COMMENTARY
Man. Does this Red Sox team ever want to make you eat your words.
The “nobody believed in us” cliche among big-time athletes, always desperate for motivation, probably dates to the first two humanoids racing each other out of the ocean. It certainly reaches James B. Connolly, the track star son of South Boston who sought to have Harvard send him to the 1896 Olympics in Athens.
Harvard said no, reportedly declaring they thought he was trying to scam a free trip to Greece. Connolly quit school, drained his savings to go, and won the triple jump to become the first Olympic champion in 1,500 years.