September 13, 1996: The Death of Tupac Shakur

September 13, 1996, 30 years ago: Tupac Shakur dies, 6 days after being shot in Las Vegas. The rapper and actor was 25 years old, but had already built a career that still has hip-hop fans hailing him as one of the best and most influential rappers of all time.

Lesane Parish Crooks was born on June 16, 1971 in East Harlem. His mother, Afeni Shakur, "wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture, and not just from a neighborhood." So, when he was one year old, she renamed him Tupac Amaru Shakur, after a Tupac Amaru II, a descendant of the last ruler of the Incas, executed in Peru in 1781, after his failed revolt against Spanish rule.

Both of his parents had been members of the Black Panther Party. His godmother, JoAnne Chesimard, a.k.a. Assata Shakur, was convicted for her role in the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973, escaped from prison, and fled to Cuba.

In 1984, Afeni and Tupac moved to Baltimore. At the Baltimore School for the Arts, he studied acting, poetry, jazz and ballet, and became friends with Jada Pinkett. Later to become an actress, Jada has called Tupac the love of her life. This became one of the complications in her marriage to rapper-actor Will Smith.

In 1988, the Shakurs moved to Marin City, California. Marin County, north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, is mostly wealthy. Marin City is at the other end of the economic spectrum. Tupac did not graduate from high school, although he later got his GED. But he "graduated" to stardom in the West Coast hip hop scene, with his 1991 album 2Pacalypse Now, after briefly being with the Oakland-based group Digital Underground.

That would be the 1st of 4 albums released his lifetime, along with Strictly 4 My N.I.G.A.A.Z... in 1993, Me Against the World in 1995, and the 1st double-length album in hip-hop history, All Eyez on Me, in 1996. Like many other rappers, he got into acting, and had more success than most, including co-starring with Janet Jackson in the 1993 film Poetic Justice. Most of his roles were similar to his image, as an introspective but tough guy.

But Tupac was no saint. In 1993, he was arrested in Atlanta for shooting 2 off-duty police officers, who were charged with making false statements. All charges ended up being dropped. In 1994, he was convicted of 2 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, although he was acquitted of several other charges. He was sentenced to 18 months to 4 1/2 years in prison, and ended up serving 8 months at New York's Riker's Island.

In 1993, Tupac became friends with Christopher Wallace, the Brooklyn-based rapper who called himself The Notorious B.I.G. and Biggie Smalls. (Tupac also had multiple identities, including 2Pac and Makaveli.) It appears that Tupac was the man who told Biggie that Sean Combs -- at the time, known as Puff Daddy -- would make him a star. Which happened.

On November 30, 1994, while in New York recording verses for a mixtape of Ron G, Tupac was shot in the studio's lobby. He recovered at the home of actress Jasmine Guy, who became his friend after he appeared on the sitcom A Different World.

 The relationship between Tupac and Biggie had deteriorated. Biggie recorded a song titled "Who Shot Ya?" As rappers frequently do, Tupac recorded an answer song, "Hit 'Em Up." Not only did it accuse Biggie and his people of knowing who the shooter was, but included the line, "You claim to be a player, but I fucked your wife!" It was an insinuation that Tupac had had sex with singer Faith Evans, whom Biggie had married. The video was devastating, as Tupac delivered the line to a Biggie lookalike, complete with "pimp cane," who just nodded his head at the accusation. Only 2 people have ever known whether it was true: Tupac, who said it, and never changed his story; and Faith, who has always denied it.

And so the feud -- really, a sub-feud within the East Coast vs. West Coast rap rivalry -- between Biggie and Tupac became the nastiest feud in music history. (Salieri didn't actually have anything to do with the death of Mozart.) If there were ever "peace talks," the general public wasn't aware of them.

On September 7, 1996, Tupac was in Las Vegas, with his boss, Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight, to see the Heavyweight Championship fight between Mike Tyson, a longtime friend of Tupac's, and British boxer Bruce Seldon. It didn't last long: Seldon was the current champ, but former champ Tyson knocked him out in the 1st round.

