Celtics Central

When I left the TDBanknorth Garden at about 1:30am on Tuesday night (Wednesday am really) I was surprised to be surrounded by group after group of armed, helmutted police officers, each of them carrying long night sticks.

They were in groups of 4 generally. Some groups were larger and they were…. everywhere…no more than 30 yards apart from another group. Instead of celebration, the streets were utterly quiet. The bars were all closed and padlocked. There were metal barriers blocking off Causeway, and each of the adjoining streets, including Friend and Canal. Car travel in the immediate area was verboten.

I was stunned. Expect for some cars honking their horns down the road, the streets were almost empty. A few wanderers were seen here and there. If there was a party, it was over.

When I walked down Canal Street I saw why. Revelers, if that is what you want to call them, had smashed a number of huge picture windows in businesses on the street. There were garbage cans and carts dumped over everywhere. One huge set of completely smashed windows had two ‘One Way – Do Not Enter’ street pole signs laying half way in them. Nice going ‘fans’.

On Friend Street there were a few more broken windows and more dumped over garbage cans.

I fail to see the fun or celebration in causing wanton destruction of property. It is more like idiots need an excuse to be idiots. Some apparently thought they had one.

There is a ongoing debate over who has the worst fans – Boston or New York. I think that argument has been answered. From the anecdotes I’ve heard, and sometimes the stories are told proudly, Boston fans step over the line more than New York fans do. Bravo. Great going. You’ve proven you are bigger jerks than New York fans.

I stopped and talked to a few of the officers. What was the problem?

“Just some vandalism.”

Oh. Was it out of control?

“Not once we got there.”

As I was talking to the officer, I saw a large contingent of police, must have been at least 50 officers, walking military style, two by two, down the street in front of the Government Center Parking Garage. I’m not kidding.

Were you called in after things started or were this many officers already nearby?

“We were already here. If you want more information, you will have to talk to one of the sargents.”

Where’s a sargent?

“He is one, right over there.” (nodding his head)

I walked a few feet to the sargent.

Excuse me, were there any injuries or harm to people?

“No. Not that I know of. It was all property damage.”

Can you tell me about how many officers are present in total?

“Yes, there are 1400.”

Shortly after, I heard another officer being called to “The Commons”. The crowd had moved there and there was a fight in progress.

I got the thought of sharing a beer with some Celtic fans at Sullivan’s Bar or any other of the well known local establishments quickly out of my head. I headed to my car and saw a SWAT Team vehicle parked along with all of the other police vehicles as I walked.

Call it an imperfect end to an otherwise perfect evening.