September 23, 2001, 25 years ago: New York City holds a memorial service to the victims of the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center, 12 days earlier. It is held at the largest outdoor seating area within the City's Five Boroughs: Yankee Stadium.
In spite of the Stadium's capacity of 57,545, it is believed that just 20,000 people attended. Most likely, it was because only relatives and colleagues of those lost were permitted to attend, rather than that people were still afraid to gather in big crowds.
All 4 major U.S. TV networks broadcast it live. Prayers were offered by Edward Cardinal Egan, the Archbishop of New York, and also from leaders of Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, and even Muslim congregations, showing that they were all New Yorkers, that they were all Americans, and that they had all felt the losses of that awful Tuesday morning.
Also speaking were Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The current President, George W. Bush, did not attend. Former Mayors David Dinkins and Ed Koch, and former Governors Mario Cuomo and Hugh Carey, attended, but did not speak.
On September 11, 2002, the Yankees dedicated a Monument to the victims and rescue workers in the Stadium's Monument Park. As with the other Monuments and Plaques, it was moved to the new Yankee Stadium in 2009.
September 23, 2001 was a Sunday. Major League Baseball had restarted on Monday, September 17, with the week's worth of postponed games moved to the week after the originally-intended end of the regular season.
The Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 8th inning, 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, and 1 in the top of the 10th, when John Parrish walked Bernie Williams with the bases loaded, forcing Nick Johnson home. This made a winning pitcher out of Nick Johnson, in relief of Orlando "El Duque" Hernández.
Cal Ripken, in his last few days as an active player, hit what turned out to be the last home run of his career, his 407th. Johnson homered for the Yankees, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Derek Jeter got the day off, with Enrique Wilson playing shortstop.
The Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Brian Jordan led off the top of the 11th inning with a home run, his 2nd homer of the game, making John Smoltz a winning pitcher in relief of Tom Glavine. Joe McEwing hit a home run for the Mets.
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The NFL also returned to action, after postponing the previous weekend's games. The Giants beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
Both of the planes that hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York took off from Logan International Airport in Boston. As it worked out, the next game for the New York Jets and the Boston-area team, the New England Patriots, was against each other, at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. (The stadium and the town, officially, had different spellings.)
Jets vs. Patriots was a rivalry that began in the American Football League in 1960. But, unlike such other New York vs. Boston matchups as Yankees vs. Red Sox, Knicks vs. Celtics and Rangers vs. Bruins, it wasn't that much of a rivalry until 1993, when the Patriots hired former Giants coach Bill Parcells, who then took his team back into the Meadowlands once a year to face the Jets. This included the 1996 season, when, with Drew Bledsoe at quarterback, the Patriots went on to win the AFC title, before losing the Super Bowl.
Then, in 1997, the Jets hired Parcells away, and that raised the rivalry more. He left, and in 2000, the Jets thought they'd hired former Parcells assistant Bill Belichick as head coach. He lasted one day, then quit to take the Patriots' job, infuriating Jet fans.
In this game, the Jets led, 10-3, with 3 minutes left in regulation, when Jet linebacker Mo Lewis knocked Bledsoe out of the game. At first, it was believed that Bledsoe had a concussion, serious enough to take him out, but nothing more. But he didn't seem right, and was sent to the hospital, where he was treated for internal bleeding. He almost died.
Bledsoe was replaced at quarterback by Tom Brady. Cliché Alert: The rest is history. The 10-3 score held, the Jets won, and the Pats fell to 0-2. Brady, a 6th-round draft choice out of the University of Michigan, became the starter, and went 5-3. Then he led the Pats to victory in their last 6 regular-season games, including a 17-16 win over the Jets at the Meadowlands, and overtime wins over San Diego ad Buffalo.
Then came the postseason. The Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional Round, in a snowstorm in what became known as "The Tuck Rule Game," in what turned out to be the last game in the 31-season history of Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. What became Gillette Stadium, and the Patriot Place mall, were being built next-door.
Then came a win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game, when Brady got hurt, and Bledsoe was able to come back and be a part of the championship run. Then came Brady, and Adam Vinatieri's field goal, giving them an inspirational win over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots were a bunch of plucky underdogs that had captured the nation's admiration.
But, like most teams that unexpectedly start winning and keep going -- the 1970s Dallas Cowboys, and in the 1990s, the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees, the Duke basketball team, and English soccer team Manchester United -- people got sick of them once they were no longer plucky underdogs.
It led to Brady and the Patriots absolutely dominating the AFC Eastern Division, and the Jets in particular, ever since.
And it all started with Mo Lewis hitting Drew Bledsoe too hard. What if Lewis had missed that tackle? Bledsoe would have remained the starter. Maybe the Patriots win fewer games. Maybe it's the Steelers who play the Rams in that Super Bowl. Maybe, instead of 6 Super Bowls, the Patriots win none. Or maybe Bledsoe only lasts another couple of years, and Brady takes over from there, and the Patriots' dynasty is merely delayed, instead of prevented.
We'll never know.
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