Seth Udinski, FISM News
The 2022 NFL season kickoff on Sunday, happened to coincide with the 21st anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Sports played a crucial role in the recovery of the nation in 2001, with NFL and MLB games being some of the first moments that the nation came together in the days following the attacks to both commemorate those fallen and signify that, while nation was hurting, no one could break the will of the American people.
Yesterday, fans around the country once again paid tribute to the victims and heroes of that dark day. The most inspirational tribute came in the city that suffered the greatest loss on that fateful day 21 years ago.
The New York Jets played host to the Baltimore Ravens before a full house at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, seven miles west of Manhattan. The Jets lost their home opener, 24-9, but the outcome of the game meant little compared to the events just before kickoff when NYPD officer Brianna Fernandez took the stadium microphone to sing the National Anthem.
After singing the first few lines, Officer Fernandez intentionally backed off the microphone, allowing viewers to hear over 78,000 fans belting out the words of “The Star Spangled Banner” in full-throated unison.
Chills.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/zg6YrAnUxa
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 11, 2022
The show of national pride and patriotism was an inspiration in the city that lost roughly 2,800 innocent lives in the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center 21 years ago. For Officer Fernandez, the loss was especially personal.
Her father Luis was, like her, an NYPD officer in lower Manhattan, and he was on duty when the first plane hit the North Tower at 8:45 a.m. on September 11. Like so many other officers and firefighters that day, Luis Fernandez risked his own life to help with the rescue efforts.
Though Officer Fernandez survived the 9/11 attacks, he died in 2014 from cancer that came about from the attacks. In a sad aftershock from 9/11, there have been thousands of 9/11-related health deaths in the two decades since the attack, and Officer Luis Fernandez was one of them.
Brianna Fernandez said before the game that she hoped fans would join her when she took the microphone. The fans did not disappoint.
The Jets also held a moment of silence for the victims of the attacks before the game.