Writing on the Boston Marathon Bombing

Not to simply list out great writing (well, actually, exactly to simply list out great writing) since the Boston Marathon bombing, there's been some amazing work done, both poignant and well reported with the pieces below being those that have stood out to me the most.

In the poignant essay category were pieces by Patton Oswalt and Joe Posnanski with Oswalt doing a Facebook post about good people and Posnanski's essay on his personal blog containing the same notion with his last sentence of "There are exponentially more good people than bad."

The piece of writing reported from the scene that I found most memorable was "In Grisly Image, a Father Sees His Son" by Tim Rohan for the New York Times. Recounted is the story of Jeff Bauman, a marathon spectator who lost both his legs at the scene. While the piece certainly contains a graphic image and some difficult to read text, it's also an inspiring depiction of helping others with Rohan's description of Carlos Arredondo (the subject of NYT piece from 2007 that Rohan links to) coming to Bauman's aide. Incredibly, there's a story that's come out just this evening on Bauman with "Boston Bombing Victim in Iconic Photo Helped Identify Attackers" by Asjylyn Loder & Esmé E. Deprez for Bloomberg.

The final pieces to note here contained details about the response of emergency personnel to the bombing and injuries with a New Yorker essay "Why Boston's Hospital's Were Ready" by noted author and Boston area surgeon Atul Gawande and "First responders to Boston bombings get relief, postgame beers from grateful Bruins" by Les Carpenter for Yahoo Sports.

Finally, it's of course not a piece of writing, but here was footage from the Boston Garden two nights after the bombing...

 

Hockey writing by Jeff MacGregor, Tim Rohan & Sarah Hampson

I've lately come across a few pieces of writing that stood out as excellent which all dealt with the sport of hockey, just different things related to the game.

The first piece to note here was about the sport itself in "The Hockey News" by Jeff MacGregor for ESPN.  Written about his experience as first a young and now adult hockey fan, it's a short and thoughtful column that makes me think of the Chris Jones column "Best Day Ever" about time with the Stanley Cup.

The second hockey piece I particularly enjoyed was by Tim Rohan for the New York Times and dealt with potential greatness. "A Prodigy on the Way to Stardom"  is about 16 year-old Conner McDavid, currently playing in the Ontario Hockey League and expected to be the first pick in the 2015 NHL draft. I love coming across and posting about writing on sports phenoms and with McDavid having already drawn favorable attention from the likes of Bobby Orr (his agent), Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky, he's definitely in the phenom category.

The third piece to mention here was a poignant look at someone in the game by Sarah Hampson for the Toronto Globe & Mail. "NHL veteran Dominic Moore opens up about his wife, their life and her death" is about the former San Jose Shark whose wife Katie was diagnosed during the last Stanley Cup Playoffs with a rare cancer and passed away in January. Very well done writing from Hampson that brought in the history of both Moore's brother Steve whose career ended by Todd Burtuzzi and and Katie's father who died unexpectedly a year before her passing.