September 11, 2001

A day that changed a large chunk of our every day lives. As a nation, it was a tragic event that caused many changes to military, architecture, travel, and just every day of many people's lives. For a small section of others, it meant way more than we could ever imagine. Loss of family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, neighbors, the list goes on and on. Approximately 2977 people lost their lives that day, including 2,606 inside the World Trade Center, 125 inside the Pentagon, 87 passengers aboard American flight 11, 60 passengers aboard United flight 175, 59 passengers aboard American flight 77 and 40 aboard United flight 93. I cannot imagine how crushing of a feeling it was to turn on the TV, see the various news outlets reporting all the different incidents, and waiting for hours, days, weeks, hoping their family member would come marching through that door, maybe worn out, injured, but alive. For the families of those 2977 people, that day never came. 

Why am I writing this on a sports blog? Well, here's my take on the entire situation. In my case, in many people's cases I would guess, sports is maybe the biggest way to break away from reality and for a few hours, let yourself ignore any problems going on in your life, regardless of how miniscule or large the problem may be, and just enjoy yourself. While people (myself included) can become upset at their team losing, it's a temporary thing where 5 minutes later, you're probably already thinking about something else, bills, work, family, etc. Sports, football in particular, are watched by millions and millions of Americans. Quite possibly the biggest event in most cities every week there is a home game. This gives way to raise awareness, whether it is Breast Cancer, Military, or anything else the leagues feel they need to give tribute to. 

After September 11th, it took nearly a week for Major League Baseball games to get back underway, and almost two weeks for the National Football League to come back. Starting with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field facing the Colorado Rockies, MLB came back to action with many displays of honoring those who lost their lives, and specifically to those first responders, who assisted in getting people out of the buildings, only to themselves be lost in the debris as the Towers collapsed upon themselves. There's no telling how many lives these first responders saved, and if you think back to the rest of the MLB and NFL seasons, there were many a display of FDNY (New York City Fire Department) and NYPD (New York City Police Department) across both sports. They risked their lives to save the lives of others. They are heroes in every sense of the word. (I have a bone to pick with ESPN regarding their Tedy Bruschi "Hero" crap after he came back from a stroke, but this is neither the time nor the place)

Two lasting images I will not forget from these two sports were the first games I saw in each sport.  The first is the Cowboys vs San Diego Chargers, which aired locally in Houston. George Teague ran onto the field wielding a huge United States flag down the field. 

The second image is the Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies game I mentioned in the previous paragraph, and was broadcast on ESPN for the entire nation to see the first game back since September 11th.

These games were all played in my opinion, as a symbol to try to get back to some sense of normalcy. Whether that meant going back to work, going back to school, tailgating with your buddies before a football game on Sunday, or something as simple as just being able to get on with daily life without living in fear all day and night, the country's largest events that entire week were there not only as a distraction, not only as something to watch, but to embrace what had happened, and to pay tribute to all those lost, on September 11th.

Now let's do the same, 10 years later, honor the country, those lost that day, those who fought overseas, those lost overseas, over the past 10 years, regardless of what your stance is on the politics behind everything, today that doesn't matter. To my uncle who fought in Afghanistan, and is now back home and probably already up ready to go tailgate, and everyone else in every branch of the military, thanks for all you've done, all you're doing, all you will continue to do, and let's play some goddamn football.