Boston

It's springtime; the season when our colors change from Orange to Red (and in many years, with a stop at Green along the way). And of course, writing about baseball takes us back to the origins of this blog in the fall of 2005. But before doing that, we have to take time to acknowledge last week's events in Boston.

I don't want to dwell on the horrific news, nor on the political implications of what occurred. Everyone's emotions are too raw; the events too recent; and really, I have no perspective for addressing the extent of hurt inflicted on the City, or the victims, aside from what one can glean from the media.

However, I do want to talk about Saturday's game for a moment, about how Fenway Park assumed the role of secular Cathedral for all of Boston, a place where people could come together again, and celebrate the City's resilience. It reminded me of the James Earl Jones speech at the end of Field of Dreams. "The one constant through all the years has been baseball....It reminds us of all that once was good. And that could be good again."

And to punctuate all that, David Ortiz gave us his defiant and profane declaration at the end of the pre-game ceremonies. Only Papi could have managed to pull that off, in front of thirty-five thousand, and countless TV viewers, not to mention the Mayor, the Governor and even Neil Diamond. Good for you Papi!

We were out on Saturday night; I was wearing my RedSox hoodie, and our server wanted to know if we were from Boston, or just showing support for the City. Rochester is really a Yankees town, but no one was breaking my chops last night. For a while at least, we can all pull for Boston.