The soothing power of sports

In trying times, Americans can put athletics in perspective

In these trying times, Americans can put athletic competion in proper perspective

It is much too soon, of course, for any of us who love sports to again be assessing their place in our lives. Yet here we are. Before the sun rises in the United States Thursday morning, our country could be at war. Before the sun sets, the NCAA basketball tournament will be in full bloom, 16 games done before Thursday becomes Friday. Do these two sentences belong in the same paragraph? They do. More than ever.

On Tuesday evening, NCAA president Dr. Myles Brand announced that March Madness would go on as scheduled. He arrived at this decision after consultation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the cabinet agency that was formed in the aftermath of 9/11, which was the last time America was forced to painfully consider the place of sports in our culture.

Back then, sports came to a halt. We all know that it was absolutely the right decision. The United States had suffered a wound unlike any since the Civil War. The nation was in shock, and people grieved like never before in their lives. When the National Football League shut down for a weekend, all leagues followed suit. On the Sunday afternoon that followed 9/11, I spent several hours in the Staten Island, N.Y., home of Patriots offensive lineman Joe Andruzzi, whose three brothers are New York City firemen. Jimmy Andruzzi, then 30 years old, escaped death in the collapse of the World Trade Center by only seconds.

I will never forget that afternoon. Not only because of the pain I saw in the eyes of Mary Ann Andruzzi, a sweet, loving Italian mother who was overjoyed that her sons survived, but terribly pained that the children of so many of her friends had died. Not only because of the tears that Jimmy Andruzzi shed as he told the story of his survival on 9/11, a tale so moving that I cried for months every time I recalled it.

I remember the moments long after the interview was done, when Mary Ann was making macaroni and meatballs for the family. A Sports Illustrated photographer was setting up a shot of the Andruzzi brothers, and Joe was sitting on the front step. We filled the minutes -- probably 45 of them -- by talking about football. About how the Green Bay Packers cut Joe without ever giving him a real chance, and how he became a starter almost immediately when he joined the Patriots. It was strange. Smoke was billowing from the WTC site in the distance and here we were, talking football. Joe Andruzzi is a professional football player; I am a professional sportswriter. We do sports for a living, each in our own way. I guess that makes us different from the average fan, but I also surmise that back in those days, a lot of people filled quiet moments talking -- unemotionally -- about sports. Filling quiet holes in time with familiar friends.

And here we are again. This time we wonder what war will mean for the future of the country, and, more important, what it will mean to the present of the people fighting overseas. It is a time of uncertainty and fear. Is this not the definition of wartime?

But life must continue. The events of 9/11 made America a very different place, as we immediately knew it would, but perhaps in ways we could not have imagined. We stand in security lines now, and even if we seethe, we do so silently. We are a harder people in 2003 than we were 18 months ago, even if we remain vulnerable to terrorism.

It is easy to say now that cataclysmic events like 9/11 and war in Iraq put sports in the proper perspective. My view is that we should never have needed 9/11 to bring us this perspective. Sports were a diversion before 9/11, and they are still a diversion. The fact that many people make their living from sports doesn't change that. People make their living running Disney World, too.

What has changed since 9/11 is that we, as a society, are better equipped now to accept the place that sports play in our lives. We are stronger and more mature. If bombs are falling when I wake before dawn Thursday morning, I will watch the news, knowing what is at stake. But at some point during the day, I will watch basketball, too, knowing that it is nothing but harmless fun. I know now, as never before, how to separate the two, and also how to join them. That's what I learned from Joe Andruzzi, sitting in autumn sunlight on a front stoop in Staten Island six days after one of the worst events in our history. Each in their own way, I think most Americans have learned, too.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

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