by Joe Gandolfo- jgand@pcfootball.net
09-11-02

I have more important things to talk about this week, so "the feud" is going to be put on the back burner. 

Sure I would like to talk about Jervey coming over to express his opinion of this whole rivalry, but there are some things in this life that are more important. 

I will start by recapping a column that I wrote back in May… 

I still remember where I was. I don’t think I will ever forget where I was when I heard the news. 

I was getting ready for work in my living room, sitting in front of the TV watching SportsCenter as usual.  ESPN News broke in with a special bulletin, with some news that The World Trade Center in New York had been attacked.  They wanted us to turn to ABC News for more details.  

I didn’t think much of it and I thought that it wasn’t a big deal because they didn’t give out very many details. I continued to watch SportsCenter as I put my shoes on, and I saw it down on their sports ticker. They usually flashed the scores from the previous night’s games, but on this September morning they flashed something that I will never forget – 

WTC collapse after… 

…planes crashed into towers… 

…tune to ABC for more details. 

The first thing that I thought was “What?” “WHAT?!? NO FUCKING WAY!!!” 

I grabbed the remote and punched the buttons to switch to ABC as fast as I could… 

…and that’s when I saw it… 

…a huge cloud of dust in the place where the Twin Towers once stood. 

It was at this moment that my wife decided to come out of the bedroom. The first thing she saw was the look on my face. She kept asking me what was wrong and my mouth could barely form the words. “The World Trade Center in New York was attacked. Both of the towers have collapsed. They’re gone.” 

She came in and watched the TV with me, and we both sat there, dumbfounded as they replayed the collapse of Tower 1.  Neither one of us could believe what had happened.  But there was more – a plane had crashed into the Pentagon as well. Not only that, but there was another plane still out there, and it was a plane that was supposed to be on its way to the West Coast! Specifically LAX! 

Since I live in the Southern California area my mind raced as I tried to think of all the targets that terrorists could possibly hit out here.  The most obvious was the Boeing plant at the Long Beach Airport just a few miles down the street from where I live.  The next one was TRW, just a few miles away from where I work!  Both companies are defense contractors, and they would have made some pretty good targets.  I called into work to get some advice on whether I should come in or not because we didn’t know if we were going to be safe.  I was told to come on in. 

I went in and kept a radio at my desk so that I could get the latest news and pass it on to everyone else at the office.  As the day wore on we gradually heard the story.  About how the planes were hijacked and deliberately crashed into the towers. We also heard of the fourth plane that had gone down in a Pennsylvania field, and how they weren’t sure if it had been hijacked or had gone down on its own.  Later we would hear the stories of how the passengers had decided to fight back, and paid for their bravery with their lives. 

We all know the story that followed – the rescue effort that turned into recovery.  The clean up of what became known as “Ground Zero” which was just completed yesterday.  The deployment of troops to Afghanistan to find Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Queda network.  W’s stirring call to arms before a joint session of congress.  The donations that poured in to New York and the tributes that followed. 

So I know what you are thinking. What does any of this have to do with PC Football? 

Nothing… 

…and everything. 

Recently there was a football game played – a real football game.  But these were not NFL players that took the field.  No, these were true heroes.  These were the players from the FDNY Bravest Football Club and the NYPD Finest Football Club.  Both of these teams met in the 30^th annual “Fun City Bowl” on May 19^th.  The game was originally slated for St. John’s University, but because of the demand for tickets it was moved to Giants Stadium in New Jersey – directly across from Ground Zero. 

The game itself was a penalty filled affair. These were not NFL-tested veterans on the field.  These were cops and firefighters that played football because they loved the game.  But more importantly, they played to honor their lost brothers.  Lost in the rubble of the Twin Towers, but never forgotten in their hearts.  This fact was in evidence before the game, as the “Bravest” recognized the surviving family members of the 22 team members out of the 343 firefighters who were lost on September 11^th. Group after group of parents, widows, and children were escorted to midfield to receive the player’s framed jersey bearing a plaque inscribed “Forever a hero on our team.”  The NYPD was fortunate not to lose any team members that day, but they did honor the 23 fellow officers who perished on 9/11. 

In the end the NYPD prevailed 10-0 to record their 9^th straight win over the FDNY, and take a 21-9 lead in the series, but none of that mattered.  What mattered was that they had come together to raise money for 9/11 charities, and to honor their brethren. 

That is what I have tried to do recently. 

I made a new roster for Madden 2002.  I created the FDNY Bravest and the NYPD Finest and put them into their own file.  I used the teams that were created by Bly Gilmore on MaddenMania, which evened up the Maniac and Instigator rosters, and moved those players onto the FDNY and NYPD rosters.  I had intended to change the names of the players on both teams to reflect the rosters for the fire and police teams.  I was able to find the actual roster for the FDNY, but I am unable to fine the roster for the NYPD.  I have included the file for the FDNY, which contains the FDNY names, along with positions, numbers, height and weight.

If anybody out there can find the NYPD roster and wants to make the changes, I invite you to do so.  I also ask that if you do find them, if you could share them with the rest of us who have the rosters, we would be very grateful.  In this way we can all pay tribute to those men who gave their lives on that terrible day every time we play with these teams. 

I know that is what I will be doing every time I play with those rosters. 

Well, I have done it again, this time for Madden 2003. Instead of using the teams created by David Branda, I took the time to create the actual rosters for the NYPD Finest and the FDNY Bravest Football teams. Tomorrow after I get home from work I plan on playing those teams for the first time as my way of paying tribute. I'll try to get screenshots up here on this site later on. Hopefully soon these same rosters will also be available for download on this site so that you may also play them in tribute. 

But there are a couple of other things that I want to tell you guys about. First, if any of you are wrestling fans, and even if you are not, check out Bob McGee's latest "As I See It" article at Pro Wrestling between the Sheets. You can see the article here at http://pwbts.com/columns/b090902.html in its entirety. In it he conveys his own thoughts about the world a year after 9/11. Before you do though I would like to make a little note. 

At the end of each column, Bob closes out with "Until next time…" A line that I have chosen to use in my own columns as homage to someone I have grown to respect a great deal. I was involved with the movement against the Parents Television Council for two years along with Bob McGee at PTCSucks.com and PTCSucks.org. Through his PTC Watch columns we were able to get daily updates on the fight against censorship of WWF programming, and on the background of people who were trying to dictate what we could and could not watch, read or listen to. When I close out my column with that tag line it is my way of saying thank you Bob. Thank you for opening my eyes a little more and thank you for your efforts in exposing hypocrisy to the light of day. I along with millions of other wrestling fans will be forever grateful. 

The second item is something that had a profound effect on me recently. Everyone knows about the AIDS quilt that contains the names of people who have succumbed to the disease. Well now there is a quilt to honor the victims of September 11^th, and I saw it recently at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.

Thousands of people from all over the country contributed to the project, either with money or they made squares for the quilt itself. The quilt has the name of a victim who was in the towers, the Pentagon, one of the planes, or of the Firefighters or Policemen who rushed to the scene that day. I was amazed at the not only the creativity displayed, but at also the sheer size of the project and the number of names on the quilt. 

I saw things that angered me, saddened me, and made me smile. I saw three squares dedicated to an entire family on flight 11; a mother, father and their two children who were victims of hatred that September morning. I saw two squares dedicated to a member of the Port Authority Police, but he wasn't just any cop. His name was Sirius, and he was a beautiful yellow Labrador Retriever who was killed in the Port Authority kennels when Tower Two collapsed. 

But the one that brought out all sorts of emotions in me was the one square that I was looking for above all others. It was a square that reminded me what selflessness was all about. It was a square that reminded me that there are heroes in this world who don't have $75 million contracts, or who play in 75,000 stadiums on Sunday. It was a square that reminded me that yes, grown men do cry after all… 

The quilt will soon be leaving Long Beach to be toured around the country. If you wish to make a contribution to fund the tour or to check the schedule, go to www.unitedinmemory.net where you can also view the quilt online. 

So this week as a thank you to not only Bob McGee, but also to Todd Beamer, Sirius, and all the other American heroes who perished a year ago today I would just like to say this: 

Until next time…