An advice column for people who live with people who live for sports
What happened on Monday, April 20, 2015?
The Boston Marathon was uneventful, and that’s good: Caroline Rotich, a Kenyan runner won the women’s race by four seconds over Mare Dibaba. In a less exciting finish,Lelisa Desisa won the men’s race. The day was dominated by echoes of the race two years ago which was interrupted by a terrorist attack at the finish line. Bitter-sweet stories abounded, like Rebekah Gregory’s. Gregory was at the race two years ago with her son and they were both injured in the attack. Gregory lost her leg below the knee. This year she decided to cross the finish line (not run the entire race, but I don’t really think that’s important, do you?) as a symbolic way of taking her life back. You can read an interview by Amy Van Deusen of Gregory and some of her supporters on ESPNW here. Line: As long as everyone finished the race safely, I’m happy.
Red Sox win to complete the celebration in Boston: Marathon Day, officially known as Patriots’ Day, is a big holiday in Boston. As part of the day’s celebrations, the Red Sox play a home game starting at 11 a.m. This year they beat the Orioles 7-1 in a rain-shortened game. Line: Not that any professional sports team should ever intentionally lose, but being the visiting team in Boston on Marathon Day must basically be a no-win situation. Why not just take it a little easy?
You’ve got to feel for the Jets: Winnipeg lost its NHL team, the Jets, in 1996 when the team moved to Arizona of all places. After years of mourning, they finally got them back when they convinced the struggling team in Atlanta to move up north. Last night the city hosted its first NHL playoff game in 16 years. And… the team lost in heart-breaking fashion to go down 3-0 in the best-four-out-of-seven game series against the Anaheim Ducks. Line: Poor Winnipeg. I wish they were winning.
Tied after three, not close after four: The game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Golden State Warriors was tied after three quarters but the #1 seeded Warriors came out in the fourth quarter and scored 10 more points than their opposition. The advancement of the best team all year, the Warriors, past the first round may be inevitable but the underdog Pelicans are showing themselves to be worthy of admiration as well. Line: For a series with such little drama about who is going to win, it’s certainly got entertaining basketball.