This fight was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, a new 17,000-seat arena at the MGM Grand Las Vegas casino-hotel. Afterward, in the hotel's lobby -- apparently, Tupac hadn't learned to stay out of lobbies -- someone in their group saw Orlando Anderson, a member of the Crips gang in Compton, California, known as "Baby Lane." That someone had a beef with Anderson, and assaulted him.

Tupac soon stopped by his hotel room, and then headed with Knight to his Death Row nightclub, Club 662, in a black BMW 750iL sedan, part of a larger convoy. At about 11:15 PM, at a traffic light on Las Vegas Boulevard, a white, 4-door, late-model Cadillac sedan pulled up to the passenger side, and an occupant rapidly fired into the car. Tupac was hit 4 times: Once in the arm, once in the thigh, and twice in the chest. Knight was not hit, but was cut by shards of glass.

Tupac was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, and was put on life support. He died 6 days later, at 4:03 PM on September 13. He was 25 years old. He was cremated the next day.

Did Anderson, or somebody working for him, do it? Las Vegas police interviewed him once, and did not arrest him. He later died in an unrelated shooting. Some of Tupac's associates have suggested that Biggie, Diddy, and their people were involved. Biggie had an airtight alibi, but that doesn't mean that someone didn't do it on his behalf -- or without his order. Still, it doesn't fit with Biggie's personality: Maybe someone working for him did it, but he wouldn't have sanctioned it.

Six months later, Biggie was shot and killed on a visit to Los Angeles. Tupac's people have been implicated, but, as with Tupac's own murder, there has never been enough evidence found to bring an indictment. Officially, both murders remain unsolved.

Like some other performers, including Jimi Hendrix, several albums of material have been released under Tupac's name since his death. Also like Hendrix, his fans have gobbled them up, only to realize that there was a reason why the performer didn't release the material while they lived: The performers, themselves, didn't think it was worthy, and it showed.

As with Elvis Presley and Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, there are people who believe that Tupac's death was faked, and that he is still alive. It gets weirder than that: I was listening to the radio late one night, around 2002 or so, and I heard a man calling up the station, saying, "Tupac is talking to me, man." The host assured the caller that Tupac was dead. The caller seemed to understand that, but said that Tupac was talking to him from beyond the grave.

In 2017, in his 1st year of eligibility, Tupac was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

UPDATE: On September 29, 2023, Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a member of the Compton Crips gang, was arrested for ordering Tupac's murder. On August 31, 2026, he was convicted in Las Vegas. That would seem to solve the case. He has also been linked to Biggie's murder, but, officially, that remains unsolved.

September 13, 1926: Emile Francis Is Born

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Gil Hodges managed the Mets. Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank coached the Jets. and William "Red" Holzman coached the Knicks. These men received everything they needed to win a World Championship, including a little bit of luck.

Emile Francis was the biggest man in New York hockey at the time. He had everything he needed -- except a little more luck.

Emile Percival Francis was born on September 13, 1926 is born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. He tended goal in professional hockey from 1943 to 1960, including in the National Hockey League from 1947 to 1952. With the Chicago Black Hawks in 1948, he designed an improved goaltender's glove, based on a baseball catcher's mitt. He was a member of the New York Rangers team that reached the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Detroit Red Wings in 7 games. If that had been the extent of his contribution to the game, that would be enough to remember him.

After retiring as a player, "the Cat" went straight into coaching, and was named the Rangers' general manager in 1964, naming himself head coach in 1965. He built a team that included Eddie Giacomin in goal; defensemen Brad Park, Gary Doak, Dale Rolfe, Jim Neilson, Rod Seiling and Ab DeMarco; left wings Vic Hadfield, Glad Sather and Dave Balon; centers Jean Ratelle, Phil Goyette, Bobby Rousseau, Pete Stemkowski and Walt Tkaczuk; and right wings Rod Gilbert and Ron Stewart.

