Completing the monopoly: Bruins rising

Figures, doesn't it? Actually, not to me. I don't consider myself much of a gambler, so betting $1 on the Boston Bruins at 50/1 well before the hockey season started was a minimal investment with a nice potential return. I know very, very little about hockey, except that one thing was evident: The Bruins play in Boston, so they will get enough breaks to have a chance to win.
So far, I am looking pretty smart, for a change. All the Bruins have done is rack up 32 points, tops in the Eastern Conference and one shy of the San Jose Sharks' NHL-leading 35. I couldn't tell you much about the Bruins other then that their goaltending is considered among the game's elite. I believe they have a number of big-time fighters on their team, so foul play, as per usual with Boston sports, is likely a factor. I know that the Red Sox didn't win it in 2008, so A.J. Burnett is a likely candidate to end up there to make sure that doesn't happen again in 2009. For now, the Celtics are running away with a pitiful Eastern Conference in the NBA, and in case they slip, the Bruins likely will get enough luck on their side to more than make up for it.
Me, I am predictably disgusted, but hardly surprised. I don't really follow hockey enough to invest the same energy I do into baseball and football, but if a Boston team is winning, I'll take notice. If the Bruins do in fact rise to prominence and win the Stanley Cup, I will feel vindicated in one sense. There was little rhyme or reason why the Celtics became so dominant last season, and even less if the Bruins do the same this year. Except for the obvious theory that there is a higher being watching over Boston sports.
The $50 would be a nice “Sorry for your troubles” pocket cash if the Bruins complete the Boston sports monopoly, but it would continue a despicable trend of absurdity in the first decade of the 21st century. Canadian teams are supposed to rule hockey when the de facto powerhouse Red Wings slip, but Boston has the kind of charmed existence that automatically supersedes that. When the Bruins stand on the Fenway Park field before the Red Sox season opener in April hoisting the Stanley Cup trophy, it will put the cap on the complete takeover of sports. A scary thought indeed.