The Boston Globe doesn't hand out full-page tributes to just anyone. Scotland fans got one on Friday — and they earned every word of it.
"You turned train stations into sing-alongs, Fenway into a football ground, and an ordinary June into something we'll be talking about for years." That's not a tourist board quote. That's a 150-year-old newspaper saying goodbye like it actually meant it.
Boston didn't want them to leave
The Tartan Army descended on Massachusetts for Scotland's opening two World Cup group matches, and the city is still talking about it. Tens of thousands of fans explored Boston, packed the Red Sox at Fenway, and — true to form — put a serious dent in the local bar economy. Steve Marino, a captain on Boston's famous duck tours, said it plainly: "They've been positive, they've spent a lot of money, they're happy. There's nothing but positives across the board."
Then there were the traffic cones. Marino arrived at work one morning to find one perched on a giant dinosaur statue outside his ticket office. "We don't know how it got there," he said. "When we've been doing our tours, we've seen these cones on places you could not even imagine." Nobody is confessing. Nobody expected anything less.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy went further, saying the Tartan Army showed a spirit that "has no equivalent in American sport." That's a significant thing for the president of one of baseball's most storied franchises to say out loud.
Miami is next — and it's 35 degrees
Fans have already started arriving on the Florida coast ahead of Scotland's match against Brazil, with temperatures hitting 35°C on Sunday. The response from supporters has been predictably Scottish: complaints about the heat, followed by immediate plans to enjoy it anyway.
William Bannister, 69, flew in from Cumbernauld with his son Neal to attend their first World Cup away trip together. "I'm 69 years young and I'm taking my oldest boy to our first World Cup away," he said. "It's absolutely stupendous." He also confirmed plans to sample the Miami Marlins without knowing who they're playing. Some things are universal.
Alan Taylor, who arrived on Friday, has tickets for Uruguay vs Cape Verde before the Brazil match on Wednesday. "You can really feel it building," he said. "It's going to be great."
Whether Scotland's football matches the fanfare is another question entirely. But right now, Boston is writing love letters to the Tartan Army and Miami is turning up the heat. The travelling support has already won something on this trip — the goodwill of an entire American city. The football is almost secondary.
Almost.
