Press "Enter" to skip to content

Cue the duck boats … again

Sunday was a special day. The New England Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl since 2002. That is impressive and everyone worldwide must admit it.

But it’s not just the Patriots that have seen success. The Boston Red Sox have won four World Series since 2004, when they broke the curse of the Bambino.

Eleven years ago the Boston Celtics won their first NBA championship since 1986. I was 10 in 2008 and it was a fantastic year for my family and friends. Speaking of streaks being broken, the Boston Bruins also won the 2011 Stanley Cup for the first time 39 years.

New England is the six state northeast region of the United States made up six small, but tough, colonial states. The region has roughly 15 million residents with sports fans spreading all the way down to upstate New York.  

In fact, residents refer to themselves as a singular nation and are a tight knit group; Pats Nation, Celtics Nation, Red Sox Nation and B’s Nation, all live under one identity.  

If you support one of these teams you will be respected in one of the most judgmental areas of the United States. Admittedly, Bostonians and New Englanders as a whole aren’t the most considerate or open to change. But sports are their livelihood and passion shows.

The children that grow up there are lucky and truly know how to appreciate greatness. A championship is not a given but a competative New England team is.

Players from these teams leave a lasting legacy. Since the year 2000, many legends have played for New England teams. These are the names that will forever be remembered around the region and through sports lore.

Every team has at least one future hall of famer. Just look at these names: Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Tedy Bruschi.

But besides names and glory, the best representation of New England’s strength was its response to the Boston Marathon Bombing. The Boston Marathon is one of the most historic marathons in the world and literally signed onto the pavement around the city.

Although the bombing horrified us all, the response of Boston was as Boston as it could it. For example, when the Red Sox opened the 2013 season a week after the bombing, David Ortiz addressed the fans at Fenway Park, proclaiming, “This jersey that we wear today. It doesn’t say Red Sox. It says Boston …This is our f—— city and no one is going to dictate our freedom.”

That’s “Boston Strong.” It’s America strong. And the team responded that October with  the third World Series this century.

Every team supports each other. Mookie Betts and Julian Edelman go to Celtics games at the Garden on the eves of championship games. It’s like all the organizations’ players are teammates.

New England’s passion for their sports is the reason Kevin Garnett slammed his head into the basket before every game. He was crazy, but he was ours. He did it to channel the fans’ energy.

When results don’t go our way we keep the faith and soon enough a championship trophy is brought home.

This year the New England sports teams could complete a sweep of all championships. The Celtics are not done and are expected to make a deep run in the NBA playoffs, the Bruins are fourth in the East and could do damage, the Red Sox already won one more and the Patriots are still here.

Not done. Do damage. One more. Still here. That’s New England.

Hate Boston all you want, but we win fair and square every year, or at least that’s what we like to think. There are no fair-weather fans because the weather in New England is always tremendous. Nice enough to take a duck boat ride at our next championship parade.

Copyright © 2023, The Scout, Bradley University. All rights reserved.
The Scout is published by members of the student body of Bradley University. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the University.