Boston

It's almost been a week since those bombs went off in Boston killing 3 and wounding over a 150 people.  The suspects hbave been found, the city is recovering, things are starting to get back to normal.  I on the other hand am not sure how to feel about this Boston bombing, for one you think what a tragedy, what a city to shut down and find these guys, what a story.  On the other hand you have people who say, who cares it's only 3 people who died, it was a rogue attack not a huge plot, in fact more people are dead in West, Texas and why aren't you crying over them.  I'm kind of caught in the middle but there is a reason we as sports fans should care about this bombing, but I feel we must keep it in perspective does that even make sense I don't know.

The bombing itself is a tragedy, when people die at the hands of others we should be concerned, whether it's from terrorism, mass shootings, or drunk driving.  This isn't an accident gone horribly wrong like in West, Texas.  This was an act of terrorism and we as Americans don't stand for terrorism, in fact we started 2 wars that both lasted over 10 years b/c of 9-11, but a mass shooting doesn't get a single gun law passed.  The fact it happened at a sporting event should neither be shocking, nor taken lightly.  Where else do 75,000+ people gather in such a small area.  A marathon isn't exactly the sporting event I thought would be attacked, I figured a football game or Nascar race would be the obvious places since they hold the most people and typically sell out.  Either way, a marathon is an easy target, 26 miles of open area, you can't rope that off, people coming and going.  No amount of security could stop what happened, they had dogs in the area.  The bombers came in during the event set down the bombs and walked away, not sure how you stop that.

But why do we care so much?  If this bombing happened in Topeka, Kansas do we care?  Maybe, but there are reasons why the media went bat shit crazy over this.  First of all, it happened on the east coast, and those of us who don't live there understand this.  If something happens along I-95, the media goes crazy, based on the fact that's where most of the media is based, and a large amount of population lives there.  Secondly, this happened on Patriots Day in Boston, which is one of the biggest days of the year for them, the Red Sox play an 11 o'clock game, the oldest marathon in America is the Boston Marathon, it's just another reason to take the day off from work and go party.  This is no different than any other city celebration and when people attack you on your day it tends to piss you off.

I for one am really in the gray area, this situation as it went on intrigued me.  At first I was a little what's the big deal but as it went on I wanted to know why.  What made these two men build and set these bombs.  What is their intention, and when I heard they took the 2nd suspect alive I was happy, I don't like when people decide to do terrible things but don't have a reason for it.  Should we maybe of sent more people to West, Texas and cover that story yeah probably, but here is something for that, b/c of the Boston thing West, Texas is getting sorted out and your not getting differing reports.  They are getting time to find the bodies and search for people.  The Boston coverage was horrible, CNN claimed Boston PD has a suspect when they didn't.  The numbers of dead and injured were wrong.  In fact the media handled this situation much the way Mark Sanchez handles the football, 90% of the time they were inept and unreliable.  The hurry to get news first screws up the fact they might actually get something right.

I think we as a nation should care, do we need to all the vigils, and pictures on facebook, well probably not.  But don't be surprised ESPN went crazy, you know they love Boston and the fact it's right down the road doesn't help.  The national media is going to cover this b/c of the terrorism factor.  In fact complaining about the coverage makes you just look dumb and unsympathetic, if you are just shut your mouth and sit there.  We have cable and satellite companies that offer 200 channels find something else to watch, don't go on twitter if people are flooding your timeline, just let it pass.  Facebook is tough b/c you can't help what your friends post and I for one have complained about other things, but sometimes just letting it be is better than bitching about stuff. 

That's all for this week, hopefully I can come back next week and talk about positive stuff, follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.  I'll end with the words of David Ortiz, "This is our fucking city."