Donald, Jackie, Colin, Bill and Me

Donald Trump doesn't really care about the specifics of what he calls "The One Big, Beautiful Bill." He just wanted a win, something he could sign on the 4th of July, as a show.

I'm reminded of the 1st Rocky movie, where Duke Evers (Tony Burton) tells his fighter, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), "He doesn't know it's a damn show! He thinks it's a damn fight!"

It's all a show to Trump. As long as he can keep the show going, he can stay in power.

He doesn't care about the specifics, but he also doesn't care about how many people in the "United States of America" -- including those who voted for him, but in this case especially in rural areas -- will be hurt, and even die, as a result of the Big Ugly Bill's Medicaid cuts, all so he and his fellow filthy rich guys can have the biggest tax cut of all time.

He never cared about the people who bought his MAGA lies. As James Carville says of Republicans in general, Trump only wanted one thing from them: Their votes, to put him in power, and then to keep him in power.

*

In his autobiography, which he titled I Never Had It Made, and didn't have published until after his death, Jackie Robinson, the 1st black player in modern baseball, brought to the Brooklyn Dodgers by team president Branch Rickey, looked back on what he considered the highlight of his career: Standing on the foul line with his teammates, hearing the National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," at Yankee Stadium before Game 1 of the 1947 World Series. They had made it, and they had done it together.

But there's a big difference between having made it, and having it made. He compared that moment to his thoughts at his present time, 20 years later, after events showed him that America had not yet become the country his 1947 efforts suggested it could become, and after he had come to accept that the Republican Party, to which he belonged, no longer seemed to want him:

There I was, the black grandson of a slave, the son of a black sharecropper, part of a historic occasion, a symbolic hero to my people. The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the National Anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands.

Perhaps, it was, but then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first World Series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey's drama and that I was only a principal actor.

As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the Anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.

After the 2016 backlash against his kneeling during the Anthem before games, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, soon to be blacklisted (though never officially banned) from the NFL,  shared a similar sentiment:

I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street, and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wrote of a parallel world for the episode "The Omega Glory," one in which a planet developed the same way Earth did, until a nuclear war. According to Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the evidence shows that "the Asiatics won." But, in a world rendered primitive again, these "Koms," descendants of Communists, had finally, perhaps over 1,000 years later, had the tables turned, and the "Yangs," descendants of Americans or "Yankees," had won.

The Yangs had a Stars-and-Stripes, what Johnny Cash would have called a "ragged old flag," and a copy of the Constitution of the United States. But time had dulled their words: "We the People" had become "E pleb nista," and they no longer knew what "the holy words" meant. Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, a Jewish man from Canada, showed them.

Bill Shatner (left) as Kirk, and Roy Jenson as Cloud William.

Jenson was also Canadian.

On this Independence Day, let us recall that our "best words" were written for everyone, and both their protections and their responsibilities must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing. If Bill Shatner, a Jewish Canadian actor of the 20th Century, playing a 23rd Century starship captain from Iowa, can figure it out, then nearly all of us can.

But can we? Trump has divided us. Indeed, "E pleb nista" doesn't sound like "We the People," but it is reminiscent of "E pluribus unum," one of the nation's mottos. Translated from Latin, it means, "Out of many, one." Trump has turned us into a nation of about 340 million unums (unii?), with precious little pluribus.

For the last few years, the tradition in our family is to go from our hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey to see the 4th of July Parade in neighboring Milltown in the morning, and then return to Milltown in the evening for the fireworks.

I won't be doing that this time. As of this writing, I have already "missed" the Parade. I will not be attending the fireworks. I cannot stand and sing the Anthem. And I have not recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag since the Summer of 1988, when a previous Republican demagogue, George H.W. Bush, made it a club to use over the head of his Presidential election opponent, Michael Dukakis.

Through his efforts to end birthright citizenship, through his denunciations of anybody who doesn't support him, Donald Trump has divided America into patriots and MAGAs. And you cannot be both. You either love America, or you love Trump.

Three things have kept America free, and Trump has perverted all of them:

* The right to vote. If not for voter suppression in 2016 and 2024 -- and an attempt in 2020, which failed -- Trump would not have come out on top.

