Standing Strong with Boston

Standing Strong with Boston

Sport brings us closer when things are falling apart

By Caleb Odom

   As a fifth grader I was rather numb to how the world worked but when my elementary school was locked down because men had flown a plane into the World Trade Center, I still knew that the world was going to change forever.

   Even as an 11-year-old kid I remember how the professional teams rallied with the city of New York like every other red-blooded American with a heart did.

   I remember all the American Flags on Major League Baseball jerseys, football helmets, and basketball jerseys.

   The players felt the grief that everyday Americans had for all of those taken on September 11, 2001 and it was like they felt that it was their duty to soothe the pain of loss.

  Then their was Hurricane Katrina destroying so many homes and lives in 2005 and the New Orleans Saints provided that fire and passion for the city to rally around.

   But what happens when a beautiful tradition like the Boston Marathon is turned into a nightmare with bombs that killed three and injured over 170?

  What do you do when an 8-year-old boy is killed by the blasts?

   The fact was that Boston was rocked by bombings during the Marathon and many people were left speechless.

   

   The New England area is big into their sports so in times like this, the sports teams can serve as a remedy for Hell of on Earth of reality.

   One of the most moving things I have ever heard in my life was the singing of the National Anthem in the Boston Bruins' first home game last Wednesday, April 17, just two days since the bombings.

  The crowd as one sang the anthem before the hockey game and the sound of the scene gave me chill bumps as I heard it on TV.

  When the Boston Red Sox returned to Fenway Park for its first game since the Monday bombings the team was wearing modified jerseys.

  Normally at home the Red Sox wear white jerseys that bear the name Red Sox in red but on Saturday the team's white uniforms proudly bore the name Boston in honor of the healing city.

   Sports teams offer a way for people to come together as one when the times get tough.

   So as the city of Boston shows that the city is strong and united so too are the sports teams that call Boston home.

   The longer I live on this Earth the more people disappoint me with how evil they can be but at the same time through that evil there are people who come together from that adversity.

   Stay strong Boston because I am staying strong right with you.