Boston parade, 1903

In honor of former Wolverine Tom Brady and today's parading Pats:

"Hail to the Victors," via Michigan Songs

And the Quiet Man set (mp3) from the Chicago Cops in Kilts.

These Pats are like the old Celtics, a team, first and foremost, with stars but also a complement of role players who do the job, minus the bling bling. Tom Brady evokes Merriwell or Mathewson or Hobey Baker: If the Massachusetts Republicans have any sense they'll sign him up for the Senate when his playing days are over.

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For Tom Brady, life is good * The scene on Boylston * And on Tremont

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The image at top of the Ancient & Honorary Artillery Company parading through Boston's Dewey Square in 1903 is taken from a collection of panoramic photos at the Library of Congress' American Memory site.

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Boston Mayor Tom Menino, master of the malapropism, was asked in a radio interview this morning why, with as many as a million parade-goers converging downtown, no port-a-potties would be provided. His answer: People would knock them over and use them as weapons.

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Thirty-four years ago, the Bruins owned the town and paraded through tickertape to City Hall. In their memory, here's a colorful history of the Stanley Cup, which has been used as a trash can, an ecdysiast's prop, a beer pitcher and worse, and of which George Vecsey wrote: "One of the great rules of hockey is: On the Stanley Cup, all germs are healthy."