Sports still matter
Teams become part of cities, which makes their absence painful
No conference championship basketball games. No NCAA tournament selection show. No NBA games. No Penguins Islanders game. No Players Championship. No anything, actually. I thought I was prepared for no sports, but I was not. It was much worse than I imagined. You have heard it said many times that we really don’t know how important something is in our lives until we don’t have it? That is so true.
But I didn’t need this long, boring, tedious Sunday to realize why sports matter so much to so many of us. I learned that lesson nearly two decades ago in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Sports helped us get through that unthinkable tragedy.
That point is unarguable.
I was at Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of the 2001 World Series. It was played a mere 14 miles from Ground Zero at a time when the rubble from the World Trade Center bombings still was smoldering. Nearly 3,000 loved ones had been lost in the four coordinated attacks on America. Nothing was going to bring them back. Hearts had been broken. Nerves were raw. The New York newspapers were predicting more terrorist attacks and more deaths.
That World Series game and those that followed helped New York get through that difficult time. Sports helped a grieved nation to heal.
I don’t remember a single detail about the Yankees’ 2-1 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3, but I remember every single thing about the scene. It was the most emotional night of my long journalistic career.
Surreal doesn’t begin to describe it. Police and national guardsmen were everywhere. Snipers were on the roof tops of the stadium and surrounding buildings. We since have become used to walking through metal detectors and being scanned with a wand, but it was almost unbelievable to see Yankees owner George Steinbrenner waiting in line that night to take his turn.
“We’ve been spoiled in this country that we have been free to go here and there and do whatever we damn pleased,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said before the game. “But now, I think we understand that life is a little bit different and may never be the same again. We have to stay vigilant.”
Diamondbacks first baseman Mark Grace, taking it all in, said, “This will probably be the safest place in America.”
I remember President George W. Bush, wearing a bulletproof vest under his FDNY jacket, striding quickly, confidently and almost defiantly of the
terrorists to the mound to throw out the first pitch. An hour earlier, in a warm-up area under the old stadium, Yankees captain Derek Jeter had told Bush, “Hey, Prez, if you don’t throw from the top of the mound, they’ll boo you,” and, later, “One more thing, Prez, if you bounce the ball in front of the plate, they’ll boo you.”
Damned if Bush didn’t throw a strike.
I still can hear the national anthem and still see the tattered flag from the Trade Center blowing gently in the breeze beyond the outfield wall.
The U-S-A! U-S-A! chants were deafening. I had tears in my eyes, but I could read the sign on the upper deck: “USA FEARS NOBODY, PLAY BALL!”
Later, there were documentaries about that game and the rest of that World
Series. Workers at Ground Zero listened to the radio broadcasts and cheered amid the despair when the Yankees did something good. Their work was unimaginable, but, to a person, they said the games made this crazy world seem just a little bit more normal. Sports are so powerful. I wish there were sports to help us get through this COVID-19 pandemic.
We’ll survive, I’m confident of that. I believe in America and its people. I know we’re strong enough to get through anything. But I also know this: Sports matter.
Don’t let anyone tell you they don’t.