Gilbert remains the Rangers' all-time leading scorer. He, Ratelle and team Captain Hadfield formed "The GAG Line," short for "Goal-A-Game." All three of them, plus Park and Seiling, would be named to the "Team Canada" for the 1972 "Summit Series" with the Soviet Union. Gilbert, Ratelle, Park and Giacomin would join Francis in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

This team was good, and good enough to not play dirty. There were no thugs on the roster. Later goons like Nick Fotiu, Tie Domi and Ulf Samuelsson would have had no place on it.

On January 12, 1969, the Jets won Super Bowl III. On October 16, 1969, the Mets won the World Series. On May 8, 1970, and again on May 10, 1973, the Knicks won the NBA Championship. The pieces for the Rangers seemed to be in place: A smart builder, a strong and deep team, and a new Madison Square Garden with a passionate fan base to support them.

But it just didn't happen. There were too many other good teams at the time. In 1968, the 1st season of "The New Garden," the Rangers reached the Quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but lost to the Black Hawks of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito. In 1969, they got to the Quarterfinals again, but lost to the Montreal Canadiens of Jean Béliveau, Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer, who went on to win the Cup. In 1970, again, they got to the Quarterfinals, but were beaten by the Boston Bruins of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, Tony's brother, who went on to win the Cup.

In 1971, they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Quarterfinals, the franchise's 1st Playoff series win in 21 years. They faced the Black Hawks, and in Game 6 at The Garden, Stemkowski scored in the 3rd overtime to win it. It became the franchise's "Where were you?" moment. But they lost Game 7 in Chicago.

In 1972, it looked like it was all coming together: They beat the defending Champion Canadiens in the Quarterfinals, then swept the Black Hawks in 4 straight in the Semifinals. But the Bruins were back, and were just too strong for them. Nobody spoke of a "curse" on the Rangers, and there was no great moment of calamity: Francis' Broadway Blueshirts were simply beaten by a better, stronger, more experienced team.

In 1973, the Rangers beat the Bruins in the Quarterfinals, and hope rose that this could be it. But they lost to the Black Hawks in the Semifinals. This was the 1st season for the expansion team in the suburbs of Long Island, the New York Islanders. In 1974, the Rangers beat the Canadiens in the Quarterfinals, as they were in a transition between the Béliveau-Richard years and the Guy Lafleur years, and goalie Ken Dryden took a year off to finish law school. But the Philadelphia Flyers were on the rise, and beat the Rangers in the Semifinals, then won the Cup by beating the Bruins.

In 1975, the 3rd-year Islanders shocked the Rangers in the 1st round of the expanded Playoffs. Suddenly, there was a new "team of the future," and the Rangers looked like a team of the past. Francis' transactions seemed to take on an air of desperation, a "The future is now" idea. His waiving of Giacomin to make room for the prospect John Davidson was right in the long term, but the public relations of it, and of the subsequent trade of Ratelle and Park to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais, earned himthe wrath of Ranger fans. It's been suggested that the change of Ranger fans from "the classiest fans in hockey" to the boors of "the Blue Seats" began at this time.

Francis was fired as head coach in late 1975, and as GM in early 1976. He later served as head coach and GM of the St. Louis Blues, helping find new owners that saved the team (Ralston Purina, who briefly had the St. Louis Arena renamed the Checkerdome); and of the Hartford Whalers.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and died on February 19, 2022, at the age of 95. Apparently, he and the Rangers made up, because they annually present the Emile Francis Award to a notable supporter of youth hockey. The Emile Francis Trophy is presented by the American Hockey League to the winner of its Atlantic Division.

His son, Bobby Francis, won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year with the 2002 Phoenix Coyotes. (Established for the 1973-74 season, Emile never won it.)

Emile Francis will never be as well-remembered in New York sports as Gil Hodges, Weeb Ewbank or Red Holzman -- or Billy Martin or Joe Torre, or Bill Parcells. He might be better-remembered than Mike Keenan, who walked out on the Rangers right after they finally won the Cup in 1994. He should be remembered as a man who gave everything had to build a hockey winner in New York.

While Emile Francis was their boss, the New York Rangers were good, if not quite good enough. Certainly, there was no reason to say they "sucked."

