'Different Here': Boston Once Again Shows Other, Lesser Cities How Championship Celebrations are Done
Even though this Tweet is over a month old, it still makes a point that cannot be overstated. Boston is different. For the Celtics. For the other three teams. And for the people who give them an insane, irrational, disproportionate importance in their lives.
I wouldn't be so bold as to think I could say it as well as Greenie already has:
But just to piggyback on his post, this is how we do it:
NBC Boston - The crowds were mostly peaceful, with some pushing the limits by climbing up light posts and traffic signals or sitting on top of some of the surrounding buildings.
Others were seen setting off small fireworks from the crowd.
There aren't any reports of any injuries so far, and a large amount of Boston police could be seen monitoring the crowds throughout the hours-long celebration. However, seven people, including two boys, were arrested during those celebrations, Boston police said Tuesday.
Overall, though, fans were positive, excited and emotional as they celebrated the Celtics' NBA Finals win.
"There's nobody like Boston though. This crowd is crazy, it's amazing and you know what, I feel like I'm home because I am," said one fan.
"This is what the Celtics community's all about. You feel it? It feels like you're inside the TD Garden," said another fan.
"This is the greatest place in the world in the greatest city in the world, with the best basketball team in the world, and the best crowd in the world — let's go!" said a fan.
No one injured. No property damage. No vehicles set ablaze. You can scoff at the seven arrests, but there were three at the Pride Parade last week. Which didn't involve tens of thousands of people flocking to the streets after a night of boozing ending with a cathartic, emotional victory. And all of them were essentially Disorderly Conduct charges. Like the 19 year old from Maine I read about who was told to leave, was calling his mom to come pick him up, and pushed a cop. It's very simple. You lay your hands on a member of Boston's Finest, you belong to him for the night.
Which reminds me of something a friend of mine from Dorchester said when the Red Sox won in 2004 and some people got out of control. And that is, you know they were all college kids from out of town. Because no real Bostonian would ever walk away from a $6 beer (in 2004 dollars) he just waited a half hour for to go out into the streets and trash his own city. Our priorities are different than all the 21-year-olds from Minnesota working on their undergrad in Communications at BU.
Here, it's all about acting like you've been there before. And even though we actually haven't been since the Before Times, the long, long ago of February 2019 (and before that, October of 2018), we haven't lost that muscle memory of how to do it right.
I was outside the Garden when the Bruins won the Cup in 2011. Which was six championships ago. And even then, the Boston PD had it down to a science. Barricades were up. Officers in tactical gear and K-9 were kept in reserve along, far from the maddening crowd. At one point fans were rocking a big communications van, and were allowed to blow off that steam so long as it went no further. And it didn't. Eventually they all dispersed on their own. It was just pure exuberance. The kind of shenanigans that are cheeky and fun. Not the shenanigans that are cruel and tragic. Which makes them not shenanigans at all.
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So yeah, while Boston might be a bit rusty when it comes to celebrating championships - and five years is longer than a city of our caliber should ever have to endure - we got a lot of practice with the previous 12. So it didn't take long to re-acclimate ourselves to breathing the sweet, rarefied air that comes from unfurling a fresh banner. Once again, the city of my birth has made me proud.
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