After a long baseball season without a razor in sight, the Boston Red Sox conquered the St. Louis Cardinals in Game six of the World Series on Oct. 30, to win its third title in the past 10 years. The team decided to stop shaving after the Boston Marathon Massacre, which was at the beginning of the season, to help unify its players. The beards grew long and bushy until the very end, when they won the Fall Classic.
BYU–Hawaii students from the area and baseball fans in general explain what they thought of the post-season. “The Red Sox and the city of Boston paralleled each other in the same year, as they exemplified what it means to ‘B-Strong’,” said Boston, Mass., native Samantha Som, a sophomore majoring in peace building and entrepreneurship. “Each faced adversity as the Red Sox overcame being the worst team last season to the best team in the very next season.”
The triumph for the major league baseball team wasn’t only a win for the sports fans but for the community. According to the New York Times, second baseman Dustin Pedroia said, “Because of what happened to this city, we wanted to do something special and make everybody happy and proud.”
The Sox led by example of how after trials or even tragedy, people can come back and be stronger than ever. People around the country and world said they bonded with the Red Sox watching the team play with so much heart.
“The people of Boston suffered a real-life tragedy as they fought through the terror and smoke of the bombing. Both the Red Sox and the people of Boston represented courage and which instills in everyone the hope that we need not fear when we’re joined together in unity,” said Som reflecting on the morale of the city of Boston following the marathon bombing. “It is summed up in Deuteronomy 31:6, ‘Be strong and of a good courage fear not, nor be afraid of them; for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee’,” she said.
However, not all baseball fans were rooting for the Red Sox to win the final games of the season though. Manu Danielson, a junior from Arizona studying psychology, remarked, “I have two teams I root for – the New York Yankees and whoever is playing Boston.” He said he rooted for the Cardinals not only because of his distain for the Red Sox, “but also because St. Louis has a pretty good bullpen.”
Students said even though the Boston Red Sox are a strong team and winners of the 2013 World Series, when it comes down to it, they hold fast to their team allegiances throughout the post-season.