I love UMass.
I’ll say it now because nowhere else in the country will you find a school that 3,000 students will come together after a win to sing “Dirty Water” and watch a guy dressed as Tarzan climb a tree. And to some it may sound stupid, but it might be one of my favorite things about UMass. Win or lose you will see us at Southwest complaining or cheering together. It’s not about the game so much as it is about the UMass community.
Last night an estimated 3,000 students gathered at Southwest around 11:30PM after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in game 6 versus the St. Louis Cardinals, final score being 6 to 1. The university warned students around that time with a tweet stating, “Your actions tonight have consequences. If you engage in reckless crowd behavior, you can be arrested. #umass.” A few more tweets were sent out later in the night by the University addressing conflicting reports that claimed tear gas and rubber bullets were used. The University sent out, “Smoke and pepper balls were used. No tear gas. No rubber bullets. Reports stating otherwise are false.” Fifteen people were arrested, fourteen of them being UMass students.
Junior, Lizzie Gorman, who lives in John Quincy Adams called it “golden.” “It’s good to see the spirit of UMass come together. I loved it.” Being a junior, Lizzie has seen riots from the Giants and Patriots loss to when Obama was re-elected president. When asked how this compared to other riots her response was simple, “Frail. But the spirit was there for sure.” It’s true. There may have been no “Save Bathroom Girl” or climbing on the roof of Berk this time, but all of UMass still came together to support our city.
Luke Lu, another junior who lives in Sylvan, came out to see the riots. “I thought it was bigger [this time]. It’s just the fact that UMass police were ready for it this time.” But just because UMass police were ready didn’t stop the UMass students from enjoying it. “It was wild, felt like it was the running of the bulls.”
Love or hate it, Boston deserved this win. We are a city who won’t let anyone take anything away from us. After the heels of the Boston Bombings, I don’t think there’s a more deserving city. I find it hard to call this a riot, because I found it to be more of a celebration. It was a small percentage of UMass students causing disturbing behavior, while most of us were out there simply to sing “Sweet Caroline” and enjoy the moment. It’s Boston Strong, and the celebrations from UMass to the Marathon finish line were all well deserved.
I love Massachusetts. I love Boston. I love the Red Sox.
But more than anything I love UMass.
Photo by: Nicole Evangelista
Photo by: Cade Belisle
Photo by: Nicole Evangelista
Photo by: James Jesson