By Maggie Cassidy
Bundled in red and blue caps and jerseys with names like Youkilis, Varitek and Ortiz, carrying signs reading “Twice in a Lifetime,” “Marry Me, Ellsbury” and “In Sox We Trust,” corralled onto street corners, hanging out of office building windows and balancing on street lamps: Red Sox fans lined city streets Tuesday for a parade celebrating the team’s World Series championship.
Northeastern was well-represented in the festivities, with students flooding the corner of Boylston and Hemenway streets, or crowding the Green, Red and Orange T lines to meet the parade at its final destination, City Hall Plaza.
“My dad’s waited all his life to see a World Series and I’ve seen two in four years,” said freshman undecided major Steph Daly, who attended the championship parade in 2004 as well. “It was definitely better [now that I’m living in Boston]. Everyone here is so energetic and crazy, and it’s just such a great spirit to be in the city and experience it.”
A 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies Sunday completed the Sox’s four-game World Series sweep. In 2004, the Sox won its first championship win in 86 years with a similar 4-0 sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Daly watched the parade on Boylston Street before racing to catch up with it at the Boston Common. Thousands of spectators waited at the park for hours in the crisp fall air to secure a good view of the hometown heroes when they rolled down Tremont Street on duck boats.
Around 1 p.m., they heard an unmistakable sound: the two pounding, opening notes of the Dropkick Murphy’s “Shipping Up to Boston,” one of the team’s many anthems.
“That’s when I got excited because I knew I would be able to see them, and we were standing so close I would get to see their faces and take good pictures,” said Tara Cuddihy, a sophomore marketing and finance major who waited for more than two hours outside of Park Street station. “I was really excited because I’ve been a Red Sox fan since I was born.”
Cheers erupted and confetti filled the air as the duck boats turned the corner of Tremont Street and carried players, coaches and other Red Sox organization members into view.
“Where’s Jacoby?” yelled one girl in the crowd. “I want Beckett!” yelled another. Chants of “Youk, Youk, Youk” filled the air when first baseman Kevin Youkilis passed by, and pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka waved at a sign that read, “DICE-K, Good Pitch, You Are The Hero of Japan” hanging from an office building window above. Pitcher Curt Schilling carried a video camera and slugger Manny Ramirez picked up a microphone and invited fans back to his house for free beer.
After several more duck boats passed, pitcher Jonathan Papelbon appeared on the back of a flatbed, rocking out with the Dropkick Murphys. The band finished “Shipping Up To Boston” before kicking into a cover of “Dirty Water.”
Papelbon jumped around the truck with fellow pitchers Hideki Okajima and Mike Timlin, and ignited near-hysteria when he performed his signature jig.
“He was rocking out on a broom,” Daly said, referencing Papelbon’s symbol of the Sox’s clean sweep. “All the other players, I love them, obviously, but they were just kind of chilling and waving. And then here’s Papelbon wearing a kilt and with a broom and air-guitaring.”
The parade lasted about two hours and the two dozen duck boats traveled the tour from Fenway Park to City Hall Plaza. Sophomore roommates Ryan Lee, a graphic design major, and Dave Young, an undecided major, were there for most of it. The pair followed the parade across Boston – hitting Boylston Street, Copley Plaza, the Boston Common and City Hall – to try to get as many glimpses of the players as possible.
“It was just to support Boston as a whole, just because the Red Sox represent Boston. I’m not such a huge fan in general, but I like to support Boston, and going to see the team is big,” Lee said. “I’m happy I did it.”
