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“DAY OF REMEMBRANCE”
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I just had to step away from all things we follow, we cover, we write about, we talk about, we broadcast.

Monday was such a moving day for me , an emotionally moving day for me.

A day of remembrance about 9/11 and what happened 22-years ago at 6:57am at the Twin Towers in New York.

My sons were 11-and-14, and were watching network TV news eating breakfast, getting read to go to school.

They came and got me up to come see a plane crash into the towers, a place I had taken them to sightsee months earlier in April.

I thought it was a smal private plane.

Moments later, in horror, we stood there and saw a 2nd plane fly into the towers.

It was at that point, it meant to me it was terrorism.  The youth days of my kids left them at that instant.  I remember them crying, and tears welling up in my eye, and my wife started crying.

I reached to a cell phone to try and call my brother, a 3-Star General, whom I knew was at the Pentagon.

Then the 3rd plane went into the Pentagon, and there was no way to reach anyone on the phone on the East Coast

That was followed by the 4th plane in Pennsylvania, that was supposed headed to the White House.

I tried to call my other brother, who worked at the White House, without being able to connect.

Hours later I saw video of what I thought was my younger brother leaving the White House with lap tops, boarding a helicopter for what I thought was an evacuation of the White House.

Hours later, in horror, I saw the Towers crumble and collapse and feared the death toll mounting beyond belief.

Later in the day, at the station, with all our sports talk shows cancelled for wall to wall coverage in a News-Talk format, I confirmed an LA Kings scout, Ace Bailey, was on the second plane that went into the towers.

It was a somber, speechless day, paralyzed in emotion and overwhelmed in sadness.

A most moving day to see this destruction infront of us on TV.

It took two days before I was able to reach my brothers.  1-spoke openly.  The other could not speak about it.

Days later, maybe two days later, we returned to regular programming, but I felt no urge to talk about the opening of the NFL season, or the pennant races.

All the listeners wanted to share was their emotions of the moment and what happened.  It was a cleansing of soul for sure.

I remember driving to work, amazed to see American flags hanging over every overpass I travelled down Iinterstate 15.

I remember talking to a New York baseball writer,Kevin Kernan, who lived in New Jersey, discussing how the train station parking lot he would parked in, had the same cars there, that had not moved for days.  They were the cars of commuters who took the train to New York for work, and never returned home, their lives destroyed in the tower fires.

So here on Monday, 22-years removed, it all flashes back again infront of my mind’s eye, with the news reports, the interviews, the looks back

The darkest moment of my life that Monday and Tuesday, soon replaced by the uplifting spirt to see the USA unify itself wrapped around American flags.

I apologize for not wanting to talk about the Chargers loss, the Rams win, the Padres collapse, the Dodgers injuries, the Pac 12-lawsuits and so many other stories.

This day I want to think about those lost by terrorism and how America came back.  From terrible tragedy to an emotional triumph.

A day of remembrance, that is very important for America.

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