Remembering 9/11

Outside the 9/11 Memorial in NYC

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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It's hard to believe 15 years have passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks. I was a young father working in West Lafayette, Indiana at the time. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were my days off and I was still sleeping when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I had to go to a meeting at work that day, so I had turned on The Early Show on CBS moments after the second plane had hit. Smoke was pouring from the building and the anchors calmly tried to explain what was happening. Then the Pentagon was hit and after that word of a crash in Pennsylvania.

From CBS News

My mind was racing and I knew in my heart this couldn't have been an accident. I never would have imagined that people could hijack a plane and use it as a weapon though. I continued getting ready for my meeting and listened to the simulcast on the radio as I drove to the station. On the way the announcer said with a great deal of fear in voice, the tower is crumbling. My heart sank as I pulled into the station's parking lot and continued listening, not wanting to believe what was happening.

Inside the station everyone was glued to the TV. The meeting we were to have was canceled. Crews slowly started heading out looking for ways to localize the events that would change the world forever. I drove back home, told we had enough crews for our local coverage. It turns out the network had taken over and we did a commercial free late broadcast that night.

I sat mesmerized most of the day watching the coverage on a variety of channels. At one point I had to turn off the TV and focus on my two young children. Our youngest at the time had just been born two months prior. After all the fear and not knowing, I was proud to see how our country and our leaders rallied. When President Bush talked from Ground Zero on the bullhorn, there was a sense of patriotism that will be hard to match.

9/11 Remembrance Ceremony
9/11/02 Lafayette, Indiana

That spirit trickled down around the country. Our little community in Greater Lafayette held ceremonies and vigils in the years that followed. There's a permanent monument still there as well. On the one year anniversary my boys were among hundreds of others who laid a carnation on one of the pieces of steel from World Trade Center.

More recently, my wife and I visited the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Words cannot adequately explain what we experienced during our visit. If you're ever in New York City, this is a mandatory stop on your tour of the area.

Remember the lives lost that day and those who died in the direct aftermath of the attacks. We will never forget.

Visiting the 9/11 Museum

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Over the summer, my wife and I took a short trip to New York City for a wedding.  Besides seeing the Statue of Liberty and walking through Times Square, we both wanted to visit the 9/11 Museum. It had just opened and we wanted to see the tributes to thousands of men, women, and children who died that day.

Writing about the experience will not do it any justice.  Seeing the artifacts left behind and hearing the voices of the passengers on the planes and in the Twin Towers brought us to tears.  I suggest if you have the chance, visit the museum.  There are a few areas where photography is allowed, so here are some of my pictures.  

Remembering 9/11

Hope: Humanity & Heroism at Madam Tussauds in NYC

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Every year on September 11, I think most Americans take a few minutes to reflect and remember where they were when they heard the news of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. , and the hijacked plane that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.  I was a father with two young boys, and reporter working at a TV station in West Lafayette, Indiana.

September 11, 2001 was a beautiful Tuesday morning in Indiana.  I woke up a little later than usual because it was my day off (I worked weekends at the time).  I turned on the TV, which was already on the CBS Early Show.  Bryant Gumbel was talking about a plane accident in New York City.  The image I saw was the smoking North Tower of the World Trade Center.  The plane was still sticking out, and it looked like a small plane at the time, I had no idea it was a commercial jet.

I had to run to work that day for a meeting about the station's website, so as I got ready for that, Gumbel announced that another plane had hit the South Tower.  Then came reports of an explosion at the Pentagon and I think we all figured out pretty quick that these weren't random accidents.  Our country was under attack.

I hopped in the car and sped to work, listening to the news on CBS Radio.  As I pulled into the station parking lot the South Tower collapsed.  I remember getting goosebumps and feeling overwhelmed and helpless by what was happening.  My meeting was obviously cancelled, and despite trying to stick around and help with the local coverage we would eventually start doing, I was told to go home.

