9101030398
DETROIT FREE PRESS
910118
Friday, January 18, 1991
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1991, Detroit Free Press
GAMES UNIMPORTANT, BUT IT HELPS US TO PLAY
So the question now becomes: What do we do with ourselves? All of us
civilians, who are watching this most strange and awesome war on our
television sets, what do we do? What is the right thing? The pictures, the
voices, even at times the very sounds of war, live, in our living rooms, make
us feel involved. And feeling involved, we feel we must help out, we must
contribute in our own little way.
But how? Here, in the suddenly meaningless world of sports, an idea has
surfaced: cancel games, specifically the football championships scheduled for
Sunday and the Super Bowl scheduled for Jan 27. After all, some say, these
games are so unimportant in light of what's happened; to play them in the same
hours that our children fly planes in the dark Iraqi skies would be terribly
inappropriate.
This is the right emotion.
But the wrong idea.
You don't take something unimportant and make it more important by calling
for its cancellation. Sports -- particularly professional sports -- are
nothing more than a job for the participants, no different than the job you
and your neighbor go to this morning. Players get paid to work. Same goes for
hot dog vendors, for ticket-takers, for broadcasters. Oh, sure, the NFL
championships are viewed by millions, they are cheered, celebrated,
ballyhooed. But that is our doing. And it can surely be toned down.
After all, no one ever said football must have cheerleaders and the Wave
to exist.
Make it safe, or stop it
There is one reason, and only one reason, to consider the cancellation of
any sporting event now: safety. This is crucial. The fear of terrorist
activity makes you think twice about assembling 50,000 people in one place --
particularly since Saddam Hussein has promised terrorist acts as part of his
warfare. The TV exposure a terrorist would receive at a Super Bowl or even an
NBA regular-season game is truly frightening.
So this is priority No. 1. And heaven help the organizers of any event if
they let profit overshadow safety. If the field and stands cannot be more
than reasonably secured -- especially in these first tinderbox days of war --
then there is no way that particular game should be played. No way. The loss
of one life, even the crippling or injury of a single fan, would not be worth
it.
But, having said that, know that this is a separate issue. It has nothing
to do with sports being inappropriate during wartime. As a matter of fact,
the coming together for a game with friends and family is, in a small and
funny way, exactly what our troops are fighting for. On a radio talk show
Thursday morning, a Vietnam veteran expressed support for sports, saying:
"When we were over (in Vietnam) the games we heard on radio were a great way
to escape for a few hours, and to feel like the life we left behind was still
going on."
I have heard people comparing this to the California earthquake that
shook the 1989 World Series. But that was different. Those games were in the
very shadow of a devastated city, while bodies were still being pulled from
the rubble. The proper thing to do was postpone, wait until the healing had
begun. This was done. The games resumed.
I also hear comparisons to November 1963, when the NFL played its regular
schedule the weekend after President John F. Kennedy was killed. This was a
mistake. America suffered a crippling blow -- on its own shores -- and no one
was ready for football, national grief had not subsided. Once again, this
might be different from what is happening now. Sure, this war could escalate
to such a serious degree that no one would be ready for anything other than
news from the front. We all pray that will not happen. The news of the
chemical bombings in Israel Thursday night, for the moment, makes you forget
who's in the playoffs altogether.Our lives, their lives
But still, in theory, there is no reason sports cannot continue in war the
way we all continue in war, with a heartful of concern. I am sure upcoming
games will contain dedications to the soldiers -- silent moments, arm bands,
special versions of the national anthem. Good. Helps us remember. The
alternative, to cancel sports, would suggest you also cancel opera, movies,
Broadway, HBO.
War, for civilians, is not about denial of everyday life. It is about
realizing how special everyday life is. That brings me to one last point:
During the first hours of fighting Wednesday night, three CNN reporters, on
worldwide TV, gave riveting first-hand accounts of the "fireworks" nature of
the U.S. bombings. They were excellent in reporting. They made a few nervous
jokes. But at no time did they mention that with every flash of light, people
might have been killed, human beings who, despite being the enemy, still had
families and loved ones.
To me, that's inappropriate. I'm not really a religious person, but I do
recall a story in the Bible after the Egyptians were killed trying to cross
the Red Sea. On the shore, the Hebrews began to celebrate, happy that their
enemies were vanquished. And God came to Moses and said, in effect: "Tell them
not to celebrate. The Egyptians are my children, too."
That's a good story, I think, worth remembering at this fragile time.
Ours or theirs, these are still human beings. To ignore or in any way
celebrate death -- now, that would be inappropriate.
To try to continue life as we know it is not.
WAR; REACTION; SPORTS