* Civilian control of the military: Trump has forced out the Generals who have told him what he cannot do, and he is giving unconstitutional orders.

* Separation of church and state: Trump has seen to it that there is one god, and he is it, and if you worship anyone or anything other than him, then this god will not have mercy on your soul.

News flash, one you won't see in any major American media outlet: Trump is no god. And he is President in name only. He holds the office and its powers, but he does not represent America.

In 2026, the year of the 250th Anniversary of our independence, we must elect a Congress that will hold him accountable. In 2028, we must elect a President and a Congress that will undo the damage he has done.

Until then, I can only echo what Jackie Robinson said. I know that I am a patriot in a MAGA-ruled country. In 2025, in 1988, at my birth in 1969, I know that I never had it made.

Those words in the Constitution: "They must apply to everyone! Or they mean nothing! Do you understand?"

Donald Trump does not understand, and he would not if he could.

Do you?

I can't answer that question for you.

Not Good, Not Great

"America will be great if America is good. If not, her greatness will vanish away like a morning cloud."
-- A Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches, by Andrew Reed and James Matheson, British ministers, 1835, often misattributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, whose book Democracy in America was published the same year.

In other words, by regaining the Presidency through the most disgusting campaign in the country's history, Donald Trump has done the exact opposite of what he has spent 10 years claiming he would do: He did not, and he cannot, "Make America Great Again"; he made America no longer great, because he made the country no longer good.

This cartoon, as you might guess, was first published after the assassination of a real President, John F. Kennedy, in 1963.

Dear Dad

This is long. Please read to the end.

Dear Dad: You did not live to see this election. At the least, I know that you're safe from whatever happens over the next four years.

You put on a uniform and served this country. You would be furious with me if I ran and hid now.

Besides, even if I were able to do that, it might not do any good. Stock market futures have already dropped more than they did on September 12, 2001. In other words, Donald Trump, even before he was officially President-elect, had already done more damage to America's economy than Osama bin Laden.

And we thought he was a bad businessman before!

Whenever one side or the other on the political divide loses the Presidential election, apocalyptic visions come up in their postmortems. Already, people are trying to rein those in, saying we survived our Revolutionary War, a Civil War, the Great Depression, the Nazi threat, the Communist threat, McCarthyism, Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes, and the aforementioned 9/11 -- so we can survive this. They say.

This is different. This is Donald Trump, the most unfit President-elect we've ever had. One of two things is going to happen:

1. He's going to be as bad as we think he is, and there will be great repression, the return of discrimination on a massive scale, the threatened deportations, a million Trayvon Martins, a million Matthew Shepards, a million "Central Park Joggers" -- after all, if Trump can sexually assault women, and brag about it, and get elected President, that means anyone can do it, right? They can even blame it on black teenage boys, and get away with it, since Trump still refuses to accept that the defendants in the Central Park Jogger case have been proven innocent. And new wars. With Vladimir Putin pulling his strings, so that Russia can do to us what they could never do to us in a 40-year Cold War: Take control of us.

Or...

2. He's not going to be as bad as we think he is. He's actually going to do a good job.

It's the fear of the known (or, in this case, the suspected) against the fear of the unknown. #1 didn't happen under any President yet, so maybe it won't happen under this one. But, given everything Trump said during the campaign, is it really so far-fetched?

#2 is the unknown. #2 is Trump proving he was just full of a lot of hot air, pandering to this "Basket of Deplorables" just for the sake of votes, for his ego, and for the power. These people who voted for Trump expect #1 to happen. They wanted "their country" back.

What if he doesn't deliver? He's not going to build a wall. He's not going to deport all of those people. He's certainly not going to defeat ISIS. And he absolutely is not going to bring back the coal mine, the steel mill, and the manufacturing jobs like he promised. And if he doesn't restore white "Christian" supremacy...

These people voted for Trump, not Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat, or any other Republican -- not an establishment Republican, not a Tea Partier. They chose him. Why? Because he was an "outsider" (as if anybody that rich, or as rich as he wants us to believe he is, can ever be one of those), because he owes nothing to any politician (except, perhaps, Putin).

