Dave Zeitlin: Giants in sports - It's all relative

Last Monday night, I cared.

Last Monday night, I watched in vain as the Giants were trounced by the Broncos.

Man, those Giants were hard to watch. They need more offense. They need help in the secondary. They gotta start playing like champs if they want to get back to the Super Bowl.

This weekend, the Giants got into police boats, ferried from Jersey City to Manhattan, and helped out rescue workers amidst the rubble and smoke that has plagued New York City.

Suddenly, the Giants are champions.

What transpired last week has certainly put things into perspective. Even now, almost a week after Tuesday's heinous crime against America, everything, including sports, seems so meaningless and trivial.

The entire weekend has passed, and for the first time in recent memory, there were no sports on TV.

No football, no baseball, no golf. Even bowling was canceled.

(In a bitter tale of horror and irony, one of the few sporting events that did go on -- a CART auto race, renamed the American Memorial 500 in remembrance of the victims of the tragedy -- was dampered when racing star Alex Zinardi lost both legs in a crash.)

Without sports, you lose certain things from your weekend. Sitting at the sports bar, stuffing your face with nachos while watching your favorite team on the big screen. Painting your face, tossing toast, cheering wildly at every touchdown. Sitting on the porch, arguing with friends over who is the best player in the game.

None of that went on this weekend. And I didn't care.

Sports never even trickled into my thoughts.

I forgot Barry Bonds was on pace to smash one of baseball's holiest records. I forgot that the greatest player in the history of the game is about to return to the NBA. I forgot everything that once seemed so important.

Or maybe I just didn't care.

Like many of us, I had trouble leaving behind nightmarish images from Tuesday's catastrophe, images that we will take to our graves.

But life does go on. The word "normalcy" keeps popping up, and sure enough, the world will once again be normal.

Starting today, major league baseball players will once again put on their cleats to complete the 2001 season. Football players will soon return to the gridiron, hockey players to the ice.

But can we ever see sports in the same light? Is the pennant race really that important?

I believe the answer is yes. I believe the beauty of sports will soon return.

We've done it before. We've played through wars, we've played through turmoil and devastation, we've played through grief and heartache.

One of my most vivid memories was watching the Giants in the 1991 Super Bowl during the Persian Gulf War.

Watching the game in my uncle's house, Dan Rather kept popping up on the screen with updates on the war. Still, we rejoiced when the Giants, with the help of Scott Norwood's right leg, claimed victory.

Sports, in a way, saved us from thinking about those people dying in the Middle East It saved us from the war.

Sports, and many other forms of entertainment, will again bolster us through these trying times.

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