everyone’s input and insights. But for a special of this nature, letting the highlights and those who lived them speak suffices.

With The Best of Boston Sports, you had commentary from 10 athletes, executives, journalists and celebrity fans. Of those, Spuhler singles out Bruins record-holder Ray Bourque, BC and (briefly) Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie and innovative former Boston Globe sportswriter Peter Gammons among the highlights.

But Spuhler also questions the omission of Denis Leary, one of the most outspoken Sox and B’s fans alive. Excluding him from all future editions would be inexcusable compared to what the original can pass as a rookie shortcoming.

The one adopted Hollywood resident from New England, Mike O’Malley, was not a waste by any means. After all, he gained fame as ESPN’s “The Rick” and occasionally sported Boston gear as the host of Nickelodeon GUTS.

For the obligatory sequel, however, Leary would be indispensable. In the time since the original, his annual Comics Come Home bonanza, in conjunction with the Cam Neely Foundation, has entered its second and third decade. As of 2014, it has taken place at the Garden, the city’s largest indoor sports-and-entertainment facility.

 

Besides its tenants’ catching up with the Sox and Pats, the new Garden (nee FleetCenter) bears many measuring poles between 2005 and 2019. Three weeks after the DVD’s release, the Bruins traded captain and former first-overall draft pick Joe Thornton to San Jose.

Thornton is in one of the DVD’s two fleeting FleetCenter-era Bruins highlights. The other is of Bourque in his last game with the black and gold.

A month after Thornton left, Red Sox resident “caveman” Johnny Damon signed with the Yankees. On the first day of the following spring, Pats clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri similarly turned his coat to Indianapolis.

Since then, a too-long-to-list-everyone scroll of other notables have emerged, made their mark and moved on or retired. Coach Doc Rivers and the new Big Three with the Celtics. Two top-10 draft picks in Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin of the Bruins. Another Sox-turned-Yanks centerfielder in Jacoby Ellsbury.

Those and others are more than enough for another Pete Yorn “Crystal Village” music video. Or something like that.

On the other hand, other local staples have left, then come back home. East Boston native Jermaine Wiggins helped the Pats to their first Super Bowl, then moved on to four other NFL teams before devoting this decade to various New England radio and TV gigs.

His continued recreational involvement in other sports is only one clue into his credibility as a commentator on the sports scene at large. And he is only one prospect (as is Leary) worthy of a chance to contribute to nearly every facet of an updated Best of Boston Sports.

There is no time like last year or the year prior or the year prior to start selecting interviewees. But the struggle as a memory preserver to keep up with great moments is one matter. Gaining ground on quality to match the subject matter and meet the likes of Spuhler’s standards is another.

As O’Malley predicted at the end of the 2005 presentation, being a Boston fan has only grown more “fun.” Any pro-, anti- or neutral observer can recognize that.

So someone ought to have the incentive to do one (or more) better than The Best of Boston Sports. It would easily reflect the way things have gotten better since the mid-2000s Sox/Pats revolution. (Speaking of which, would there be a way to make room for some soccer content?)