As I'm about to head out the door to referee a match, it just occurred to me that there might be some sort of remembrance ceremony for the victims and hero's of September 11th when I arrive. I still remember the first middle I did post-9/11. I remember all of it. I'm getting all misty-eyed writing this right now. State premier league game. As I called for captains, the home coach looked at me and shook his head gently and pointed to the spectator side of the pitch. As I turned around the were about 6 home U15 boys coming on the the pitch with a flag, and brass instruments. No announcement, no nothing, everyone just fell silent. The boys set up in the center circle, and proceeded to play America The Beautiful. Did I mention I'm now really misty-eyed as I write this. Sniff.
Did a pair of Middle School games on 9/11 this week. Home team was a small public school, but they had a kid stand in the middle of the field with an American Flag; teams lined up on opposite touch lines facing each ther (and the flag, of course). They said the Pledge of Allegiance and played the Whitney Houston rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
D3 college match on the Saturday following 9/11. My wife made red, white and blue ribbons that the crew wore for our matched that day. On Sunday, worked our local(sanctioned) hispanic league. My crew wore the same ribbons and all of the teams showed up wearing black armbands in respect for the US.
I actually became a US citizen in San Francisco on that morning. It was bizarre. None of the officials showed up and it looked like we would be sent home. Eventually a Justice of the Peace arrived and all 150 of us swore the oath of allegiance, and were ushered out without any pomp or ceremony.
One of my remembrances is related to soccer. Iwas out on the field a few days after 9/11 and saw an airplane going over after the airlines had been cleared to resume operations.