Thousands of New England Patriots fans turned out Monday morning to give the New England Patriots a rousing sendoff on their way to Minneapolis and Super Bowl 52.
Young fans, including Thatcher Schrafft, played hooky in order to be there. "We skipped school for this today," Thatcher said. He said they were there to see Tom Brady, so he was pretty sure it was OK.
Not only did he see Brady, he also got to see Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola, Devin McCourty and coach Bill Belichick. They took to the stage right outside the Patriots Hall of Fame.
As usual, Belichick was a man of few words. "Thanks for coming out today. We really appreciate your support," he said. "You guys were great last Sunday, it was awesome. And, uh, for those of you going to Minnesota, we'll see you there. For those of you who aren't, I know you'll be cheering your hearts out back here, and we'll see you Monday."
Of course the biggest round of applause was reserved for Brady, who has been the linchpin of this team dating back to its first Super Bowl victory 16 years ago.
Brady told the fans it's been an incredible journey, but they've "got one more to go."
"It's gonna be fun. It's going to be a lot of hard work. We're playing a great team, but I'll tell you what, we got a locker room full of guys who are ready for the challenge," he said. "We're going to go out there and try to win it for you guys. And that's all we got. We love you, Patriots out!"
And as the fans were showered with red, white and blue confetti, the team headed off to board buses to begin their journey to Minneapolis.
The fans are hoping the celebration continues into next week, culminating with another duck boat victory tour through the streets of Boston.
This report was originally published by WBUR.
