Once again, ''hometown favorite'' Shalane Flanagan started the Marathon terrifically right out of the gates, claiming first lap victory, if you will, in a mere five minutes and 11 seconds. The American heroine is finally going to take it home (although ''home'' is Boulder, not Boston), so everyone thought at that point: and what a storybook, fitting end to this most somber chapter of the great tradition, which begat the proud ''Boston Strong'' mantra, however... The Oregon Blonde ran it proud but, ultimately, it was one of the usual Marathon winners that took it home: making Kenyan Rita Jeptoo a three-time Boston Marathon winner. (She won it in 2006 - easily the worst year of my life, but it was great for her - good for her. And, again, last year - though she had won her second marathon in Boston, she couldn't celebrate it at all due to it being, easily, the worst year in Boston history, too, as we well recall...)
Once again, for some unfathomable reason, we cared not who won in the male category...
Group Hug at the Finish Line:
simply beautiful. Courtesy: Fox Sports
More pictures from the 2014 Boston Marathon: here.
Once again, that unicorn-laden logo looked so bizarre, throning over the entire thing as this was some pagan ritual, distanced from any earthly concerns - which it might have been, arguably, up until last year, the 117th Boston Marathon, which was brought back to human concerns and harsh reality with shocking concussive force, as, again, we all recall so vividly - and some of us, actually, have nightmares about it...
The unicorn seems to be saying
''bah - run all you want,
you will never reach *my* realm...''
That's not what it's saying, right?
Right - it cannot be, of course.
The preceding was my original impression,
from early childhood,
finally put into blog form...
Once again, the Red Sox looked more like chumps than champs on that day (they who are defending World Series Champions this year, too) dropping a 6-7 decision to the usually woeful Baltimore Orioles. Players were wearing the jersey with the emblazoned ''Boston'' in front - making this pundit bandit blogger right here wonder where was the word ''Strong'' in that equation...? Oh, well, as long as the word ''Sox'' wasn't anywhere in sight, the homage to the city's strength, resilience and courage was intact (can you guys tell that I am one of those who, lo, many years ago, had voted for a return to the name ''Pilgrims'' for the then believed-to-be heavily-cursed franchise... hmm? Aye - I still am in favor of that, even today! I mean, isn't it enough that the now-famous world-over ''Bostonian Accent'' is reputed for mangling an infinite bit the English language? Does the city's foremost, historically-speaking, major sports franchise have to be corporately (and ''copyrightedly'' too) unable to spell as simple a word as ''socks''...? We're not as abysmal as Cromagnon Caucasian Chicagoans - are we, here, too?!? They who are tainted forevermore with the stigma of 1919... But I digress...)
Leave it to corporate America to save the day though: on top of all the ''Boston Strong'' merchandise readily available everywhere, onsite as well as on various websites, there always is plenty of other lines of products closely identified with Boston and its legendary resilience in the face of adversity - such as this new *blue-and-orange* sportswear line from Adidas:
In the late 80s and early 90s,
it was Wonder Woman that was reputed
to have moved to Boston
(sharing the workload with that local
Creeper guy - don't ask.)
Blue and Orange aren't her colors though;
they're more like her sea-bound friend's...
Adidas may be informed that, now,
it is Aquaman who has moved
to these patriotic shores
(not as polluted as New York harbor -
nothing is, really...)
hence the colors chosen, perhaps...?
Given that black and gold (Bruins - duh) is taken,
and so are red and blue (Patriots, Red Sox)
and white and green (Celtics - DUH)
they could only go blue and orange...
and hope Boston likes it, too?
Well, *I* like it - but mainly because
I have liked Aquaman *and* Boston
for a long, long time now;
in my youth, I saw the two as linked
and such an obvious link has been apparent to me
much longer than this current DC/Warner run
that has both of them linked at last...
Just saying...
Boston Strong is now part of the modern lexicon - it is synonymous with ''Strike Down Terror'' and ''Say No To Fear'' in my heart; and yours, too!
Because lest we forget - our guard must never go down again. For this happened once; but we'll be damned if there ever was a Boston Bombing two... #NeverAgain #BostonStrong
