New Yorkers Always Bounce Back

It was the Friday night before September 11, 2001 in Hollywood, Florida, and it was the night I ran into the scum of the earth.

Every Friday night, after a hard week´s work, I headed to a downtown Hollywood seafood bar and  grill to have a couple of sodas and some steamed clams, and watch the Yankees too if they were on one of the numerous television screens.

But as soon as I walked in the door that night, I knew right away that something was very strange. There was a big commotion  going on inside. A guy was sitting there, obviously drunk, cursing and being utterly obnoxious. He spoke with an accent, and he had one of the ugliest faces I had ever seen.

And he was giving everyone a hard time, the patrons, the waitresses,  even the manager. That man, I was to learn later, was Mohamed Atta, who  just a couple of days later would fly American Airlines Flight 11 into the north tower of The World Trade Center. As it turned out, he was the leader of the attack.

I remember calling my grandmother in New Jersey when the news hit. She said there were fighter planes flying over head, and she said the smoke was so thick they were feeling the effects all the way across the Hudson River. I remember wanting so badly to get back up north to find out if all of my family members were okay. I remember feeling so helpless, not being able to do anything.

I would like to take this post to honor the families, the fire fighters, the police and all whose lives were effected on that tragic day.

The Yankees did their best to lift the spirits of New York in 2001, taking Arizona to seven games in the World Series. And we all know it has been a tough road for the Yankees these last two years. But like all New Yorkers, they WILL bounce back.