Elevated com-Pete level
Slackers won’t be tolerated by Frates
We all recognize Pete Frates as the world’s champion in the fight to find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
He is, we can all agree, the best-known ALS patient since Lou Gehrig himself.
But there’s another facet to Pete Frates that we need never to forget: He is as big a Boston fanboy as has ever come off the assembly line.
Consider, for example, the little message Pete delivered on Twitter the other day. It was actually a response to this tweet from my account: “Happy birthday to @PeteFrates3, the greatest athlete in Boston sports history.”
This was posted Thursday, Pete’s 33rd birthday.
His response — yes, Pete still tweets — was both amusing and revealing: “! Thanks so much!!’ #tb12 though!!”
It’s amusing because Pete is such a yahoo of a Boston sports fan that to even compliment him is to invite a retort that, no, no, no, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the greatest athlete in Boston sports history, so stop.
And yet it’s revealing in that it reminds us of the power, and the importance, that sport has in our lives. Let’s not kid ourselves about Pete Frates: He is battling a devastating, incurable disease. Though we celebrate his bravery and determination, the sobering reality is that every public appearance is preceded by hours of planning and preparation. We don’t get to go backstage before the show. We don’t want to know how all that works.
What we do know is that just as Pete is buoyed by the support of his friends and family, he also derives incalculable support from the Boston sports community. To most of you, our sports teams are a diversion; to Pete, they are so much more. They are rocket fuel.
We’ve seen Pete at just about every Boston sports venue. The Red Sox took the unprecedented step of signing the former Boston College baseball captain to a one-day contract, and outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., and former manager John Farrell, among others, have been allies.
Pete has been a regular presence at Bruins games, with B’s veteran Patrice Bergeron stepping up big time to help spread the word about ALS awareness.
The Celtics made Pete a Hero Among Us, and everyone right down to Lucky the Leprechaun did the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Pete has appeared at so many Pats games that it’d be easy to confuse him as a fifth Kraft son.
Even the Baseball Hall of Fame stepped up to the plate, if you will, by placing the original ice bucket — in its former life it was a container for Giants Sunflower Seeds — on display in Cooperstown. Belmont native Jon Shestakofsky, vice president of communications and education for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, personally drove to Boston to fetch the famous bucket and transport it to its new home in Cooperstown.
But the best thing Boston’s sports teams can do for Pete is to just go out and play the games. It’s clear that the games, all of them, mean a lot to him. Again: He’s a fanboy, a yahoo. It’s something ALS hasn’t been able to take away from him.
Don’t take my word for it. Pay a visit to Pete’s twitter feed — @PeteFrates3 — and take a stroll through the past couple of months.
On Dec. 18 he retweeted a blurb from @BCEagles reminding us that the men’s basketball team is 7-0 at home.
The day before, he tweeted, “gronkkk”. (Probably after one of the nine catches for 168 yards Rob Gronkowski made during the Pats’ 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.)
On Dec.13, he retweeted the video of a David Pastrnak goal that had been posted by @NHLBruins.
On Nov. 1, after the Astros finished off the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series, Pete tweeted, “wow, should have started my south Boston neighbor, rich hill!” (Dodgers pitcher/ Milton native Rich Hill and Pete once lived near each other in Southie.)
It’s clear Pete watches the games.
It’s clear those games mean a lot to him.
And so as we begin a new year, here’s a message for the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and all the BC teams: Don’t let up.
Pete’s watching, and Pete doesn’t abide by slackers.