By John Sapochetti
NEFJ Contributor
In the long, storied history of Boston sports, there have been many individual team rivalries. Red Sox – Yankees is the greatest rivalry in Major League Baseball.
The Celtics, winners of 18 NBA Championships, have had decades long duels with the Philadelphia 76ersand the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Bruins, most natural rival is the Montréal Canadiens. Although, for the first 60 years of this matchup, it was as much a rivalry as the hammer and the nail’s rivalry.
The Patriots have had transient rivals. The Jets, Giants, Ravens , whatever team Peyton Manning was on, and most recently the Chiefs and Bills have fit the bill.
In looking at a 30,000 foot view, Boston vs. Houston has had some interesting matchups over the years.
The Celtics beat the Houston Rockets in 1981 and 1986 to win their respective 15th and 16th NBA Titles . in ‘81 it was Celtics versus Moses Malone. The Green Team prevailed in six games.
In 1986, perhaps the Celtics greatest single-season team, beat Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Samson also in six games.
Current Rockets Head Coach Ime Udoka, helmed the Celtics for one year before being removed from Office. Udoka has quickly transformed Houston into a Western Conference power and is generally considered one of the top coaches in the league.
Between 2017 and 2021, the Red Sox met the Houston Astros three times in the postseason. The Astros won in 2017 in the ALDS and again in 2021 in the ALCS . In 2018 the Red Sox beat the Astros in five games in the ALCS.
Intriguing to the Red Sox – Astros rivalry is that current Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who led Boston to the 2018 World Series title, served as bench coach on the 2017 Astros World Series winning team. He is considered the mastermind of the Astros sign stealing scandal.
The New England – Houston football rivalry is more truncated. The Patriots and Oilers were AFL rivals in the 1960’s.
The teams faced off in the 1978 AFC Divisional Round with the Oilers prevailing 31–14 amid the controversy of Patriots Head Coach Chuck Fairbanks messy exit to college football to become head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes.
Since the Texans were born in 2002, the Patriots have won two playoff games against them in comfortable fashion at Gillette Stadium.
For some unknown reason, Houston does not have an NHL franchise. Mystifying, since it’s a top five media market.
Is there natural hatred between Boston and Houston, not necessarily. But, there will be a lot at stake and plenty of intensity when the Texans and Patriots kick off at 3:00 Sunday with the winner advancing to the AFC Championship Game.