2013 in 8 Days: A year of Leaders

Christmas has come and gone and New Years Day is just around the corner. As inspired by my 9 year old brother, during the 8 days spanning from Christmas morning to New Years morning "Go, Titletown" will add daily updates to an 8 part series remembering the highs, lows and all around heartwarming moments of 2013 in Boston Sports as well as a look ahead to what we might see in 2014. This is not a statistical analysis of these 298 professional sporting events that took place in Boston in 2013, this is a written rehashing and a reminder that we are the greatest sports town on the planet. 

Complete Schedule 

December 25th- A Year of Leaders

December 26th - Best Patriots Moments 

December 27th - Best Red Sox Moments

December 28th - Best Bruins Moments

December 29th - Top Plays 

December 30th - Top Games

December 31st - [To be determined] Is the Boston Athlete of 2013

January 1st - The Promise of 2014

- The Attacks

I stand 3 rows back from the curb of Boylston Avenue reveling in the contrast of mood that this piece of real-estate holds between the present moment and one lasting 12 seconds that occurred nearly 7 months earlier. 7 months ago, 3 lives ended while thousands were changed forever as the sounds, the shrapnel, and the gut wrenching sight of the human blood that stained those Boston sidewalks that afternoon broadcast to the world managed to bring tears to the eyes of the large majority of many an American. Within hours, the possibility of the twin explosions being accidental has been ruled out and as we stood in shock that evening we knew that terrorism had returned to this nation.

The Bruins game scheduled for that evening was cancelled as a result of the panic and "police activity" enveloping nearly the entire city and yet as the days went on and the thirst for justice harbored by many Bostonians, for the first time in years, sport was meaningless. Why, because just 4 days after the initial attacks, tragedy struck again. Late on the night of April 18th it was reported that men claiming to be the Marathon Bombers had carjacked Mercedes and then robbed its owner of 800$ via a withdrawal from a bank in nearby Watertown. Upon allowing the man to escape without suffering any physical harm he preceded to alert police officers of his recent ordeal all while the still on the loose bombers raced towards the borders of Boston. By then they had already gunned down a police officer at MIT and were soon confronted in a Watertown neighborhood by what was immediately identified as a full scale swat team.

Within minutes residents of the Laurel Avenue portion of Watertown were awakened to the sound of gunfire as within a span of just under 10 minutes the Tsarnaev brothers unloaded additional explosive devices and hundreds of rounds on the police officers who were making their attempts to bring them down.

To restate the words of any and all who heard or even saw the firefight that night, these men had one intent in mind: to kill anyone they came in contact with, and by extension terrorize as many human beings as possible. Once again, Boston was put into lock-down as governor Deval Patrick enacted a "shelter in place" order that encompassed 10 communities and effectively shut down all of Boston for the entire day. For all of 18 hours the entire nation stood still waiting for the hourly updates made by the Boston Police department and the eventual capture of the one brother who had escaped the shootout (Tamerlan Tsarnaev was suspected to have been run over by his brother and killed during the escape). Police enveloped Watertown in an unprecedented manhunt and yet we went on without any more information than the footage of the shootout, the names of the brothers and the desperate pleas of Tsarnaev family members.

"Give up. Give up." Djokhar's uncle said and yet, within hours of that plea being made public police finally found their man surrounding a blood stained boat in which the bomber was supposedly hiding. For the third time in less than a week, America stood tense as television broadcasts picked up the sounds of gunfire and sights of flash grenades being detonated in an attempt to stun Djokhar. They knew that taking their suspect alive was optimal but at the same time understood the imminent possibility that this man was armed and ready to go down with one final massacre. Luckily things would not have to come to that and at 8:42PM, the drama and fear turned to celebration. 

One bomber was dead and as for the other, he will likely be behind bars for the rest of his time on this planet. 

- This is our city

The imminent danger of death had passed as there was no longer a violent duo of psychopaths rampaging through our 90 square mile metropolis and yet while the sight of Djokhar being carted away from that blood stained boat caused us a brief time of relief as the stories, pictures and memories flooded back we began to grasp what had truly happened. 

Perhaps the strongest maytr like figure that came out of this all was deceased 8 year old boy, Martin Richards. He was just 8 years old and yet in the blink of an eye, he and his family who were standing just a few feet away from the second bomb blast were mutilated as his sister Jane lost a leg, his mother lost sight in her eye via the damage of a ball bearing while his father has lost most of his hearing. However to this day, the family is grieving not for their lost limbs or human senses but for their family member. Martin loved the Bruins to an obsession and frequently attended games with his father mainly for the reason that he loved sports altogether. 

In the wake of his death, those sports teams that he loved, loved him back grieving as much as anyone else while also speaking in their mind and reminding Bostonians of the true unifying power that sport can have on a people no matter how devastated they may be. That fandom was combined with yet another strong form of modern culture in the first major sporting event after the bombing. On April 17th the Watertown shootout had not even occurred but nevertheless, when legendary anthem singer, Rene Rancourt came onto the ice to sing the Star Spangled banner prior to the Bruins game against the Buffalo Sabers the 17,565 fans present that night cut him off. For 3 minutes they sang the long, drawling words of the United States' signature song and for all present and all watching the game on TV, it was beautiful. The aucapella anthem was a tradition that was carried on for 3 more home games before on the last day of the year, Rancourt took over again. But regardless of that, the magic had already sunk in and those few days in April were the beginning of the healing process for Bostonians.   

However, the Bruins were not the only team to save their city in the wake of the attacks. 

What the Boston Red Sox did this season was in a way far more magical than anything the Bruins did. When you watched games at Fenway there was this inherent feeling of will to succeed that radiated from every corner of the age old stadium. There was the 617 jersey that hung in the Boston dugout for the entire duration of the season after the bombing and yet that was not the most lasting aspect of the Red Sox leadership in tragedy.  

"This jersey that we're wearing today it doesn't say 'Red Sox.' It says, 'Boston.' We want to thank you for you, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department, for the great job that they did this past week," Ortiz said during his now fabled pregame speech prior to the Sox first game after the Watertown Shootout "This is our f******city. And nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong" 

Less than 2 hours after that cry that I point out was responded to by the FCC as "a speech that was said from the heard" and "what all Bostoinans are thinking today", NESN play by play man, Don Orsillo made one of the signature calls of this 2013 season. As Stephan Drew belted a long home run into the Sox bullpen, the lovable voice echoed across the airwaves screaming "Boston! This one's for YOU!" 

-Triumph 

The World Series was fitting. 

A long, 6 game series that had both it's ups and downs resembled greatly 2013 as a whole as game 3's terrible ending on terms of an obstruction call seemed to be a low while the very next game involved the greatest hit of Johnny Gomes' career and ended with a bizarre, walk off pick off play at first base. Koji Uehara condensed a season of success into one final pitch that won it all while David Ortiz put up one of the greatest performances ever by a DH batting .760 in 16 World Series at bats.  

As Koji hurled that final pitch of that final out in that final game of this year's World Series, the celebration was for more than the trophy they had won. They were relieved, and genuinely proud of what they had brought their city. As captured by a home video in the Red Sox commemorative video "Band of Bearded Brothers," there was excitement in the air as people appreciated what the Red Sox had done. 

As David Ortiz grabbed his teammate, Koji Uehara and held him above his head he was raising not just 1 person but an entire city. David Ortiz eased the pain of what happened on April 15th and while we will never forget what happened that day the same can be said for the leadership that Boston sports have exhibited in this year of sports. 



Visual Accompaniment click here