It’s way too warm outside for early October. I’m strutting down Commonwealth Avenue with a goofy smile on my face. But as I leave my dorm and pass the BU Bridge, I notice something is wrong. No one seems to share my excitement for October.
There are a couple people in Sox t-shirts, and at least one Tom Brady #12 jersey. But I also catch a purple Vikings shirt, a Cubs hat and a Ryan Howard jersey t-shirt. Worse, they all seem just to be getting on with their daily lives.
What’s going on? Do these people not understand this perfect storm of Boston’s awesomeness right now?
This is the best time of the year in Boston. The best holiday ever is only a few weeks away. The leaves are changing colors. We get to make fun of tourists who came all the way up here just to see some leaves change colors.
There are only a few days left until Kevin Garnett returns to the Celtics and we get to say ‘Rasheeeeeed WALLACE!’ like Pistons PA announcer John Mason every time ‘Sheed hits a 3, dunks or jaws at the refs.
The NFL season is hitting its stride. The Patriots are starting to look a little bit more like the dominant team that went 16-0, and my man-crush on Tom Brady is getting stronger with every week.
Then there’s the Red Sox, whose season is best described by Michael Corleone in ‘the Godfather: Part III’ ‘- ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.’
I don’t think I’m the only Sox fan who has been ready to give up on this team a few times this season. We were in when they took eight straight from the Yankees. Then out when we thought David Ortiz couldn’t hit and Dice-K didn’t really care about pitching.
Right now? I’m in. Josh Beckett and John Lester are putting it together. The team has a ton of postseason experience. The Yankees rivalry is back. I couldn’t be more excited.
This isn’t how I remembered it growing up. New England lived and died with the Red Sox. I knew all my friends were watching and holding their breath with me. We all yelled at Grady Little at the same time to take Pedro out in 2003. When the Sox lost, we all showed up to school the next day without any sleep.
Even in 2007, my first year in school, I felt the fall buzz. Everyone seemed to be rooting for the Sox through their comeback in the ALCS. And everyone poured onto the streets after they won the World Series.
Now? It’s not the same. Something is off. Maybe it’s because Boston hasn’t had a championship since the Celtics last summer. But I think it goes deeper than that. The student body at BU simply isn’t as tied to Boston professional sports as I thought it was.
Only about 20 percent of BU’s student body is from Massachusetts. Theoretically, the students here rooting for the Red Sox or Celtics or Patriots should be the minority.
However, that fact may not be exactly true because the passion of Boston sports fans can rub off on some BU students from away. Pedro Falci, a College of Communication junior from Florida, always loved basketball, but was never a Celtics fan until his favorite player, Ray Allen, came to Boston.
When Allen and Kevin Garnett completed the ‘Big Three’ the same fall Falci arrived at BU, he began following the Celtics more closely. He bought a green #20 jersey, learned all about Havlicek and Russell and started watching all the games.
‘My friends at home actually caught on to Celtic fever, too,’ Falci said. ‘One of my buddies in Florida who’d never been into organized sports before planned an ‘all-green party’ during the NBA finals.’
Now I don’t want to make this into a heavy-handed comment about how sports reflect BU’s diversity and how we all grow from our experiences and should all just get along. Losing always hurts. Winning is always awesome. I’ll never stop hating the Yankees or Lakers just because one of my friends likes those teams.
But I do think there’s something to gain from being at a school where everyone supports different teams. Bummed out from my realization that no one else appreciates October like I do, I stepped onto the BU Shuttle and sat next to a guy in a Detroit Lions #20 Barry Sanders jersey. Ha! I thought at first. My team won 21-consecutive regular season games at one point. This sucker’s team wins one and he’s excited.
But maybe Boston fans have something to learn from fans like this guy. They remind us how we felt before the Red Sox 2004 World Series win. Yes, we were cynical. We cursed Bucky Dent or Bill Buckner or Aaron Boone. We shifted uncomfortably in our seats at the end of games because we always expected something bad to happen.
But even when the season inevitably crumbled in October, we were back every spring.