9/11 Memorial Ceremony 9/11/02
Lafayette, Indiana

I did and I stayed glued to the TV all day.  Finally around midnight I had to turn away from the coverage and give myself time to digest everything that was happening.  The world changed that day.  I had two sons under the age of two.  What kind of world would they be growing up in now?

In the weeks and months after the attacks, patriotism was at an all time high.  Our small community held candle vigils and prayer services.  My boys laid red, white, and blue carnations on a piece of steel from the World Trade Center on the one  year anniversary.

9/11 Memorial in Lafayette, Indiana

Members of the Lafayette community lost loved ones that day.  So now, there is also a statue that stands in downtown Lafayette.  It's a constant reminder of the sacrifices made by so many and the thousands of innocent lives lost on that fateful day.

In the Spring of 2013, I had an opportunity to visit New York City.   I was eager to visit the 9/11 Memorial.  At the time of my visit, work was still being done, but we were able to walk around outside the museum see the reflecting pools in the footprint of where the Towers once stood.  The names of the victims are etched on the outside walls of the pools, with water continuously flowing.  It's a somber reminder of the lives lost not just on 9/11, but also during the attack in 1993.

One of the Reflecting Pools at Ground Zero
New York City

You may notice one of the names engraved on that wall, Christian Michael Otto Regenhard.  I did a little searching and found that he was a firefighter responding to the call of duty on 9/11.  He graduated from the Fire Academy just weeks before the attacks.  He was also a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.  He was just 28 years old when he died, we were the same age.

Thank you Christian Michael Otto Regenhard for your service to our country and for giving the ultimate sacrifice.  God bless everyone who died on 9/11.

You can learn more about Sgt. Regenhard by clicking this link.

9/11

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

You've have probably already read several posts about September 11, 2001 and it's impact on our country. So thank you for reading another.  Your support is important to us.

For those who don't remember or weren't fans back then, WWE aired a live version of SmackDown! on 9/13/01.  The show was to be taped on the evening of 9/11, but obviously those plans had to be scratched.  The show on the 13th was the largest public assembly after the attacks.

A cynic might think it was Vince McMahon's attempt to cash in on a national tragedy.  I see it differently though.  Vince has always been a "the-show-must-go-on" kind of businessman.  He's also a proud American.  Based on the interviews in the Lagana podcast, one of the being Paul Heyman (who is no fan of McMahon's), Vince wanted to show the world that America is resilient.  He gave his wrestlers and staff the option to not be on the show without any repercussions.  I find it incredibly brave of all the WWE employees to do the show.  As well as the men and women who worked at the arena in Houston, and of course all the fans who were brave enough to enter.  They were all literally sitting targets.

Two days after the attacks we didn't know if there was more to come.  Then filling a building with more than 12,000 people instantly put a bull's eye on the building.  Luckily nothing happened and the show went off without a hitch.

Personally, I'm glad the WWE went ahead and did a show.  It was a welcomed break from all the non stop news coverage that had consumed me for more than 48 hours.  I couldn't stop watching the network news reports, or the local stories about the people in my own community (West Lafayette, Indiana at the time) who had been impacted.

Lilian rocks it!

Ten years later, watching Lilian Garcia sing the National Anthem still gives me chills.  The looks on the faces of the wrestlers and fans was so somber.  They were grieving just like the rest of us, but they were doing it in the public's eye and having to perform on top of that.  Jim Ross and Heyman did a great job on the commentary.  Paul talks about how he just hung onto JR and got through the show.  He had lost several friends in the attacks, as many of the other guys and gals in the company had.

Muhammad Hassan

In the post 9/11 world, the WWE has flirted with some controversial storylines.  Most notably, Muhammad Hassan, a character who was from the Middle East and bitter about the way Americans were treating his people after the attacks.  Fun fact: Hussein, who was played by Mark Copani is actually an Italian-American.  But his gimmick created lots of controversy and he was eventually released from the company.  It's unfortunate, as I felt like he was a good worker and hoped to see him climb the ladder of success in the WWE.  He definitely had a lot of potential.