The liberals, the "Blue Dog" Democrats, the establishment Republicans, and even the Tea Partiers have let them down. They believe Trump is the one guy who has never let them down, and won't.

What if he does let them down? What if he does govern like a sane, competent man who believes that all of us are created equal? And it works? How will they react to that? And what if it doesn't work? Who, or what, could they turn to next? Will they admit they were hoodwinked by the ultimate con man? Or will they try to find someone so in tune with their beliefs that he makes Trump look like the freakin' Dalai Lama?

That's the truly scary scenario: What happens when the people who betrayed our country last night, because they feel that everyone else has betrayed them, end up feeling betrayed by Trump?

No one knows what's going to happen. With Hillary, we could have guessed. With Trump, I shudder to think.

*

But, Dad, my threat to run away to Canada wouldn't just be an insult to you, and to everyone who ever served our country in any capacity. It would be pointless, since whatever damage Trump does, if he does any, would have residual effects on the rest of the world.

You may never have seen Margaret Cho. She's a comedian, a little older than I am. From San Francisco. Korean-American. Bisexual. Tattooed like crazy. Outspoken to a level that makes some people, even her ardent fans, uncomfortable. Doesn't take any crap from anyone.

In 2005, right after George W. was re-elected, she collected some essays she wrote, and put them in a book she titled I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight.

She did not abandon women, nonwhites, gays, and whatever other constituency she might have had, then, even though, with money, she had the means to do so.

I've got five good reasons to stay and fight, even if none of us yet, in this context, knows what "fighting" means.

A mother. A sister. And three nieces. Or, as you would call them, your wife, your daughter, and your grandchildren, including the new one that you never got to meet.

The first two girls, they still remember you, but, eventually, their memories will fade, and I will fight to keep those memories fresh. The third one, I tell her about you, even though she's too young to understand. I show her your picture, even though she cannot know who she's looking at.

And I tell her how great you were -- even if I never really told you. I should have. I'm sorry. And I tell her how much you would have loved her. And I tell her that I will love her as much as you would have.

*

Mom is very upset. She can't believe that, at last check, over 58.2 million people voted for this guy, only 57.7 million for Hillary. To put that in perspective, John Kerry got more than 58.2 million in 2004, John McCain topped it in 2008, and Mitt Romney beat it in 2012 -- and they all lost.

Barack Obama got 65.9 million votes in 2012 -- down from the 69.5 million he got in 2008. Somehow, Hillary lost 8.2 million votes -- 1 out of every 7 that Obama got. Whether it was her own fault, or that of the people attacking her, or that of the media for not using their power against Trump the way they did against Romney for his lies and his elitism, for the moment, does not matter.

What matters is that Trump got fewer votes than the losers of the last 3 elections, and still won. What matters is that we have not "a 50-50 country," like Chris Matthews of MSNBC likes to say, but a 45-45-10 country, and the 10 who didn't show up, because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary, messed things up every bit as much as the right-wing 45 did.

Mom feels like the country she knows and loves is gone. Well, that's her Sixties idealism, which you shared. I grew up in the Seventies and Eighties, with cynicism. This is the country that I've known my whole life.

And yet, progress has been made. And the 45 that's with us, and the part of the 10 that wanted to vote for a liberal but didn't realize that their third-party vote, or their no-vote, would elect Trump, while emotionally crushed, has been through these fights before.

We'll be ready if Trump turns out to be as bad as we think he will. And we'll be ready for 2020. Not with a compromised candidate like Hillary. Not with a Bernie Sanders type, who would be equally easy to destroy. Lest anyone think that Bernie would have done better, last night, a Republican won the Governorship of Vermont with 53 percent of the vote. Bernie would have been the first guy to lose in a 50-State sweep.

In 2020, we will be ready. We will find the right candidate. And he, or she, will be ready. Ready to tell Trump what he told Hillary: "Wrong. You're a disaster. You're fired."

Will I make it? Will I still be both alive and out of prison -- or a concentration camp -- on November 3, 2020? On that question, I am in no position to make any promises.

