The time was 2:49 PM, local time, hence the time of this post. The race, the 114th edition of it, was won by Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia, in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds; and, on the women's side, Rita Jeptoo of Kenya in 2:26:25. Jeptoo had previously won in 2006, and would again in 2014, but was stripped of the 2014 title for doping. Desisa would win again in 2015.
The winners crossed the finish line about 3 hours before the bombing. Desisa donated his winner's medal to the City of Boston, as a tribute to the victims.
The final count was 3 dead, 264 others injured. The perpetrators were a pair of ethnic Chechen brothers who had fled Russian, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Muslims angry at continued U.S. military action in Afghanistan.
The brothers then claimed a 4th victim, killing a campus policeman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) across the Charles River in Cambridge, and stole a car. They got as far as Watertown, but the police caught up with them, and shot them both. Tamerlan, 26 years old, was killed at the scene. Dzhokhar, 19, got away, made it to a boat on a trailer, and was found by the police, barely alive.
As I'd hoped, he was sent to, and remains in, ADX Florence in Colorado. Also there: "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski, 1993 World Trade Center bombing "mastermind" Ramzi Yousef, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols, Olympic Park and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph, "20th 9/11 hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui, "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, and FBI/GRU double agent Robert Hanssen. No one has ever escaped from this prison.
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Every year, on the 3rd Monday in April, New England, and in particular the State -- excuse me, the Commonwealth -- of Massachusetts, celebrates Patriot's Day. They commemorate the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the start of the War of the American Revolution. (Lexington Green is 14 miles northwest of Boston's Downtown Crossing.)
On this day, the nation's oldest long-distance race is conducted, the Boston Marathon. So as to avoid the combination of traffic that would be generated by a Red Sox home game and street closures for the Marathon, on Patriot's Day, the Red Sox play the Major League Baseball season's only morning game, at Fenway Park, an 11:05 AM start.
The Sox had completed their game before the bombing, and beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2. Jarrod Saltalamacchia had hit a home run, but the Sox blew a 2-1 lead in the top of the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th, with 1 out, Dustin Pedroia drew a walk, and Mike Napoli doubled him home with the winning run.
In this case, of course, it would be in bad taste for me to invoke the "Cliche Alert" of "Walks can kill you." In another cliche, baseball is often called a microcosm of life, but it is not life and death.
The Red Sox would ride the slogan "Boston Strong" -- and the steroids of David Ortiz -- to win the World Series in 2013. This was 4 years after Ortiz had been exposed as a cheat, yet was continued to be allowed to play, and was even awarded the Series' Most Valuable Player award, as the Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 6 games.
It was a Monday, often a travel day, so there was not a full slate of games to be played. Neither the New York Yankees nor the New York Mets were scheduled to play. But no games were canceled in light of the crime. Here are the scores of the other MLB games that were played:
* The Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 10-3 at Marlins Park in Miami (which was just renamed LoanDepot Park).
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-6 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-2 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros, 11-2 at the Oakland Coliseum.
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There were 11 games played in the NBA that day, as its regular season drew toward a close:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Charlotte Bobcats (soon to be renamed the Charlotte Hornets), 106-95 at the arena now named the Spectrum Center in Charlotte -- not to be confused with the former arena in Philadelphia, The Spectrum.
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Washington Wizards, 106-101 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
* The Miami Heat, defending NBA Champions, with LeBron James, defeated James' once-and-future team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-95 at the arena now named the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-101 at the Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 112-111 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 96-80 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Orlando Magic, 102-84 at the Amway Center in Orlando.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Dallas Mavericks, 103-97 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings, 104-95 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 119-112 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena (currently without naming rights, and simply the Phoenix Suns Arena).
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 116-106 at the Oracle Arena at the Oakland Coliseum complex.
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The NHL was also nearing the end of its regular season, and 7 games were played:
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at what's now named the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3 in overtime at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Nashville Predators, 5-2 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* And the San Jose Sharks beat the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-0 at the Gila River Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.