The Ottawa Senators - NHL
The Boston Red Sox - MLB
The Miami Dolphins - NFL
The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA
The Ottawa Senators
On December 6, 1990 the National Hockey League awarded the City of Ottawa a franchise in the league to Bruce Firestone. I was shocked by the news as I had assumed the NHL would not pick a market as small as Ottawa to house a franchise in the premiere hockey league in the world. Ottawa’s population was well under one million people at the time. It was unbelievable. Two years later, in the 1992-93 season, the Ottawa Senators began play in the National Hockey League.
Born and raised in Ottawa I became a hockey fan at an early age, and before Ottawa was awarded a franchise I was a fan of the Montreal Canadiens. Prior to having our own franchise, hockey fans in Ottawa either cheered for the Montreal Canadiens or the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the 1992-93 season I continued to cheer on the Montreal Canadiens, and my faithfulness was rewarded as they won the Stanley Cup that year for winning the NHL championship. Over the course of the 1992-93 season I grew fond of my hometown Senators, and I did switch allegiances for the following season. I remain a diehard Sens fan to this day.
The franchise highlights include competing for the league championship in the Stanley Cup finals for the 2006-07 season, ultimately losing the final series to the Anaheim Ducks. Another highlight is the Senators reaching the league semi-finals in the 2016-17 season, but losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in double overtime of Game Seven of the semi-final.
The greatest player in franchise history is Daniel Alfredsson. He played 17 seasons with the Senators, and was team captain for 14 seasons. Alfredsson was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022. He currently serves as an Assistant Coach with the 2024-25 Ottawa Senators.
It’s been tough to be a Senators fan recently as they have not qualified for the NHL playoffs for seven straight seasons. The team has a good core of young players led by team captain Brady Tkachuck and Tim Stutzle, that has generated lots of enthusiasm for the team’s chance of making the playoffs in this 2024-25 NHL season.
Because it’s my hometown team I support the Ottawa Senators regardless of how they perform in the regular season, but it's easier to be a fan when the team is winning games and qualifying for the playoffs.
It was players on that initial team, such as the first captain, Laurie Boschman, and winger Randy Cunneyworth that helped draw me to the team. Later it was Alfredsson, defensemen Chris Phillips and Wade Redden, and wingers Radek Bonk and Martin Havlat that kept my interest. Now it’s young, talented stars like Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Thomas Chabot that keep my interest in the team.
The Boston Red Sox
I still remember where I was when the ball rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs at first base, in the 1986 World Series. If you’re familiar with that reference you too are a diehard Red Sox fan. I became a Red Sox fan in the mid-eighties when the Red Sox team included pitching great Roger Clemens (although he was not so great to me when he later signed with the rival New York Yankees), Rich Gedman behind the plate, Marty Barrett at 2nd base, Wade Boggs at 3rd (although he too became persona non-grata to me when he later signed with the Yankees), the great Jim Rice in left field, Dwight Evans in right field, and of course Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd on the pitching staff.
Even though Canada had the Toronto Blue Jays by this point, my allegiance remained with the Boston Red Sox.
I also remember watching Red Sox manager Grady Little leaving ace pitcher Pedro Martinez in the game too long in the 2003 American League Championship series against the hated New York Yankees, and ultimately losing that series. The Boston Red Sox should have won that series and gone on to the World Series that year. Thankfully the Red Sox won the World Series the following year in 2004 and broke the 86 year “Curse of the Bambino”. That still remains as my favourite Boston Red Sox moment.
The Red Sox went on to win the World Series in 2007, 2013 and most recently in 2018, when the team rode the hot arm of Chris Sale, with help from a brilliant relief performance by Nathan Eovaldi.
Now, in the mid-2020s the team is carried by hitting phenom Rafael Devers, and a promising group of young players. But Red Sox fans are impatient, myself included, and we’re not satisfied with “yearly improvements”. We want the team in the playoff each year. And, it drives us crazy when our arch rivals, the New York Yankees reach the World Series, as they did in 2024. The only saving grace there is that the Yankees lost the 2024 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Optimism is high about the 2025 Boston Red Sox. The team has picked up two quality pitchers in the off-season, Garret Crochet and Walker Buehler. The team is still looking for another big bat to complement left-hand hitting Devers, and with that addition, the team should be in the mix for the American League East pennant.
Among the greatest Boston Red Sox are Ted Wlliams, Carl Yastrezmski, and David Ortiz. It was Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs that first drew me to the Boston Red Sox, despite their defection to the hated New York Yankees. It was then players like David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and former catcher Jason Varitek that kept me with the Boston Red Sox. Today my interest is held by young stars Rafael Devers, Jarren Duran and Triton Casas.
The Miami Dolphins
I first became a fan of the NFL when I was in high school in the eighties. In 1983 the Miami Dolphins drafted quarterback Dan Marino, from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a stud. It was Marino and the Dolphins team of that era that drew me to the NFL. The Dolphins had a pair of excellent wide receivers at the time, Mark Duper and Mark Clayton, nicknamed, “the Marks of Excellence” who Marino threw the ball to. The Dolphins defense at the time was known as, “the killer B’s” because of the number of players whose last name started with the letter B, including the Blackwood brothers, Glenn and Lyle, Kim Bokamper, Bob Brudzinski, Bob Baumhower, and others, as well as pro-bowlers A.J. Duhe and Don McNeal.
In the Marino-era the Dolphins reached the Super Bowl once in 1985, losing to the San Francisco 49ers. During his playing career Marino set many NFL records, and when he retired he held 40 such records, some of which have since been eclipsed.
It’s been tough to be a Dolphins fan in the post-Marino era. Marino retired in the year 2000. Until the recent addition of Tua Tagovailoa the Dolphins have not had a premier quarterback. Tua is supremely talented but has already suffered three concussions. More importantly it’s been tough to be a Dolphins fan because the team has not made it back to the Super Bowl since the 1985 season.
Dan Marino is considered the greatest Miami Dolphin player to have ever donned the team’s teal uniform colours. It was Marino that drew me to the Dolphins, and it’s his continued association with the team that keeps me a fan. Today’s team stars that keep me interested in the Dolphins include Tagovailoa, and wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
The Los Angeles Lakers
The Minnesota Lakers played in Minneapolis for 12 seasons before moving to Los Angeles in 1960 and becoming the LA Lakers.
I became a Lakers fan in the mid-eighties when I was in high school, and Laker teams of that era featured stars such as: Ervin “Magic” Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, Mychael Thompson and Byron Scott. They were known as the “Showtime” Lakers and won five championships in the eighties under Johnson’s leadership. Johnson went on to be a part-owner of the LA Lakers and has won nine more championships as an owner.
The next era of greatness for the Lakers featured Kobe Bryant. He played 20 seasons for the Lakers, and was named an NBA All-Star in 18 of those seasons. He led the Lakers to five NBA championships during his career with the team.
The current era of the Los Angeles Lakers is led by Lebron James. James has won four NBA championship titles including in 2023 as a member of the Lakers. Lebron has accomplished so much: ten trips to the NBA finals, including eight straight trips to the finals, four NBA championships, and four times the league’s MVP.
It was Magic and the great centre Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that drew me into the Lakers in the mid-eighties. Then it was Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal, the enigmatic but talented Centre and held my interest. Now it’s Lebron and Anthony Davis that keep me glued to the Lakers fortunes. Each era has won an NBA championship, which keeps expectations high for the team among its fans.
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