September 12, 1976: A Hit for Minnie Miñoso -- at Age 53

September 12, 1976: The Chicago White Sox sweep a doubleheader from the California Angels at Comiskey Park, 2-1 and 5-1.

In the 10th inning of the opener, Sid Monge walked future Yankee Jim Spencer, and gave up a game-winning double to Brian Downing, making a winning pitcher out of future Yankee Rich "Goose" Gossage.

Minnie Miñoso, age 53, batted 9th as the designated hitter, and went 1-for-3, singling off Monge in the 2nd inning. He got the 2nd game off. A longtime player for the White Sox, he was coaching for them, and team owner Bill Veeck, seeing yet another opportunity to perk up publicity for his team, activated him. At the time, Miñoso was believed to be the oldest player ever to get a hit in a major league game.

This is because Charlie O'Leary, another coach briefly reactivated for a late-season game, in his case in 1934, was believed to have been born in 1882, so Miñoso got credit for breaking his record. Later, it was discovered that O'Leary was born in 1875, so he was just short of turning 59. So, while Miñoso's achievement was remarkable, it was not unprecedented.

In 1980, Veeck sent him up to bat again, making him a 5-decade player (1940s to 1980s), but he did not get a hit. So O'Leary remains the oldest player to come to bat, the oldest to get a hit, and the oldest to score a run.

Mexican lefthander Francisco Barrios went the distance for the win in the 2nd game. But his career would end tragically: In 1981, while still an active player, he injured his elbow, then, during the strike that season, he was arrested for cocaine possession in a Chicago bar owned by Chicago Bears player Doug Buffone.

He entered a rehab program, but the White Sox released him before the season ended. He signed with a team in the Mexican Pacific League, and pitched for them in 1982. The Milwaukee Brewers were interested in him. But he died of a heart attack, probably brought on by cocaine use. He was 28 years old.

September 12, 1976 was also the opening Sunday of an NFL season. Two new expansion teams made their regular-season debuts. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Houston Oilers, 20-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. And the Seattle Seahawks lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 30-24 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

The following week, the Buccaneers lost their 1st home game, 23-0 to the San Diego Chargers at Tampa Stadium. The Seahawks lost their 1st 5 games, before beating the Buccaneers in Tampa on October 17. They finished 2-12. The Bucs were worse: They went 0-14, and their drought stretched to 0-26 the next season, before finally beating the New Orleans Saints on December 11, 1977.

September 12, 1966: "The Monkees" Premieres

Left to right: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz

September 12, 1966, 60 years ago: Here they come… The Monkees premieres on NBC. They are designed to appeal to kids who loved The Beatles, but didn't like how they got "weird" with Rubber Soul and Revolver and talk about being "more popular than Jesus now."

Trade publications Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ran an advertisement in their September 8, 1965 editions, seeking "Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series." As many as 400 hopefuls showed up to be considered as one of "4 insane boys." Of these, 14 actors from the audition pool were brought back for screen tests, and the last 4 were chosen after audience research:

* Peter Halsten Thorkelson, a.k.a. Peter Tork, born February 13, 1942 in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Willimantic, Connecticut. He had been recommended to the producers by his friend, Stephen Stills, after Stills failed his audition, before becoming a member of first Buffalo Springfield, and then Crosby, Stills & Nash (& sometimes Young). Allegedly, Stills was rejected because of crooked teeth.

Tork was a skilled multi-instrumentalist, who had performed at various Greenwich Village folk clubs before moving west, where he worked as a busboy. He became the keyboard player.

* Robert Michael Nesmith, a.k.a. Mike Nesmith, born December 30, 1942 in Houston, and grew up across Texas in Dallas. His mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, had invented a correction fluid, and founded the company that became Liquid Paper. Mike had served a brief stint in the U.S. Air Force, and, like Jones, had recorded for Colpix, under the name "Michael Blessing."

Oddly, he was the only one of the 4 men chosen to be Monkees who had come for the audition based on seeing the trade magazine ad. He showed up to the audition with his laundry, and impressed the producers with his laid-back style and droll sense of humor. He also wore a woollen hat to keep his hair out of his eyes when he rode his motorcycle. The hat remained part of Nesmith's wardrobe. He became the band's guitarist.

