You could tell when when the New York Post starting calling Patriots quarterback Tom Brady a "girlie-man." You could tell when Mike Celizic vented on MSNBC.com about Boston's lame nickname, "Beantown," the fact that Sinatra never wrote a song about the city and likened Boston to cities like Cleveland, Minneapolis and Sacramento. "Compared to New York, it really is inferior," he wrote. You could tell when the old-timers in New York began trotting out the '50s Yankees and even started counting championships won by the Dodgers and Giants, two teams that fled the city a half century ago, as part of the cumulative proof of New York's unsurpassed and enduring sports legacy.

You could tell that, finally, we here in Boston have New York and its sports fans exactly where we have always dreamed of having them: Celtic green with envy. They desperately envy us our teams--our Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics. That they protest so much is, of course, only proof of how much they care and covet. So I willingly grant New York its championship heritage. It boasts 48 world championships in baseball, football, basketball and hockey compared to Boston's 31 titles, though it is worth noting that those are spread over eight teams not to mention the last century. The most relevant count, though, is championships in the 21st Century: If--hell, make that when--the Patriots win Sunday, that count will stand at Boston 6, New York 0. 

For years, Red Sox fans chanted "Yankees Suck!", a rather pathetic cry in the wilderness because they so obviously didn't. Even worse, Yankees fans didn't really care about our Red Sox, dismissing the team and the town as unworthy of a genuine rivalry. And they were right. But now it's not just the Yankees, but each and every one of their New York teams--the Yankees and Mets, the Jets and Giants, the Knicks, the Rangers, even the Red Bulls--is looking up at ours. And the city's fans can't stomach it. When the New York Post printed "10 reasons to hate Pats", the first one on the list was "So we can give hating the Red Sox the winter off." Just like Sacramento, huh?

You can tell how much all of New York City--with its great sports history, its extraordinary restaurants and its vibrant, cultural scene--just wants to start chanting, from the Battery to the Bronx: "Boston sucks!"