American Revolutionaries vs. British Army
Load up your musket and meet out on the village green: the Redcoats are coming, and this time they mean business.
In a match-up that's been a long time coming, the American Revolutionaries will take on the Army of Great Britain in Lexington in the first of a series of many armed contests to decide once and for all the question of American Indepedence.
The Minutemen, led by star Captain John Parker, who leads his team with 15 kills in his last four skirmishes, will take Lexington Green at sunrise to meet the oncoming British Regulars. General Thomas Gage will be shouting orders from the sidelines to his Redcoat squad, affectionately called "the Lobsterbacks" by the would-be free Americans.
After this initial meeting, the two teams have contests scheduled for Fort Ticonderoga, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Savannah and Cowpens, with a culminating championship match set to take place in Yorktown, Va.
All-Star Patriot George Washington will captain the greater Revolutionary Army. Washington, an army-commanding phenom who was the first overall pick in the 1754 French and Indian War Draft, will need to employ all of his leadership skills in order to keep his rag-tag army of volunteers and militiamen focused and motivated against the British.
The Redcoats bring a veteran squad to this war and their seasoned roster could prove the difference-maker. The team's famed divide-and-conquer offensive strategy will present quite a challenge to the American defense.
The pick: the Revolutionaries in eight years.
-by Thomas Eager
Boston Marathoners vs. Inclement Weather
On Patriots' Day, thousands will line the city streets to watch 20,000 runners (including 193 Tufts students, parents, faculty members and alumni) participate in the 111th Boston Marathon.
At least, that's the plan.
Mother Nature has apparently decided to make the world's oldest annual marathon even more interesting this year. In a forecast that may come as no surprise to those familiar with the all-too-dismal New England weather, Weather.com predicts rain not only for race day, but for Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday as well.
"I would say, a driving rain, northeast winds at 20 to 30 mph with higher gusts and possible coastal flooding," meteorologist Ken Barlow of WBZ-TV told the Boston Herald of his predictions for Monday. "It's pretty much got the whole shebang."
As ominous as such a forecast may seem, it won't deter the marathon competitors. Rain and even sleet and snow are nothing new at the race, which has seen precipitation in 1907, 1908, 1925, 1961, 1967 and 1970.
In fact, as history shows, conditions could be worse. This year's participants should feel lucky that they aren't dealing with 2002's heavy, visibility-reducing mist, 1905's reported 100-degree temperatures, 1939's partial eclipse of the sun, or 1927's uncured road that melted under the feet of the runners.
Prediction: The Marathoners will tough it out. Boston hasn't cancelled the race once in its entire existence. Why start now?
-by Carly Helfand
