pats bring home the sweetest one
Up to 1 million soggy but fired-up Patriots fans are expected to pack today’s rolling rally route through downtown to cheer on the Super Bowl’s cardiac comeback champs, even with rain and a high of 36 degrees.
“The Patriots have made Boston and New England proud — fire up the duck boats!” Mayor Martin J. Walsh declared.
The historic game’s door-die moments — from Dont’a Hightower’s strip sack of Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan to Julian Edelman’s miraculous catch — could bring out a boisterous crowd, Walsh predicted yesterday.
“With the fifth Super Bowl and the dramatic fashion the game ended in, it certainly might add to ... the crowd out there,” Walsh said yesterday. “This is one of the biggest. They’re all big, but this is one of the biggest.”
The parade begins at 11 a.m. but the route will be closed at 9 a.m. and city tow trucks will start hauling away cars at 6 a.m. Officials urged fans to take public transportation to the parade rather than driving through the city.
Twenty-two duck boats will cart the Patriots along the route, which starts at the Hynes Convention Center, continues down Boylston before turning left on Tremont and winding past Boston Common. It will then turn left on Cambridge Street at City Hall Plaza and end at New Chardon Street.
The parade is taking place today instead of tomorrow, which has a much better weather forecast, because the players’ season officially ends tomorrow and many have plans for vacation, Walsh said. A later parade date would not guarantee a full roster.
“The problem is, you’ll have duck boats but no players,” Walsh said.
The parade comes barely 24 hours after a tense, blood- pressure- busting victory that had fans celebrating late into the night and feeling the effects the next day.
“Everyone seems really monotone today. They’re all exhausted from last night, my God,” Walsh said.
Bell In Hand Tavern general manager Luis Luna summed up how everyone was feeling: “It never gets old being champions, we’ve got a good taste for it.”
Luna said his patrons at the Union Street pub, still a little hung over, were replaying the game’s tipping points in their minds. “It’s a little quieter today, just the nature of being up all night, but there’s still a lot of excitement,” he added.
The New England Aquarium, which has been sharing photos of animals with Patriots gear on social media, tweeted out a photo of bleary-eyed harbor seal Chuck holding a football.
“He looks a little tired, it’s a universal thing seen in all Patriots fans today,” said aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse.
But while their bodies were fatigued, fans’ spirits were not. Chaz Newton, manager of Modell’s Sporting Goods on Boylston Street, said thousands of customers came in to grab Patriots merchandise, including the Super Bowl LI locker room hat.
“It’s been a lot of fun, everyone seems really happy and excited,” Newton said. “I think this one’s a little more special for the fans because of the whole Deflategate thing.”
Beantown Pub manager Dan Remen said the bar will open an hour earlier today and he’s expecting a packed crowd to watch the parade go by. Customers are still a little tired, he said, but also exhilarated.
“Everyone’s still psyched, they’ve got their Pats gear on, it’s just a good day,” Remen said. “Everyone’s just on cloud nine still, you know?”