Alewife Salute

The Alewife Salute is a postseason tradition in which Alewife Arsonists fans fill the Altar of Rust (the parking garage of the Concrete Cathedral, a.k.a. Alewife Station) with the noise of horns, trains, and general mayhem to celebrate postseason victories.

Alewife Salute in the Hellmouth Cup

Season 8 of the Hellmouth Cup was the year it all worked for the Alewife Arsonists . The three altars were in perfect alignment. The diesel fumes from the busway were thick and nourishing, the Red Line ran on time, and the Concrete Cathedral Concessions stand (Sully's '98 Buick LeSabre) was stocked with Alewife Happy Meals - championship-grade Fluffernutters and Narragansett lagers.

In the final Hellmouth Cup series game against Seattle Sneakers , the mysterious Brake Master Cylinder fell silent for the final minute, letting the sounds of the station - the screech of wheels, the hum of the third rail - broadcast to the faithful. When the final Sneakers pattern dissolved, there was a sacred pause, and then, for the first time in history, the cacophony of a thousand dying car horns from the Altar of Rust echoed through the streets. "The Alewife Salute" became the official name for their championship celebration, a symphony of blaring horns and grinding cars and screeching rails, as pure as rust. The Arsonists collective brought the Hellmouth Cup to the garage, where it was filled with 'Gansett Lager and used as a communal chalice.