On the Sunday after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I was assigned to work a fall baseball game at Ann Arbor, Michigan's Concordia University. Naturally there was a moment of silence and plenty of heavy hearts.
There was no air travel for five days until that Sunday, and the first sight of an airliner in the sky literally stopped the game in its tracks. A few weeks later, an airliner way off course literally buzzed the press box at Michigan State University's Spartan Stadium and the entire stadium gasped in horror as the plane's rivets were in plain sight of nearly all spectators. Sports, usually a carefree arena to let it rip, was as terse and complicated as a boardroom of auto executives these days in the aftermath of 9/11, as was just about everything else after that awful day.
Which brings me to today's umpiring assignment, a baseball doubleheader at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan, where last week two students died in an apparent murder-suicide in a classroom setting.
I'm preparing myself for a tense day but hoping for the best at the same time. Maybe the twinbill will be the step away the school's team needs after a long week of difficult emotions and circumstances. I'm certain the school's coaching staff and faculty has addressed this matter and have offered the appropriate psychological services as needed.
One thing I'm certain of, like at Ohio's Bluffton College, New York's financial district and Binghamton, New York as well. Life is appreciated a little more and opportunity is a more valuable commodity than it was a week ago at Henry Ford. It's possible baseball will help to start healing some heavy hearts today, but if not, at least break the silence as a welcome respite for a few hours.
~T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries, due August 2009 from Arcadia Publishing.
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