An event happened this week that restored my faith in professional sports. But first a little history.
On February 6, 1958 Manchester United's team plane crashed on take-off from Munich. Among the dead that evening were 8 of Manchester's starting 11. Four of those were English internationals. Many felt that England were the favorites for the 1958 World Cup before the crash. Instead it turned into a coming out party for a 17 year old Brazilian named Pele.
The Munich crash is an event that has touched generations of English people and United fans around the world. The 50th anniversary of the crash was commemorated today at the Manchester United game. The club could have milked a very emotional occasion for every possible dollar. But they didn't. There was a minute of silence before the game and Man U played in a 1958 throwback uniform. The cool thing is that there were only 16 uniforms made. Eleven starters and 5 subs. No commemorative ones were made for sale. How refreshing to have a tribute be about the deceased not about the money.
2 comments:
Wonder if we will ever see that type of tribute in the US? Seems that without money we would not have anything that we call 'sports' anymore...
I used to be a big sports fan, but over the years have become weary of the constant money, drugs, thugs cycle...
It used to be that representing your country was considered the pinnacle of an athletic career. (Remember that I was not born in the USA). Everyone wanted to wear the green and gold rugby jersey of the Springboks (South Africa) when I was a kid. Now players decline national team selection because they are not paid enough per game.
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