Bay Area Buzz 4/16: A Senseless Tragedy
By Eric He
In just a matter of seconds on Monday afternoon, a happy and joyous crowd cheering on the runners crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon was suddenly overcome with fear, as two nearby bomb explosions caused panic and chaos. Three people are confirmed dead, and hundreds more suffered injuries.
It was the type of day where sports took a back seat; it didn’t matter who won or lost, all that mattered was that through the tragedy and devastation, America still stood strong.
So this morning, instead of giving you links of sports stories around the Bay Area, we decided to find the best stories capturing the horrific incident of April 14, 2012, in Boston.
Apr 15, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; The road is closed near Essex and Boylston Streets after a bombing near finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Boston Marathon Bombing Reminds Us Sports Can Be a Target, Too
"Random acts of senseless violence do not require explanation because there is no just rationalization for such cruelty. Detonating a pair of bombs in the middle of a crowded finish line serves no real political endgame. The terrorist attack in the ’72 Olympics was directed at a specific group of Israelis with a brutal, but specific, agenda. The Palestinian terrorists didn’t target the crowd.Monday’s act offered no such ambitious goals other than to inflict death and fear on those who have nothing to do with anything other than just trying to have a decent day or, in this case, celebrate a lifetime’s goal.Innocence once again takes a shot to the head, and the collateral damage will be even more fear than we had before this race began.– Mac Engel, Dallas-Fort Worth Sports News"
Remember Boston Bombing Next Time in Line
"No more complaints, please. No more gripes when you’re standing in line outside a game.No more whining about having to wait 10 minutes for security frisking or wand-waving at a major sports event in the United States. No more grumbling about possibly missing a kickoff or tipoff.The awfulness of Monday’s event at the Boston Marathon finish line will take awhile to process, to sort out and analyze thoroughly. But we do know this much: If any sports entity in our country was deciding whether to decrease its security budget and save a few bucks, that choice has now become very easy.– Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News"
Boston Marathon Redefines ‘In-Game Experience’
"Complain if you must, and in time you surely will. But you will not take your trip to the ballpark so lightly again, for a very, very long time. For those directly affected, the 2013 Boston Marathon was a tragedy. For the rest of us all, it is a cold slap of a new and painful reality. From the stadia we wish to build, to the people we wish to fill them, there is a new paradigm, and it begins with “Are we sure we need this?”In time, we may feel differently. In fact, we probably will. We are resilient to the point of stubbornness, at least when it comes to our amusements. But for the moment, the Boston Marathon will not be far from your mind. And it shouldn’t be.– Ray Ratto, CSN Bay Area"
The Good Outnumber You and We Always Will
"But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evildoers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you, and we always will.”– Patton Oswalt, Huffington Post"