By Mary Macedo, Neighb News Correspondent
Hail, sleet, rain, or snow…nothing could stop Patriots Fans from standing outside on the streets of Boston chanting as the players rode by on the duck boats celebrating their Super Bowl Victory!
After one of the most record-breaking Super Bowls in history, this year’s Rolling Rally seemed too monumental for fans to pass up on. And for the first time, I decided to be one of those fans.
With three layers of clothes, multiple pairs of socks and gloves, I felt prepared to stand on the streets of Boston for hours awaiting the arrival of our champions. But what I was not prepared for was the amount of fans that would fill every empty space in Boston.
I expected massive crowds of overly excited people chanting “TB 12!,”but seeing it all in person and being in the middle of such energized surroundings, it is something you cannot prepare your body for.
The party started the minute I arrived at the Lakeville T station. Packs of fans all ran towards the boarding train, loaded with Patriots gear from head to toe. There was not a single seat left on the train once we left the station.
And once we hit the second stop in Bridgewater and herds of college students boarded the train, it was full to capacity, not even an emp space to stand. People stood up against each other, holding onto one another for balance.
The rest of the T ride consisted of the entire train erupting in “Brady” chants, as well as a few other profane chants that I won’t repeat.
As we approached South Station, the energy only intensified. Fans ran off the T at a sprint with snowball sized flakes of snow hitting everyone as they ran through the streets of Boston to find a good spot to view their favorite Patriots players.
I stood on the sidewalk of Tremont Street near Boston Common from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Having arrived there two hours before the parade even started I was still pretty far back from the street. On the train ride home I heard a fan say that most people who were in the front of the crowd arrived as early as 5 a.m.
Despite standing in the cold mix of rain and snow for almost three hours waiting for the first duck boat in our area, fans surrounding me were nothing but friendly and excited. Younger kids sat on the shoulders of their fathers, while some college students stood on top of light posts and garbage cans.
As the duck boats started to near our area the crowds began throwing foam footballs to each other across the street, which made fans begin rooting for crowd members to catch them. As the crowd got more and more fired up, a group of guys near the Stearns’ Building decided to lift up one of their friends. One of the guys reached up and pulled himself up onto the awning of the building chanting “Brady Brady Brady!”
The energy was electrifying by the time the duck boats arrived in front of us. The crowd went wild as Robert Kraft came down the street holding the Vince Lombardi trophy high in the air, followed by Bill Belichick.
Everyone around had phones out snapping photos, as the players went by. To get a better view a bunch of people jumped on top of an empty dump truck that was parked on a side street.
The duck boats with Gronk, Edelman, and Bennett on them had music blasting, which had the crowd laughing and screaming for them to dance. Someone in the crowd threw Gronk a can of beer, which he easily caught, chugged, and then spiked onto the street.
Rob Gronkowski, aka, Gronk, chugs a beer that was thrown to him from a fan during the Rolling Rally on Tuesday, 2/7, celebrating the Patriots’ fifth Superbowl win on Sunday. Photo by Mary Macedo
The screams from the crowd echoed through the streets of Boston as Brady’s and Garoppolo’s duck boat came down the street. The fans chanted “Brady,” as Brady held the trophy high in the air!
Seeing the G.O.A.T in person, less than 20 feet away, holding the Super Bowl trophy…there is no preparing yourself for that. The energy on the street is nothing like I have ever felt before.
As the duck boats pulled away towards city hall, the crowds walked away in different directions, some heading home, back to work, to a T station, or made the walk to City Hall. Everyone left with soaked clothes, numb toes, and probably a cold, but not one person around left without a smile on their face.
Even though the weather made the Victory Parade more challenging for us Patriots fans, we still showed up by the thousands because us Pats fans love a good challenge and we always come to “Do Our Job!”
Editor’s Note: G.O.A.T = Greatest Of All Time; at City Hall Plaza, team members addressed the crowd; officials estimate approximately one million people attended the rally.
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