"Rub green, hold breath, wait for victory; Obsessive fans believe Celtics’ success depends on good-luck rituals" by Bill Porter, Globe Staff | June 15, 2010
Among the superstitious, the Celtics’ chance to clinch tonight has turned Game 6 of the NBA Finals into a maelstrom of rites and obsessive behavior. Rituals involving crossed fingers, repetitive body movements, sacred meals, and anointed talismans that fans regard as the secret to victory would make a therapist swoon. But in the quest for a title across New England just now, it seems no neurosis is too large to indulge....
And at the top of the list? Reading a newspaper.
Legions will wear green, of course....
Yeah, that will help affect play on a court 2500 miles away.
But such routines seem merely quaint compared with more elaborate practices of fans who have refined rituals over years, honing them with almost scientific precision....
Superstition is now science, 'eh, Globe?
I guess that's one way you can believe steel towers can collapse in their own footprints due to fire despite the physical impossibility of such.
--more--"
Sounds like FRONT-PAGE fun, huh?
"Police gird for crowds if Celts win; Hub force hopes to prevent repeat of past troubles" by Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | June 15, 2010
Boston police, mindful that over the last six years three people have died on the city’s streets while celebrating major sporting events, are preparing a massive show of force during tonight’s NBA Finals game between the
Uh-oh!
"We watched the police unload from buses. They were in riot gear, with batons and shields. There were hundreds and hundreds of them, and I looked around and said, 'Is this really necessary?'.... People were high-fiving each other. They weren't fighting. It was not a hostile crowd. But the police kept pouring off the buses, and they were very aggressive and very hostile, and I was thinking, 'Do they really need this many cops?' And I was thinking, is this going to make things better or worse?"
It made things worse for David Woodman. He mouthed off walking past a group of cops, with a beer in his hand. Woodman said what Jim Rufo was thinking: that it seemed like there were an awful lot of cops around.... experiencing something that felt like a police state."
In 2004, after the Red Sox beat the Yankees to capture the American League crown, Boston police stood ready for crowds of celebrating fans to descend on Kenmore Square. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff/ File)
Related: The Night the Celtics Won the Championship
A night they will NEVER FORGET!!!
Boston police are taking no chances. They are ordering hundreds of officers — from the city and surrounding communities — to flood the streets around Fenway Park and the TD Garden, areas packed with sports bars that have in the past attracted large crowds during out-of-town championship games.
“We don’t anticipate any problems; we believe everybody will celebrate reasonably,’’ Police Superintendent William Evans said in an interview. However, he said, “We don’t want anyone hurt. We don’t want anyone’s property vandalized. So we’d rather be safe than sorry.’’
Tell that to the Woodman family!
The show of force will be familiar to sports fans. The city’s teams have been racking up titles — since 2002, three Super Bowl wins for the
But the accompanying celebrations have strained police resources and have led to multiple tragedies, most recently in 2008, when David Woodman, a 22-year-old Emmanuel College student, stopped breathing after a confrontation with police after the Celtics victory over the Lakers.
Don't you like how the Globe CLEANED THAT UP for the COPS?!!!
In 2004, a 21-year-old man was killed by a drunk driver during rioting after the Super Bowl. And later that year, police fired pepper pellets into a crowd celebrating a Red Sox victory; Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove was struck and killed.
Police were criticized in all three instances, and in the Snelgrove case, the city paid $5 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by her family.
Tonight, State Police and officers from other cities and towns will be joining Boston police as they monitor the streets around Fenway and the Garden. The streets will be closed to people and cars at some point, police said.
People hoping to get inside bars around both sports venues will be barred as the game progresses, Evans said....
I wasn't heading that way anyway.
There will be no officers on horseback, despite the success of that tactic in previous years, because the mounted unit has been disbanded.
Because of BUDGET CUTS while BANKS get MILLIONS in INTEREST PAYMENTS a MONTH!!!
Evans said police will be able to handle any crowds.
Just ask young Dave Woodma... oh, right.
“We’ve had all our officers in for the last several weeks for crowd control training,’’ he said. “We’re well trained at moving crowds, so I don’t see the lack of horses making that big a difference for us.’’
Evans said if the Celtics lose tonight, police will be back out in force on Thursday night, when the seventh and final game would be played in Los Angeles.
Oh, perish the thought!!!
Of cour$e, WHO BENEFIT$ from a Game 7?
Also see: Fourth victim steps forward in fake Celtics ticket case
I'll just watch it on television, thanks.
Update: Celtics down big in fourth
Looks like Lakers in 7. Celts fans. Sorry.
Of course, there are more important events occurring on the planet, but...
