Community Comes Together

Sports play a huge role in bringing the community together. In a time of sadness and sorrow, sports can be a great way to bring everyone together and enjoy life. They are a great way of forgetting the bad things in life. For example, after the Boston Marathon bombings, there was a Red Sox game where all of the people who helped during the tragedy were recognized for their help. David Ortiz gave his now famous speech where he said “This is our f****** city.” to the fans in the stands and anybody watching on TV. Fenway Park erupted and everyone let out a great cheer. The Red Sox ended up winning that game, thanks to some late game heroics from Daniel Nava, who hit a homerun in the bottom of the 8th inning to give them the lead.This game was the starting point to a championship season. The fans of the Red Sox banded together and stood behind the team the rest of the season. It gave the team a spark. The players played for their city and all of their fans, fighting their hardest to win every game for them. The Red Sox World Series run drew an average of 14.1 million viewers per game. Over 37,000 Red Sox fans attended game 6. Winning a World Series was the best thing that could happen to a city who experienced such a tragedy in the same life.
Another example of sports bringing a community together is the New Orleans Saints football game after Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane was one of the worst tragedies in a very long time. 1,833 people died in this tragedy. Everybody’s homes were ruined. The whole city was destroyed. The Mercedes-Benz Superdome was usable for shelter but the Saints were not able to play games in their home stadium. On February 5, 2006 the NFL announced that the stadium would reopen the following season. The first game in the Superdome was a Monday Night Football game. 68,000 people packed the stadium to celebrate the reopening of the stadium and the upcoming of their city. People were excited that their life could go back to the way it used to be. The stadium erupted when the Saints blocked a punt for a touchdown in the first half. That was the play that lit the spark for the city of New Orleans. This game brought the city back together and gave the people something to look forward to. Sports will always be something that everyone can look forward to and will always have a positive impact on the nation.