By James Riswick
Assistant Opinions Editor
For our grandparents’ generation, the question was: “where were you when you heard Pearl Harbor was bombed?” For our parents’ it was: “where were you when you heard President Kennedy was assassinated?” For us, our children will inevitably ask: “where were you when you heard the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked?”
I will tell my children that I was in the shower at 7:18 a.m. when my suitemate came into the bathroom and told me that somebody had flown airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I’ll tell them that I simply didn’t believe him. And could they blame me? The sheer thought of the entire situation was too unbelievable to be true. I honestly thought my suitemate was telling a very bizarre joke, and I completely brushed it off.
Well it certainly was unbelievable, but it wasn’t a joke at all.
We will all most certainly remember Sept. 11 as a time when the world changed. Maybe not our own lives, but we did witness a fundamental change in the way America views its place in the world and how the world views America.
So when looking back at this school year, it’s hard to look at all the happenings without Sept. 11 creeping into the picture at some point. Sure, there was the occasional unrelated story, but on the whole, most of this year’s major stories were shaped by that fateful Tuesday morning.
Seemingly all high profile news stories have been tied to Sept. 11. The war in Afghanistan, nationwide security, air travel in general, the treatment of Guantanamo prisoners and the United States’ policies concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that this year was entirely filled with doom and gloom. All in all, it has been a year that we certainly won’t forget, and for other reasons aside from Sept. 11.
It was an exceptional year for sports, both Pepperdine and national, and you’ll forgive me for going on about them. It was just a very good seven months and nothing else granted us respite from the sad realities of the world the same way.
Baseball’s World Series was undeniably one of the best ever, let alone in recent memory. Regardless of whether you were a Yankees fan, a D’backs fan or an “other” as I was, the seven game series was a thriller from the first pitch in game one to Luis Gonzalez’s bloop single in game seven. I’ve never been more excited while watching a baseball game since I watched Joe Carter’s walk-off homer in 1993. And considering the cheers heard around campus at the time, I know I wasn’t alone.
Football’s playoffs and Super Bowl also didn’t fail to thrill as the underdog New England Patriots knocked off the heavily favored St. Louis Rams. If there ever was a year for the Patriots to win a Super Bowl, this was most certainly the year. They showed that their team could overcome anything — either the loss of their starting quarterback or a blizzard — and that in the end, nothing can stop true Patriots.
It was also an Olympic year, with the United States winning a record 34 medals –— a big jump from their 13 in Nagano. And while judging controversy plagued the Salt Lake Games, there was plenty of jubilance by athletes from around the world and particularly from America. Of course, I would be remiss if did not mention Team Canada’s thrilling victory over Team USA for the gold medal (I am one of those crazy maple leaf wavers after all).
Aside from Michael Jordan’s return, most of this year’s basketball memories were focused on college hoops and in particular, our men’s and women’s basketball teams that made it to the NCAA tournaments. Both teams were, of course, knocked out in the first round, but showed that they have lots of potential. I know I can’t wait for Coach Westphal and the boys to get back to business and show Gonzaga what life is like without Dan Dickau. Oh wait, I’ll tell them right now: you’re going to be thoroughly destroyed, or shellacked, as we like to say at the Graphic.
That certainly was a long sports rant, but this year’s sports were the best way to clear our minds of terrorists, Enron, an economic downturn, anthrax, violence in the Middle East and the tragic car accidents that have shaken Pepperdine in past weeks.
So aside from athletic prowess and the welcomed distractions that sports — along with movies and TV — provided, here are some other headlines from August 2001 to April 2002.
•The Palestinians decide to throw away any shred of sympathy they have received as a forcibly removed people. Instead of following the principles of peaceful protest (as used by Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King) and therefore earning international sympathy, the Palestinians turned to suicide bombings. If they actually think that blowing up cafés filled with civilians is the best way to convince the Israelis to vacate Palestinian lands, they are sadly mistaken.
•From Orange County to Poland, the Catholic Church is finally forced to deal with allegations of sexual abuse. Bishops can no longer just sweep accusations under the rug, and the Church has vowed to clean up its act and enact a strict zero-tolerance policy against priest pedophiles. Only time will tell, though, whether this policy is kept in tact, and also whether the debate concerning the celibacy of priests continues.
•We have lost many people this year, not even counting Sept. 11. In this past week alone, Milton Berle, Dudley Moore and the Queen Mother of England passed away. But while the deaths of celebrities get international attention, this year Pepperdine has been forced to deal with the loss of one of its own. Junior Amy Ecker was killed in a car accident on March 2, placing those who knew her and much of the university in a state of shock.
•In other Pepperdine news, the Quad was “beautified,” housing ran out, somebody posed for Playboy and the Graphic won a couple of big awards (congratulations to us!), just to name a few.
In all, it would be a gross understatement to say that this was a memorable year. It was certainly one that kept us newsfolk busy, sadly proving once again that there is no news like bad news. Maybe that’s why it was easy to turn to sports. No matter the score, nothing is ever truly bad.
But as we close the books on this school year, we should look forward to an even better one next year. And although we say goodbye to the class of 2002, and “see you soon” to those going overseas, we can always remember the many memories from this year.
Because when my children ask about this year in my life, I know I’ll be able to tell them a lot more than just “I was in the shower.”
April 04, 2002