Weather can’t put chill on Patriots’ celebration
Fans brave snow, rain to party with champs
The Patriots carried their momentum from Super Bowl LI right into the city streets and a raucous, frat-house crowd from Boylston through Tremont and Faneuil Hall welcomed them with boisterous affection.
“Everyone was going ham,” Rob Gronkowski said yesterday. “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t planning on partying, but the fans were asking for it. We’re giving the fans what they want. I party for the fans. That’s how we do it. That’s how we roll. The parade was unbelievable.”
Gronk was catching beers from his perch, opening them with his teeth and taking a swig before spiking them on the street. And Danny Amendola synced up with the anti-Roger Goodell crowd by rocking a white “Fire Goodell” hat from his float.
The sentiment to rage against the NFL machine was as popular as the support for Tom Brady, the New England golden boy and league bad boy who wore a black coat with a black backward hat and hoisted the Lombardi Trophy from his duck boat. The streets were full of signs that mocked the commissioner, including one that read, “Goodell eats soup with a fork.” Most of the rest insinuated he takes part in some suggestive habits.
As Brady’s boat turned onto Boylston Street, fans in front of the Boston Fire Department welcomed him with chants of the commissioner’s name, and the Patriots enjoyed every minute of it.
“This feels great,” Devin McCourty said. “With Brady, what he went through, what this team went through, defensively, offensively, me being a defensive player, nobody believing in us; this is what it’s about.”
The crowds packed the sidewalks on each side of the street, from the fences all the way back to the storefronts. And they stood 50 to 100 deep through parts of the Boston Common for hours despite the snow, sleet, rain and a nasty wind that whipped especially hard during the latter half of the route.
“They love the weather,” McCourty said. “This is what New England is all about.”
The confetti rained as well, from the red, white and blue that was rocketed out of the floats to the boxes of confetti that had gotten dumped out of a few Boylston Street condos.
“We already knew we had the best fans in the country,” Martellus Bennett said. “I was super excited. There was a lot of energy, a lot of love. You could feel it. We were kings for a couple of hours.”
The NFL’s personal hell — a victorious New England — had frozen over, but yesterday’s frosty conditions seemed to only strengthen the passion of the crowd. It was hardly a surprise two days after the Patriots’ historic comeback clinched their fifth Super Bowl victory.
It was as if the streets rallied together. Many raised an open hand to signal a fifth Super Bowl, while others raised a single finger to jeer Goodell.
The Patriots’ path to redemption was complete. And their fan base, which had two years to stew over Deflategate since the last parade, made the journey worthwhile.
“I remember 2014,” McCourty said. “It was nothing like this. This team was destined to be here.”