One if by TD, and Two if by Single?

If you are a Revolutionary War buff or just happen to have grown up in New England, perhaps you are familiar with the heroics of Paul Revere.  History was forever immortalized that night in the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

             One if by land, and two if by sea, taken from his famous poem,  "Paul Revere's Ride"

I thought we were fighting the British

Well, history has a way of repeating itself, and on this holiday weekend in Boston, history was made again by two of its sports teams, first the New England Patriots and then the Boston Red Sox.

The Patriots were playing at home against the New Orleans Saints in a clash of titans.  Trailing late in the game, in spite of playing some of their best football of the season, the Patriots displayed some of the magic that we here in New England have come to expect.  With just 10 seconds left, a vintage TD pass from Tom Brady completed the first leg of this improbable day in Boston sports history.

Of course, if that wasn't enough, Boston fans were ready for the encore, a Red Sox victory against a Detroit team that had man handled them the night before.  However, Detroit had their own ideas about history making, and that involved extending their prolific dominance of Red Sox hitters with the "K" parade.  Admittedly, it was hard to watch the over matched Boston lineup against the dominant Detroit pitching staff.  But then came the signals Boston fans were hoping for, first a hit, then a run.  The uprising had begun.   In spite of ridiculous odds, much like our Revolutionary war militia, the Red Sox mounted an almost more improbable comeback than the Pats--a Papi grand slam to tie and then a walk off single by Salty.  

This all made for a remarkable night of sports stories here in New England.  Comparisons were being made this morning to other legendary moments in Boston history, like the Fisk home run, the Flutie "Hail Mary pass", the Bobby Orr goal, but I prefer to think of it perhaps from a modern day Paul Revere's perspective, "one if by touchdown pass and two if by walk off single".  Do I hang one lamp or two in the Olde North Church tonight?  For Boston fans, the victory lamp was lit up, not just once, but twice!