But I've got five good reasons to stay and fight. All female. All with a lot to lose during the Trump Administration.

Our side did not take the threat seriously enough this time. We will learn. And we will take the sadness we have now, and turn it into determination.

We owe it. To you, and to everyone else we've lost. To those who are still here, and who still need us. Senior citizens like Mom. Working people like Melissa. Children like Ashley, Rachel and Mackenzie. Disabled people, worse off than I am, like the reporter Trump so cruelly mocked in a speech. People who I don't share a status with -- nonwhites, non-Christians, gay people -- but who still need people to fight for them.

We lost this one. Because we weren't prepared.

We will prepare. And we will gather our strength. And we will stand up and be counted. And we will move forward. And we will win.

That's what you taught us.

We let you down this time.

We will not do that again.

-- Michael

*

UPDATE: The final certified totals: Hillary had 65,853,514 votes. Trump had 62,984,828. Each total is more than any previous Presidential candidate has ever gotten, except Obama in both 2008 and 2012. Hillary led by 2,868,686 votes -- about as much as the margins of victory of John F. Kennedy over Richard Nixon in 1960, Richard Nixon over Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford in 1976, and Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000 combined. And only about 200,000 less than Bush over John Kerry in 2004.

Hillary got 48.2 percent of the popular vote, Trump 46.1 percent. But 7,830,934 people, or 5.7 percent, voted for somebody else. Trump won by 10,704 votes in Michigan, 22,748 votes in Wisconsin, and 44,292 votes in Pennsylvania. If it wasn't for 77,744 people in those 3 States falling for the lie that Hillary was "corrupt" and either voting for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, or not voting at all, then, instead of Trump winning with 306 Electoral Votes to Hillary's 232, Hillary would have won 278 to 260.

77,744. That's not even enough to fill MetLife Stadium.

Instead, the people's choice is not the President-elect. Trump wanted the ultimate validation that comes from being elected President. But he's getting the office, and all the responsibilities of it, while knowing that he was rejected by the American people.

Arsenal In America: The Complete History

May 31, 1972, Orange Bowl, Miami.

1 Goalkeeper (GK) Geoff Barnett (in place of the injured Bob Wilson)
2 Right Back (RB) Pat Rice
3 Left Back (LB) Sammy Nelson (in place of Bob McNab)
4 Midfielder (MF) Peter Storey
5 Centreback (CB) Frank McLintock (sub: 14 John Roberts)
6 CB Peter Simpson
7 MF George Armstrong
8 MF Alan Ball (sub: 12 Eddie Kelly)
9 Forward (FW) John Radford
10 FW Ray Kennedy
11 FW Charlie George.

Miami Gatos 2-3 Arsenal, the Gunners coming from 1-0 at the half. The Gatos were a North American Soccer League franchise that played from 1972 to 1976, known after that 1st season as the Miami Toros -- the Cats becoming the Bulls. Goals by George, Radford and Kennedy. Attendance: 4,725.

May 23, 1973, Varsity Stadium, Toronto.

1 GK Bob Wilson
2 RB Pat Rice
3 LB Bob McNab
4 MF Eddie Kelly
5 CB Richie Powling
6 CB Peter Simpson
7 FW Peter Marinello
8 MF Brian Chambers
9 FW John Radford
10 FW Charlie George
11 MF George Armstrong
(No substitutions were used. Peter Storey and Ray Kennedy did not play.)

Toronto Select 0-1 Arsenal. Charlie George scored the game's only goal. Attendance: I can't find a reference.

Four days later, in a game that was in the CONCACAF region but not on the North American continent, Arsenal beat Devonshire Colts in Bermuda, 4-0. It was the same lineup, with Charlie scoring again, as did Marinello (in his last appearance for the club), and Radford twice.

Other CONCACAF, but not North American countries or country equivalents where Arsenal have played include Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Curacao and Aruba in 1965, and Trinidad & Tobago again in 1982 and 1985. Arsenal have never played in Mexico, nor in any nation that could be called "Central America."

