Unforgettable encore: Boston vigorously defended its title as the, Best Sports City, giving its nation of zealous fans a chance to celebrate the Patriots' dynasty and—Holy Hub!—the World Champion Red Sox

World champion Red Sox. Need I say more?

And yet there is a certain irony that the defining moment in Boston's sports year--hell, the defining moment in several Boston generations--came in St. Louis.

Moments after the last out of last fall's Game 4 of a World Series sweep, grown men are crying around me as others chant "Let's Go, Red Sox" and still others stand silent, eyes glazed and smiles frozen as if they've just, well, you know ... only better. And then this guy looks me square in the eye as he peels the red, white and blue bunting off the railing in front of us in Section 250 at Busch Stadium. It will be the souvenir of (more than) a lifetime, and it is the conductor's call that this runaway Best Sports City train is leavin' the station.

So pardon me while I save a little time and effort and pick up from last year's story (TSN, August 9, 2004): "There can be no debate: Over 12 months, stretching roughly from July to July, Boston was the Hub of the sports universe that the SPORTING NEWS covers--a city that celebrated and commiserated, exulted and agonized (again) over a year's most dramatic victories and cursed defeats."

But hang on. Check that. Here's how good a 12 months it has been in Boston, better even than the 12 months that preceded it. Fans there can forget about commiserating and agonizing over cursed defeats because, frankly, there was abso-freakin'-nothing to wring their hands about like there had been for, oh, say, the 86 previous years.

Boston, the SPORTING NEWS Best Sports City in 2002 and again in 2004, is No. 1 again.

Whoa-ho, we got us a certifiable Best Sports City dynasty, folks, and no amount of angry e-mail (memo to Chicagoans: Win something, anything, and then pop of 0 or threatening letters (yeah, yeah, you know where I live, Philly fans, but ... well, you're just Chicago, only farther east) is going to change that.

Three No. 1s in four years--and I never thought I'd be saying this, but thank God for our much-maligned 2003 Best Sports "City" of Anaheim-Los Angeles. What makes Boston's run most impressive is that when we set up our criteria in 1997 for our expanded rankings, we did so with a calculated and calculating goal of achieving movement each year, especially in the upper reaches of our BSC top 25.

And things worked marvelously for seven years as the numbers dictated six different No. 1 cities. What fun is it, we asked in '97, if the same cities finish at the top each year?

What fun indeed, eh, Boston?

You got your world champions (Red Sox and Patriots), you got your playoff, bowl and NCAA Tournament participants (Celtics and Boston College), you got the Marathon and the Beanpot, not to mention the PGA Tour, the Major League Lacrosse championship and the Head of Charles Regatta. There was so much going on in Boston over the past 12 months that, like most of North America, it hardly even missed the idle Bruins of the NHL.

Yep, it has been quite an improbable year. So improbable that the final scenes of the movie Fever Pitch had to be reworked, the location and timing of the shoot changed to accommodate the ... oh, my God ... world champion Boston Red Sox.

What you need to know about Boston

When we started putting together this package, we got in touch with bona fide Bostonians to try to get a feel for "the Hub." How, we wondered, would you describe things unique to Boston to those who never have been there? The bona fide Bostonians forwarded us an e-mail under the clever heading of "What you need to know about Boston." The author is anonymous (Google told us so), and there are numerous permutations on the Internet. But this we do know: The accuracy of these items is beyond reproach, the bona fide Bostonians assure us.

* There's no school on School Street, no court on Court Street, no dock on Dock Square, no water on Water Street. Back Bay streets are in alphabetical oddah: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, etc. So are South Boston streets.

If the streets are named after trees (Walnut, Chestnut, Cedar ...), you're on Beacon Hill. If they are named after poets, you're in Wellesley. Massachusetts Avenue is Mass Ave; Commonwealth Avenue is Cumin Ave; South Boston is Southie. The South End is the South End. East Boston is Eastie. The North End is east of the former West End. The West End and Scollay Square are no more; a guy named Rappaport Sot rid of them one night. Roxbury is The Burry, Jamaica Plain is J.P.

* Definitions: Frappes have ice cream; milkshakes don't. If it's fizzy and flavored, it's tonic. Soda is club soda. Pop is Dad. When we want tonic water, we will ask for tonic water. The smallest beer is a pint.

* It's not a water fountain; it's a bubblah. It's not a trash can; it's a barrel. It's not a shopping cart; it's a carriage. It's not a purse; it's a pockabook. It's not a frank; it's a haht dahg. Franks are money in France.

* Police don't drive patrol units or black-and-whites; they drive croozas. If you take the bus, you're on the looza crooza. It's not a rubber band; it's an elastic. It's not a traffic circle; it's a rotary. "Going to the islands" means Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. If something is good, it's pissah. If something is really good, it's wicked pissah.