Sweeney: This Saturday, Lee Nguyen returns to Foxborough - and the Revs should honor him, like all Boston teams are known to do

If there’s one thing that we as Boston sports fans do incredibly well — other than attending duck boat parades, or being the envy (jealousy epicenter?) of the American sports world — is that we have a fantastic habit of welcoming our returning heroes with showers of affection.

We did it for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Who screamed at “You Can’t Handle The Truth!” and “Anything’s Possible!”? And any time Larry Bird is in the house with the Pacers, you go ballistic.

Who was in the Back Bay Fens the first time Pedro Martinez walked from the visitors dugout to the bullpen wearing the black top of the New York Mets? The ovation, even in pre-game Fenway, was deafening. Or how about when Roger Clemens walked to the Blue Jay dugout after his 16-strikeout performance in 1997, his stares toward Dan “Twilight of his Career” Duquette full of fire and brimstone? How many of you stood for the Rocket, or applauded at home? Everyone was at Fenway the day Bill Buckner emerged from left field. Or how about whenever Fred Lynn appears on the videoboard, John Fogarty blasting on the PA? Or Yaz or Papi? Or the reception Ted Williams received in 1999?

The Bruins probably did it best this season with the banner captains, regardless of the former team member they brought in — or whichever other Boston team they brought in. And hey, anytime Robert Gordon Orr is in the building, or Ray Bourque — remember when he brought Lord Stanley to Scollay Square? — or whenever Milt Schmidt arrived, you stand and applaud.

And for the Patriots… they just had Hall of Fame induction weekend. Tedy Bruschi was there, inducting Rodney Harrison. Same with Willie McGinest. The same will be true of Tom Brady, like it is with Drew Bledsoe and Julian Edelman and Wes Welker and a laundry list of gentlemen who have helped secure six Lombardis.

But the Revolution? I distinctly recall two instances last year where the crowd came to its feet to welcome past players, those being Taylor Twellman when he stopped by for his ThinkTaylor organization, and in the home opener, Charlie Davies, the newly named club ambassador, was in The Fort to a rousing ovation.

Outside of that, though, the Revs’ ties to past players are few; I highly doubt Jermaine Jones is walking through that door.

This Saturday, though, the Revs have a great chance to start mending fences with the past when Lee Nguyen comes to town with his new club, LAFC.

Nguyen’s story, of course, is part of Revs folklore. He came to Foxborough in March 2012 through the Waiver Draft and helped lift the team out of the post-Twellman doldrums. He helped lead New England to the 2014 MLS Cup Final. He scored 51 goals for The Boys In Blue, including 11 in 2017. He helped on a bunch of others at the No. 10 role.

And honestly, he deserved a better end to his tenure in Foxborough than the one he had: instead, he had a rather bitter divorce from the club early last season. He had held out of preseason training after former general manager Michael Burns refused his transfer requests, finally arrived three-and-a-half weeks late, and was not included in any of Brad Friedel’s match day squads. On the evening of May 1 and in the final hour of the Primary Transfer Window, the Revs sent Nguyen to Southern California.

Unfortunately, Revs fans couldn’t say good bye properly — raise your hands if you believed that Oct. 22, 2017 was the last time you would see good ol’ No. 24 in a Revs shirt — and it was hard, from a distance, to see Nguyen so warmly welcomed by the 3252, LAFC’s hardcore supporter base following his cross country flight. Not only that, Major League Soccer’s fixtures only account for one cross-conference matchup per side, and New England met LAFC only once last season — in Los Angeles.

So when this season’s schedule was released in early January, you penciled August 3 on your calendar. Circled it. Blocked it off. Scheduled your vacations around it.

And at first, it didn’t look like the Riders and Rebellion would really have the chance to fete Nguyen accordingly. Through June, he had made only eight appearances for Bob Bradley’s side.

But with Nguyen getting more and more playing time — he’s appeared in all of LAFC’s matches this month, including two starts and three appearances off the bench — there’s a solid chance of him making his first appearance on the Gillette carpet since that cold day in October 2017.

And like all Boston fans do when their heroes return, he should be applauded, not boo’d. The people who deserve your boos are gone now, the old regime swept away the night of May 13. Like Pierce and Garnett received, the Revs should extend the olive branch and post an in-stadium tribute video before the match — they’ve got plenty of material — and allow Nguyen to take a bow in front of the LAFC bench to thank the fans for their support. There’s a great deal of the fandom who believes that Nguyen should still be a part of this club, and hated the way he was treated.

And if the rumors are true, there may be another former Revolution player, one with a rather good left foot, in the building Saturday night. Could there be a second round of applause for a beloved, erm, warhorse?

At any rate, a neat tribute to Nguyen would show former players that things are changing in Foxborough, and that it’s okay to come back to Gillette as a conquering hero -- or when your playing days are over.