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Boston’s greatest sports arguments

Don’t just breathe Boston sports. Join Boston sports with your own .boston website.

If you have an opinion about sports, there is no better city to voice it than Boston, city of champions. Here, arguing about sports is a religion, and the legends of Bird, Brady, Ortiz, Russell, Orr, Cousy, Yaz, Williams, Flutie and so many others are passed from one generation to another like a great hand-me-down charcoal suit.

But you don’t just have to join an argument on social media to have fun. With your own sports website, you can start the argument yourself—with one smart, well-articulated blog post—and then watch it take off with a little help from Twitter and Facebook.

And now there’s a whole new world of website domains waiting to be snatched up with a Boston-based audience built right in. Since .boston web domains became available in the fall of 2017, organizations and communities have been scooping up internet identities to align themselves with everything Boston.

For example, Folsom Power & Light purchased Electrician.boston to boost its search engine optimization. Boston-based events planner Mark Johnson saw value in simply owning Markjohnson.boston. FamilyAid Boston, which has helped homeless families for a century, grabbed MarcusRuns.boston to use as a fundraising site for the 2018 Boston Marathon. And GoBruins.boston was grabbed by sports blogger Jordan Long to spout off on all things Boston Bruins.

There are already more than 21,000 .boston domain names registered, an average of more than 7,000 domains per month, or around 1,770 every week. And the domains are not just being grabbed and squatted on. Of the .boston domains bought, almost 16,000, or 75 percent, are developed—meaning they have a live website. (The undeveloped ones are typically either purchased for future development, for investment purposes, or for brand protection.)

And when it comes to Boston sports domains like GoBruins.boston, the possibilities are as endless as the city’s passion for all things sports. Just imagine what sports.boston could look like, or football.boston, baseball.boston, GOAT.boston, redsoxnation.boston, homerun.boston, touchdown.boston.

To have a little fun, we wanted to argue sports with someone who knows Bird from Bourque and Russell from Ramirez better than anyone. So we caught up with Richard Johnson, the curator at the Sports Museum at TD Garden and the author of 22 mostly sports-themed books, and asked him for his favorite rivalries in Boston sports history. You may disagree — naturally.

Then with each argument, we imagined the best, or most clever, .boston web domains (they can be presented with or without ‘www’ at the front) to capture the essence of the battle. Let the games begin!

The fact that both Boston teams reached recent championships with playoff wins over their ancient rivals gives credence to both sides of this dispute. But the Sox/Yankees get my nod due to the fact they’ve engaged in a 114-year hate fest that’s renewed a minimum of nineteen times each regular season, whereas the Habs and Bruins meet a paltry four times in the ever expanding NHL. YankeesSuck.boston; SoxYanks.boston; BruinsHabs.boston; PenaltyBox.boston.

The greatest team in pro basketball history boasts four players who’d make the top ten of most significant all-time NBA players with Bob Cousy (who virtually invented the position of point guard), Bird, John Havlicek, and Russell. And, it is Russell, with eleven NBA championships in thirteen seasons who ascends to the top of the victory stand in this, and most likely, the NBA contest of who reigns as greatest all-time player. Russell’s dominant play in an era where centers ruled, his social activism and authorship of one of sport’s most important memoirs, “Second Wind”, make his designation as greatest Celtic a slam dunk. RussellvsBird.boston; 3pointshot.boston; HickfromFrenchLick.boston; 17BannersandCounting.boston.

It took 88 years and the demise of five Boston based pro football franchises* for the NFL to finally rule New England but the Brady Bunch edge out the Red Sox as our region’s current most beloved franchise in a photo finish. Five Super Bowl trophies, a GOAT pairing of coach and quarterback trump three World Series trophies, Big Papi, Manny, Pedro, and Laser Show. TB12.boston; BradyBelichick.boston; Greenmonster.boston; TouchdownTommy.boston.

 

Much like the Russell vs Bird argument, Bobby Orr wins this contest that pairs two of the greatest defensemen to ever play the game. Orr, whose other worldly talent and skating ability, made him a De facto forward on the best scoring team in NHL history to that time, was a two time Stanley Cup champion and playoff MVP who also garnered eight Norris Trophies as the NHL’s best defenseman. Harry Sinden once remarked that he’d want Bobby Orr if he was a goal down and defensive stalwart Bourque if he was a goal up. By any reasonable standard, both are among the dozen best players in the NHL’s first century. BestBruinEver.boston; BourquevsOrr.boston; FamousFlyingGoal.boston.

It’s a safe bet that each and every Bostonian is one or two degrees of separation from the BAA marathon, while you’d need to add a degree or two for the Beanpot as well as another degree for rowing’s annual Woodstock. Not only has the marathon showcased the world’s best distance runners for parts of three centuries it has also served as the vehicle for raising hundreds of millions of dollars for charity. Hence it beats out a hockey tournament that BC coach Snooks Kelly once called, “the social event of the winter in Boston,” as well as international rowing’s greatest two-day competition. Rowing.boston; CharlesRiver.boston; 26point2miles.boston; Marathon.boston; Beanpot.boston; HeadoftheCharles.boston; HeartbreakHill.boston; FinishLine.boston; CollegeHockey.boston.

 

This is one of the closer contests as not only did David Ortiz seemingly come out of nowhere as a Twins castoff to lead the Red Sox to three world championships, but also helped lead them to four AL East titles and 5 wild card berths, one of which paved the path to the Bosox first world championship in 86 years. He was also maybe the greatest Sox clutch hitter ever. On the other hand, Ted Williams helped win two wars as a Marine pilot, did more than any one individual to establish The Jimmy Fund as America’s greatest sports related charity, and enjoyed a 22-year career that established him as one of, if not THE greatest hitter in baseball history. The man that batted .406 in 1941 as the last major leaguer to reach the impossible .400 level gets the tip of the cap in this contest. GreatestHitterEver.boston; LegendofBigPapi.boston; SplendidSplinter.boston; JimmyFund.boston; 406.boston; 1918-2004.boston; TheCurse.boston.

There’s no city in North America that can boast of three more historic and beloved sporting venues than our centenarian trio of Harvard Stadium (1903), Matthews (Boston) Arena (1910) and Fenway Park (1912). Harvard Stadium once played host to Jim Thorpe and the football players of Carlisle School as well as several US Olympic Trials in track and field not to mention a Rose Bowl champion (1920) and the famed 29-29 Yale game of 1968. Likewise, Matthews Arena, the oldest indoor ice arena in the world, played host to the first ever games by both the Celtics and Bruins, the first ever Beanpot and thousands of youth, high school, and collegiate hockey and basketball games. However, Fenway Park, marketed as “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark” gets the nod as it ranks with Boston Common and Freedom Trail as a must-see tourist destination, game day or otherwise. GreenMonster.boston; MatthewsArena.boston; InsideBaseball.boston; BostonSportsHistory.boston.

Tom Brady. TB12.boston; Quarterback.boston; QB.boston.

This content was produced by Boston Globe Media's Studio/B in collaboration with the advertiser. The news and editorial departments of The Boston Globe had no role in its production or display.