Bostonian Pride

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Walking around Boston, Massachusetts you will notice that there is a great deal of Red Sox pride out there--a LOT of pride. In about an hour sitting at a Starbucks on Newbury Street, you may see 15 or even 25 Boston Red Sox caps go by. It is not rare sighting to see 30 Boston sweatshirts pass you by throughout your day. The Boston Red Sox fan base is rapidly growing especially due to the tremendous victory that we had last year for the World Series!

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the hundreds of universities here in Boston, MA, fashion is not always the #1 priority for its students. Studies definitely put their studies in precedence over fashion. However, the Boston pride is still very prevalent among the students here on campus. Just as on the streets of Boston, it is guaranteed that you will pass by a Boston sweatshirt or Red Sox cap on your way to class. There is no way that you can avoid running into the easy-to-spot Bostonian. From afar, you can easily spot the signature "B" written onto the paraphenelia or the classic red-pair of socks presented on the cap or shirt.

However, although there is so much Boston pride around the MIT campus, like most colleges, everyone here is not an original Bostonian. About a total of 18% of all applicants to MIT consist of Northeastern natives. By the time it comes for students to make their decision on schools, about 4-5% of these students end up being from the heart of the Boston metro area. Naturally influenced by their surroundings with the overwhelming amount of Red Sox excitement around the city, it is difficult to remain neutral to the Boston home team of the Red Sox. It is especially even more difficult to root for the rival team of the Patriots. With this said, it is not even just the native Bostonians that love the Boston city along with their amazing baseball team. About 9% of the current MIT population claims to be "original" Boston Red Sox fans and are avid users of Boston t-shirts and baseball caps.

Walking through campus, it is very difficult to pick out the natives from the rest of the population. You may see someone dressed in a Red Sox sweatshirt, along with a Boston cap, and even maybe wearing a "B" logo on their backpack, but this is no indication that they are an original Bostonian. There are many "poser" Bostonians due to the hype about the Red Sox and the city as a whole. However, who is to say that this is bad? Natives may not appreciate these intruders, but it just a way of spreading the excitement about Boston to a larger population - the college population.