This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on April 22, 2006.

By Nick Tavares

For the first time in five years, the NBA playoffs will begin today without the Celtics in the hunt for a second-round exit.

Similarly, the Bruins are without a chance to lose in the first round of the NHL playoffs, which kicked off last night, for the first time in five years.

But what's really scary about this is the total lack of uproar over the lack of success from the B's and C's as of late. Both also missed the playoffs in the 1999-00 season and the 1996-97 season, with the Celtics missing every year in between as well.

The thought of the Bruins and Celtics living lackluster existences is taken for granted. Missing the playoffs or performing poorly becomes less frustrating to the New England sports world at large because it's cared about less and less.

What's really frightening, though, is how the collective failures of the two teams has been glossed over. Before that 1997 playoff season, the last time both teams missed the playoffs was 1950.

In 1950, the middle of Harry S Truman's presidency, the Celtics finished with a final record of 22-26, last in the league's six-team Eastern Division. This was an era when the Anderson Packers, Chicago Stags, Indianapolis Olympians and Sheboygan Redskins called the league home.

Also that year, the Bruins finished 22-33-16, fifth in the Original Six NHL.

The Celtics' glory days of Red Auerbach and Bill Russell were not far away, though the Bruins were still more than a decade away from having Bobby Orr serve as their savior.

What's interesting is, looking at the current squad, the Celtics again seem to have the upper hand they did in 1950.

Danny Ainge, for better or worse, seems to have a real plan in place. Building around Paul Pierce, Ainge has drafted extremely well, picking up at least five kids who could be viable NBA players in just the last two seasons, with Al Jefferson and Delonte West leading the way.

Trading the bulky contract of the comatose Mark Blount for the bulky contract of Wally Szczerbiak was actually a nice move &

if you're going to pay a player, it's always better to pay the one that can produce.

What the Celtics have, though, is hope. With the score of young players, there's hope that something really special could develop. And for the Bruins, there is close to no hope for the near future.

It could have just been disappointing if they'd tanked this season and missed the playoffs, but that wasn't enough. Trading franchise centerpiece Joe Thornton, who went on to score 98 points in 58 games for San Jose and turn linemate Jonathan Cheechoo into the league's top goal scorer, was inexcusable.

The Bruins, saddled with an aging president and a bumbling owner, are now stuck in a terrible salary cap situation and an even worse reputation. Any frontline NHL free agent would have to be crazy to want to play on Causeway Street.

The Bruins, too, have some solid young players, led by Patrice Bergeron and Hannu Toivonen, but the prospects of those two playing on a winning team are dim.

But, even with the Celtics' future still bright, the two teams still share the dubious distinction that they both are slipping farther and farther out of the mainstream. There are still hard-core legions who will follow the teams to the end, but the causal sports fan really hasn't had much reason to follow the teams in years.

The Celtics, even though they missed the dance this year, are doing their part to right the ship. The Bruins seem to have no idea how miserable they are and are in no hurry to correct it.

It's been a long time since 1950, but somehow it still feels like it will be a long time before they both matter again.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Contact him at ntavares@s-t.com

Date of Publication April 22, 2006 on Page C05