Fantasy Boyz remember 9/11

The Fantasy Boyz website was designed around a light hearted approach to fantasy sports, but that doesn't mean we can't be serious now and again. The below submission comes less than a week before the 10th anniversary of 9/11. A day that everyone in America can remember where they were and what they were doing, a day no one will forget.

Written by Sean Tierney Fantasy Boyz collaborator

With the tenth anniversary of a day that nobody will every forget right around the corner, I thought I'd take a paragraph or two just to put down some thoughts......

09/11/2001...........

There are so few days in American history that you could ask anyone on the street what they were doing and where they were and they would be able to tell you. Our grandparents would probably have Pearl Harbor and D-Day. My parents generation has JFK and the night that John Lennon was shot. Then you get to our lifetime. There are really only two days that really stick out for me. One was the OJ trial. I was in 8th grade art class. I just remember our teacher bringing in a TV and saying "this is our assignment for the day". Then there's Septerber 11, 2001. I was just coming out of my math class at NCCC when I saw everyone huddled around a Television in the hall way. I stood there and watched in total disbelief of what I was seeing. For years I thought that America was invincible and that this couldnt be happening... but it was. We stood there for an hour before the Dean let everyone leave for the day. For the next week nobody left their TV's. It felt like everyone's life was standing still. MLB cancelled a few games. The NFL postponed games. Nobody knew what to do.

September 21st, nearly 10 days after this tragedy the first major sporting event was held at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. A train ride from ground zero, the Mets defeated the Braves 3-2. It didn't matter if you were a Braves fan, a Mets fan or even a baseball fan, you still rooted for the Mets to win that night. Seven weeks after the attacks on the world trade center, the Yankees and the Diamondbacks played for the World Series in what seemed to me the most emotional Series in recent memory. Friends of mine that hated the Yankees found themselves glued to the game waiting to see if the Yankees would pull it out. We were treated to a fantastic seven game series in what ultimately turned out to be the Diamondbacks first ever world series title. This series wasn't about baseball. This was about not watching CNN or MSNBC for 14 hours a day. This was a chance for all of us to not forget what had happened but to put it in the back of our minds for nine innings and simply be a fan.

Sports let you forget about everything around you for four quarters, three periods, 200 laps or nine innings. You cheer for your team and you boo the competition. In the weeks following 9/11 we all cheered for any sports team in our country from high school football all the way up to the pro's. We cheered because it was the right thing to do.

To all the NYPD, NYFD, Port Authority and first responders that helped save countless lives we cant thank you enough............ Game on.