As news broke of the death of Osama bin Laden, perhaps the most notorious terrorist the world has ever seen, fans at Citizens Bank Park began to chant “USA, USA, USA” during the Met-Phillies game on Sunday night.
It’s not a moment that just Phillies and Mets fans will remember. It’s a moment that Americans will remember.
Sports are all about the goosebumps. Or the hair standing up on the back of your neck. Or even that excited feeling you get in the pit of your stomach as you watch your team head into overtime or extra innings.
Generations come and go, but stories are passed down.
Red Sox fans can tell you about Keith Foulke snagging Edgar Renteria’s comebacker and ending 86 years of turmoil with one soft, underhand flip to first.
Patriots fans can tell you about Adam Vinatieri splitting the uprights in Super Bowl XXXVI, slapping an exclamation point on one of the greatest upsets football has ever seen.
Bruins fans can tell you about a 22-year-old kid who soared through the air to hand the city of Boston a Stanley Cup victory.
Celtics fans can tell you about John Havlicek stealing the ball to end the 1965 Eastern Conference championship, making it hard to imagine any defensive play could ever come close to the aura of that particular play.
But as generation-defining as each of those moments might have been for New England sports fans, they might have been an afterthought in Chicago, or Atlanta, or Baltimore, or Los Angeles.
It’s difficult to imagine that kids in cities outside of New England grow up hearing about these events from the time they can walk — as is the case in many New England households.
But other moments in sports transcend region.
They give you goosebumps, or make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, or give you that indescribable stomach feeling because their magnitude extends beyond the confines of a game.
On Sunday, we were able to witness one of those moments.
It was an amazing moment in American history, and sports were just along for the ride.
