9/11

Boston was in the story. Went into the office about an hour after it happened. Worked all day. Tried to get someone to confirm former Bruin Ace Bailey was on one of the planes (he was). Other guys in sports had it worse. They were cold-calling flight list residences, listening to dead people's answering machine messages.
Went in to Foxboro the next day and talked (along with everybody else) Pats' guard Joe Andruzzi. His whole family and extended family were/are NYC cops and firefighters. Those who were at the scene all made it out, but of course, a lot of their friends didn't.
What I remember most is that Andruzzi's last words to the reporters was "We'll get through this." First and last time an athlete ever used the words "we" or "us" to journalists in my career as one. Still moves me when I think of it.

 

I'm not sure. Part of the reason they chose the planes they did was because they knew they'd be mostly empty. Less resistance that way. And of course, one of the reasons the Flight 93 passengers were able to fight back was because there were only four hijackers on that plane, instead of five.

Of course, the people on the first plane, whenever it was, wouldn't have had the knowledge that the Flight 93 guys had. And if IIRC, that plane was delayed by about 40 minutes. You wonder what else would have happened if Newark Airport didn't suck as much as it does. And I also wonder what the reaction would have been if things had progressed in such a way that the military ended up shooting down a hijacked plane.

I wouldn't, by the way, discount the role that the constant pitting of "the heartland" against "New York elites" plays in the approach to 9/11 in different parts of the country.

 

That was what struck me yesterday. In the morning, when I was leaving to go meet friends for an early lunch, the weather was nearly identical to that day. A little cool, clear sky, so soft and beautiful.

 

The person who did not know why the flag was at half-staff probably wasn't an 80-year-old woman who had been frisked at airport security.

For better and often worse, our national policy changed as a result of that day. Anyone who has "forgotten" must be living in a cave.

 

On the mention of flags ... it was pretty annoying to be driving around town to see so many open businesses with the flag at full-staff yesterday.

 

If a merchant is going to have a flag at a place of business, which I don't care for, then not lowering to half-staff yesterday makes a mockery of the whole idea of having said flag in the first place.

 

At the time and for several years afterward, I was commuting from one side of my metro area to another, and every time I looked up at the skyscrapers I anticipated planes flying into them. It only stopped when I stopped having to make that commute.

That event shaped the way we think about virtually everything.

 

I remember everything about that day, from watching everything on TV to going into the office and finding out that while a few schools called off sporting events that night, there were still several prep volleyball matches going on. When those coaches called in their results, I got on the phone and asked why they played (we were doing a story on who played and who didn't, and why). More than one coach said, "We just didn't want to have to reschedule."

One thing that will always stick with me was something a college friend said to me a couple of months later. I was in Chicago for a basketball game, so I met her for lunch. She worked at the Sears Tower. As we were walking to the restaurant, I asked her what it was like to work in a big skyscraper like that after everything had happened. She said, "I'm scared as hell to come to work every day." She ended up transferring out to one of the suburban offices her company had.

 

Watched the first three hours of that this weekend too. Still riveting, nine years later. Will never forget that day, I had been laid off from a dot com the day before and was just returning from getting a paper with Huggy Jr. (then 1 1/2) when Howard Stern mentioned the first crash. Didn't turn the TV off the rest of the day.

Mrs. Huggy worked for Merrill Lynch at the time (now bank of America) right downtown and they sent everyone home because there was plenty of speculation the Toronto financial district might be a target. As I recall the Toronto subway was closed too.

We were in New York in July and one of the things I had to do was go to Ground Zero. Wasn't sure what to expect. There was loads of hustle and bustle with construction workers, tourists like us, people going to work, guys flogging books about the attacks. We saw the WTC cross outside St. Peter's Church, walked past the Engine 54 station on 8th Avenue which had a memorial to the 15 guys it lost that day. Needless to say it was all very sobering and once Huggy Jr. saw the MSNBC reporting yesterday he was able to understand what had happened there.

I have posted this before on 9/11 but some may not have seen it. A tremendous story on the response of Newfoundlanders to the passengers on the flights that were grounded in Canada.

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2002/10/strangers.html

 

Why would you possibly not care for a a merchant, or anyone else for that matter, having a flag at their place of business? Truth be told, I were to choose between two otherwise equal businesses, one proudly displaying a flag and the other not, I'd walk into the business with a flag.

 

To be fair, some people can be date-challenged.

Hard to realize for some of us, whose work revolves around dates (even the way we slug most of our stories). But for some it's just not really a part of their routine.

My wife was looking at the calendar yesterday. Asked me if it was the 18th or the 11th.

 

I watched the MSNBC "real time" coverage too. I don't know why but it was just as chilling, if not more so for me. this year. Perhaps it's because I knew how it was going to end. Watching the first responders head to the Towers put a lump in my throat. Lots has happened in my life over the past 9 years. Yesterday was a time to reflect upon that as well.

I've been down to Ground Zero, and this year I'm determined to make it out to Shanksville.