How 9/11 Changed The Sports World

It was a warm fall Tuesday that will be forever burnt into history as one of the darkest days in America. Symbols of hope were turned into symbols of terror. Firefighters, Police Officers, Transit Authority and Civilians were slaughtered unjustly by an evil madman thousands of miles away. That day changed the way I see the world; that day changed America.

From around 9am that fall morning till now everything I know about daily life has been effected by this horrific act. Small things from movies being re edited to leave out the twin towers to larger things like air travel becoming more secure then most banks. I have adjusted with the times and so have most other Americans.

• Sporting Events Have Become Less Safe

I know what you are thinking “Alan You’re crazy”, but the post 9/11 NFL, MLB, and NHL stadium crowds have seen a rise in violence and criminal activity. It seems every couple of weeks now you see someone getting beaten, shot, even arrested at games. This is a trickle down effect that, like always, has become the fans cross to bare.

After 9/11 there was a push to add massive amounts of security to all stadiums across the country. This security has only been added on in the post 9/11 decade. This added safety comes at a cost, ticket and concession prices have skyrocketed as a result. There has also been a push for new “safer” stadiums throughout sports which has resulted in the same raising cost. We pay the higher cost, even though the average American salary has dropped in the last 10 years.

This sets up a cause and effect scenario. Your beer at the game costs more and you can’t sneak any in because of added security. That results in people getting black out drunk before they even go into the game. Many Americans are taking this approach, I’ve done it and I bet many people reading this have done it as well. There is one problem with that, peoples different beliefs (fans that like different teams) and alcohol (lots of beer) don’t mix. The amount of testosterone flying around a parking lot full drunk poor decision makers can be so thick at a came you can taste it.

The new thing is Stadiums aren’t allowing drunk people into the games, which is a good step in the right direction but can make things worst. You’re drunk you can’t go in the guy driving is sober and in the game you sit in the car and get more drunk waiting. Then people start pouring out of the stadium (and by this time you are so drunk you think you own it) someone looks at you wrong and your flipping off the handle. Unlike if you were inside and have gone through metal detectors and were forced to sober up for at least one quarter, u are drunk and have what ever u want in your pockets.

That’s when stuff gets crazy; it becomes Mad Max beyond Thunder Dome after every major sporting event. Limited security, low lighting, and a mixture of drunken fans in a parking lot full of guys all wearing the same shirt leads to a rough night for someone 100 percent of the time.

• 9/11 killed the Post Office

Remember the 32 cent stamp? A little off the sports topic, but fact is fact.  It was a common place for stamps to not go up for years on end. Rising just about 30 cents in first 100 years of the postal service, it has jumped 10 cents since 9/11. The cost of the stamp was to offset the burden of protecting us from terrorist threats, but the additional cost combined with broader use of email and instant messaging killed the post office. Right now the post office is looking to cut back delivery days and is still on the verge of bankruptcy.

It was the amount of jumps the post office made in their stamp prices post 9/11, not the amount. Right now ask someone around you if they know how much a stamp cost there is a good chance they have no clue. It’s 44 Cents for you playing at home. People have stopped caring. The Price has moved so many times people have lost the want for hand written correspondence and have moved to email out of frustration and convince. My grandmother before she passed started emailing me my birthday money in the form of online gift cards. She was in her mid 80’s.

People just got so frustrated and had a picture painted in their heads that the post office was ripping them off because every time they went to buy more stamps the cost went up. If it was a once a decade jump people would complain for a little while but then get used to paying what ever the price was. The added cost of 9/11 however weren’t and easy thing to predict, between anthrax scanners and bomb sniffing machines the post office was hamstrung at the onset of this new America.

These are just a couple of things that I’ve read about today that I feel have been directly effected by the events of 9/11. From mailing a package to watching the Super Bowl, America will never be the same.