Jumped in my ride and headed to the Miami Fusion training facility (which was really the Baltimore Orioles Spring Training facility) to meet up with the team to head to the airport as it was Tuesday and we were about to set off on a two game road trip that would start Wednedsay night in New York (against the then MetroStars) and end Saturday night at DC United (where our team hotel was across the street from the Pentagon).
We had three televisions in the locker room and as we stopped in to grab our gear for the bus ride to the Ft. Lauderdale Airport, our coach Ray Hudson made sure that everyone was aware of what had been happening…
At the point only one plane had hit the Towers, but a few of our teammates that day had some very strong connections to what was going on.
Carlos Llamosa had been a cleaner at the World Trade Center Towers after arriving from Colombia (and before playing for DC United and the US National Team) and was out to lunch when the first bombing occurred on February 26th, 1993, a lunch that in his honest opinion probably saved his life.
Jimmy Rooney’s brother was a firefighter that was on the seen and Jimmy had yet to be able to get a hold of him.
After the second plane hit the South Tower, we were all pretty aware that this wasn’t an accident and that something horrible had happened.
And at that point news came out that all flights were being grounded. Then the Pentagon building was hit and all were silent.
I guess what sticks with me most from that day is seeing people jumping from the burning buildings.. the collapse.. the helplessness watching your friends not being able to get a hold of their loved ones.. and watching our American / Palestinian teammate Shaker Asad questioned by our local Sports Media about his views and thoughts on the situation and the disgust I had that he was being put in that situation.
