I was walking to gym class when I first saw the World Trade Center on fire.

From that moment on, I, like most of America, could not tear myself away from the TV.

Sunday marks the four-year anniversary of the horrifying day that changed America and the world forever.

Once again, this Sept. 11th, I, like most of America, will be unable to tear myself away from the TV.

It will be the first weekend of the NFL season, and Americans will be obsessing over it from the first kickoff until the final whistle.

It is important, however, to always remember the lessons we learned from Sept. 11.

It often takes a tragic event like this to put things into perspective.

For instance, there is more to life than sports.

I will never forget being at my friend’s house on Monday, Sept. 10. We were watching the Monday Night Football game, when the Bronco’s Ed McCaffrey broke his leg. How terrible we thought it was. Somebody just lost a fantasy football starter for the season.

And then hours later, sports didn’t matter. There were no games to be played.

I got a personal wake-up call to life. All those times I pouted over a football game, or I let a baseball game ruin my day, or I let a basketball game put me in a bad mood – I realized it’s not really worth it.

There’s no question, sports are a wonderful thing. Without sports, life wouldn’t be the same.

But we often forget what sports really are about. We forget that there’s more to it than wins and losses, touchdowns, homeruns and rebounds.

For a few weeks, it seemed like people really appreciated sports for what they actually are: games that connect people, and, for a few hours, take their minds off of a world that seemed to be crumbling around them. Sports helped heal our nation.

While we still cheered for our favorite teams, ultimately we were all on the same team. We all shared the colors red, white and blue, whether our team was the Falcons or Bears or Cubs or Cardinals.

This was evident when NFL games returned after a week’s absence.

At the Vikings-Bears game in Chicago, players from both teams proudly held the American flag that covered the entire field. And that mattered more than the next three hours of football.

In the ensuing weeks, there was no talk about steroids. Superstar athletes weren’t whining about more money.

We remembered one of the inherent values that’s often forgotten in sports: teamwork.

Just like the NYPD, just like the FDNY, everyone had to work as a team. For the first time in a long time, teamwork and sports went hand in hand.

Sports showed America’s resiliency. We still packed baseball stadiums. We still sold out football games. While I’m sure everyone who went to a game had a nervous feeling walking into the stadium, we still did it.

And you can’t ever forget Yankee Stadium during the World Series, when President George W. Bush walked alone to the mound to deliver the ceremonial first pitch. Whether you love Bush or hate him, you had to get tingles as he fired a perfect strike down the heart of the plate; America was going to fight back.

I’m sure this Sunday there will be brief moments of silence or ceremonies prior to the games in recognition of Sept. 11. Then the games will go on. Players will beat each other up. And in the end, one team will win, one team will lose.

And if it’s your team that comes up short, life will still be OK.

There are worse things.

Jon Gluskin is a senior in communications. He can be reached at [email protected].