When the Bruins made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs, this newbie fan who hadn’t watched a full game since shootouts replaced extra periods, and who thought our captain was an Irish player named O’Chara, not only jumped back onto the bandwagon, I was driving it.
That’s right, I’d be in the lead Duck Boat holding Lord Stanley’s cup over my head sitting on Zdeno Chara’s shoulders if I could. But please don’t begrudge me- I need the good news and distraction as much as anyone else.
And I’m not the only one arriving late to this party. Pulling into the parking lot of a sporting goods store at 7 a.m. the morning after to see if I could score a championship hat or tee (no such luck), I laughed to myself as I parked my car bearing Celtics plates in between vehicles sporting Red Sox and Patriots plates with not a Bruins plate in sight.
Later that day I drove by a guy walking down the street wearing a Tim Thomas shirt who must have felt like the MVP himself as he waved and smiled to beeps and cheers from passing cars, including mine. Today he’s probably sweating his butt off mowing the lawn in the same shirt, wondering how he can afford to send his kids to college, but on that day he felt like part of the team.
Times are tough- but when the hometown teams are winning, everyone is in a better mood. Even my mother who doesn’t know the difference between Chara and Charo (goochie goochie) asked me to set her DVR to record the duck boat parade so she could be part of the excitement, and what’s wrong with that?
It seems like Boston sports fans are generally described two ways: long suffering or spoiled. We’ve suffered some of the worst defeats (Bruins v. Flyers 2010- ouch!) and the most miraculous wins (2004 ALC Sox v. Yankees- a miracle!). And it is these extreme emotions that keep us perpetually heartbroken and elated at the same time, providing us with much needed exercise as we jump on and off the bandwagon depending on which team is hot at the moment.
And I will freely admit this is not my first ride on a bandwagon. I live with someone who religiously watched every painful Celtics game during years when the Herald couldn’t bribe someone to sit in our skybox. I’ve listened to screams of “you stink” and “stop throwing up trash” directed to our own team, as I suggested “you can do it” might be more encouraging. But enter the big three and the 2008 Championship vs. LA, and guess who is taking a couple of hours off from work to attend the Celtics Duck Boat victory parade wearing my World Champion tee screaming “I LOVE YOU RONDO!” as green and white confetti rained down on me; all this, while the die-hard, life-long fan toiled diligently at work.
Watching the joy and celebration of our championship teams makes me wonder what it’s like to feel on top of the world, to see your dreams and hard work culminate in a feat that is the pinnacle of your career. And for that one moment frozen in time- pure joy. Our personal payoffs for hard work are much less celebrated, and we may never experience that moment that so defines our career that we can sit back and think with a sigh, “I did it”. So we live vicariously through the achievements of our athletes, sharing their pain and joy, bonding with each other over heartbreak and happiness, always looking forward to the start of the next season.
So to you long suffering fans who lost a season during the hockey lockout and who bought their original chair when the “Old Gah-den” was torn down, don’t be haters! You have earned my total respect, and my new enthusiasm in no way diminishes your years of loyalty. Or to paraphrase a childhood song, “Make new fans, but keep the old. One is silver and the other’s gold.” Or in this case, black and gold.
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