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There's a reason today is also Evacuation Day
By adamg on Fri, 03/17/2017 - 9:51am
On March 17, 1776, with colonial cannon aimed at them from Dorchester Heights, the British troops occupying Boston evacuated the city. This 1776 German woodcut (from the Library of Congress) shows the British soldiers leaving for Nova Scotia, with only slight artistic license for the height of the hills surrounding Boston.
J.L. Bell quotes from the diary of a Virginia rifleman who was stationed in Roxbury at the time.
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Comments
W.W.T.D.?
This is why the parade route should not be shortened and should go past Dorchester Heights as it has done traditionally for years. Tito wouldn't change the route.
If they stopped driving away sponsors with bigoted BS ...
Maybe they could have a fund for more snow removal, since that's why the route was shortened the last couple of years.
Um, the parade route is on PUBLIC streets
that should have the snow cleared regardless of whether or not a parade is being held. But let's propose extorting money from private entities to pay for services that are the responsibility of the government.
You're a hater
It snowed a week ago. There's no excuse for snowed in streets after two days let alone a week. Unless you live in Miami, you would know the City does a nonexistent job at removing snow. Even Broadway where they have been "removing" the snow around the clock for the parade there is still snow on the ground.
If Senaror Forry decided to give her contribution back to the parade I'm sure it would have no effect on the snow piles.
I've always found it interesting how
Boston managed to find a historical "justification" to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
And signed it...
...in green ink.
http://legacy.wbur.org/2010/03/12/evacuation-day-holiday
We Celebrate Patriot's Day....
With a group of Kenyans running supplemented by others tumbling towards Copley Square.
Sure there is the annual ride of Paul Revere and the role playing at Lexington and Concord, but that is not the highlight of the day unless you are trying to prove your bona fides in the Northwe$tern suburbs, but would the average marathon observer, who used to drink enough in the 70's and 80's to make the St. Patrick's Day fest today almost look like an AA meeting, know why we have that Monday off? .
C'mon, based on where you work you have Patriots Day off, no? Do you also show up on June 17th as well?
I think an occupying military force leaving a city (remember the City had a population of 15,000 in 1775 and was occupied on land and sea by 11,000 troops) under siege was enough to justify some sort of celebration.
Blame the Boston Arrogance Association
for turning the Marathon from a fun amateur event to a commercial enterprise, where certain runners are given special entitled treatment by being allowed to run their own race away from the general rabble.
If professional runners can't run in the pack with everyone else (like they used to do in the decades before the BAA brought in commercial sponsors), then perhaps we should question their "qualifications" to be considered professional runners.
Do tell us
How many marathons have you run?
Recently?
They always group them by speed at the start.
Grouping the faster runners at the start
is NOT the same as allowing the "elite" - e.g. ENTITLED - runners to participate in their own special race before everyone else is allowed to run.
Nor is allowing the "elite" runners to compete for the big cash prize, but denying the normal rabble of that same opportunity. Heck, they don't even track and report on the "non-elite" runners who cross the finish line with the best times for the "normal rabble" race.
"Elite Runners"
I too cringe whenever I hear that term "elite runners". The Marathon, First Night, July 4 Pops Concert, all have gotten so far away from their original intent that they essentially have nothing to do with Boston at all. Not that the tourists, suburbanites, blow-ins and transplants who make up the audience for these events would notice.
Thank you.
So glad to see that somebody besides me "gets it" when it comes to the commercialization of "traditional" Boston events.
The elite runners have always been there
Why do you think South Koreans (during the war) and later Finns were showing up and winning Boston back before prize money was being offered? They wanted to prove they were be best, and Boston was considered the best marathon.
Artisitic License
How much of artistic license was it really? I understand that Boston was much lower to sea level previously.