365 days ago

365 days ago

Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home

It's still hard to believe that, on a Tuesday morning exactly one year ago today, I sat on my couch and watched as thousands of people lost their lives at the Pentagon, on several airplanes and, most horrifically, in the World Trade Center. I was stupefied, as you no doubt were too. 

How could we, as a nation, deal with such tragedy? How were we supposed to go on with our lives when so many loved ones had lost theirs on those planes and in those buildings?

I watched as each tower collapsed and I cried for people I'd never met.

Even today, it's hard to describe the way I felt on September 11, 2001. I sifted through dozens of feelings in the following days, weeks and months just as firemen, police officers, emergency workers and other volunteers sifted through the mountainous piles of wreckage that once pierced the sky, looking for survivors but finding mostly victims.

It was a day filled with images and emotions we'd never forget, even if we wanted to. It was a tragedy that made the menial tasks of our daily lives seem insignificant. It was an act of terror that still makes our hearts jump whenever we see or hear a plane that perhaps is flying just a bit too low.

A year later, the initial shock of that Tuesday morning has gradually worn off, something that seemed impossible 12 months ago. We spent more time with family and friends. We paid closer attention to things we'd taken for granted for so long. We realized that perhaps our priorities weren't always where they should be. We moved on. We've slowly healed, though never fully, and we haven't forgotten.

For some of us, sports made that healing process a much easier road to travel. The debates about when baseball and football should resume their respective schedules waged for several days following the terrorist attacks, but once the players again took the field it was obvious that we weren't disrespecting the memories of those we lost, as some had feared. Instead, we were all saying goodbye to loved ones and strangers, together, while in the process proving to ourselves that life, in fact, goes on. 

Players ran onto the field with American flags in their hands and patches on their sleeves. We cheered not for the guys in team jerseys but for the officers and fire fighters in uniform. We all cried when the National Anthem and "God Bless America" were sung. 

For those of us who've made sports a major part of our daily lives, having baseball and football back made things seem a little better, if only for those few short hours. But with what we'd just been through, we no longer viewed winning and losing as life and death.

We'd learned too much about life and death to make that same mistake again. 

It's now September 11, 2002, and 9/11 is a painful memory. Those few days following the attacks are blurry to me now as I'm sure they're somewhat muddled for most of you too.

But looking back, I remember how happy it made me when baseball and football came back. Through all the darkness, I remember that one ray of light, and to this day I'm thankful for it.

I was one of the lucky ones -- I didn't directly know anybody who died last year in those terrible events. But what happened a year ago was still a very personal experience for me, an event that forever changed the way I looked at the world in general and my life in particular. I've been a devoted sports fan for as long as I can remember, as most of you reading this probably have too, and along with my loved ones, it was that relationship that helped me cope with the hideousness of 9/11.

So say what you will about baseball's labor problems and the near-strike. They're playing now and, most important, they were playing when we needed them most. We the fans were, in turn, there for the guys on the field when they needed us too. Kind of ironic, isn't it?

I've often been asked why sports are such a big part of my life. If you had thrown that one at me a year and one day ago, I probably wouldn't have had much of a reply. But now, as so many others have done in this post-9/11 world, I've examined my life and looked for answers to questions I'd never before asked myself. 

I guess it's really quite simple: I've got a great family, a loving wife, some truly remarkable friends and now, in just about six months, I'll also be a first-time father. With those things alone, I'd lead a blessed life.

But sports give us something positive to hang on to no matter how much negativity we're currently dealing with. You may have a terrible day at work but, buried underneath all that frustration, you know that you'll be able to watch football on Sunday. If you get into an argument with your wife, there's still going to be a baseball game tonight. In that way, unlike so many other things in life, sports are dependable and steadfastly reliable.

They're always there for you no matter what.

Last year, that was an extremely comforting thought. Through all the tragedy, all the death, all the confusion and all the destruction, we reached out to sports, and the players and coaches reached out to us. 

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a sports junkie and that my love of football and baseball helped lead me through the gloom of 9/11. I had my family and friends, but I, like thousands of fans like me, needed just a little more support.

When the world looks as dark as it did last September, you can never have too many flashlights.

In the Bullz-Eye

The Seattle Mariners. Last year's juggernaut Seattle team had no problem getting through the regular season, but the 2002 version may not see the postseason. With just a few weeks left to go, the Mariners find themselves seven games behind Oakland in the AL West and five games behind Anaheim in the Wild Card standings. Seattle certainly has time to make up that ground with six more games remaining with the A's and another half dozen with the Angels, but it's not going to be easy.