I was en route to broadcast a high school baseball game on Monday afternoon when I heard about the explosions that rocked the area near the finish line of the famed Boston Marathon.
As we have become accustomed (or calloused) to, the news broadcast was giving sketchy details about the the incident – details that here in the 21st Century we know will get worse.
After I arrived at the press box at Eovaldi Field at Benton Community Park I went about the task of getting my equipment set up with that old familiar question rolling through my mind: What is wrong with people? And like I did please feel free to drag the word ‘wrong’ out. It seems to help me with the helpless, hopeless, irritating, frustrating, infuriating madness that we now know is a way of life at any location on the globe.
And really I can’t say I was surprised because I have feared, dreaded is a better word, the day that sporting events that are such a part of our makeup and fabric, were targeted by insanity. For the umpteenth time, the red line of the unthinkable has been moved again.
I went ahead with the ballgame – Benton vs. Murphysboro – which of course was the only thing I knew to do. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get going, is what my dad would have told me, so that’s what I did. I mentioned at the top of the broadcast the old standby line, ‘our thoughts and prayers are with the good folks in Boston’ and then I trudged ahead.
It was a good ballgame with the Rangers falling behind early 2-0 but then rallying for 5 runs in the third inning on some timely hitting and base running. Benton tacked on three more runs late and won 8-4. The Rangers had dropped three in a row coming in so it was nice to see them get back on the winning track.
I take a 60 second commercial between every half inning and I found myself scouring the news apps on my phone to try and get an update (or perhaps make sense) after the tragedy in Boston. A day of celebration and triumph in one of America’s greatest cities will now forever be marked by a tragedy. The date April 15, 2013 will now be linked with a growing list of dates and locations, an infamous list of dates and locations where evil and terror showed up to try and destroy innocence and a way of life.
But that won’t happen. Never. Ever. Never. And let me explain why that won’t happen.
As I went about the task of unhooking my equipment and putting it neatly away I glanced out the press box window at Benton Community Park, which was a virtual beehive of activity. Games or practices going on at five fields and players and coaches raking and working on Eovaldi Field where the game had just been completed. I could see people walking dogs, using the concrete walking track that winds around the sprawling park. Young girls in a group huddled up talking, children in the playground area. Life goes on, I thought.
As I walked to my truck a girl’s softball game was in progress, the good smell of the concession stand filled the air and the sun broke through a cloud cover and shined brightly. People were relaxing in lawn chairs, visiting, watching children and grandchildren learn the very American games of baseball and softball. I’m a decent wordsmith but I would have trouble trying to describe the feeling that this scene gave me. In the words of the old country song, ‘I guess you had to be there.’
But there was one sight that stood out to me and caused me to stop before entering my truck and just watch and take it all in.
On Field 2, a field I had coached young boys on many years ago, I watched a coach give instruction on running the bases. ‘Catch the inside of the bag with your foot,’ he properly instructed the youngsters that I guessed to be seven or eight years old. And as each youngster ran the bases and crossed home plate he was greeted with a high five and a pat on the back. Again, there were people in lawn chairs taking in the practice, watching, chatting, living.
As I stood and watched these young boys learning the wonderful game of baseball – a game that they will teach their children to love someday — it crossed my mind that this is why cowards working in the shadows cannot destroy our way of life.
They might be able to blow up a building, a car, or an airplane but they cannot blow up our way of life. And the people that are hellbent on trying to destroy our way of life know nothing about the makeup of Americans or they would know just how futile their attempts are. There are thousands of recreational facilities just like Benton Community Park that dot the landscape across our great country where the same activities I witnessed played out yesterday and will continue today, tomorrow and forever.
While the cowards slither off into the darkness of their miserable life to plan their next terror attack Americans will move forward – proud, unwavering, resilient and a maybe a little defiant – knowing that a gutless act of terror will not change us or our way of life. Let me say it again. Never. Ever. Never.
It’s a new day. God Bless America … and batter up!
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