Is Boston's Crazy Sports Security Really Necessary?

The big game is right around the corner. Giselle is Tebowing, the mayors have placed their wagers, everyone’s sweating Gronk’s ankle, and it’s time again to talk about sports lockdown here in Title Town.

The city is scheduled to release its plan later today, but some places are already getting out ahead, waving the preemptive disapproving finger at local university students. Certainly no one is in a rush to repeat the tragic results of previous victory riots, but isn’t the sports-related nanny state just a little over the top?

When the B’s were in last year’s Stanley Cup finals, the game was not broadcast at the TD Garden. Sometime in the middle 00s, victory parties became rolling rallies. Have our sports fans grown so rabid, so out of control that we need sophisticated measures in place to control the beast?

The answer, I’d say, is yes. Definitely. It’s always all fun and games until someone turns over a few cars and sets them on fire. Because then the police come, the rubber bullets fly, and the unintended and celebratory quickly become tragic. It’s a shame that the city’s non-student population will probably be discouraged from taking to the streets in spontaneous joy, but a couple hours of fun isn’t worth the human cost. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be years before the city relaxes and it might even require a drought of championships, and no one wants that.

It’s no fun to be in a police state — even a short-lived one — when we’re trying to be all happy. But at least for now, that’s just the way it is. Go Pats!