The Globe changed things up this morning with the featured article Imagine all four crowns and the sub-features on all four major professional sports teams in Boston and their chances of winning the next championship in their sport.

While the notion of Mayor Menino struggling to decide whether to have the Bruins or Celtics parade first is a bit absurd, I like the spirit of the series – positive – something I’m not always used to getting from the Globe. For a while there, they seemed determined to drop a bomb just prior to every Patriots playoff game. This series reminds us to recognize what we have here, that this is a very special time in Boston sports.

Reader reaction however, at least in the comment sections of the articles, has consisted mainly of ridicule towards the Globe and the teams.

Examples:

Get real! We’re more likely to see a Starbuck’s in Havana, before we see another boston professional sports championships. Celts won’t get past the Cavs, the Sox will be out of it early, the Pats’ run is over, and the B’s will need the stars to align if they’re to reach the conference finals. But hey, at least we have the Terriers’ Frozen Four championship to savor.

Wow! Is the Globe brain dead? Celtics just got laughed out of Cleveland, the RedSox look terrible, the Bruins have not won in 37 years, and the Pats have not won with the pretty boy’s knee injury. To think I wanted Barrack to bail you out, no more.

wow…the globe should go away permanently with this kind of foolish reporting. the celts and bruins both need help to make it to the finals, the sox have shown they have holes all over their pitching rotation and you can pitch to ANYONE in the lineup without fear, and the pats…well, they aren’t the class of the AFC, let alone the team to beat in the AFC east. wishful thinking john powers, but its time for you to grab a cup of warm milk and take a nap.

Uh, the *New England* Patriots are based in Foxborough. A championship parade may be held in this city, but it’s not a Boston team.

And for 12 years after c. 1989, “none of them won a thing”? Eight years after that, the Patriots won the conference championship and played in (and lost) the Super Bowl. Granted, not banner-hanging material, but certainly fits in this wild-eyed, loose-standards concept of “civic euphoria.”

You get the drift. Also in the mix are several commenters suggesting that the Globe has disrespected the New England Revolution by not including them in the discussion.

Why the nastiness? I know, it’s par for the course on the internet, where cynicism rules, and comments such as the above are everywhere, on every topic.

A BSMW Messageboard poster has another theory:

I think it’s the Jim Rome phenomenon: you gotta have a take. And saying “ I’m going to trust the team to do what’s right based on past experience” or “the slow start doesn’t concern me since I know they’ve got a good team”…those aren’t strong takes. That’s pussy talk from a casual fan that doesn’t care about the team as much as me or else you’d have the fake outrage and ALL CAPS comments on boston.com and repeated phone calls to Ordway. THAT’S a fan. Rack it.

Sadly, I think there’s something to that. Not just Jim Rome, but the whole sports radio experience is about “having a take” and “bringing it.” That mentality is the same one exhibited in so many comment sections on websites of every topic. For me, it’s one of the less appealing things about the internet.

Can’t we just enjoy the fact that the Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox and Patriots all appear to be at the very least, contenders for their league championship?

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