Their only visits to South America have been Summer tours of Brazil in 1949 and 1951. They've played in Africa in South Africa in 1964 and 1993, and in Egypt in 1982. Their visits to Asia have included Japan in 1968 and 2013; Singapore in 1975, 1977, 1990 and 2015; Thailand in 1975 and 1999; Malaysia in 1975, 1999, 2011 and 2012; the United Arab Emirates in 1976; Kuwait in 1977; China in 1981, 1995, 2011 and 2012; Indonesia in 1983 and 2013; Saudi Arabia in 1984; and Vietnam in 2013. They went to Australia in 1977, and will return in 2017.

August 6, 1989, Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami Gardens.

1 GK John Lukic
2 RB Lee Dixon
3 LB Gus Caesar (in place of Nigel Winterburn)
4 MF Michael Thomas
5 CB David O'Leary
6 CB Tony Adams
7 MF David Rocastle
8 MF Kevin Richardson
9 FW Alan Smith
10 MF Paul Merson
11 MF Steve Morrow (in place of Brian Marwood or Martin Hayes)

Independiente 1-2 Arsenal. Club Atletico Independiente, of Avellaneda in the province of Buenos Aires, were the defending champions of Argentina, as Arsenal were the defending champions of England. This was for the Zenith Data Systems Challenge Trophy, a phony "world championship." "Rocky" Rocastle scored from open play in the 1st half, and from a penalty in the 2nd half.

For the 2nd time, Arsenal decided that the best place in America to visit during the Summer was Miami. Attendance: 10,042, the vast majority of them Hispanics rooting for the South American team. Each team had someone sent off: Independiente, a player; Arsenal, oddly enough, physio Gary Lewin.

July 26, 2014, Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey, outside New York.

1 GK Wojciech Szczesny (46th minute sub: 26 Emiliano Martinez)
3 LB Kieran Gibbs (played entire game)
7 FW Tomas Rosicky (71st minute sub: 37 Chuba Akpom)
8 MF Mikel Arteta (46th minute sub: 34 Francis Coquelin)
10 MF Jack Wilshere (71st minute sub: 56 Jon Toral)
16 MF Aaron Ramsey (46th minute sub: 24 Abou Diaby)
18 CB Nacho Monreal (played entire game)
19 MF Santi Cazorla (71st minute sub: 53 Kristoffer Olsson)
25 RB Carl Jenkinson (46th minute sub: 39 Hector Bellerin)
35 MF Gedion Zelalem (46th minute sub: 20 Mathieu Flamini)
45 CB Isaac Hayden (46th minute sub: 48 Ignasi Miquel)

New York Red Bulls 1-0 Arsenal. Attendance: A sellout of 25,219, including myself. If the game had been played at the 41,922-seat Citi Field in Flushing, Queens; at the 49,638-seat new Yankee Stadium in The Bronx; or even at the 82,566-seat MetLife Stadium, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, it would still have sold out. That's how much of a following The Arsenal have in America, and particularly in the New York Tri-State Area.

Bradley Wright-Phillips, son of Arsenal legend Ian Wright, scored the only goal. Diaby had a goal disallowed for offside -- incorrectly, I thought. (Some things never change: Even in meaningless games on other continents, The Arsenal get screwed over by the officials.) It is ironic that the Arsenal player most known for not playing due to injury has come the closest to scoring in an Arsenal uniform than any player I've ever seen. I have seen Thierry Henry score, and in that very stadium, but for the Red Bulls.

Several Arsenal players who featured in the 2014 World Cup did not make the trip: Germans Per Mertesacker (4) and Mesut Ozil (11); Frenchmen Laurent Koscielny (6) and Olivier Giroud (12); Englishmen Theo Walcott (14) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (15); and Chilean Alexis Sanchez (17).

As a result, the club was short at certain positions. Rosicky, normally a midfielder, played the 1st 70 minutes up top. Monreal, normally a left back, was moved to centreback. Zelalem, only the 3rd American ever to play for Arsenal (after Frank Simek in 2003 and Danny Karbassiyoon in 2004), became the 1st player from a CONCACAF nation to play for Arsenal in a CONCACAF nation, let alone his own.

