Jackpot

Sport fans in Boston must feel as if they hit the jackpot this weekend.  Today, the NHL and NBA playoffs have begun and a game will be on the air until we all meet the sandman tonight.  In addition, tonight the Red Sox will vie for the fans' attention as they play the Orioles on national television.

Tomorrow from Hopkinton, Massachusetts to the finish line by the Boston Public Library, the sidewalks will be jammed with fans shouting way-to-goes to the runners who will be racing along the 26.2 mile course.  And at the same time, 37,000 plus will be at Fenway Park watching the Red Sox play a morning game.

Is it time to sing the 59th Street Bridge Song or what?

My dad would often opine that those who do not get sports are missing out on so much of life. This was, while unintentional, a bit of a barb toward my mother who did not get sports.  And while I believe dad is right, there are other avocations that can fill one up, if sports is not your passion.

Yet for so many, sports is a passion and a thrill.  In Boston alone tomorrow there will be over 100,000 in downtown.  As I wrote a few days ago, some of the attendance will be a thumb in the face of the terrorists. A "take this", "idiots", we are still here.  You cannot stop us.  But some of the fans are just zealots.

The other night I went to a sports tavern to see a couple of innings of the Red Sox game. There must be forty sets in the joint. Only one was on the Red Sox. The rest were tuned into the Bruins-Red Wings playoff game.  Man the joint was jumping.  Wearing Bruins gear. Shouting for their favorite players. The Bruins game starts at 3 today. I wonder if you can get into the joint today.   There probably will be some guy dressed up as the Easter Bunny slugging down a beer and screaming for the home town team.