MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Scottish soccer fans have taken over Boston.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) All the way, all the way. No Scotland, no party.
KELLY: That is the Tartan Army, as they're called, celebrating at the wine and beer garden The Anchor. The fans brought their Scottish traditions with them to watch the World Cup, so yes, kilts; yes, bagpipes; and yes, drinking - lots of it.
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IAN HAGGERTY: I will usually drink about 15 beers a night. And yeah, we just like to party.
KELLY: That is Scottish fan Ian Haggerty speaking to local TV station WCVB. The drinking - well, when the team played its first game last Saturday, several Boston bars ran short on beer. Billy DeCain, general manager of the Sam Adams tap room in downtown Boston, told Reuters...
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BILLY DECAIN: We're all running out of beer, and the local distributors are just doing what they can to get them in, and I know a lot of them got shipments in and yeah, it seems like the Scottish pride themselves in having places - like, just drinking them dry.
KELLY: City hall has Scotland fever, too. This week, Mayor Michelle Wu started the process to make Boston and Glasgow sister cities.
MIKE MORRISON: The Scottish Army invasion is real, the Tartan Army. And I say that - people call it an invasion, but I think they've actually come here to wrap their arms around us and lift them up - lift us up to celebrate with them.
KELLY: That is Mike Morrison. He met some Scottish fans last week. They were staying in an Airbnb across the street.
MORRISON: They came complete with decorations, seemingly in the dead of night, and my wife noticed it first thing in the morning and sort of called my attention to it. It wasn't long after that - I'd say a little after 6:30 in the morning - we heard the bagpipes going, and I happened to be on the front lawn.
(SOUNDBITE OF BAGPIPE MUSIC)
KELLY: Oh, my God, 6: 30 in the morning - that is Morrison's video, embracing his new neighbors. It went viral on social media. Now, I don't know if I would appreciate hearing bagpipes that early, but Morrison went over to meet the group.
MORRISON: They were gracious enough to invite me back to the Airbnb for a couple of cold drinks and some good talk, and we had plenty of laughs, and certainly, I consider them friends now.
KELLY: The Scots have left the Airbnb by now, but Morrison now calls himself an adopted Scot. When we caught him earlier today, he was on his way to Scotland's match against Morocco.
MORRISON: Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be sitting here in a vehicle wearing a kilt with a Scottish sticker on my face headed in.
KELLY: (Laughter) After today's match, watch out Miami. That is where Scotland heads next to face Brazil.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO SCOTLAND NO PARTY")
NICK MORGAN: (Singing) And even if we don't win - we will win, we will win. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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