For those of you who are certified, card-carrying, dues-paying, die-hard Boston sports fans, it’s been quite a 21st century so far. Led by a banquet hall-sized cast of current and future Hall of Famers, from Tom Brady and David Ortiz to Kevin Garnett and Zdeno Chara, the New England Patriots (six), Boston Red Sox (four), Celtics (two) and Bruins (one) have combined to win 13 championships. 

If you hate all things Boston, this has to be gnawing. It’s been 2 1/2 decades of rolling rallies and gubernatorial proclamations. It’s been nonstop Matt Damon, Donnie Wahlberg and the Affleck brothers telling the world how great it is to be from Greater Boston.

(Personal observation: In terms of pure sports knowledge, Wahlberg is in a class by himself. And Casey Affleck does the best job of portraying the stereotypical obnoxious Boston sports fan, if his “Saturday Night Live” Dunkin’ Donuts parody commercial is any indication.)

The past month has been rough. Wicked rough. To borrow a couple of lines from the 19th-century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose home on Brattle Street in Cambridge was just 3 miles from the future Fenway Park: 

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

In that spirit, Boston sports fans are getting drenched.

But the news is not all bad. The Boston Fleet of the Professional Women’s Hockey League are competing for a championship. They are tied 1-1 in the playoff semifinals against the Ottawa Charge and play Friday night. Considering the interest women’s hockey is getting nationwide, particularly after Team USA’s gold-medal victory at the Winter Olympics, the Fleet deserve to be in this conversation.

As for the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins, let us count the dark and dreary days.

Patriots — This was supposed to be a sunshiny springtime for the Pats. After back-to-back 4-13 seasons and a coaching carousel that went from the iconic Bill Belichick to one-and-done Jerod Mayo to former linebacker Mike Vrabel, the surprising 2025 Pats, led by second-year quarterback Drake Maye, went 14-3 and advanced all the way to Super Bowl LX before being shown the door in a 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

But then came reports of Vrabel’s relationship with The Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, with things getting to the point where the coach announced he was stepping away from the NFL Draft for a day to spend time with his family and undergo counseling. Now, the Patriots are immersed in organizational damage control.

Red Sox — Despite a somewhat promising 2025 season in which they went 89-73 and made it to the playoffs before being eliminated by the New York Yankees in the wild-card round, the Red Sox came into ’26 with their fans on edge. The Sox didn’t make a big-splash free-agent signing during the winter, and the Opening Day roster was a hodgepodge of too many outfielders and not enough right-handed punch. On April 25, with the Red Sox last in the American League East at 10-17, it was announced that manager Alex Cora and five of his coaches had been fired. Plus, longtime Red Sox fixture Jason Varitek, who was a catcher for Boston’s 2004 and ’07 championship teams, was reassigned from his position as game-planning coach.

It remains unclear what, if any, role Varitek will take. Chad Tracy has been promoted from Triple-A Worcester to serve as interim manager. As for the front office, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, a former pitcher who logged 12 seasons in the big leagues but can’t seem to find his way to the clubhouse, has been criticized by players who feel their counsel wasn’t sought. As of Monday, the Red Sox are 3-4 under Tracy. Staff ace Garrett Crochet is on the injured list, as is starter Sonny Gray. Ranger Suarez is “day to day.”

Celtics — It was said this was going to be a “gap season” for the 2025-26 Celtics while superstar Jayson Tatum was recovering from the devastating Achilles injury he suffered last spring at Madison Square Garden. But the rebuilt-on-the-fly Celtics played surprisingly well for much of the season, with the bonus of Tatum’s return to the floor in March. The Celtics were the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference going into the playoffs, and they promptly took a 3-1 lead in their opening-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. But the Sixers won three straight games to eliminate the Celtics, including a 109-100 victory in the finale while Tatum sat out with left leg tightness.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla rolled out a starting lineup for Game 7 that looked like something from out of the 1956-57 Fort Wayne Pistons — Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza and Baylor Scheierman were making their first postseason starts — and the result was a quick 30-15 deficit. The Celtics did storm back and held a brief 1-point lead in the second quarter, but it all fell apart in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter. Mazzulla walked into the interview room after the game and put on his philosopher’s derby: “I think a lot of times in the world today, it’s an either/or society, but there’s a duality to everything. And the year we won, I felt just as empty as we did when we lost. And the duality of going after something bigger than yourself with a group of people is you’re always going to have … there’s two sides to every coin, and when you go after greatness, you have to accept the other side of that. Too many times, it’s all about winning, winning, winning, but you have to surrender to the idea of when you’re going after that, you’re going to fail. We’ve failed by not winning, but we stick to the process of being able to do that. But I think that’s just kind of the duality of how things work. It’s not an either/or thing. It’s both, and you feel both of those things.”

It was the first time in franchise history the Celtics lost a best-of-seven series after taking a 3-1 lead.

Bruins — Everything being equal, the Bruins shouldn’t even be on this list. After not qualifying for the playoffs last season, they brought in Marco Sturm as coach and went 47-27-10 (100 points) to make it back to the postseason. That’s a commendable one-year turnaround, but the Bruins went out in the first round against the Buffalo Sabres, the finale being a 4-1 Game 6 loss at TD Garden.

Pick any number of reasons the Bruins lost the series, but The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa wraps it all up in this nice, tidy package: “The Bruins’ hearts were broken. They believed they had the goaltending, defensive structure, physicality and timely scoring to nudge past the Sabres. The reality, however, was that they lost to a better team.”

Good season for the Bruins. But it’s been 15 seasons (and counting) since the night of June 15, 2011, at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, when Chara let out a mighty roar as he held the Stanley Cup over his head.