Chowder and Champions
Fansided

The curse of Isaiah Thomas has begun for Boston sports

By Ben Porter

BOSTON, MA - MAY 15: Isaiah Thomas
BOSTON, MA - MAY 15: Isaiah Thomas /
facebooktwitterreddit

Ever since the Boston Celtics traded Isaiah Thomas to the Cleveland Cavaliers, things have been going poorly for Boston sports teams.

August 22 was a strange day for Boston Celtics fans. I was nervous, excited, happy, and sad all at the same time. It felt like Celtics Nation couldn’t decide how to feel about the trade. Some reactions were positive, others were negative. Some fans feel right in between. You know, routine reactions to a blockbuster deal.

Social media was blowing up with fan and expert reactions, while previews and postseason predictions were being published left and right.

I’m no basketball expert, but I knew the player we were receiving was going to be special. Kyrie Irving. In Celtics green. In my opinion, one of the best pure scorers in the NBA. I love calling him the best player in the east and watching Lebron fans fill with rage. I highly recommend it.

Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics /

On the other hand, we were losing the heart and soul of our team in Isaiah Thomas. He’s a player that won over the hearts of Celtics fans through his fearless style of play and intensity. Not to mention his scoring abilities and clutch performances. He played with heart, and he was good.

It’s not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog. Isaiah Thomas proved that over and over again. Standing just 5’9”, he played bigger than anyone else on the court. He was Rudy Ruettiger with talent, Jose Altuve on a basketball court. But then he was gone, off to another team. We’ll move on. We have Kyrie, after all.

More from Boston Celtics

Then, just three days later, Boston lost another player defined by his heart and spirit. In the New England Patriots 3rd preseason game, Julian Edelman went down with a non-contact knee injury. Non-contact injuries are like massages; they rarely come with happy endings. Edelman had suffered a torn ACL and would miss the entire 2017-18 NFL season.

Though devastated, I found solace in the Patriots’ newly expanded receiver corps. A healthy Rob Gronkowski, Brandin Cooks, and Chris Hogan? We’ll be alright. But still, it hurts to lose an Edelman, especially so soon after trading IT.

Then something dawned on me. Call me pessimistic, call me paranoid, or just call me crazy, but I started to think that the two events were correlated. What a ridiculous idea. I buried the thought in the back of my mind. Correlated? Lunacy.

Two weeks later, it was time for the NFL season opener. Here we go. Get your popcorn ready, NFL. Time to watch the Patriots beat up on the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football to kickstart the season. My non-New England friends braced themselves for a night of arrogance and trash talk. The first drive went perfectly: a quick march down the field and Mike Gillislee punched it in for 6.

Then Kareem Hunt happened. I will spare you all the painful details of this game, but the Chiefs picked apart the Patriots’ defense and scored 42 points. The highest number of points ever allowed by a Belichick-coached Patriots team. What was going on? I couldn’t tell you. That was a tough night, but we’ll chalk it up to rust. Yeah, that sounds good.

New England Patriots
New England Patriots /

To take my mind off the bizarre Pats loss, I did what any Boston sports fan would naturally do: focus on the Boston Red Sox. All was well. Sitting atop the AL East, we were in a great position. The Yankees sat behind us in the standings and couldn’t gain ground. Beautiful.

Sure, the long ball had eluded us all year, but that’s not the kind of team we were. Chris Sale was putting up a Cy Young caliber season and Andrew Benintendi was making his case for Rookie of the Year, due to Aaron Judge’s roughly 200 strikeouts in his last 200 at-bats. You might want to double check those numbers, but I’m pretty sure it was something like that.

As the Sox season progressed, we started playing a little worse baseball. Chris Sale’s numbers began to dip, while our bats were inconsistent. Our best starting pitcher became Drew Pomeranz and we had to suffer through a Rick Porcello start every 5th day. Still, the Yankees weren’t making up ground, and our magic number kept getting smaller.

Clinched! Pop champagne! Time to head to Houston to take on the Astros. Sale on the bump? Let’s GO.

Next thing I knew, the Red Sox were down two games to none, on the brink of elimination. The Yankees were moving on the ALCS. The Patriots had a 3-2 record, tied with the Jets in the AFC East standings. Something was seriously wrong.

More from Chowder and Champions

Then I remembered what I had thought about all the way back in late August, when Julian Edelman got injured. That sick, twisted thought that had me ashamed to admit I had concocted it. Did trading Isaiah Thomas curse Boston sports?

I grew up at the tail end of The Curse of the Bambino, so I know a thing or two about curses. In my young years the history of the curse was hammered into my mind. It became fact. When the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees, they became cursed. It was that simple. I believed it along with every other Red Sox fan out there.

Yesterday was the final straw. It was the first game of the 2017-18 NBA season. The stage was set, as the Celtics would take on the Cavaliers in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch. Kyrie’s reunion with Lebron. Isaiah Thomas watching court side (due to injury). Gordon Hayward would make his Boston Celtics debut.

And then it happened. I got the proof that I needed. Gordon Hayward went up for an alley-oop and landed wrong. Watch the following video at your own risk, it’s very disturbing.

A gruesome ankle injury in his first quarter in a Celtics uniform. What a horrible and unfortunate moment for Gordon, his family, Boston, and the entire NBA. Alongside basketball fans everywhere, I wish Gordon nothing but a speedy and full recovery.

Next: Boston Celtics: Gordon Hayward fractures ankle in season opener

This injury confirms what I already knew but was afraid to believe. That trading Isaiah Thomas put a curse on Boston sports. I pray that I’m wrong and understand any hatred you may feel towards me, but I had to say something. Brace yourselves, folks, for the night is dark and full of terrors.

Isaiah Thomas will always be remembered in Boston. Let’s hope his legacy is as a blessing for the Boston Celtics, not a curse.

Home/Boston Celtics