Is it team talent? Is it the fans of a city who were hurt...both physically and emotionally...after a harrowing and heartbreaking event? Is it coincidence? Why and how did Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox win the World Series last Wednesday night? Is it good luck? Is it loyalty...by the players to the fans...and the fans to the players? Is it the money that was spent...to promote "Boston Strong" - which brought the people together...and the team together...to make it their goal...so that Boston...and the Red Sox... would not let terrorist demons win? Or...is it good old fashioned hard work...by a group of outstanding athletes...who were determined to excel for themselves...and for the people of "Beantown"...who have supported them year after year...whether they win or lose? Maybe it's all of these things.. along with one more. Is it God...who made a miracle happen...in order to bring happiness to one of America's largest and beloved cities...after a catastrophe caused death, destruction and disaster by a cataclysmic and calamitous attack?Just six and half months - 198 days to be exact - after the city of Boston was devastated and traumatized...and the entire nation was once again horrified...by the sickness of despicable human beings...when two deadly, pressure cooker bombs killed three people and injured at least 264 others at the Boston Marathon...the Red Sox won their third World Series in the past 10 years.
On October 30th, 2013...beating the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals...the American League's champs - the Boston Red Sox - clinched the World Series title at Fenway Park. It took six games to do it...but it's the first time in 95 years - since 1918 - that the Sox won the World Series at home.
It was a storybook season...following the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings...when a baseball team that ended up on the bottom of the pile a year before in 2012...climbed themselves to the top of the heap...in 2013.
But Boston isn't the only city...where sports has supplied smiles...to a town of tears...after a terrible tragedy. The same questions I asked in the first paragraph of this column about the Boston Red Sox...could easily be applied to the New York Yankees after 9/11. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center - September 11th, 2001 - killed 2,606 people...and left New York City...the entire New York metropolitan area...and all of the United States of America...in mourning. Yet...less than 7 weeks later...on October 27th...the New York Yankees - who were the American League champions - began an exciting World Series competition against the National League winning, Arizona Diamondbacks. And although the Diamondbacks won the World Series in a dramatic Game 7 on November 4th, 2001... the Yanks helped to heal "The Big Apple" after the fear, shock and sadness of 9/11.
The same also applied to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina...when the football Saints...came marching in...and won the Super Bowl.
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina pummeled several states along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. More than 1,800 people died...due to the storm itself and subsequent flooding...and according to the National Weather Service...Katrina was the deadliest hurricane in the United States since 1928. As a result of Katrina...officials from the National Hurricane Center say that property damage was estimated at 81 billion dollars...making it the costliest and most destructive natural disaster in American history.
The Superdome in New Orleans was used as emergency shelter for residents whose homes were devoured by the power of Hurricane Katrina. But the stadium itself suffered extensive damage...so the National Football League's New Orleans Saints were unable to play their 2005 games in their home venue. However, the Superdome was repaired and renovated for 2006... and the Saints - in their first post-Katrina game - in their newly rebuilt stadium...defeated the Atlanta Falcons...in an emotionally-charged, nationally broadcast Monday Night Football game. More than three years later...during the 2009 season...on February 7th, 2010...while the City of New Orleans continued to struggle from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina...the Saints clobbered the Indianapolis Colts...at the Sun Life Arena in Miami, Florida...to win Super Bowl XLIV. Thousands of residents along the Gulf coast were still displaced from their homes...and even though it was more than four years after New Orleans was decimated by Katrina... winning the Super Bowl was a personal victory...and a sweet, sweet triumph... not only for the Saints, but for all of Louisiana.
The phrase, "Boston Strong" has become synonymous with the city and the aftermath of the two bombs that blasted the Boston Marathon on Patriot Day, April 15th, 2013. The slogan has become famous...not only in Massachusetts...but all over the country and around the world. It was dreamed up by two students at Emerson College - Chris Dobens and Nicholas Reynolds - who...with a philanthropic spirit...wanted to do something to help raise money for the injured victims...and the families of those who died. In an interview with the Huffington Post...Reynolds stated that Chris came up with the idea of "creating some T-shirts." 
The young men agreed on a blue and gold, bold-lettered T-shirt, which has raised about one-million dollars for charity. Reynolds says "(Boston Strong) wasn't necessarily specific to the singular event...but a general attitude we wanted to honor."Every community - and the people who live there - discover and take on unknown strength...following a tragedy. But the city of Boston...the entire state of Massachusetts...and the Boston Red Sox...all of which have suffered a great deal since the bombings at the Boston Marathon...have come together...to help heal this New England commonwealth.
As a lifelong New York Yankees fan...I take nothing away from the Boston Red Sox...for their efforts...and their skills...by winning the 2013 World Series. So congratulations to the players...and the management...of the Boston Red Sox. But congratulations also to the entire city of Boston - to all of its residents...government agencies...and others - who have, over the last six and half months...pushed...and encouraged the Boston Red Sox...with extra energy and enthusiasm...to go all the way.
With tens of thousands...perhaps hundreds of thousands of fans...who have all season long...cheered on the Boston Red Sox...it is definite proof...that along with talent and hard work by the players... good luck...and maybe even a little help from God...sports can help a battered...and shattered city...become whole again...and rise to the top.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
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