A year ago this week, I wrote a column about the cancellations of sporting events after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

I hope you forgot it.

I criticized Syracuse and the Big East for postponing a week’s worth of football games. I ripped Jake Crouthamel, the Syracuse Director of Athletics, for giving in to terrorism by altering the American lifestyle.

For 604 words, I fumbled away my credibility. A year later, I’m begging for it back.

In 25 years of admirable resume stacking as Director of Athletics, Crouthamel made his best decisions than in the two weeks following Sept. 11. He grasped the magnitude of the tragedy a year before I did — and he acted brilliantly.

“I can’t look back on our actions with pride when it happened because of such a horrible thing,” Crouthamel said. “We did what we could, and it turned out better than we could have hoped for.”

Crouthamel listened to the concerns of non-revenue sports — cancelling games when coaches felt uncomfortable traveling and rescheduling those games when possible.

When individual athletes chose not to fly in the weeks after the attacks, Crouthamel and Syracuse coaches accepted those decisions.

“You have to be sensitive to how each person responds individually,” Crouthamel said. “You can’t push things on people when they’re not ready.”

Crouthamel’s best move was presenting a reflective ceremony for 43,403 fans at the Carrier Dome before Syracuse played Auburn on Sept. 22.

In the week leading up to that game — which was televised nationally on ESPN — Crouthamel arranged a short, pregame remembrance.

It was hard. For a week Gov. George Pataki flirted with coming to the game and making a speech. Crouthamel finally learned the governor was coming on the morning of the game.

Crouthamel didn’t know if ESPN would cover the ceremony, either. He had to keep the pregame short, so it wouldn’t delay kickoff and cut into ESPN’s coverage time.

“We scrapped the whole pregame plan about three times,” Crouthamel said. “It was a headache. But it turned out to be worth it.”

Pataki spoke on the field to 43,000-plus fans waving miniature American flags. It turned out with the SU band playing a moving rendition of the national anthem while players from both teams stood respectfully at the sidelines.

“It couldn’t have gone over smoother,” Crouthamel said. “I can’t stress that enough. It could not have gone over better.”

This year, Crouthamel’s back to plotting. When Syracuse plays Rhode Island on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., 5,000 soldiers from Fort Drum, near Watertown, 75 miles north of Syracuse, will attend — courtesy of Crouthamel.

One of those soldiers has been selected to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. The Fort Drum color guard will march on the field.

“Those are our neighbors, so we have the space,” Crouthamel said. “Even if we don’t, we’ll make space.”

I promise I won’t write a column later this week condemning the ceremony.

It took me too long, but now I understand the magnitude of the tragedy.

Good thing Crouthamel understood sooner.

Eli Saslow is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at eesaslow@syr.edu.

Published on September 10, 2002 at 12:00 pm