After unloading the car my wife asked me to watch the McCartney special for the heroes of NY on TV. I was ready to sit down and watch the Beavs to hope they would lose to alleviate the pain and then the first image on the screen brought this game into perspective. Two little girls about 10 yrs old were holding a picture up to the cameras of their daddy in a fireman’s uniform. All of the sudden my pain seemed extremely insignificant as did our loss. We lost a game while they lost their dad. We lost the Rose Bowl appearance while a young widow held up the husband she lost. We lost win streak while a crying mother and father lost their Fireman son. No my pain turned to nothingness to think that I lost something big when there were heroes who climbed up a burning inferno to save thousands of lives while giving theirs.
The musicians were good but the stars of the show were the heroes that walked onto the stage to name the names of the fallen. The senselessness of the pictures that kept being held up by those that lost loved ones was a powerful image. The women in black who held those pictures up with pride made me question my hero placement of 20 year old kids. Yes, they had a bad game and against Stanford and you can’t afford to make mistakes yet we made plenty. Joey had a bad game and a jittery 4th qtr but that is really what is great about college FB. Unlike the pros, mistakes are a part of the game. We did not take the next step we needed to take to improve our DL and our D played their hearts out but in the end could not overcome the poor position they were left. Our O was not as crisp as it was on the road and Joey did not have a Heisman or above average type game. I can leave the X&O reasons for losing to the stat guys but in the end we mentally lost.
In the end, the day was perfectly summed up by a fireman who was brought up on the stage. He explained that he was from Queens and was around 275 lbs who said that his FDNY football team lost 20 men in the collapse. He finished by saying, “...Ossana Ben Laden I’m form Queens NY and you can kiss my Irish Royal Blue a@@. Here’s my face OBL, I live at such and such streets in Queens, why don’t you come over here and get me....BITCH!” The chants of USA filled the auditorium as the heroes released a month of horrific frustration. I realized then that I had a great day watching my son’s Tualatin FB team go to 6 & 1 (coincidence) and was able to spend the day with him. There are hundreds of kids who went to bed after that concert knowing they will never be able to have their hero daddies tuck them in or watch them play a game of FB. No the loss of the RB does not seem like much of a loss at all.
Pray for NY!
GOOOOOOOOREGON!!
Did you know that that guy is the brother of our own BCM, who was with the NYFD and who we lost at the towers?
May you go to the Rose Bowl at some future date, God Willing!
I was born & raised in Queens and just loved what that Fireman brother of our brave Freeper BCM said! He helped so many release the anger & frustration of the past weeks! God Bless him and his family......
I left NYC at twenty and have lived all over the USA but in my heart of hearts I am still a NYer!
FRegards, Julie