This game, and the 2012 Emirates Cup 1-1 draw between the clubs, may be as close as we come to Henry, who with only 9 seasons in an Arsenal shirt falls just short of qualifying, ever getting an official testimonial.

July 28, 2016, Avaya Stadium, San Jose, outside San Francisco.

33 GK Petr Cech (67th minute sub: 26 Emiliano Martinez)
2 RB Mathieu Debuchy (46th minute sub: 24 Hector Bellerin)
3 LB Kieran Gibbs (46th minute sub: 18 Nacho Monreal)
10 MF Jack Wilshere (46th minute sub: 17 Alex Iwobi)
14 FW Theo Walcott (67th minute sub: 68 MF Chris Willock, his Arsenal debut)
15 MF Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (67th minute sub: 32 FW Chuba Akpom)
16 CB Rob Holding (his Arsenal debut, played entire game)
28 MF Joel Campbell (69th minute sub: 31 FW Jeff Reine-Adelaide)
34 MF Francis Coquelin (46th minute sub: 29 Granit Xhaka, his Arsenal debut)
35 MF Mohamed Elneny (67th minute sub: 40 Gedion Zelalem)
37 CB Krystian Bielik (46th minute sub: 21 Calum Chambers)

MLS All-Stars 1-2 Arsenal. Campbell and Akpom the Arsenal scorers.

Ozil, Koscielny and Giroud did not play, because they featured in Euro 2016. (Ozil at least made the trip. Mertesacker was injured.) Chilean Alexis Sanchez (now wearing 7) did not make the trip, because he featured in the Copa America.

Attendance: Listed as exactly 18,000, which, if true, would be a sellout. Just 2 days later, Liverpool and AC Milan played just a few miles away at Levi's Stadium, the new home of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, and sold out at 68,500. I have no doubt that Arsenal, never mind the MLS All-Stars, could have sold that out, too.

July 31, 2016, StubHub Center, Carson, California, outside Los Angeles.

13 GK David Ospina (68th minute sub: 26 Emiliano Martinez)
14 FW Theo Walcott (46th minute sub: 32 Chuba Akpom)
15 MF Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (65th minute sub: 40 Gedion Zelalem)
16 CB Rob Holding (played entire game)
17 MF Alex Iwobi (65th minute sub: 68 Chris Willock)
18 LB Nacho Monreal (46th minute sub: 3 Kieran Gibbs)
19 MF Santi Cazorla (46th minute sub: 28 Joel Campbell)
21 CB Calum Chambers (46th minute sub: 37 Kristian Bielik)
24 RB Hector Bellerin (46th minute sub: 2 Mathieu Debuchy)
29 MF Granit Xhaka (46th minute sub: (35 Mohamed Elneny)
34 MF Francis Coquelin (65th minute sub: 31 Jeff Reine-Adelaide)

Club Deportivo Guadalajara 1-3 Arsenal. Holding, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Akpom the Arsenal scorers against the team popularly known as Chivas. A rare match in which no players wearing Numbers 1 through 11 started.

Attendance: 24,000. This may have been the 1st time that a Mexican team has played in California and had their fans outnumbered. Three days earlier, Chelsea beat Liverpool nearby at the Rose Bowl in front of 53,117. Arsenal would have done at least that well.

Goals scored by Arsenal in North America, December 11, 1886 to July 27, 2016: 6
Goals scored by Arsenal in North America, July 28 to 31, 2016: 5

It's Not Only a Game

Because of the soccer-related activities tomorrow, I am unlikely to be able to post throughout the day. So let me pause to remember the victims of September 11, 2001.

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, 3 from Bloomfield where I first lived, and 8 from East Brunswick where I've lived most of my life. (That's EB's 9/11 Memorial in the photo.)

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.

On an anniversary like this, it seems silly to think about sports. But sports can help us to heal. That was true in 1989, in Britain after the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in Sheffield during the FA Cup on April 15, and in the U.S. after the earthquake in San Francisco during the World Series on October 17. It was true during the Great Depression and in World War II. And it was true after 9/11.

How can anyone see how New York reacted -- first in that incredible Mets comeback in the first New York home game after the attacks, then in the Yankees' remarkable postseason run -- and say it's "only a game"?