Why Sports Mattered after 9/11
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports has written a fantastic essay. Here are some excerpts:
They didn't shut down movie theaters across the country in the days after the September 11 attacks. They didn't cancel musicals, didn't close bars or nightclubs, didn't say you couldn't go to the park or the beach.
They shut down sports.
And so here, at last came sports. Baseball games. Football games. NASCAR races.
Sports shut down anyway.
The New York Giants were cheered taking the field in Kansas City.
It was voluntary, a wave of cancellations from professional leagues to college programs after some hours and even days of debate. The President wanted life to go on, the economy to still churn, the terrorists to see that they hadn't altered the American lifestyle.The first live sporting event I attended following the attacks was a Michigan State-Notre Dame game in South Bend Ind., a world away from lower Manhattan and the Pentagon.
The South Bend Tribune had printed 80,000-plus newspapers with American flags on the back and all the fans held them up during the national anthem. In one corner of the old stadium they pulled an American flag all the way to the top and then brought it back to down slowly, to a haunting half-mast. There was a prayer.
This was not an elaborate production. No fireworks or pyrotechnics or professionally choreographed acts.
It was how it was supposed to be – simple, purposeful, meaningful.
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: Why Sports Mattered after 9/11
This is why I don't understand the call to not start the football season today (admittedly, it was only one article).
Today is a day to remember, but it's also a day to remember that life goes on, and if we shut down completely, then they will have achieved their goal.
Apr '11
Re: Why Sports Mattered after 9/11
Dave Roy: This is why I don't understand the call to not start the football season today (admittedly, it was only one article).
Today is a day to remember, but it's also a day to remember that life goes on, and if we shut down completely, then they will have achieved their goal. · Sep 11 at 9:43am
If we shut down.......We have achieved their goal!
Although in a much lighter context, and speaking of sports - did a picture of Jim Marshall just run through your mind?
Oct '10
Re: Why Sports Mattered after 9/11
Boots on the Table
Dave Roy: This is why I don't understand the call to not start the football season today (admittedly, it was only one article).
Today is a day to remember, but it's also a day to remember that life goes on, and if we shut down completely, then they will have achieved their goal. · Sep 11 at 9:43am
If we shut down.......We have achieved their goal!
Although in a much lighter context, and speaking of sports - did a picture of Jim Marshall just run through your mind? · Sep 11 at 10:05am
I tried not to use "The Terrorists have won." :)
The Marshall image hadn't entered my mind until you just said it. Now I can't get it out of my mind.
Nov '10
Re: Why Sports Mattered after 9/11
Great post! I still mourn the loss of the NYY in the 2001 Series.