Cross-posted at Four Freedoms Blog. Do come and visit if you can.
This is my city.
Yesterday was our day.
I mean no insult to New York, or those that were lost, but until September 11, it was just that, September 11, an otherwise ordinary day with no significance to New York.
Patriot’s Day is Boston.
It’s more than the sporting events. We do have the Marathon, which I shouldn’t have to tell you is the oldest annual marathon in the world, having been inspired by the 1896 Olympics. Hopkinton, the “scream tunnel”, Heartbreak Hill, Rick and Dick Hoyt, Copley Square…these are all household names around the world. Our other sports claim to fame on this day is the Boston Red Sox. Before the marathon was altered, it always kicked off at noon…and the Red Sox first pitch was always at 10:30 am, the only morning start in all of baseball.
The idea was the game would be just wrapping up as the runners hit Kenmore Square.
I used to work in said Square in those days; it was absolute chaos. The company I worked for at the time gave up trying to fight it…we went out for “lunch” at about 1:30 to catch the elite runners passing through, and we’d always wait for the Hoyts to pass by before heading back in.
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