Relive the unprecedented twenty-year era of dominance that transformed Boston into the modern sports capital of the world.
In This Is Our City, veteran sports columnist and top-rated New England radio host Tony Massarotti delivers an insider's account of how Boston captured twelve major titles across twenty seasons.
Massarotti reveals how the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins crossed organizational lines to fuel, challenge, and inspire one another—from the arrival of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick to the Celtics' "Big Three," the Bruins' gritty Stanley Cup run, and David Ortiz's defiant post-Marathon bombing rally cry that gave the city its ultimate identity.
Written with the sharp insight and unfiltered passion that defines Boston sports culture, this volume captures the heartbreaks, triumphs, and defining cultural shifts of a golden age.
Inside This Volume:
- The Synergy of Titletown: An examination of how cross-franchise culture, high-stakes competition, and legendary talent pushed all four teams to peak performance.
- Crucial Moments & Cultural Touchstones: Deep-dive reporting on iconic turnarounds, dramatic postseason victories, and the pivotal civic events—from 9/11 to the Boston Marathon recovery—that tied the region together through sports.
- Front-Row Perspective: Eyewitness reporting and sharp analysis from one of Boston's most trusted sports media voices.
"If anybody is qualified to riff about Boston sports in the last twenty years, it's Tony Massarotti... This wonderful book will bring back all those great memories." —Chris "Mad Dog" Russo
Praise
“Boston sports fans have been America’s luckiest in the new millennium. There have been twelve championships to savor in the first twenty-one years of the twenty-first century, including one dazzling run of seven years in which the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins each won a title. And now Tony Massarotti gives them a chance to relive it all in This Is Our City, which refers to, of course, the famous David Ortiz declaration in the wake of the 2013 Marathon bombings. Tony has done the work, and we get to enjoy the fruits of his phenomenal labor. For those of us who have lived through it all, this is our story, too. Thanks, Tony.”Bob Ryan
—
“If anybody is qualified to riff about Boston sports in the last twenty years, it’s Tony Massarotti, and boy has he got plenty to riff about! Championships all over the place and the envy of every major sports city in the country. This wonderful book will bring back all those great memories. The B’s, Pats, Celts, Sox, and Massarotti! What’s better than that?”Chris “Mad Dog” Russo
—
“I played in Boston, I was an executive in Boston, and there’s no place like it. Someone needed to tell the story of the city and its incredible run over the past few decades, and I’m so glad Tony Massarotti did it. This Is Our City is an entertaining and astute account by a guy who saw it all.”Danny Ainge
—
"This blend of memoir and history, written from a fan’s perspective, is a love letter to the city of Boston and the four major sports teams that call it home. In a meticulously researched of the Beantown teams that dominated their respective sports in the early twenty-first century, Boston sportswriter and radio talk-show host Massarotti details how these franchises, at one point mired in mediocrity, managed to rise to championship level. Much of the book focuses on the Patriots and the Red Sox, but the Celtics and Bruins also get their fair share of analysis and breakdown. It would be easy for Massarotti to skip over the ugliness that has occasionally hung like a dark cloud over the city and its teams, but he isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, even when discussing the city’s reputation for racism. Casual sports fans will remember some of the teams celebrated here, but this book is best for Boston diehards, who can be found across the country."Booklist
—
“While some of these moments will never leave the consciousness of a true Boston sports fan—‘The Steal,’ ‘Anything Is Possible,’ Malcolm Butler’s interception, to name a few—there are plenty more that readers will be thrilled to re-live here in these pages.”Boston.com
—
