Before the tragic attacks on America on September 11, 2001 most of the population was following their favorite sport.
Major league baseball was having a spectacular year with Barry Bonds chasing Mark McGwire’s 70 home run record. The Seattle Mariners having a turn around year in the win category and the wild card races were heating up in both leagues.
PGA Golf was about to have the Rider Cup, MLS soccer was nearing in on the playoffs, and the NFL was in their second week of its season. There is no doubt that every American will remember where they were, what they were doing, and how they found out about the four plane accidents that questioned our country’s security, but the real question is when will America try to return to normalcy.
Professional and collegiate sports are a major part of our society. The terror that plagued New York City, Washington, D.C., and just outside of Pittsburgh rocked our country to the point where everything was shut down. It is sad that it took only a few people to bring millions of us to out knees, but it happened. As a country we have mourned and prayed. We have vowed for revenge. Now we need to slowly move on. Delaying any sports events any further would not do the thousands of people that died any justice. To allow the terrorism to continue to control our lives is not the spirit of the United States. That would be taking away our freedom. How can
we try to get our nation back in order when we have to put everything on hold?
Baseball our country’s pastime should be played and the league should try to get in all of the regular season games in. We already have an asterisk on the calendar to remind us of what happened, and we don’t need any others to show that we allowed the baseball season to be compromised.
Many professional athletes are viewed as heros. We need them more than ever to show that we won’t be phased. Somewhere in New York a child lost his father. And this child’s father had promised to attend a Yankee game. That child needs the game to cope. We need sports to loosen ourselves up. Allowing baseball, football, and other sports to continue is a form of stress relief. We can prove to ourselves that we can move on. Yes we will still be teary eyed when we think of the loved ones that we have lost, but we can’t loose our identity of whom we were before this all happened.
College athletes have been in pre-season boot camps for many months now. Scholarships have been awarded, and games need to be played. We can’t live in fear of what might happen. I want to be able to go watch our women’s soccer team defend its title. We all need an emotional break from the latest breaking news.
Our economy is in the state of an eminent recession. Ticket sales, advertisement slots, and concession sales bring in money. Taking a day to go see a Sunday football game removes you from the broadcast of CNN or MSNBC. I am not saying forget, I am saying move on.
Baseball, football, soccer, golf, they are all games, and that was all that they were a week ago. We need them to feel normal, to be human.
In remembrance of our fallen family members and friends all uniforms should have an American flag sewed onto them. Professional athletes should donate a day’s salary to relief funds, and there should be a moment of silence before the game, but after all of that it must be let’s play ball.