September 11th Tribute Post

Sports in the United States of America are more than just a game. They are more than just a group of individuals passing a ball or puck around a playing surface. Sports in this country act as an escape from reality. They exist as a medium for which individuals can put their hardships aside and support their favorite teams.


We are a nation fueled by rivalries, match-ups, fantasy sports, and winning. We watch sports at night, and then talk about them around the water coolers during the day. In many ways sports and real-life are integrated for many people. Many of us live and die for our sports teams, and a win on any given game-day can improve a person's quality of life at least for some period of time. Sports create a bubble for people to escape from their own lives and for a brief period of time live vicariously through others, with little consequence. Sports are an outlet where we have no control over how our favorite teams will perform, and all we can do is support them to our fullest capabilities. Sports are a time where you can meet with your buddies in a bar, or living room, and share a few beers. It provides three hours where nothing matters but goals, touchdowns, scores and stats. 


However, on September 11, 2001, the United States was shaken to its core by the acts of terrorists taking American lives. Sports suddenly took a back-seat to something more real, to something that sports couldn't provide an escape to. We as a nation felt violated, and no amount of goals, home runs, or touchdowns could cure that feeling. 


This post is dedicated to those who lost their lives on that infamous day.

We are the United States of America, and there are many things that distinguish each and every one of us. Whether it be race, color, national origin, religion, or gender, we are all different, but yet we are all the same. Another distinction that transcends the traits which distinguish us as individuals, is our sports teams. We are a nation segregated by the sports teams we root for, but there are no qualifications to root for any specific team. You don't have to be from a religion, or a specific race, or even from a certain city, in order to wear your team colors. You simply have to be alive. 


Of course, with sports teams comes fans of those teams debating amongst one another about which team is better, and following debating, follows the healthy hate for another's team. Whether it's the NHL, College Football, the NFL, or the MLB, fans from other teams grow to legitimately hate other teams which are not their own. 


Normally most fans respect other team's fans as people, but despise their alliances with their teams. For instance, here in Pittsburgh when we see a person walking downtown with black and orange, we don't hate him for being a person. We hate him for being a flyers fan. 


On September 11, 2001 things changed drastically. On the moment the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were decimated by two airplanes, sports took a back seat. Sports suddenly didn't matter and the events that shocked the world took precedence. Rivalries between teams didn't matter and that guy you saw with the Flyers gear suddenly wasn't distinguished to be a Flyers fan. On that day we were all on the same team.


Everyone remembers where they were on that infamous day. First the Twin Towers, then the Pentagon, then Flight 93 in Shanksville, which was close too home. Suddenly, in that moment, we weren't worried about our favorite sports teams, we were worried about the fate of our lives and our nation.


Sporting events across the country were cancelled or postponed. What was the usual means of escape from real life troubles didn't exist during this time. MLB games were canceled, and even the mighty NFL changed its season schedule entirely. The Super Bowl, the biggest sports event on the planet, was moved back a week because of these horrific events. 


Even though sports takes up a good portion of many American's lives, they were trumped by something bigger, something that required a nation as a whole to recover from. We couldn't simply hide from these terrorist attacks by displacing our anger, fear, and vulnerability behind a game. We needed our family and our friends, because they are, and always should be more important that sports. 


After the dust settled, America did what America does best. The country regrouped and rebuilt. During this rebuilding, we proved that we would go back to normal, and part of normal was our love for sports.


We would not let terrorism rule how we lived for long and quickly we showed that we were a resilient country. After our country was deemed secured enough, players took the field and we had that escape from reality back in our lives. However, after 9/11 it was more than just an escape. Sports became almost a weapon against terrorism and it showed that we were not afraid to fill stadiums and arenas all across the nation. 


Every national anthem before every game meant something more. Every time God Bless America was belted by fans in baseball stadiums during the 7th inning stretch, it meant something more. 


Sports gave us our chance to unite together as a country, while at the same time it still existed as an escape it always has been. We carried on as a county, and sports was only one example of that happening, but it may have been the most public. The resiliency shown by people across the county 


The next time you are at a sporting event, think about what sports means to you. Think back to 10 years ago and remember how little sports mattered the moments after the attack. Then remember how we came roaring back as a nation. Sports are part of the American way of life, which were taken for granted until our country's mettle was given its most extreme test. After September 11th, sports and the rivalries associated it with stood for something more, because sports became forever rooted in the definition of the American way of life.