* George Michael Dolenz Jr., a.k.a. Micky Dolenz, born March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Valley Glen, California. The son of screen actors George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson, he had prior screen experience under the name "Mickey Braddock" as the 10-year-old star of the Circus Boy series in the 1950s. He became the drummer.

(Later singer George Michael's real name wasn't "George Michael," it was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. And the sportscaster George Michael was born George Michael Gimpel. None of these men was related to either of the others.)

* David Thomas Jones, a.k.a. Davy Jones, born December 30, 1945 in Manchester, England, which led to his nickname, "The Manchester Cowboy." A former jockey, he had achieved some initial success on the musical stage, appearing with the cast of the Broadway musical Oliver! on The Ed Sullivan Show on the night of The Beatles' live American debut. He was appearing in Columbia Pictures productions, and recording for the Colpix record label, and had been identified in advance as a potential star for the series. He became the lead singer.

The show's music had several songwriters, including the team of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, who wrote their theme song and their 1st Number 1 hit, "Last Train to Clarksville"; the then-married team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who wrote their Number 3 hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday"; and a young Neil Diamond, who wrote their Number 1 hit "I'm a Believer" and their Number 2 hit "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You." John Stewart, who took Dave Guard's place in The Kingston Trio, wrote "Daydream Believer," which became their 3rd and last Number 1 hit. 

Their silly adventures in wildly-colored outfits helped to inspire cartoons like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? The fact that they were also a band helped inspire cartoons like The Archies and Josie & the Pussycats. And, because of The Monkees' success, another English singer named David Jones ended up changing his name, becoming David Bowie.

While the program showed them playing their own instruments, they did not do so on the recordings on which they sang. Nor did they write most of their own songs. Finally, they objected, and had one Top 40 hit that was all their own: "The Girl I Knew Somewhere."

It took 2 years, but TV viewers figured out that these guys were not as good as The Beatles. But they were certainly better than, say, The Partridge Family. But the 1960s nostalgia wave kicked in, and by the mid-1980s, they were popular on "the oldies circuit."

Davy Jones died on February 29, 2012, at the age of 66. Peter Tork died on February 21, 2019, at 77. Michael Nesmith died on December 10, 2021, at 78. As of September 12, 2026, Micky Dolenz is the last survivor, 81. His daughter, Ami Dolenz, also became an actress. Mike's son, Christian Nesmith, also became a musician.

September 12, 1966 was a Monday. Musician Ben Folds and Northern Exposure actor Darren E. Burrows were born.

Yankees Sweep Rockies, Will Commemorate 9/11 with Mets

The Colorado Rockies have the worst record in the National League, 2nd-worst in all of Major League Baseball behind the Los Angeles Angels. They came into Yankee Stadium II on Tuesday, and it seemed like a good time for the Yankee bats to get going again.

Cam Schlittler started the opener, and was brilliant, again: 7 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, no walks, 10 strikeouts. For the season, he is now 13-6, with an ERA of 2.01 and a WHIP of 0.918. If he doesn't receive the American League's Cy Young Award, it will be a travesty.

Aaron Judge returned from injury. He went 0-for-3, including 2 strikeouts, before being replaced in right field for cautionary reasons, but Heliot Ramos. The Yankees scored an unearned run due to an outfield error in the 1st inning, got an RBI double from Ryan McMahon in the 5th, and a 3-run home run from Ramos in the 8th. Tim Hill made it interesting by allowing a 2-run homer in the 9th, but the Yankees held on, and won, 5-3.

Will Warren started on Wednesday night, and he was strong as well: 6 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts. The bullpen allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk. The Yankees won, 6-1. Judge went 2-for-4, and the Yankees got home runs from Luis García Jr., George Lombard Jr. and Cody Bellinger. Two "Juniors" and the son of an ex-major leaguer. But not Jazz Chisholm Jr.: He was put on the Injured List, and Anthony Volpe was recalled, with the idea that, instead of shortstop, he would play 2nd base.

