Sports and the rest of the world
The killing of Osama bin Laden a huge topic of discussion in every corner of the world. Even the sports world. The host of one of the sports talk shows I listen to reluctantly touched upon the subject briefly. And understandably. Sports is an escape from most other world events. After all we don't have News Bars we have Sports Bars. And our weekend TV dials is full of sports selections. But sports and "The real world" do occasionally come together. No one of my generation can ever forget the tragedy that occurred at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Or the 1989 earthquake that happened during a game of The World Series in San Francisco. But more so, sporting events have served as healing venues. The events of 9/11 was one of the most tragic occurrences in US history. There was shock, surprise, anxiety, anger. And uncertainty. What next? Where do we go from here? What bin Laden and his followers did on September 11, 2001 an attempt to cripple The U.S.. But it failed. It failed in part because we refused to allow it. And I think sports played a big part. Security concerns meant events where large crowds gathered, like sporting events, were cancelled. But the games came back, and came back with vigor. We cheered first responders in every stadium. We waved our flags, wore our Red, White, and Blue. We told the world we got knocked down, took a standing eight count, and continued on. Albeit a little differently than we did on September 10th. So if the sports world took a moment on Monday, May 2, 2011 to reflect on the events of the previous day, it was understandable. For if not for sports, who knows.