Are you. Good morning dodgy right some twenty years ago. Three hundred forty four firefighters had passed away and killed and over seventy law enforcement. Officials were killed not only from the nypd but the p ems worker. You name it. I mean it's just a horrific time in our country. We all know that here. We are twenty years later and my personal connection to the north tower is significant. We were in Cantor fitzgerald offices on the one hundred first floor Howard let nick and cantor fitzgerald hosted us at no cost to our foundation. Got our fledgling foundation off the ground because of all of that support and that day lost my great friend. Timmy o'brien who was my first board member of my foundation and over. I don't know one hundred fifty to two hundred other friends and supporters of our foundation. Because we like. I said we were on the first floor. And that plane went in right below that floor and anybody above that had no chance of survival and i think about the images that day i think about all the things that have happened over the last twenty years and how our world changed how we changed and how it impacted so many people's lives from the people that died that day to the people who are continuing to die today because of the cancers that were suffered from from that attack and the aftermath of that to all of our gold star families to our wounded warriors to everybody in between And it really is a sobering fact when you think about it and i will never forget. I know my kids will never forget I'm glad to report that. Most of the kids. That i know that lost their dad that day are doing really well are doing really well and they are very aware of. What's going on. You know they were younger. Maybe it's you know the ages six seven eight nine they didn't understand or comprehend but now they're bombarded with images and videos and everything else and even doing documentaries on their own and writing books about their experience and i think that says a way for us to remember their their lost loved ones and on never forget coming back to new york about three days. Later 'cause i was stuck in monday night game and i went down to the site and i was with outback steakhouse and we were serving food to the men that were on those piles that were looking for any survivors. And i remember the gasps. I remember the crying. I remember the smell. I remembered this. Just the absolute devastation. Net sixteen acre area down there and it wasn't just the first two buildings that collapsed. I mean people tend to forget that one two three four five six seven world trade center buildings were either collapsing that day or had to be demolished because they were so significantly damaged because of the towers collapsed initially all had to be rebuilt and we have a constant reminder. When we walk out of our building we look to the right. Now we say we see the freedom tower tower that speaks to the inspiration of what this country's all about so. I wear the shirt proudly today. I'll always wear the shirt proudly. And i know that the f. d. n. y. Lost so many members That i think it's the right thing for us to do. And if you wanna call them and talk about it we can of course We can talk about the great football game last night. We talk about the to bed. Baseball teams that we have now here locally. That are getting ready to play a very significant weekend series. That means more to us. Sports fans than just the games themselves of course. And that's the really the reason why i'm going to tune in the mets. Of course i've been talking about how i don't believe that they've got any shot regardless of what the standings say in mathematically whatever it they don't have any shot to me it's about the honoring of the heroes in what sports played at that time. And i mean some of my most vivid memories of sports come from post nine. Eleven september mets yankees jets giants. I remember what the patriots joe andruzzi coming out with the flag. I mean it's just memories and to get back to Everything that we loved it was gonna take a long time but sports were there four us and i i mean the organizations were just fantastic. They did everything right at that. Time to support the city. The support of the first responders. Bobby valentine joe torry on and on i mean they did apps body vassal. Jim boscell herm edwards. Herm edwards is one of the sea. I remember from the football i. Of course there's a fan. But i was covering football at the time and and football because the stadiums you know hold seventy five eighty thousand people and you saw it again last night right before the sort of the game you know the the the memory of nine eleven and the national anthem and everything else and i like last night. I was and you know twenty years ago. These sports brought us all back together. We became one us a nation. And my what. The hell is happening to us over the last twenty years. I don't wanna get political. I just mad at so many other things that have gone on around all of this. But i just what the hell is happened to us. I felt like last night at least during the national anthem. I felt like there was a closeness again. Yeah i really did. And i and i really. I long for the days where we weren't at each other's throats for whatever. The reason may be a common enemy at that point. And it wasn't oss and now we are. We are fighting with one. Another as is basically amazing to me. Yeah i mean and you know the the mantra has been and always should be to never forget and the event and the lives that were lost. Never gonna forget but we have forgotten. I think collectively maybe not mean you. Maybe not are listening base but there have been a lot of people in this country that have forgotten about who we were right after those attacks which was a unified front as a nation. And i mean that was the only good thing to have come out of that. Was that where there was. You dropped all beliefs and we were on the same page. We're all we were. Yeah we were on the same team. We were americans. there was no at each other's throats. I'm not saying that you know. All disagreements or bad disagreements but it's gotten to the point now where we are so far away and we're so contentious and you don't want another big thing to happen for us to be able to get back on the scene. I think we're contentious because we do have a faction on each side. That is extreme in those extreme points of view are pushing You know most of us who are reasonable and practical. An independent thinkers Can you know make a decision about a certain thing and see it as a practical reason why to do something. As opposed to a political reason as to why do something and and a photo op and a picture is just is just so demeaning and so disheartening and just so infuriating as opposed to the real stuff that's going on and it's just because all because of politics so i i don't know i don't know what to tell you other than it last night. I i kind of felt a little bit of that. Come together moment especially through sports. You know not everybody's sports fan in the world. But i do know that back then if it weren't for the sports at least for those of us who are sports fans. I don't necessarily know that we could have gotten back. And i from the world series with the yankees in diamond bounds to the monday night. Football games that. I was doing to see how fans are reacting at every monday night game. In how proudly sung the national anthem and how to stall a tall they. They stood when they sang it and it was just such a collective of pride that was associated with us that you know dissipated over twenty years but you know you talk about that day. The people we lost still losing people the collateral damage of just the every day person that had lived down south of canal street and worked on rebuilding south of canal street down by the financial district. is still with us today. And that's why. John stewart went down to screaming roland to make those people understand bright. The effects of.