First Game on Attack Anniversary Brings Memories for Giants

The New York Giants had just gotten off a redeye flight in Newark after playing a Monday night game in Denver on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Within a few hours, the lingering effects of that 31-20 season-opening loss would be erased by the images of lower Manhattan in ruins less than 10 miles from Giants Stadium.

Few athletes were in closer proximity to the terrorist attacks that shook the nation four years ago. Smoke from the wreckage of the World Trade Center site was visible for days from Giants Stadium and the team’s nearby practice facility, and some players reported noticing a distinct odor enveloping the area.

Some of those memories are sure to surface when the NFL opens the 2005 season on Sept. 11, the first time pro football games have been played on that date since before the attacks.

Adding a degree of poignancy to the occasion, the Giants will face the Arizona Cardinals, the former team of safety Pat Tillman. He gave up a lucrative contract after the attacks to join the Army with his brother, only to be killed in Afghanistan last year.

The Giants are planning a pregame ceremony involving representatives of the New York Police and Fire departments and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Among the dignitaries scheduled to attend are Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

“It’s going to be a little weird, just remembering that it is Sept. 11,” said Giants guard Jason Whittle. “There will be a lot of excitement because it is opening day, but it will be a little bit different.”

For Whittle, the memories will be tinged with personal sadness. The brother of one of his best friends was struck by flying debris from the South Tower, and Whittle traveled from his home in Ridgewood, N.J., to Manhattan each day to visit him in the hospital. Randy Drake died a week later from his injuries.

Other, more subtle manifestations of the attacks also packed an emotional punch.

For running back Tiki Barber, images have not faded of a commuter lot near the stadium that for days remained filled with cars.

“People would drive there, park and take a bus into the city,” said Barber. “And there were probably about 100 cars that sat out there. And we drove by those cars every day. That made it very real. It made us think that a lot of these people would probably have been going to root for us the next week.”

It was very real for current Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who was with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2001.

Coughlin was engrossed in planning for that weekend’s game against Chicago and did not know what was happening at the World Trade Center, where his son, Tim, worked.

His daughter called him and told him about the plane striking the first tower.

“Our family was totally consumed trying to find out what Tim’s status was,” Coughlin said. “Finally, my son Brian, who was a law student in Gainesville at the time, was able to get him on the 29th floor as he was going down.

“The thing that was amazing was that we could talk to him from Florida and yet his wife, who was just across the Hudson, was unable to talk with him. My wife and my daughters were anxiously keeping his wife up to date.”

The Giants followed the New York Jets’ lead in refusing to play the following Sunday, and the league postponed all games scheduled for Sept. 16 and 17. Players from both teams visited Ground Zero in the days after the attacks and came away amazed at the therapeutic effect their presence had on exhausted rescue workers. Football was the last thing on the players’ minds.

“To compete that next weekend I would’ve thought was a setback because it wouldn’t have given people a chance to deal with what was happening,” said Giants tackle Kareem McKenzie, who was a member of the Jets in 2001. “To come together and try to play a football game and sort of smooth things over would have kind of cheated people out of their grieving.”

The following weekend, the Giants played at Kansas City and, drawing on previously untapped emotional reserves, won 13-3. Barber remembered crying during the national anthem for the first time in his life. He also remembered an uncharacteristically warm reception from Chiefs fans.

“Their fans, who are known to be very hostile, were phenomenal,” he said. “They cheered for everything, even when we did well. It was amazing.”

The Cardinals continue to honor the memory of Tillman, who was 27 when he was killed by friendly fire while trying to rescue ambushed comrades, becoming the first NFL player killed in combat since Vietnam. Arizona punter Scott Player is giving the Tillman Foundation $100 for every punt inside the opponent’s 10-yard line this season.

“It’s a little thing, but whatever I can do to help the Tillman Foundation,” said Player. “Pat was a good friend. He was the only NFL player to do what he did, gave up his whole life to support that cause. It’s a big honor to be playing in New York City on opening day and it will bring back a lot of memories. It will be quite special.”