History will be made…

What is a Dot Rat? Some would rather not be associated with a dirty rodent or a snitch. The term goes back 50 or 60 years in these parts….but there are so many people who ask this very question. What is a Dot Rat?

Dot is the short name for Dorchester…

A rat….well it’s actually quite simple.

Just like the species….we do whatever it takes. We are survivors and grinders… we get our hands dirty to provide for our families…we master adversity. We are the mechanics at the garage down the street….we are the union laborers pulling 14 hour shifts to stuff some cash away for our kids education. Maybe we are college students holding down 2 or 3 jobs to pay for tuition. We are firefighters, nurses, managers and police officers. WE ARE FIGHTERS….

This is not a Dorchester thing….we exist everywhere…..from Midwest farms to the gritty streets of Detroit. But to us, the term Dot Rat stokes a sense of pride…..it’s a badge of honor. This neighborhood is not everything you read about in the papers. It’s so much more than that. It’s family, hard work and tradition to us…..

Tonight Bill Traft will stand in the same hallway that Tom Brady has stood in, staring at the ring built on the 50 yard line of Gillette Stadium….he will bite down on his mouthpiece and feel Dorchester running through his veins as he walks to that ring. His experience here has landed him on a massive stage. Win or lose his name goes into the history books….nobody has laced them up at Gillette before.

He will fight like he’s representing all 95,000 people of Dorchester and 617,000 of Boston as a whole. Tonight he will fight like a Dot Rat….