The Impact of Sports

September 11th conjures up a lot of memories to people. Everyone you talk to who was old enough to appreciate the day remembers where they were when they heard the news. You probably remember most details of the entire day. I was in my 4th hour German class when I heard. We had soccer practice after school, and inexplicably, a plane flew overhead when all planes were supposed to be grounded.

In the days and weeks after September 11th, the country saw displays of patriotism that will never be topped. Nowhere were those displays more powerful than in the sports world. Some of the very first memories I recall when I think about September 11th are the events on the New York baseball fields just ten days after the attacks.

Shea Stadium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu4_96gXWgs) was home to a Mets/Braves game in which both teams were more concerned about returning to normalcy than winning a baseball game. The embraces between teammates, opponents, and the NYPD faithful are memories etched in the minds of Mets and Braves fans forever. The sight of Rudy Guiliani provided a calmness to a city and a country who desperately needed it.

At Yankee Stadium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=631knZM9Uiw) President Bush threw a strike in the ceremonial first pitch. The leaders of the country were visible in the sports world.

Though September 11th was the reason for unity in those cases, sports was the arena in which it took place. The 1991 NHL All-Star game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpxVE_kQXg&feature=related) served a similar purpose. Just days after the United States officially entered the Gulf War, NHL fans showed their support.

Normally, however, sports plays the opposite role.

Seven Saturdays each fall, you see an extremely unique event. One hundred ten thousand people unite for a common cause. These 110,000 people come from many different backgrounds. Many believe in one god, many believe in multiple gods, many believe in no gods. You will find people from a hundred different countries speaking twenty different languages. Half voted for Barack Obama. Forty percent voted for John McCain. Ten percent are still campaigning for Ron Paul. But, every Saturday, every one of those people can agree on one thing. That one thing is Michigan football. You'd be hard pressed to find 110,000 Americans to agree on any one thing non-sports related.

When I visited Ann Arbor last week, I was told a great story that typifies this idea of unity. One of my good friends' dads had an on-field pass for the Michigan vs. Western Michigan football game on top of his regular ticket. As he walked through the tailgates on his way to the stadium, he stopped and handed that field pass to a random Michigan fan. He continued to walk to the stadium, and one of his family members asked him why he just gave a field pass to a random stranger. His response was simple. "He was wearing the right colors."

See, that's all that matters in sports. No one cares who you voted for or where you came from. Ernie Harwell puts this much more eloquently than I ever could in his poem about baseball. He says, "In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team's uniform from another."

Think about your favorite player. Do you know his religious affiliation? His political ideals? Probably not. If you do and your beliefs don't align with his, do you care? No, all you care about is that he produces on the field. If he's wearing a Winged Helmet, I don't care what he believes should happen with the death penalty. After all, everyone kills people. All I care about is that he plays hard every Saturday. If he does, he can be white, black, liberal, conservative, Muslim, Christian... doesn't matter. I'll support him all the same. Through all our differences, sports still unites us. And it always will.