The Rotunda

Issue date: 9/16/09 Section: Opinion

This discussion of sports and heroes brings me to the picture below. Friday was the eighth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. On all three networks, the day was marked in passing for less than one minute and almost not at all by the major newspapers. On that day in 2001, almost 400 heroes ran into building that was crashing and burning to save the thousands that were running out. Three thousand never got out. That day in 2001 sparked a war where over 5000 people to date have died. Who are they? These people who served and continue to serve since 9/11?

One lasting image from that day and the days that followed is shown here - Three New York City firemen atop a pile of rubble that buried those thousands. Two of the three guys in this now famous picture were rugby players from the Rockaway (NY) Fishheads Rugby Football Club. That's George "Rugby" Johnson on the left and Danny McWilliams is in the center, carrying the lessons, the ideals, of commitment and coming together from the rugby pitch to Ground Zero. Yeah, that's my idea of a "sports hero."

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