Sports is why you Never Leave Early

We are all mortal, yet there is a process that injects life into the zombified husks sitting in their seats.

It happens when a pass falls perfectly into the hands of a rookie wide receiver in the waning seconds.  It occurs when a postseason savior hits a pitch into the bullpen. It may even happen in the last period of a doomed hockey game.

Because the fantastic comeback win can happen at any time, it is truly baffling to think that fans in the stands would willingly rob themselves of this experience by leaving early.

Thom Brennaman duly noted that there were members of the Foxboro faithful departing the stands in the final quarter against the New Orleans Saints. The home team was down by one point. The Patriots would go on to get three more cracks at stealing a game they had no business being in.

And yet a select few thought they could get a beat on the artery clogging traffic that would undoubtedly clog Route 1.

A similar mindset of beating the rush to Kenmore station had to occur to Red Sox fans on Sunday. Max Scherzer pitched seven incredible innings and fanned 13. The team had struck out 25 times through two games and looked overmatched completely to that point.

On May 13 there were most likely those who contemplated shutting off game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a three goal deficit with half of the third period gone and the home team appeared to be skating through quick sand on defense.

It seems logical for the fair-weather to avoid the turbulence of their team faltering. They avoid the hardest part about being a fan because they can’t bear the pain of loss.

Yet for those who are willing to risk facing the hardest part of sports, there exists the reward of being faithful.

For example those who elect to stay at Gillette Stadium witnessed the opposition’s play calling head to hell in a hand basket. The Saints inexplicably forgot that they could run the ball against the Patriots; as a result they gave a man with 31 forth quarter comeback wins a shot at his 32^nd one.

The result of this was Tom Brady finding Kenbrell Tomkins in the back corner of the end zone with five seconds to go.  The muskets fired once more and the New England Patriots beat the New Orleans Saints by a score of 30-27.

Those who stayed for the eighth inning at Fenway Park saw Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers over manage his team as he called for four different  pitchers in one inning.

None of Leyland’s pitchers recorded an out until after David Ortiz hit a grand slam. All four runs came across the plate and  the homer gave light to a fantastic sports picture.

One inning later Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in Boston’s bearded basher Jonny Gomes to give the Red Sox a 6-5 victory.

Yet the most improbable was that May 13^th day at TD Bank Garden. The Bruins faithful saw Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, and Patrice Bergeron netted three goals to keep the Bruins season alive.

And in overtime the Bruins kept calm and Bergeroned as Boston’s favorite Canadian found the back of the net to complete the reversal.

While there are countless other cities where improbable comebacks occur, there will always be those who try to beat the traffic.

If these three improbable turnarounds taught us anything it is this: Never leave the stadium early because remarkable could happen today.