Bruins Fans Boston’s Best?
Saturday, May 07, 2011
The last decade has been a very rewarding one for New England sports fans. 3 Super Bowl titles for the Patriots, 2 World Series Championships for the Red Sox and an NBA title for the Celtics. Unfortunately, for the best fans in Boston, there was nothing.
Boston Bruins fans are a loyal bunch. Even though the team they root for hasn’t won a Stanley Cup in 39 years, they continue to support their team.
Bruins fans don’t get the notoriety that other New England sports fans receive.
First, there’s “Red Sox Nation.” Last night, they extended their Major League record to 648 consecutive sellouts – a streak that dates all the way back to May of 2003. Impressive numbers to say the very least, but what’s behind them?
We are told that baseball is religion in New England and that everyone has an opinion about the Red Sox from birth. However, it wasn’t too long ago that Sox’ tickets were readily available. I remember driving into Boston with my brother as a teenager and buying bleacher seats for 6 bucks each.
Remember Roger Clemens infamous 20-strikeout game against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway in the spring of 1986? There were only 13,414 fans at Fenway that night. So much for the Fenway Faithful!
The current sellout streak is as much about Fenway being a trendy place to visit as it is about Boston’s passion for the sport of baseball. Ask any “pink hat” Sox fan,” who served up the gopher ball to Bucky “bleeping” Dent in the 1978 playoff game at Fenway?,” and you’ll probably get everything but the right answer.
Then there’s Patriots fans. Everyone knows that in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s that there were thousands of Pats fans disguised as empty aluminum benches at Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. It wasn’t until the arrival of Bill Parcells and Drew Bledsoe in 1993 that sports fans in New England started to take football seriously.
The Celtics are a different story. Ironically, when the Celtics dominated the decade of the 60’s, you could get a ticket to the Garden to see Bill Russell and company play whenever you wanted. It wasn’t until the original “Big 3” of Bird, McHale and Parrish that Celtics fans regularly packed the Garden seats as they do today.
Which brings us back to Bruins fans. Unlike fans of the Sox, Pats and Celts, they have not been rewarded with championships over the past decade. They also haven’t been blessed with a hands-on owner committed to doing anything it takes to put a championship-caliber team on the ice. Yet they still show up to support their team at the TD Garden.
This is what makes this playoff run the B’s are on so enjoyable. Unlike the other three fan bases, they are a blue collar bunch that has not been spoiled by great success or even the hope of such success.
Today their Boston Bruins are just one series win away from a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. They deserve this great run – every minute of it.
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