What are your memories of 9/11?  Do you think WWE should have done a show so soon after the tragedy?  Share your thoughts here or on Facebook or Twitter.

God bless the USA and all the lives lost on 9/11/01.

Patriot Games

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

With the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks around the corner, I felt it only appropriate to write a post on some of the most patriotic wrestlers.  On Veterans' Day, I wrote a piece about wrestlers who have served our country and some who played veterans too.  Here's a link to that post, I'm not going to repeat those guys here.

I would also argue that the term patriotic isn't just reserved for the red, white, and blue; for example the Iron Sheik, Mohammed Hussein, and Nikita Koloff were also patriotic as they showed love for their country.  But today I'm focusing on the American patriot.  Just wanted to get that out of the way.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan was the embodiment of the stars and stripes in the late 1980's and early 90's in the WWF.  When he first arrived in the company he carried a 2x4 and the American flag.  His first feud was with the Iron Sheik and Nikolia Volkoff.  Duggan went on to feud with other anti Americans like Dino Bravo, Yokozuna, and Sgt. Slaughter (the Iraqi sympathizer).  Duggan's patriotism was infectious.  To this day, you can still hear people chant that loud U-S-A! U-S-A! just like ol' Hacksaw did.  Duggan also helped convert a few America haters.  Remember he teamed up with Volkoff briefly in 1990, after the fall of the Soviet Union.  The two beat the Orient Express at SummerSlam that year.  Duggan also embraced Sgt. Slaughter when the villian declared "I want my country back."

Duggan eventually left the WWF and headed to WCW.  He kept the America loving gimmick until he joined Team Canada.  Personally, I thought that was one of the all time lamest heel turns in history of wrestling.  I just couldn't get behind the character, nor see the logic in the turn.  It felt like WCW was trying to recreate Sgt. Slaughter's turn the WWF did several years earlier.  None the less, Duggan would go back to his America loving ways and still carries Old Glory on his way to the ring.

Less obvious about his patriotism was Kurt Angle.  He's been a heel most of his career, but with his red, white, and blue singlet he's a proud American.  Angle of course won two gold medals for Team USA in the 1996 Olympic games.  With that on his resume and his love of country, you'd think he would have been the perfect baby face patriot.  But instead, Angle used his pedigree to let everyone know he's better than them.

I don't remember a whole lot about the Patriot.  I watched him briefly on the old Global Wrestling and then with WCW.  He and Marcus Alexander Bagwell teamed up.  Then the Patriot brought his gimmick to the WWF.  He was on the scene in 1997, a time of flux in the company.  While his gimmick had been done before, I felt like the Patriot had some potential.  It seemed though that he was thrown into the upper card too fast.  The only matches I remember with him was the tag team flag match he and Vader lost to Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith at the Badd Blood pay per view in St. Louis (I was in the crowd that night)  I'm pretty sure the Patriot was gone from the company shortly after that.  I don't think the fans bought him as a world title contender.  He never had that much star power in WCW and without changing the character, fans just wouldn't or couldn't accept him.  But during the Gulf War, he helped raise moral of American fans with his stars and stripes gimmick.

Finally, I've gotta plug All American Pro Wrestling.  Our new ring has red, white, and blue ropes.  And one of our stars, The All American is on the card.  Right now there's no anti American heel for him to feud with, so he's just making his way up the card.  Who knows who may show up to challenge his love of country though.  Plus, in these trying times for our country, I think we all need someone to remind us of our love for the good ol' U-S-A!

Obviously, these are just a few of wrestling's most patriotic stars.  Can't forget about Hulk Hogan from the 80's and early 90's.  Mr. America, remember him?  And the tag team of the Patriots from NWA/WCW.

Who are some of your favorite patriots of the ring?  Post here or on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.