Tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombings can make sports seem meaningless. But they can also remind us of the powerful role sports play in society, as both communal escapes from stress and symbolic rallying points in times of crisis.
Major League Baseball's New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox provided powerful examples of that on Tuesday, 24 hours after the explosions that killed three people and injured well over 100 more at Monday's race.
Typically bitter rivals on the field, the Yankees and Red Sox engaged in some digital conversation that inspired sports fans across the country and became widely shared on the social web.
First, the Yankees used Twitter on Tuesday morning to announce that their night-game in the Bronx against the Arizona Diamondbacks would include a stadium-wide rendition of "Sweet Caroline," a favorite crowd singalong at Boston's Fenway Park. The gesture elicited a grateful tweet in response from the Red Sox account:
.@yankees Thank you! We appreciate your support.— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 16, 2013
The Yankees later posted the photo below to Facebook. It shows the Yankees and Red Sox logos next to the words "United We Stand" on a Yankee Stadium video board. Two hours after going up, it had received more than 76,000 likes from fans:
A Yankees tweet of the same photo led to another nice interaction between the two teams:
Bigger than the game. Thank you! RT @yankees We stand united with the @redsox: twitter.com/Yankees/status…— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 16, 2013
The Red Sox are currently in Cleveland for a series agains the Indians before returning to Boston on Friday for what's sure to be an emotional first home game since the bombings. But the team had this message to share from the road with fans back in Boston on Tuesday afternoon:
Boston you're OUR home #BostonStrong twitpic.com/cjupur— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 16, 2013
Brief moments of comfort for a city still in shock.