Though the standard celebratory beer tossings, pole climbs and breast flashes were enough to satisfy the typical out-of-town Red Sox fan, the Fenway Faithful who watched their team take the World Series crown in 2004 agreed that celebrations near Kenmore Square last night were like a small collection of fireworks that went off as Jonathan Papelbon struck out the final Colorado batter to clinch the 2007 title – initially flashy, wholly contained and quickly burned out.
Just before the win, Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomores Glenn Geesman and Willard Johnson, both draped in giant red plastic cups, said they were expecting big things as they started cheers with a crowd that convened on the edge of Beacon Street, as the area surrounding Kenmore Square was blocked off after the 6th inning of last night’s Game 4.
“The Red Sox are no joke,” Geesman said, who said he went to every home game this year in costume. “We don’t bring the energy – that Red Sox energy – the crowd does. We just focus it.”
As bars emptied, though, the crowd – blocked from approaching Fenway Park by a line of officers with Plexiglas shields, shin pads and wooden clubs – grew, but the mass remained relatively docile compared to years past.
Though 37 people were arrested last night, 11 more than the total arrested after the Red Sox won the American League Championship Series, fans said they noticed a much more subdued celebration.
“We were just at Uno’s – the bars are half as full,” said Eddy Dunbar of Manchester, N.H., who celebrated from the same location when the Sox won in 2004. “There are definitely less people this time around. The excitement isn’t the same as it was in ’04.”
The celebrations lacked the same intensity of the 2004 riots, in which an Emerson College student was killed when police accidentally shot her in the eye with a pellet gun after the Sox defeated the Yankees to clinch the American League pennant. The win also made car flippings and fires commonplace on local news station broadcasts.
Though not as destructive this time around, students took the opportunity to make what noise they could.
MIT sophomore Corey Kubber climbed onto a ledge stretching out from Citizens Bank, ripped off his shirt and jumped into a readied crowd.
“I’m going to party all night,” he said after his dive. “Homework can wait.”
As the line of police that looked onto Kubber dodged the few glass bottles, hats and shoes thrown at them, Emerson sophomore Mike Grabow said the authoritative presence just fueled the fire.
“I’m a big Red Sox fan, and I really wanted to disrupt the peace,” Kubber said. “Cops are all part of the fun. They raise tensions.”
Eventually, police cleared the crowd by scaring partiers with leashed dogs, and they used pepper spray in some areas.
College of Engineering sophomore and New York native Anthony Fabiano, who started a crowd-surfing trend in a previously still crowd, said although he is a Yankees fan, he was excited to break into the streets.
“Going to school here, you have to embrace it,” he said. “I’m not going to yell, ‘Go Red Sox’ by any means, but I’m going to climb onto this guy’s shoulders, I’m going to get tossed up and I’m going to love it.”
Boston University graduate and Shakeem Johnson, 23, lifted women into the air and encouraged them to flash their breasts to a predominately male crowd that cheered them on.
“It’s all about Red Sox Nation,” he said. “[The women] did it for the fans.”
Those who bore their chests declined to comment.