Manager Aaron Boone -- almost certainly, under orders from general manager Brian Cashman -- was careful with Max Fried again last night, only allowing him to throw 80 pitches. That got him through 3 1/3rd innings, so even though he allowed just 1 run on 1 hit and 2 walks, striking out 7, it felt like a "bullpen game." Michael Fulmer finished the 4th, John Schreiber got the next 4 outs, Ryan Yarbrough the next 4, Brent Headrick the last out in the 7th, and the returning Luis Gil pitched the 7th and the 8th.

García homered again, in the 1st. Two runs scored in the 2nd, 1 on a single by Volpe. The Rockies closed to within 4-2 in the top of the 7th, but the Yankees made them pay for that in the bottom of the 7th. Bellinger led off with a double, Jasson Domínguez walked, García moved the runners over with a groundout, and Spencer Jones singled them home.

Lombard popped up, but McMahon and Austin Wells walked, and then Volpe hit an opposite-field home run, getting the fans back on his side. The Yankees won, 10-3, completing the sweep. Schreiber was credited as the winning pitcher.

The Yankees are 3 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, with 16 games to go. They maintain the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs. Judge, Bellinger, Volpe, Cole, Fried and Gil are all back. Chisholm and Ryan Weathers could be back by September 22. Clarke Schmidt might come back to contribute in the regular season. Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham are less likely to return.

*

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. There were about 3,000 people who died that day, and another 5,000 are estimated to have died due to subsequent health issues caused by the toxic air at the site. Osama bin Laden did eventually pay for that, and al-Qaeda is no longer a serious threat to anyone.

A ceremony was held at the site of the original World Trade Center. Four Mayors attended: Incumbent Zohran Mamdani, Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani. Eric Adams, though still alive, did not attend.

The contrast between the young Mamdani and the aged Giuliani was staggering -- as was the bigotry of Giuliani, who said Mamdani shouldn't be there because he's a Muslim. Staggering, but, giving Giuliani's past, not surprising.

Also in attendance were former Presidents and First Ladies Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Joe and Jill Biden. Joe is dealing with cancer, and is older than Giuliani. Bloomberg, as far as I know, is healthy, but is even older than Biden. Both of them looked better than Giuliani.

Donald Trump and whoever he currently considers to be his First Lady were not invited. Everyone else I mentioned, even Giuliani, refused to make the event about themselves. Trump wouldn't do that.

Major League Baseball did the right thing in scheduling the 1st game of a Yankees vs. Mets series for tonight at Yankee Stadium, to commemorate the event. Both teams were exceptional in handling relief efforts after it.

There will be a pregame ceremony tonight, and, presumably, both teams will wear specialized logos on their uniforms.

Sports has helped people to heal many times, and 9/11 might be the greatest example. It can do so again.

September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center Is Destroyed and the Pentagon Is Attacked

 

September 11, 2001, 25 years ago: I woke up that warm, sunny Tuesday morning, unemployed and with no reason to get up early, and, as was always the case at the time, the first thing I did was turn on the radio. It was after 10:30, so it had already all happened.

And the announcer -- a woman whose name I never learned -- on WCBS, 880 on the AM dial, said, "The World Trade Center is gone."

What? What do you mean, "gone"? The World Trade Center is gone? A pair of 110-story skyscrapers -- actually, a seven-building complex -- doesn't just disappear. Gone? What, did aliens come along and beam it up, like on Star Trek?

If it had, there would still, theoretically, have been a chance to get it back. But, no, that was not the case.

Did I hear it right? I had just gotten up. I was still half-asleep. Maybe I misunderstood. So I went to the TV, turned it on, and... nothing. Of course. Every station had its transmitter on 1 World Trade Center. Except one, WCBS, Channel 2. Theirs was, and remains, at the Empire State Building. If you didn't have cable TV, then they were the only ones broadcasting. And all that was left of the World Trade Center was a cloud of black smoke.

The planes:

* American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, with 92 people on board, took off from Logan International Airport in Boston at 7:59 AM, meant for Los Angeles International Airport, and hit 1 World Trade Center, the North Tower, between the 93rd and 99th floors, at 8:46.

