Keller @ Large: Jarren Duran, MBTA lead this year's Massachusetts turkeys
BOSTON - It's Thanksgiving Eve and visions of freshly-cooked turkey with all the trimmings dance in our heads.
But why wait? Pull up a chair and chow down on some of our picks for the biggest turkeys on the local news scene during the year gone by.
GENERAL ELECTRIC
Remember back in 2016 when our political leaders placed a $150 million bet that bringing General Electric's headquarters here would pay big dividends?
Whoops! GE turned out to be an over-extended, poorly managed conglomerate that turned our windfall into a mirage. In the six years since the company has shed most of its grandiose ambitions (although, in fairness, they did pay off on millions in promised community benefit spending). And this year came the news that their big local plans are being downsized almost beyond recognition.
They were the turkey, but we're the ones who got plucked.
JARREN DURAN
While we're going down unwanted-memory lane, remember last July when Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran lost track of a routine fly ball, then failed to chase after it when the ball landed behind him as the batter circled the bases?
Good times! Not. And while you'd think a guy who just allowed an inside-the-park grand slam in front of 35,000 appalled fans might express some humility, Duran snapped at reporters that they shouldn't question him "until you guys catch a ball in the twilight."
Really? Not hustling is a mortal sin for a Boston athelete. Acting snotty when called on it - then doing nothing to redeem himself the rest of the season - sealed this turkey's doom.
RAYLA CAMPBELL
Republican activist Rayla Campbell stunned many delegates at the party's state convention with a vulgar speech falsely alleging sex crimes by public school teachers. Still, they nominated her for Secretary of State.
That kind of politics might work elsewhere, but not here. On election day Campbell's turkey of a campaign ran 135,000 votes behind gubernatorial nominee Geoff Diehl's paltry haul, placing her dead last among the GOP's statewide candidates.
MBTA
"I'm honestly really scared," said a young female T rider in the immediate aftermath of a fire on an Orange Line train that sent passengers scrambling for safety, including one who jumped into the Mystic River to escape. Concluded the young woman: "Anything can happen."
Not the slogan you want for your commute, but it sure fit the MBTA this year, with the Orange Line fire becoming a national symbol of what a turkey our transit system has become.
Governor Baker stated the obvious when he said "today was just a colossal failure."
Here's hoping his successor won't have to say the same.
