The one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing hasn’t been short on retrospectives, with nearly every media outlet taking time to reflect on one of the worst tragedies in the city’s history.
David Ortiz — in many ways the face of Boston sports — chose to offer his own look back this week in a first-person essay for Sports Illustrated.
“The bombing at the Boston Marathon was the worst kind of unbelievable,” Ortiz wrote. “I was out of town that day, on an injury rehab assignment in the minor leagues, and when I saw what went down, I was in shock. Something like that should never happen anywhere. But especially not at the Marathon, which represents so much that is good about sports, about this city and about this country.
“One thing that has happened isn’t unbelievable to me, though: the way people in Boston and around the country came together in such a dark time. On the day of the bombing I can’t say I knew how the city would react. I had never thought about how we’d handle something like that because I never dreamed we’d have to. But when I saw how people helped one another and stayed positive, I wasn’t surprised. … Seeing Boston regroup the way it has over the last 12Â months has been awesome.”
The Boston Red Sox slugger went on to describe the emotions behind his unplanned but now iconic Fenway Park speech (“I felt the same way everyone else did”) and said that while there’s no way he’d ever have the endurance to run a marathon himself, he plans to be down on Boylston Street when the runners cross the finish line next Monday.
“I’ll be there this year for sure,” Ortiz wrote. “Maybe I’ll try to take selfies with as many people as I can while I’m there — that will be my marathon.”
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