Last night I went to sleep to the sound of thousands of elated Red Sox fans pouring into the streets to celebrate the greatest series comeback in baseball history. A similar scene erupted when the Patriots won the Superbowl earlier this year and when Brazil won the world cup a few years back. The density of the neighborhood makes it possible for people to congregate easily like this, to move quickly from their living rooms into a shared public space of celebration. Occassionally these scenes can turn destructive, even violent, as it did in January when a Northeastern student was killed during the post-Superbowl revelry near Fenway. This time the police were out in force well before the game started, having cleared cars from Brighton Ave by early evening.

In a email this morning, my friend Andrew remarked that it would fun to have a Massashusetts-Texas World Series match-up to parallel the election. The symbolism would be fitting, since the Sox and the Democrats both have a history of near-misses and painful losses. Lets hope they both can can overcome their curses.