"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
The 56th annual Beanpot Tournament opens to memories of the Blizzard of '78 30 years ago that stranded hundreds of fans for days in the old Boston Garden.
In the Globe, Rich Fahey, a former Garden concessionaire, recalls his experience being marooned at the Garden:
The late game meant I was required be at my post at Garden Concession Stand No. 5 in the West Lobby until well past 11 p.m., and wouldn't be able to check out until near midnight.
By that time, my Volkswagen Super Beetle had long since disappeared under the drifting snow...
The temptation to stay put in the Garden was strong. There was free coffee, leftover hot dogs, and popcorn. We knew where there was beer to be had. Card games had broken out all around the club. Really, what else does man need?
The Garden's skyboxes - spartan by today's standards - provided shelter for many of us for several nights, while others sought refuge in the Bruins' and Celtics' dressing rooms.
Boston Herald writer Jocko Connolly left the Garden on the MBTA trains that kept running long after their threatened shutdown. Although he didn’t get all the way home, he made it home where the train stopped.
“The train got to Dover Street and the [conductor] said, ‘We can’t go any further, so everybody off,’” says Connolly. “Foley’s Tavern was right at the foot of the stairs [of that stop] .
“So I went down into Foley’s and drank ‘till about three in the morning. There were some MBTA guys there who ran the station. So then we got a case of beer and climbed back up the stairs. They opened the booth, where it was warm, and we sat there drinking until the sun came up. It was great!”
First prize in partying, though, may have gone to the BU team, which would have to wait 23 days for its championship game, the only such Beanpot contest to take place in March.
“I remember getting on the team bus going back to BU,” says Terrier Sports Information Director Ed Carpenter, then experiencing his first Beanpot. “The bus stopped at Marsh Chapel, a chapel on campus. [BU coach] Jack Parker said, ‘We’ll leave it up to you guys if anybody wants to get off here and pray for the snow to end.’
“Well, everybody got off and walked across the street to the Dugout [a popular bar] . So much for Marsh Chapel.
[At] the Dugout, the feeling was just about the opposite of being marooned. Several years ago, Terrier forward David Silk described it best.
“By the time we came out,” he said, “the snow was gone and so were the seventies.”
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