George Ferguson Column: Went to the Big Apple to see pro tennis, came home with pride in my heart

Before last Tuesday, I’d never been to New York City. And I’d certainly never been to the U.S. Open tennis tournament. But last week, I made both of those dreams come true.

It’s pretty safe to say that attending the U.S. Open was very high up on my bucket list considering how big a part of my life the game of tennis has been for the better part of 30 years. And, the Big Apple is a nice by-product of traveling to tennis’ biggest show.

And yet, as great a time as I had over the course of the three days and nights I spent at the U.S. Open, and it was great — I knew before hand — and, in retrospect I was right, that the tennis wasn’t going to be the biggest impression left on me when my vacation ended and I returned to Montana.

Make no mistake, the tennis was awesome, and for a tennis coach and all-around tennis junkie, the experience of being a fan at the U.S. Open was something I’ll never forget. It’s one of the biggest sporting events in the world. It’s a grand slam, and, in tennis, it doesn’t get any bigger than the U.S. Open.

But it was visiting the 9/11 Memorial, going to the top of One World Trade Center, and being at what was once known as Ground Zero, that hasn’t left my mind since the moment I landed back in the Big Sky State.

In fact, visiting that part of New York was so important to me, it was literally the first thing my wife and I did when we arrived last Tuesday. Not even kidding. We landed in New York at 1 p.m., and were checked into our hotel an hour later. Less than 30 minutes after that, having never experienced the NYC Subway system before, we were riding the No. 4 train to Fulton St., and within the first three hours of being in New York for the first time in our lives, there we were, already at the site of one of the most difficult, emotional and horrific days in the history of our country.

That day, Sept. 11, 2001, was a day I, like so many Americans, will never forget. I remember every second of that day. I remember every vision I saw, as I watched in horror that day, and, any time I think about that day, read about that day, or watch documentaries on that day, I still feel the same emotions I felt 15 years ago.

It’s a day that touched me like no other in my 41 years on this earth. So, you can imagine the emotions I was going through as I stood at the 9/11 Memorial, the site of the original Twin Towers. I felt the same sorrow and sadness I felt all the way back in 2001. In fact, I felt so many emotions, I can’t really put them all down on paper. It was, and still is, overwhelming.

However, the longer Amy and I walked through the 9/11 Memorial, the longer we saw all of the sites, the longer we looked and visited all the new buildings, the amazing new Path Transit Hall, and all of the vibrant new infrastructure around the new World Trade Center complex, I started to feel a different emotion — one I didn’t anticipate. And I especially felt it when we arrived at, and toured the One World Trade Observatory, 104 floors up, in the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Yes, sitting at the top of One World Trade, a building that stands 1,776 feet tall, looking out at the Manhattan skyline at night, looking across into New Jersey, looking at the Statue of Liberty, the Bronx, even being able to see Arthur Ashe Stadium, where I’d be watching tennis the next three days and nights, I was overcome with pride. In that hour I spent high above New York City, I felt so proud to be an American citizen.

Earlier in the day, I found myself imagining what it would have been like to be a New Yorker on 9/11, knowing what a horrible day that was. It was a day, at the time, the city must have felt like it would never get over. Visualizing, remembering what that area looked like on Sept. 11, 2001, to New Yorkers, it must have felt like they couldn’t possibly rebuild. But, standing at the top of One World Trade, and seeing all of the amazing things happening now in lower Manhattan, 15 years later, I saw with my own eyes how much New York City has come back, and, just how much America has come back with it.

They’ll never forget 9/11 in New York, and those of us all over the country who lived through it will never forget either. But, when you visit NYC, like I did last week, you realize, they, and we, certainly did bounce back. You realize first-hand, Al Qaeda didn’t win. Standing at the top of One World Trade, I realized very quickly, we won, we overcame that horrific tragedy, that horrific day.

And, all of those emotions I felt that night in NYC, they haven’t gone away either, and it’s got me thinking about something else as the 15th anniversary of 9/11 approaches. It’s got me thinking about what’s going on in the world of sports, and in particular, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernicks’s protest during the singing of the national anthem, which has led to even more professional athletes doing the same in recent days.

Now, before I go on, let me be clear about one thing: What Kaepernick is protesting when he doesn’t salute the flag or stand for the anthem, the issues he’s trying to bring to light, I completely agree with. There are things going on in America that are certainly not acceptable, and I make no excuses for them. Being a sports journalist, I respect and appreciate when well-paid, high-profile athletes take political and social stands. It shows they’re human. It shows they care. It shows, it’s not always about the money. And Kaepernick is certainly showing us he cares about people, he cares about human rights, and he cares about social injustices, and I respect him for that. And, as a big believer in the First Amendment, Kaepernick, and others like him, have every right to express themselves in any way they would like. That’s one of the many things that make this country so special

Having said that, I can’t respect the avenue in which he’s choosing to bring those issues to light, the avenue in which he’s choosing to express himself. I didn’t think as much of it before, but after visiting the 9/11 Memorial, after seeing the place where that nightmare of a day in American history occurred, after standing on that hallowed ground, now, more than ever, I can’t respect the decision to not honor America, to not honor our country’s flag. And especially, to not honor the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect the freedom’s we have as Americans.

And while I fully admit, America is not perfect, and I don’t, and won’t turn a blind eye to the social and political problems we Americans face every day, after visiting New York City, after standing at the top of One World Trade last Tuesday night, and with the 15th anniversary of 9/11 coming up on Sunday, I could never imagine not saluting the flag, or not putting my right hand over my heart for the national anthem, like I’ve done thousands of times already. To me, it’s not even fathomable.

Yes, my trip to New York City may have started out being all about tennis, it may have started out being all about a vacation my wife and I had been planning and been excited for for the last two years. But on the very first day we were in New York, it became about being so proud to be an American. It reaffirmed and re-instilled that American pride in me, that pride that sometimes I know we all, myself included, take for granted.

In the end, seeing Serena Williams was great. Seeing JayZ and Beyonce was pretty cool, too. Seeing Radio City Music Hall and the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden and all the amazing landmarks in the NYC, it was everything I dreamed it would be. New York is an awesome place, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. But in the very end, for me, that vacation will always be about 9/11. It will always be about the emotions of that day. It will always be about my visit to the 9/11 Memorial.

I brought home pictures and souvenirs and cool memorabilia from the U.S. Open, and my wife and I made lasting memories, as we always do on the adventures we take together. But the most important thing I brought home with me is that reinvigorated pride I have in being from this country. The most important thing I brought home from my vacation wasn’t packed in my suitcase, it was, and will forever be, in my heart.