Along with many other Americans, I watched the news the other night as a relative talked about one of the

     victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon. Everything that can be said about the personal tragedy has 

     been said by those more eloquent than I.

       
             As I watched the woman speak, I noticed the Boston Red Sox cap on the man beside her. I realized that, 

    for the first time in my life, the distinctive "B" on the cap didn't evoke feelings of anger in me.

  
             I hate (in the sports-fan sense of the word) the Red Sox....as well as the Celtics, Bruins and Patriots.    

     (The one thing that bothers me about Martha's Vineyard is the presence of so many Red Sox fans.)

             Yet, as I watched in the aftermath of the tragedy, empathy overcame my sports-fan predisposition. 

     Boston shared something with New York. I'll never look at a Red Sox cap the same as I had in the past.

             To our Gotham tribe members in Boston, we send our deepest wishes for comfort and healing, 

while knowing -- from our own experience -- that the streets of your city will never be the same.