\n<\/p>\n
But the love affair here has gone way beyond baseball, this has been a glorious embracing of two cultures. A point underlined by the news Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has declared a sister city application with Glasgow.<\/p>\n
Fittingly, she did so in a Scottish pub wearing a Scotland football jersey.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of football fans swarming to a city for a major tournament is nothing new, but it is the manner of the revelry here that has set it apart.<\/p>\n
At the time of writing, there has not been one arrest of a Scotland fan either in Boston or Providence, another nearby stronghold of the Tartan Army.<\/p>\n
The ground work for this Boston bash was laid two years ago in Bavaria. At the last European Championships, Marienplatz felt like it held more Scots within it than Motherwell. <\/p>\n
Again, Scotland fans were lauded for their behaviour, generosity and patter.<\/p>\n
Alas, the football did its best to ruin the party.<\/p>\n
That is perhaps one key difference to this shin dig, apart from the obvious step up in excitement from a Euros to their first World Cup in 28 years.<\/p>\n
What mood the Tartan Army would have been in if the opener against Haiti had turned into a disaster we will never know. Although, I’d say it would not have made a dent.<\/p>\n
The team on the pitch have done their bit to keep the party in full swing and a point against Morocco on Friday could trigger a tidal wave of celebration flooding back into Boston that night the likes they’ve never seen.<\/p>\n
The best way to describe it is this has been the trip of a lifetime for people who are still in their 20s. There’s a genuine appreciation from Scotland fans that they have waited this long to see their team at a World Cup, that it may be another three decades before it happens again.<\/p>\n
And, even if it did, nothing could rival the week in Boston they’ve just had, regardless of what Miami holds.<\/p>\n
For near enough a week, Scotland had the city to itself. Now it has become a tapestry of nations settling into one of the warmest, most welcoming place on the Charles River they could have hoped to visit. <\/p>\n
Who knows, they may be back here if they are one of the best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n
What will be the Tartan Army’s Boston legacy as the sporrans are soon to get packed away and the online check-ins start for flights to Miami?<\/p>\n
Their generosity? Their good spirit? Their ability to alert some locals to the fact the World Cup is even happening?<\/p>\n
Perhaps all of the above. Just not a haggis supper.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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