Dem
47
GOP
53
Last weekend, we were asked about the Scottish National football team, and gave a poor review due to loutish behavior by some past Scottish Premiership fans. That produced a lot of pushback, so we suppose we'll tell a different side of the story this week.
The Scots team played its first World Cup match at Gillette Stadium, a bit outside of Boston, on Saturday, and it will play another match in that same venue today. Scotland hasn't made the World Cup draw in a couple of decades, and it's not all that difficult a flight from Edinburgh to Boston, and so the Scottish fanbase has turned out in force, with about 50,000 of them in town for the two fixtures.
Apparently—and there have been stories all over the place about this—the Scottish fans have absolutely charmed the residents of Boston. As the social media videos show, there has been much singing and dancing and bagpipe-playing by the "Tartan Army," often involving fellows in the somewhat unexpected combination of a kilt and a Red Sox jersey. One such gentleman lost his passport, went to a police station for help, and so impressed the officers that they bought him an egg and cheese sandwich while he waited (hence the headline).
Now, as you may have heard, Bostonians have a reputation for enjoying their beer. There's a reason that Cheers was set in that town, and that brewer Samuel Adams is headquartered in that town. However, as it turns out, the Bostonians are pikers when compared to the Scots. The out-of-town visitors have been downing pints at something like four times the rate that Bostonians do, even on a holiday weekend. Quite a few bars have run clean out of beer, and had to secure emergency re-supplies. "We had NO idea what these folks were going to drink" said one Boston barkeep.
Buying all that beer (not to mention all those Red Sox jerseys, and the hotel rooms, and the meals, etc.), the Scots are leaving quite a bit of money in Beantown. What they are NOT leaving, however, is a bunch of trash. Observing that they are visitors, and that the Bostonians have treated them well, the Scottish football fans have been quite careful about putting their trash in the trash, and maybe even picking up a few pieces of litter that were not their doing.
So, what can we say, other than "Slàinte Mhath!" to Scottish football fans, and have a good weekend, all! (Z)