* United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767, with 65 people on board, took off from Logan at 8:14, also meant for Los Angeles, and hit 2 World Trade Center, the South Tower, between the 77th and 85th floors, at 9:03. That's when it became clear that the first one wasn't just a freak accident, like the B-25 that crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in 1945, a much smaller plane that did far less damage and killed far fewer people.

* American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, with 58 people on board, took off from Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., at 8:20, also meant for Los Angeles, was turned back toward Washington, and hit the west wall of the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, also across the Potomac River from Washington, in Arlington, at 9:37. Victims: 184.

* And United Airlines Flight 93, another Boeing 757, with 44 people on board, took off from Newark International Airport in New Jersey at 8:42, meant for San Francisco International Airport. The passengers, having heard on their cell phones about the other planes, decided to fight back, and stopped the hijackers from reaching their target, which U.S. intelligence later decided was the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington. Instead, at 10:03, the plane crashed into a field in rural Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, usually identified by its mailing address of Shanksville, about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, and 130 miles northwest of Washington.

The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 AM. In 2003, in commemoration of the magazine's 50th Anniversary, TV Guide listed "South Tower Falls" as the most memorable televised moment ever, topping the 1st manned Moon landing in 1969. The North Tower followed at 10:29 -- mere seconds before I woke up, and the WCBS announcer said, "The World Trade Center is gone."

There's an overpass about a mile from where I was living at the time, where State Route 18 goes over the New Jersey Turnpike. It's next to the Tower Center complex, the 23-story "minor league twin towers," as I called them, where the bus takes me into Manhattan. From that overpass, on a clear day, you could see the World Trade Center. On 9/11/01, all you could see was a plume of black smoke, going south, seemingly forever.

Three days later, I stood on that overpass again, and it was a plume of white smoke. No, it didn't mean there was a new Pope, or that the Towers would be back.

My father worked at the World Trade Center, as an engineering consultant for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the complex's operator, for six months, before he decided that the commute was too long, and he quit. That was two years before the attack. It was a week before he found out that everyone he worked with got out all right.

Not so lucky were, depending whose figures you believe, and whether you count people who got sick from working the rescue and salvage jobs afterward, about 2,750 people. Eight of them were from my hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey. As far as I know, I never met any of them.

East Brunswick's memorial

There were 1,747 who, at the time, were living in the State of New York. Of those, 1,147 lived in New York City. There were 694 from New Jersey, including 3 from my parents' hometown of Newark, and 3 from next-door Bloomfield, where they lived when I was born.

There were 92 from Massachusetts, 81 from Virginia, 65 from Connecticut, 50 from Maryland, 49 from California, 30 from Pennsylvania, 11 from the District of Columbia, 10 from New Hampshire, 9 from Illinois, 6 from Texas; 5 each from Florida and Rhode Island; 4 each from Alabama, Georgia and Maine; 3 each from Louisiana, North Carolina and Ohio; 2 each from Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma; and 1 each from Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

There were 13 from Britain, 6 from Germany, 5 from Canada, 3 from Australia, 3 from Japan, 2 from China, and 1 each from Bermuda, El Salvador, Grenada, Ireland, Israel and Sweden.

At first, we didn't know how bad it would be. The front page of the New York Daily News on September 13 suggested 10,000 people had died. It was quickly revised to 5,000, and then, when records were checked to see who was in the Twin Towers and hadn't been found alive, and checking against duplicate entries, down to 3,000, still the worst one-day loss of life on American soil since the American Civil War.

Among the notable people who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks were television producer David Angell, conservative TV legal analyst Barbara Olson, and hockey player-turned-scout Garnet "Ace" Bailey, each of them on board one of the planes intended for Los Angeles. (Bailey was no relation to the old-time hockey star Irvine "Ace" Bailey.) Alice Trillin, a teacher and film producer, and wife of author Calvin Trillin, also died that day, but her death was separate from the attacks.

