"It's just a game."
We have all heard that expression more than once. Is it true? For the most part, yes. Don't get me wrong. I respect all those who work at it every day as their livelihood. But when you compare it bigger things like life, death, family and faith, it does pale in comparison. These are adults getting paid huge sums of money to play games for a living. I love it. I would trade places with them in a heartbeat. I also realize that next to bigger issues in the world, sports are not that important. I also know that because of those bigger issues, sports become very important. They provide an outlet and a release. An escape from those realities of life that work us over, wear us down and wipe us out.
No more a time was this needed then two years ago.
We all know where we were. We can tell you what we were doing when the planes hit. We can tell you how we felt at the end of the day when we tried to comprehend what had just happened. The events of September 11, 2001 are burned into our minds forever. It is one of those cataclysmic events that define a generation. Your grandparents can tell you where they were when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Your parents remember exactly what they were doing when President Kennedy was shot and you will be able to tell your children where you were when the Towers fell.
For a week following the attacks, games were put on hold, and rightfully so. Who could cheer even for their favorite team in the wake of such unspeakable tragedy? Sports would have to wait until a more appropriate time. When we did return to the playing fields, we did so with spirit and passion not seen in years. We used these games to help us return to our lives. We used them to escape, if only momentarily, from the reality of what we had been through and what lay ahead.
That is when it is more than a game.
Sporting events have been an escape for our society for more than a century. More often than not, they provide us with a temporary respite from the rigors of everyday life. We go to the ballpark or stadium or arena and for a few hours we shrink our world to the boundaries of the playing surface. We latch on to players and elevate them to heroes. We feel that, through them, our lives will go down a little easier. While sport does well to get us through the day-to-day, its ability to help us pull through tragedy has been nothing short of miraculous. They helped us through war, national tragedies and natural disasters.
In the days following the attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, fans flocked to those places, which gave us comfort. We visited relatives, went back to church and took ourselves out to the ball game. There was a debate as to when to go back, but there was never a doubt that we would go back. We knew that we had to get back.
Suddenly, the National Anthem was not the time to snag one last order of nachos or run to the bathroom one last time before tip off. The seventh inning stretch was changed too. Instead of a time to replace your beer, it became the chance to sing "God Bless America". Sports had found a new responsibility in our lives by actually reprising a role more familiar to our fathers, mothers and grandparents.
As much as we love the games, as much as we extol the virtues of our favorite players and as much as we love to debate why our team is number 1, they are for the most part just games. When you compare them to the pressing issues of our global community and have to deal with things like finding a job, healing the sick or planning a wedding, they are very frivolous and just not as important. However, in times of crisis, it is that frivolity that we count on to get away, albeit briefly, from the rigors of adjusting and coping with trouble and despair. It is also within those games that we find comfort. We know that together we can get through anything. Sports are a reminder, to borrow a line from "Field of Dreams", of all that once was good and will be good again. This was no more important than on a sunny day two years ago. A day of unspeakable horror which would shake our faith but strengthen our resolve.
On this second anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., I want to send my prayers and thoughts to those who were lost and the loved ones who mourn them. We share your pain and stand with you at this time in remembrance.
