I’m Jewish, but where I’m from Sunday is holiest day of the week for everyone. The Pats play Sunday. It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, a classic New England winter day, with sub-zero wind chill and a foot of snow. The game starts at 1, but my father, brother and I are out of the house and on our way by 8:30. Around 9:00am we pull into lot 52, the regulars are already yelling, “Jesus! You’re late, where ya been?!” and it’s still 4 hours before kickoff. The dirty, broken folding tables are embellished with an array of flavorful finger foods just waiting to get plucked from their plate and devoured by the eager, beer-buzzed masses at our tailgate parties. By 11:00 am, two hours prior to the first whistle, we see parking lot 52 already jammed full of ardent patriots fans, enjoying a delicious, enormous pregame meal. After hours of chowing down on everything from dry-rubbed pork ribs to steaming hot chicken chili, nearly 70,000 screaming fans pour into our temporary home for winter sundays each year, Gillette Stadium. We’re all there to support our team. We all share an allegiance to our players that borders diehard. We’re all brought together around one central entity, sports.

In Boston, sports are ubiquitous. Whether it’s kids throwing the pigskin around in the yard or the Celtics playing ball in The Garden. Everywhere you look in Beantown, you see people sporting Red Sox logos and Pats symbols. Downtown, it’s virtually impossible to look in any one direction without seeing a piece of Boston sports apparel. Sports are like glue, they hold the city together and keep Boston running as a cohesive unit. Everyone in this city rejoices around our athletics teams and when our teams are doing well, we’re doing well.  Sports are truly the way in which all of Boston can relate to each other. In an interview, David Friedman, a senior vice president in the Boston Red Sox Legal Division, said, “Boston is a sports town. And the people here are so passionate about their sports. Not just the Red Sox but also obviously with the Bruins, Celtics and Patriots. Sports, I think, bring the city together, give us something to cheer about when things are dark, and, you know, sports are a big part of what makes the city so special.” When the city is getting torn apart, there’s always a game to get us all back on the same page and all rooting for one team. In Boston, sports don’t relate to the community, they create a community.

Sports in Boston are important for many different reasons spanning from the emotional connection they provide to the sheer jubilation they cause the city to feel. One significant reason that Bostonians love our teams so much is that they win. A lot. With just four pro sports team (as opposed to, say, New York, who has ten) Boston has appeared in 57 championships including at least seven from each sport. Of these championship game appearances, we’ve brought home 33 rings, seven of which have come in the past twelve years. Kevin Faulk, a former Patriots running back, is a man who knows his fair share about championships, sporting three Pats super bowl rings on his hands. When asked what make Boston a sports town, Faulk replied, “Titles. Got a lot of titles between our teams, man. This city’s got the Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox, the Patriots. I mean, we got titles.” Aside from our championships, Boston is a powerhouse town in terms of attendance to games in every sport. While other cities struggle to get fans to come to games, Boston has to try and keep fans out. For an autumn game in 2010, the Tampa Bay Rays organization gave away 20,000 free tickets in an attempt to fill their stadium. In Boston, every stadium is packed for every home game. The Red Sox recently ended a ten year sellout streak of 820 games, shattering the previous professional sports record. The Patriots have a sellout streak that is still alive today and which dates back to 1994, consisting of well over 200 sold out games. The Bruins haven’t had an empty seat in the house since 2009, that means four straight packed-house seasons. And the Celtics haven’t had an unsold ticket since 2007, comprising over 200 sold out games.

But its more than just success that makes Boston Sports so great. Fans and players alike have more that just an interest in sports, they have passion. Kevin Faulk said, “There’s only one word to explain [the connection], and that’s the passion. Passion for the game. The passion of the fans, it’s like they’re actually playing in the game with us. And as a player, we have passion for what we do.” Passion is what connects a Patriots fan to a Patriot. Passion is what connects a Patriot to Boston. And passion is what separates Boston from any other self-proclaimed 'sports town'.     

Beyond the emotional support, the teams provide an economic stimulus to the city. When 20,000 people pile into the Garden for a Bruins game, the restaurants nearby fill to the brim with eager hockey fans enjoying a meal before the match. Larry Scott, the commissioner of the NCAA's Pac-12 conference said, "They give support for local businesses. They bring a tremendous amount of pride for a city. They improve the quality of life in a city. And there are many forms of community interaction through sports, ways that are helpful for youth and other stakeholders."

Many people think athletes are arrogant and greedy, they say that doing everything athletes and teams do is just for money. Despite this public misconception, David Friedman remarked, "[the Red Sox] are all in huge support of charities like the Jimmy Fund, and with their help the Red Sox Foundation has raised over fifty million dollars in the last ten years." Our teams and athletes often work with people in need but they also work with us when the whole city is in need. After the recent marathon bombing, the city was looking for ways to bounce back and one of the places it looked to was the four pro sports teams. In this time of need, the athletes of this town granted the city some much needed civic pride. The community rallied around their teams. At the Bruins game directly following the bombing, Rene Rancourt, a long time Boston resident and opera singer was singing the national anthem when suddenly all 20,000 people who were packed into the Garden joined in and sang together. Larry Scott said, “Sports teams are essentially a source of pride and emotional connection for a lot of fans, they can really play an important role and can be very helpful in the healing process. Teams can help the community come together which is really great to see in times of, a tragedy in this case, it’s nice to see a community come together, rally together, and support each other.”

It’s nearing the end of the fourth quarter and the Pats are dominating their opponent by thirty points. With every good play and every Patriots touchdown, the fans still go crazy, with no sign of letting up no matter what the score. My dad, brother and I are all huddled together for warmth in section 104, row twenty, seats five through seven, we’re freezing and just don’t care. We haven’t sat down in four hours, because that’s just how we do it at Gillette. We all watch in awe as Brady takes the snap looking down field, he sees the all-powerful Gronk running down the left hand sideline waving his arms to signify he’s open. The ball is launched like a missile from the arm of our beloved quarterback into the air. It zooms through the atmosphere at what seems like light speed into the arms of our 6’ 6’’, 270 lbs. tight end Rob Gronkowski. He catches the missile in the endzone and the whole stadium erupts like an active volcano. We’re ecstatic. “The fat guys,” as we call them, who sit behind us are dishing out high fives while everyone joins together in an enormous cheer. The touchdown was meaningless. With the game already decided, this score gave the Patriots a thirty-seven point lead rather than just thirty. But no one cares. We love where we are and why we’re there. We love Gillette Stadium and we love our boys out on the field. We love the enlivened ambience and we love being together. We love sports and we love Boston.