In 2001, smartphones were few and far between, a lot of us still hadn't really figured out the Internet, and for those of us in the New York Tri-State Area who still didn't have cable TV, Channel 2 was the only station we had left. So we had one channel, and the same damn thing on, for an entire week.

And that's all we watched: Images of the carnage, updates from police and fire department leaders, politicians making statements, pundits speculating about America's response to al-Qaeda and its allies. The parallel was made to the 4 days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. In my lifetime to that point, the only comparable event had been the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

But distractions were few. No regular TV programming. Certainly, no sports, for an entire week, before the various leagues started up again.

Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York, put his municipal counter-terrorism center in 7 World Trade Center. They had to evacuate it. He and the others inside nearly died when the North Tower collapsed. He bounced back from this blunder to represent the City and its recovery before the public, and the editors of Time magazine named him their Person of the Year, a distinction (not an award) it gives to the person they think most affected the news during the calendar year, ahead of President George W. Bush -- and also ahead of Osama bin Laden, who approved and ordered the attacks.

For reasons that aren't worth getting into here, it took until May 1, 2011 for the victims to be avenged. The official memorial at the site was opened on September 11, 2011, the 10th Anniversary of the attacks. And the new One World Trade Center opened on November 3, 2014, with a height purposely set to match the year of America's independence: 1,776 feet.

A temporary memorial at the Pentagon, for the lives lost there, was dedicated on September 12, 2002. A permanent memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2008. The Flight 93 National Memorial was dedicated at the Pennsylvania field on September 10, 2011, the day before the 10th Anniversary. The names of the victims at these sites are also inscribed at the main memorial in Manhattan.

For those of us too young to remember the JFK assassination -- and maybe for those of us who are old enough -- 9/11 remains the most shocking event of our lifetimes. It shouldn't be.

After all, a foreign foe killed 3,000 of us, and our government said it would do whatever it took. And it lied. But the next government did what it took.

September 10, 2016: American Football's Biggest Crowd

September 10, 2016, 10 years ago: The biggest crowd in the history of American football, at any level, is recorded. And not at a place known for hosting the sport.

The University of Tennessee is in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a.k.a. Virginia Tech, is in Blacksburg, Virginia. Their stadiums are 237 miles apart, separated by Interstates 81 and 40. However, they are not rivals, because they are in different leagues: Tennessee are in the Southeastern Conference (the SEC), Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference (the ACC).

Perhaps the fact that they are not rivals made this neutral-site game easier to set up. Tech's Lane Stadium seats 65,632. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium seats 101,915. But they set up a game against each other at a racetrack, the Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, Tennessee, 110 miles from Neyland Stadium, 138 miles from Lane Stadium, and 7 miles from the Virginia/Tennessee State Line that Bristol straddles. (Bristol, Virginia is home to 17,000 people; Bristol, Tennessee, to 26,000.)

The Speedway opened in 1961, is a regular on the NASCAR "short track" circuit, and is known as "The World's Fastest Half Mile." Officially, it seats 153,000. But when the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies played each other there on September 10, 2016, the attendance was a new record for a game of the sport the rest of the world calls "American football": 156,990.

The current NFL record is 112,376, for an exhibition game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in 1994. The Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 6-0. The biggest crowd for a regular-season game was 105,121 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 20, 2009. The Cowboys lost this one, too, to the New York Giants, 33-31.

Here's what the 156,990 at "The Battle at Bristol" saw. Tech scored 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter, for a 14-0 lead. The Volunteers took over from there, scoring 31 unanswered points: 4 touchdowns and a field goal, making it 31-14. The Hokies added a field goal to close it to within 31-17 at the end of 3 quarters.

The Vols scored 2 more touchdowns in the 4th quarter. The Hokies added a touchdown, but that would be it: Tennessee 45, Virginia Tech 24. Tech football is known for 2 things: Michael Vick and good defense. On this night, they had neither.

Tennessee went 9-4, staying at home for the postseason, winning the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Virginia Tech went 10-4, winning the Coastal Division of the ACC, losing the ACC Championship Game to Clemson, and winning the Belk Bowl (now the Duke's Mayo Bowl) in Charlotte.