Boston sports town abuzz with Bruins and Celtics going strong

BOSTON - This was Friday night, about an hour after the Red Sox lost to the Yankees, 10-3, at Fenway Park.

Crowds of young people mixed with Red Sox and Yankees fans in Kenmore Square. A vendor hawking Red Sox paraphernalia went through a rapid-fire description of his products: "Red Sox hats. T-shirts. Red Sox souvenirs. Don't worry about tonight. We'll get 'em tomorrow. Anyone know what happened in the Bruins game?"

"They lost in OT," someone shouted. "5-4."

This was Friday night in the Red Sox bullpen in rightfield at Fenway. Reliever Manny Delcarmen, a Boston native, heard the crowd behind him in the bleachers roar, and then moan, and then roar again. Fans were following the Bruins-Flyers Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals from Philadelphia on their mobile devices.

Between innings, the hand-updated scoreboard on the Green Monster would be changed to reflect the new score. The Bruins score was under the last game in the National League part of the scoreboard (with the overtime period listed as '4' in what would have been the inning spot).

The Bruins, the sixth seed, had a chance to sweep their rivals.

"You could hear it during the whole game," Delcarmen said. "It was 3-2, then 3-3, you'd see the guy come out of the Monster and change the score. It was all night."

This was Friday night as the Yankees finished off their win. In the Red Sox team store on Yawkey Way, across from Fenway Park, fans were standing and watching the main HD TV. Which was showing the Bruins game.

"Yankees-Red Sox of course is important," said store manager Mark Kaczorowski, 29. "But a playoff game is a playoff game."

Yankees-Red Sox is important. But this weekend in Boston it's playing second fiddle. No, make that third fiddle.

Not only are the Bruins making a surprising run to the third round of the NHL playoffs, but the Celtics on Friday hosted LeBron James and the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals.

James has been bothered by a sore elbow, giving Celtics fans thoughts of an upset.

"Going into the playoffs, I think we didn't have a lot of hope," Kaczorowski said. "Beating the Heat in the first round helped and splitting the first two in Cleveland helped. And LeBron's elbow."

The Celtics, an aging team hoping for what could be a last championship hurrah, suffered the worst home loss in their storied postseason history, 124-95. James scored 38 points to give Cleveland a 2-1 series lead.

For Boston fans, what could have been a dream night in a dream sports weekend couldn't have gone worse.

The Boston Globe recognized the unique nature of the evening's events - and the three Boston defeats - with the Page 1 headline "NOT QUITE THE SWEEP WE HAD IN MIND."

The top story in the newspaper, by the way, was the Bruins game. Followed by the Celtics. Then the Red Sox.

But there's still hope for Boston fans.

The Celtics will host the Cavaliers in Game 4 Sunday at 3:30. Four and a half hours later, the Red Sox and Yankees will play their series finale. And the Bruins' next chance to close out the Flyers comes Monday night at 7 at Boston's TD Garden.

It's unlikely Boston fans will get to recreate the glory days of 2007-08, when the Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics all won championships. (The Bruins last won the Stanley Cup in 1971-'72). But at least they have a chance.

"I know what it was like in '07 when we won and the C's won," Delcarmen said. "I'm pretty sure the fans are definitely excited."