The estimated turnout for Friday's Celtics Victory Parade was over a million. I wasn't one of them, but I was somewhat adjacent, and I believe that number.
This was the 13th sports championship parade in Boston since the start of the 21st century. How fortunate we are in this sports-crazed region, how very fortunate indeed.
I can't say that I've been to any of these parades, other than to walk along the back of the madding crowd and catch a glimpse here in there of the goings on. I don't exactly have to go out of my way, as the route always takes the parade within a five minute (if that) walk of my home.
For one of the Patriots celebrations, I did see Tom Brady and Bill Belichik going by on a Duck Boat. Brady waved in my direction.
In 2013, when the Red Sox won the World Series, I was walking in the Boston Public Garden when the flatbed holding David Ortiz - for some reason, Big Papi wasn't riding in one of the Ducks - stopped directly in front of where I was walking. So I stopped, and over the fence, over the heads of fans lined up 10 deep, I sang along as Ortiz led the crowd in a chorus of Sweet Caroline, one of the Red Sox theme songs.
The one parade I'm sorry I missed was the 2004 blowout, when The Olde Towne Team won the World Series for the first time in 86 years. It was the Saturday before the election, and I was up in New Hampshire ringing doorbells for John Kerry. (At least Kerry won NH...)
Anyway, on parade morning, I worked my usual shift at St. Francis House, which is right off the parade route. A 15 second walk off it. And because SFH is embarking on a major reno project, they actual have some temporary space right on Tremont Street, along the route. The staff was invited to watch from there, and I could have tagged along. But I was tired. It was hot. And I felt like just going home and watching on TV.
Because the parade was not going to be going by for another 30 minutes after I finished up my shift, I was pretty sure that I would be able to cross Tremont Street and make my way home. But the crowd was way too deep, way too intense. I asked a couple of police officers if there was any possibility I could get through, and they looked at me as if I had two heads. (I only had one, and it was wearing a Celtics cap.)
So instead of walking directly home - which usually takes 10 minutes - I had to walk 10 minutes to the Downtown Crossing T-station and take the T two stops. To get to Downtown Crossing, I walked along Washington Street, which runs parallel to the Tremont (on the parade route). It was mobbed with fans, all decked out in green, making their way to the parade, and I had to fight the crowds to get into the station.
I hadn't anticipated needing my T-Pass or a credit card, so I had neither on me. Fortunately, I did have four bucks, so I was able to get a ticket (alas, not my half-price geezer fare!) and a water, which was a good thing, as the platform, while not that crowded, was sweltering and I feared that I was going to pass out.
When I got off my train, the platform was crowded with fans who'd watched the parade from TD Garden and were heading home. Charles Street was also full of fans making their ways to, or retreating from, the parade. I couldn't tell which was which, as there were plenty of folks walking in both directions.
The T was running slow, and by the time I made it to my place, it had taken my 40 minutes.
I did catch a distant parade glimpse, as from the corner of Charles and Beacon, I saw one of the Ducks and an explosion of green and white confetti.
Once home, I got to watch plenty of the parade from the cool and quiet of my den.
While I'm glad I wasn't there sweating, overheating, feeling faint, being jostled by the crowd, I was happy that I did get to see so many of the fans as I made my way home.
Sure, there were a ton of young people - teens, twenties - but there were plenty of families, too. There were even a few olds. Everyone seemed so excited, so joyful. Everyone - and I do mean everyone - was wearing something green. It looked like a warm-weather St. Patrick's Day Parade. Many had on newly minted championship gear. Some were holding signs. But what struck me the most was how diverse the crowd was. Certainly by age, but mostly by race. Black, white, Asian, Hispanic. And the crowd seemed to cut across the class spectrum as well. There were folks who looked like working stiffs, folks who looked like finance bros.
Even where I was - out of the thick of it - occasional chants broke out.
While I was watching on TV, the crowd seemed to burst spontaneously into Sweet Caroline (which, though most closely associated with the Red Sox, has become something of an all-purpose Boston sports song - along with Dirty Water and Shipping Up To Boston). This was on Boylston Street, where my niece Caroline was watching the parade from, but the singing didn't take place where she was standing.
It was just plain fun to watch the parade, even on TV. It looked like such a wonderfully exuberant blast.
One-million+ people, and there were only two arrests. Amazing! It's not like there wasn't any drinking. My niece Molly works along the early part of the parade route, opposite Boston City Hall, and she reported that after the parade passed by, the area was loaded with discarded nips. But mostly the crowd was friendly and, if crazy, remarkably well-behaved.
The joy-fest is ongoing.
Yesterday, while taking a walk in Back Bay, a good proportion - maybe one-quarter - of the people I saw were still wearin' o' the green. As I neared Dick's Sporting Goods, the proportion grew - conservatively - to 99.9999%. And there were a ton of people lined up to get into Dick's. I asked one of the folks what they were waiting for. It was to see Al Horford, at 38, the Old Man of the Celtics team, and a fan favorite. (He's mine.)
I asked the fan to extend my congratulations to Al, and he assured me he would.
Things should get back to normal now.
On the sports front, we'll be fretting about why the mediocrity which is the 2024 Red Sox has suddenly gotten kinda-sorta good, taking series from both the Yankees and the Phillies (the teams with the best records in the MLB).
Those who closely follow the Patriots will be wondering how long they'll be wandering in the championship desert, which seems to many to be quite unfair, given that they've only won six Super Bowls since the turn of the century and the expectation that there will be more has verged on entitlement.
Bruins fans will be counting down the days until the first puck drop, hoping that some Celtics magic rubs off on them.
And the sportswriters and the fans are already speculating about the Celtics repeating in 2025 and beyond. Could this be another Bird-McHale-Parish era? Could this - gulp! - be another Russell-era team. (They won 11 NBA titles.)
Me? I'll be wearing my Celtics cap for a bit longer, then reverting to the Red Sox.
But I do think I'll be paying more attention to the C's the next time around.
The Celtics are a very likeable team, and I'm likeabling them quite a lot.
Maybe next year I'll suck it up and watch the celebration up close and personal. After all, I do so love a parade.
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