From the cheap seats

The past year in sports in this country has been one emotional experience after another.

The attacks on America just one year ago put the nation’s priorities in order. The baseball season was turned more into a game than a livelihood. The start of the new football season appeared not as important as it did just one week before the attacks. The athletes seemed more like people than super heroes in a time when we needed heroes the most.

I’m glad the nation did not immediately look towards the professional athletes for security. Instead we looked to our true nation’s heroes, the policemen and firemen. In every facet of the media and culture, the policemen and firemen were properly celebrated for the courageous efforts, not just for that day, but from then on.

When it was time for sports to return, it was done rather tastefully and very memorably. When President George W. Bush told America to return to their normal everyday life that included professional and collegiate sports.

The baseball season shut down immediately and for a week there was no professional baseball. Of course, the current strike situation put the stoppage of baseball into a new perspective. The young football season of 2001 was also postponed for one week. The postponement of those games pushed the Super Bowl XXXVI one week later and subsequently moved it from Florida to Louisiana and the Superdome of New Orleans. Fittingly, the Patriots won on a last minute kick.

The Super Bowl signified one of America’s greatest spectacles. Whether a die-hard fan, a casual watcher or someone who didn’t watch a single professional football game all year, the Super Bowl was a ‘must see.’ This past February was no exception. Everyone was glued to his or her televisions. A part of the audience just wanted to see what types of tributes were performed. But another part of our psyche knew that this was most definitely one the largest events since the attacks and the curiosity of what could happen. I thought that the performance by U2 was great with the presentation of the ‘wall of names’ (I’m not even a big U2 fan).

The terrorists didn’t succeed in their goal to tear America apart. Their attempt to make us crumble and live in fear didn’t come to be. Although, I don’t think that is entirely true. For a while a good majority of people did live in fear. I challenge anyone who flew in the few months following the attacks to say that they weren’t worried about his or her safety. When you would go to a concert or a sporting event you probably thought ‘why not here, what’s to stop them from striking here?’ The only comfort provided was watching and cheering for your favorite band or favorite team.

That’s exactly what sports did for this country, they brought comfort. Sports symbolized America’s desire to return to normal, to go to Turner Field, Fenway Park, Soldier Field, Shea and Yankee Stadiums and not be scared, but to forget a little and celebrate the nation’s greatest past times.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 13 2002. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry