By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – People no longer move around with the same trepidation. Office conversations have gradually blended in lighter subjects like pop culture and weather. Baseball has returned, followed by college football.
The pieces of a broken society are being put back together, if only as a symbol of some sort of defiance to terror.
Today the nation takes another step toward so-called normalcy, when professional football returns to its place on Sunday afternoons.
Not that anyone is claiming the NFL is some sort of grand representation that America has gotten over the recent tragedies. But it’s another small symbol of the nation’s resolve.
“I think it’s great that we can move on and that we can play a major role in the healing process,” Seattle Seahawks running back Ricky Watters said. “Of course football takes a back seat to something like (the tragic events of Sept. 11). A huge backseat – way back. But at the same time, we can be part of that healing process.”
Like the postal service worker who continued to deliver the mail and the teachers who still had classes to oversee, NFL players are determined to make things as normal as possible. Their way of doing that is to get back on the football field.
The Seahawks will host the Philadelphia Eagles at 1:15 this afternoon, their first game in two weeks.
“We took the time to grieve, and we related it to things the best we could to make sense of it all,” Philadelphia coach Andy Reid said last week. “We took a couple days off, and then we got back on the horse. Part of being a good American is to rebound, and that’s what we’re doing right now. Americans have always done that during tough times.”
“It doesn’t mean we’re going to forget anything,” Seahawks team president Bob Whitsitt said, “but I expect people to feel the need to try to get into other things to have some fun.”
As a small patriotic symbol, the NFL has opted to lift its television blackout policy this week so that there will be no restrictions in viewers’ ability to take part in the experience. So even though the Seahawks-Eagles game has not been sold out, it will be televised on Channel 13.
The league will take a few moments to pay tribute to the victims of the recent tragedies before today’s games, and some of the players and coaches are already bracing themselves for an emotional scene.
“I am an emotional person anyway when I hear certain music and we don’t have a crisis to deal with. For whatever reason, that is just something that gets to me a little bit,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. ” … I know I’m going to react.”
When the Seahawks and Eagles begin play today, there will undoubtedly be some leftover emotions. But there is still a football game that must be played.
It has been two weeks since NFL teams played a game, although the time that has elapsed since the Seahawks’ 9-6 win over Cleveland on Sept. 9 seems longer than that. Whatever rhythm the players and coaches had established was pushed aside while the organization took last weekend off to remember the victims.
The past week has been a daily stepladder toward the routine that used to seem so important, and by Friday the Seahawks were feeling ready to put on their game faces.
“We still have goals as a team that we want to accomplish,” fullback Mack Strong said. “Obviously, compared to human life, they take a distant back seat.
“We started off winning our first game, and we want to continue doing that. I think the guys will be very focused. For at least those three hours, we’ll be focused on football.”
Of course, this won’t be just another game. Security will be beefed up, and the league is asking fans to be patient this weekend, as it could take 30 minutes just to get into the stadium. The Seahawks are also reiterating that backpacks, coolers and bags larger than a small purse will not be allowed into Husky Stadium today.
Following the tragedies, the NFL put together a task force designed to upgrade security at games. Among the other changes will be a no-fly rule over stadiums, which includes blimps and small planes carrying advertising banners.
“I think fans want to see security,” NFL senior director of security Milt Ahlerich said. “That’s our sense here, that they want to come see a football game; they’re ready.”
The fans may be ready. Today we will find out if the players are.
“Guys have been dealing with it the last week and a half. That’s not something you just click on and click off,” Strong said. “But I think guys will try to move on as much as you can. That’s hard to do. The whole nation, for a long period of time, is going to be dealing with the tragedy. We just have to find a way to channel that emotion and go out and do our jobs.”
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