Pennant races and home run races were both heating
up. Teams teetered on the edge of seasonal extinction, while others
looked forward to playoff immortality, and all the while Barry Bonds
danced with record book destiny. No ground was broken today, no home
runs were hit. It was the day after perhaps the biggest announcement
in NBA history, but no was talking about it. No trades went down. No
rumors circulated. Nothing was won, and yet it felt like everything
was lost.
In a day when millions of Americans would have packed themselves in
stadiums across the country, billions across the world sat
themselves in front of the Television. We hoped with anticipation,
but in the end we what we witnessed was complete devastation.
Competition is a War. When you step on to the field, you step into
battle. But Tuesday morning, no one was ready for war, and in the
competition we were used to watching, no one had to die.
The images were driven into our heads over and over from every
imaginable angle. Images only penetrate so far, feeling of confusion
and despair go deeper. The buildings fell once in New York and
Washington, but they have and are yet to fall a thousand times in
our head.
Yes during these days, the sports world stood still. We all did. We
stood as still as the economy stood, as still as the day that
nothing else happened. Nothing else did happen that day, Nothing but
the worst. Terrorist acts on our soil, destruction wrought before
our eyes.
There is a short list of things that are more American then
Baseball, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon surly could be on
that list. The Pentagon a statue for American Defense, the World
Trade Center a symbol of wealth and progress. There they both were,
on every television set in the world, damaged, ruined, and smoking
from cowardly acts of violence.
We will never be able to put the feelings and consequences of this
week completely behind us. We may never completely shake the fear
that griped us. We may never forget the despair that we experienced
this week. The images may never leave our heads. We will never
forget how it feels to be attacked. At the same time we should never
forget the way a city not known for kindness and cooperation came
together. We should never forget the spirit of help that swept the
country. Help given from stranger to stranger, from brother to
brother.
Sports like life will go on. When they do we should have a new
appreciation for both. The kind of appreciation that comes when
something is lost or seems set aside for a while.
Across the country, across most of the world, we have all been
affected by this tragedy. So it falls to all of us to grow and make
things better not just for our selves but for others as well.
There will always be men hiding behind masks ready to tear down what
we have built, to ruin what we so openly embrace. Perhaps we have
rediscovered, perhaps we have proven that it isn’t what we built,
but who and what built it.
Those lost will be missed, buildings will be repaired and rebuilt,
and our foundation and spirit will lead the way as we face that
future. We will see that future, we will help build it. When that
day comes we will reflect on days past as we start a new leg to our
journey, as we, like sports, no longer stand still.
|
