Off Beat: From Tragedy to Triumph, the city of Boston is on a roller-coaster ride

On April 15th, one of the worse days in Boston’s history happened, at the end of the Boston Marathon there were two explosions towards the finish line. There were several injuries and a total of three fatalities (a fourth was committed when the police tried to catch these scumbags). It was unlike anything ever witnessed in Boston, a city that is so beautiful, on such a nice day, turned to absolute horror for about a week. It wasn’t until Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured did the city of Boston really start the healing process.

It was a Friday night, I remember it fondly because I was at the Providence Bruins game the night it happened and at the end of the second period they announced over the PA system that Dzhokhar was caught by Boston Police with the help of the other agencies. I remember it well because the chant of “USA USA USA” started and it was a moment in my life that I will never forget. 

What people may not realize is that going to the Providence Bruins game that night was a risk because Dzhokhar was still on the run and a manhunt was going on all day in MA., so it is possible that the guy could have made his way South towards Providence, Rhode Island and no one had spotted him. Sure logically it is a far cry but when you consider what the monster had done four days before, at that time it seemed like something like that would also be a far cry.

Anyway after that night the comeback for the city had begun, the Red Sox and Bruins had home games that following afternoon at 1PM, and they both had their different tributes to the victims, and heroes who came into action, from the police to fire departments and every agency in between who got involved in the process including the FBI.

The days went by and slowly but surely the city of Boston was recovering from the attacks, life as Boston knew it, was also starting to come back to full force. The Bruins were playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Red Sox were off to a surprising start given the fact that the Red Sox had a 69-93 record in 2012.

It was just in June that the Bruins and Blackhawks made the Stanley Cup finals and had a great series, despite disappointment there was a lot of positives to come from the Stanley Cup run, it was just an amazing situation as a Boston sports fans got a chance to take a break from reality.

And after the Bruins season ended, the Boston sports fans had turned to the Red Sox, a team that always seemed to find a way to win, even coming from behind a lot. And even when the playoffs started I don’t think many fans expected to see them win a World Series. I think personally I felt like that they’d get past Tampa Bay, but Detroit I had my doubts and then I felt a little better against St. Louis because the Tigers offense is so much better and the Tigers had a great pitching staff to boot.

This championship is more important this time than it was in the past, not to take away from the past titles, they all are meaningful. But my favorite is this just because of the circumstances that led to it with the tragedy that started the year.

This isn’t to say that Boston has fully recovered, but a title is a big step forward for a city that tries to recover from a gut wrenching day caused by two men who were deeply disturbed. There is no telling what will happen to Dzhorhar Tsarnaev, but his day will come and his punishment will be severe one way or another and that will finally be closure for this city of Boston. This championship was just a bridge over to what will hopefully be justice in the end.

I am enjoying this championship, not as a huge baseball fan but as someone who has been to Boston and loved the city. The city of Boston is great and they truly deserve this, and I hope we get to see more titles soon.

The aftermath of the capture. End of Terror series: part 2 of 2

We pick up from Friday night and roll into Saturday, with three Boston sports teams playing there was a lot to keep track of. There were some that probably cared less because they had a family member die or still in the hospital and that is entirely understandable. But for the rest of Boston they were at the local sporting events or most likely watching them take place on the television.

The games in themselves seemed utterly unimportant, their was a celebration going on after the capture of Dzhokhar Zsarnaev, nothing could really ruin this weekend for Boston even if their teams did less than impressive. The Red Sox lost 2 of 3 to the Royals this weekend. The Bruins went 1-1 this weekend with a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh and a 3-0 win over the listless Florida Panthers. The Celtics dropped game 1 of their opening round playoff series with the New York Knicks.

Results aside it was nice to see the City of Boston get back into the swing of things again. While it will be a long time before things get back to normal, the city is starting its comeback in impressive fashion. From pre-game videos honoring the the Boston Police Department to the fans singing the national anthem themselves to David Ortiz giving profane speeches, the sports side of Boston is back and stronger than ever.

The city on the other hand, that will be a slower process, and that is entirely understandable given the circumstances, and the mere fact that Tsarnaev hasn’t even been charged yet, there haven’t been any funerals for the victims, and there is still a whole legal battle to engage in. Boston is far from back to normal, however it is off to a good start of what can be a long journey back to normal. But hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

But not just Boston but also the rest of the country, for example, I went to the Providence Bruins game on Friday night and I was a little nervous knowing that Tsarnaev was still on the loose, but then yesterday afternoon I went to the Providence Bruins game for their season ending game and felt a lot safer than I did on Friday night. I am sure there are several people who are like me whom feel more comfortable now that the bombers are off the streets.

This is a good time to end the article and extend my thoughts and prayers to the friends, and families of the slain victims, the medical personnel who had to witness the horrifying scene and work through those conditions, and with the victims still recovering from their injuries. I also want to send my thoughts and prayers to all effected in last weeks fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.

Breaking News: FBI releases images/video of the suspects in Boston Marathon attack

The video of the suspects walking the street is below:

Suspect 1

Suspect 2

This is the hat that suspect 1 is believed to be wearing

The still frame pictures which are from the video I believe can be found here: http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/photos

To Provide Tips in the Investigation

If you have visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere, submit them on https://bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov/. No piece of information or detail is too small.

You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information.

PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BRING THE SUSPECT(S) DOWN YOURSELF, THE FBI SAYS THESE MEN ARE BELIEVED TO BE ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.