Needed Closure

It all kind of happened really fast. 

By the time the school bus dropped us off at the front doors of the gymnasium at Boyet Junior High, it was probably 10:20 in New York, about an hour and a half would have already transpired since the first attacks.  But far away in Slidell, Louisiana, few people knew.

I had heard other kids talking about planes in New York crashing into buildings, but it seemed more like the plot of a horror movie than reality.  Walking into the classroom, my classmates and I saw our teacher in the middle of the room sitting on her black swivel chair looking up at the TV with a box of tissues in her lap.  We all sat down, afraid to say anything, and watched the reports of the attacks.  By then, four planes in all had crashed, two World Trade Center buildings had collapsed, and thousands of innocent people were dead.  I can still remember what my teacher, Mrs. Polk, said to us that day: “Pay attention, guys.  This is history in the making, you’ll never forget this.”

And I haven’t.  And probably not a single person in America who was alive then has forgotten, either.  The terrorist attacks on the morning of September 11, 2001 changed American life.  For a brief period of time, people forgot about political persuasions and petty differences.  In a way, America became a much more unified country and there was a certain sense of appreciation for freedom that everybody felt.

But there was also heartbreak, pain, grief and stress that clouded America.  Despite a seemingly unanimous support (at the time) for President Bush’s decision to fight against terror, many people were a little worried about a war.  Not everybody had the Toby Keith, you-can’t-mess-with-us-mentality.  There was an absence of normal behavior as the terrorist attacks and the impending war weighed heavily on our minds.  It was then that America needed a few more heroes. 

After a brief spell of inactivity (because of both respect for what had happened and inability to travel) sports resumed play in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedies.  There were many storylines that captured the hearts of fans that year.  Maybe it was that there actually were heroes right before our eyes, maybe it was just the media perception trying to uplift the country similar to how "Rosie the Riveter" strengthened national morale in the 1940s.  All I know is that sports helped people in the aftermath of the tragedies of September 11.  In this blog post, I wanted to talk about the influence of sports in the media in cultivating patriotism in America in a time that it was desperately needed, particularly through four events.

A RETURN TO ACTION

In the days following the attacks, all planes were federally mandated to stay grounded. That meant that teams who needed to travel to play games were not able to do so.  And soon people started to realize that there would be no games at all.  As soon as the airports reopened, the debate of when to start playing began.  Many analysts believed that teams should start immediately, while others countered saying that sports needed to take a backseat to more important issues happening at the time. 

Was there any relevance to the idea that sports would help the country recover?  Nobody wanted to necessarily “get over” what had happened.  It was tattooed to our minds; there to stay forever.  But what everyone really wanted was a distraction.  For me, baseball was the only thing that could make sense.  I had grown sad of watching the endless cycle of pictures of burning wreckage being shown on the news.  I needed an outlet to plug my adolescent mind into so that I could regain a little bit of normalcy.

I can easily remember famous St. Louis Cardinals announcer Jack Buck giving a televised speech just before the Cardinals resumed play on Sept. 17, saying, “I don't know about you, but as for me, the question has already been answered: Should we be here? Yes!"  That was the answer for everyone watching and everyone was OK with it.  By just continuing on, sports helped us.

THE HOME RUN CHASE

Barry Bonds, all 6-foot 2-inches and 240 pounds of him, was hitting home runs like it was running out of style.  As a matter of fact, everybody was hitting home runs like crazy that year.  In 2001, 41 players hit at least 30 home runs.  That’s almost twice as many players with 30 homers than in 2011.  12 of those players in ’01 had 40 home runs, while in 2011 there are just two players with 40.  Considering the emotional impact that home runs have on fans, and the way that a home run chase can grab attention from people who don’t even care about baseball, it was significant that this particular home run chase happened in 2001.  Home runs and the depiction of them got us excited, never mind how the hitters were accomplishing it.

By the time games were postponed, Bonds had already hit a staggering 65 home runs.  Though he was distantly followed by Sammy Sosa (54) and Luis Gonzalez (51), Bonds was the obvious threat to break Mark McGwire’s previously-set record of 70 home runs hit in a single season.  I collected newspaper clippings, I watched Baseball Tonight on ESPN, I kept track online, I did everything to follow the chase.  On October 5, less than a month after the attacks, Bonds hit two home runs in Los Angeles, bumping his total to 72, breaking the record and helping America in a time of need.

THE GREATEST WORLD SERIES EVER PLAYED

During the 2001 baseball season, I would tell people that I didn't have a favorite baseball team.  That was because the team that my brother and I rooted for, the Red Sox, were terrible that year.  What I would tell people, though, was that the Yankees represented everything evil and wrong about America.  After the events of 9/11, though, the “Evil Empire” became a symbol of hope not just for New Yorkers, but for most of America.  It didn’t matter if you were from Long Island of Little Rock, you sort of cheered for them.  Remember what the Yankees would do in place of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch?

Then there was the Arizona Diamondbacks, a small-market team that resembled the opposite of the business-style Yankees.  Who can remember the D-Backs for being a big story up until they made it to the World Series?  We remember them for Craig Counsell’s ridiculous batting stance and for Mark Grace’s wacky shenanigans.   Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, polar opposites of one another, were the aces at the front of the D-Backs’ starting-pitching rotation and were the model of pitching dominance in baseball at the time.

FOX, during its span of utter dominance in providing coverage of playoff baseball, gave us Joe Buck (aforementioned Jack’s son) and Tim McCarver.  Who could have announced games better?  Well, lots of people probably.  But nobody can forget the dramatic voice of Joe Buck as the games were played out.  The tide was turned so many times in that short, seven-game series.  The play-by-play of the final at-bat of game seven still gives me chills.  I don’t even need to be watching the video; Joe Buck’s voice paints the picture in my mind of Luis Gonzalez hitting a bloop single just over Derek Jeter’s head to end the ballgame and win the World Series.  It was the greatest World Series played in my lifetime, the country was thoroughly entertained and it just so happened a little over a month after the attacks of 9/11.

SNOWMEN ON ASTROTURF
As the NFL season came to a close, the New England Patriots were the surprise team of the AFC.  Though they had won their division, it was widely believed that they would not last very long in the playoffs.  Tom Brady, who was only playing because of an injury to quarterback Drew Bledsoe, was the quintessential underdog.  They won their playoff games (despite controversy) and advanced to Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans. 

By the time the Super Bowl was to be played, nearly five months had passed since the events of 9/11.  But it was still the number one topic discussed on the news.  The NFL even paid their respects with a nifty, patriotic logo for the Super Bowl.  The Kurt Warner-led St. Louis Rams and their “Greatest Show on Turf” were the favored team matched up to play the New England Patriots in the big game. 

As the game wore on, the hundreds of millions of people that had tuned in began to realize that these teams were a lot more even-matched than anyone could have thought.  Tied up at 17 with ten seconds left in the game, kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal to win the game for the Patriots.  I always thought that it was incredible that soon after one of the greatest terrorist attacks in the country’s history a football team named the Patriots won the nation’s largest, most popular, and most attended sports event.  At first I thought it seemed an awful lot like a fix, but then I realized that it was only fitting that they won. 

Bottom line, we may not have forgotten 9/11, and hopefully nobody ever does forget what happened, but we were able to put our minds at ease.  Sports helped us recover.  Sports helped us return to normalcy.  All we wanted was a taste of normalcy post-9/11, and sports delivered in a way we couldn’t have expected.  We gained closure; all thanks to sports broadcasting stations such as ESPN, game announcers like Jack and Joe Buck, and media-glorified sporting events like the Super Bowl.