I have to say I have a bad feeling about the fallout in the streets of Boston should the Red Sox manage to win the World Series. Events after recent major sports wins by area teams have filled me with forboding.
When the Patriots won the Super Bowl last year people took to the streets and one person in the crowd was killed by being run over. Then last week a young lady was killed after the Red Sox won the ALCS when police fired so called non-lethal bullets into a crowd that had gathered outside Fenway Park (the clinching game was played in New York) after the Red Sox won.
Given the huge Red Sox fan base and the level of fanaticsm therein (much more so than the Patriot’s faithful), plus the long interval since they last won the World Series I think the potential is there for things to be much, much worse this time.
The police were criticized after the Super Bowl riots for not being ready for the situation and not having enough resources available to handle a situation they probably should have forseen. So last week they have a strong visible prescence and it backfires leaving dead a victim who by all accounts was guilty of doing nothing but walking down a crowded street with her friends (note: I do not blame the Boston Police as a group for any of this, I think they were doing their best to deal with a very difficult situation.)
I am taking a night course at Northeastern University (where many of the Super Bowl rioting students went to school) and overheard an undergraduate student advising his professor not to schedule a midterm the day after any of the World Series games. “It is going to be crazy (if the Sox win the deciding game)” the student said. “Things are going to be burning!” (he seemed enchanted by the prospect).
I don’t know. I really hope I am wrong. There were dire predictions before the DNC here this summer too, which mostly didn’t come true. But I am genuinely concerned.
I live in Brighton, and just moved from the Fenway area in September. Also, I went to Northeastern, and luckily was nowhere near that area after the Super Bowl.
I have mixed feelings about what might happen if they win the World Series. On one hand, a lot of people I know are just happy that they made it, and kicked the Yankee’s asses in the process. To them winning the World Series is a bonus, rather than the real goal of this whole thing. Sometimes I wonder if the Series itself will be far more calm than the games leading up to it. But I wouldn’t count on it.
I will most likely not be leaving my apartment during the deciding game. At least, if I do, I will be at a local bar and not right in Boston, and I find that sad. I would LOVE to be down by Fenway and maybe even at the Cask and Flagon, rooting away with everyone else. However, it may not be safe to even do that.
Oh well, here’s to hoping that the city survives the Series.
See, I don’t get that (although I know what you are talking about). They’ve WON the ALCS before, and had to beat the Yankees to do it, at least in terms of Division standings. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. What they HAVEN’T done within the last 86 years is win the WS…that and nothing else should be the real point to this whole thing.
IMHO having beaten the Yankees in the ALCS is going to be no consolation to most fans if they don’t also win the World Series.
It was a pretty dramatic victory, though. They still won the Penant even AFTER losing the first three games, something that’s never happened before, AFAIK.
Plus, the rivalry has been getting far more bitter as of late, even in the five years I’ve been living here. A few years ago, **Yankees Suck ** t-shirst didn’t even exist. I think they’re tacky anyhow, especially because they sell them all over the place even when we’re not playing the Yankees.
I DO think there will be chaos if they win, and even if they lose. But I think the fact that the beat their archrivals to get the Penant had a lot to do with how out of control the crowds got.
Hate to say it, but I agree completely that no matter how it plays out, chaos will reign supreme. I was actually fervently hoping that they’d not get to the playoffs, due to the extreme nature of the rioting when the Patriots won. Given that baseball is a much bigger sport around here than football, I expect the rioting, no matter who wins, to be horrendous.
I honestly don’t think it will be too bad if they do in fact manage to lose. You rarely hear about rioting in a town where a local team has just lost a big game…it only seems to happen where a team has had a big win.
