"U-S-A! U-S-A!"

During a conversation several years ago with Ari Fleischer, the former White House Press Secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush, I told him of a comment made by Orlando Magic senior vice president Pat Williams shortly after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. 

Williams said that after 9/11 he was so proud to be working in sports because he said he believes that sports are “the heartbeat of the country, what gives America its juice.”

Fleischer recalled Bush’s ceremonial first pitch in Game 3 of that year’s World Series at Yankee Stadium.

“When the president threw that perfect strike right down the heart of home plate in the opening game of the World Series in the Bronx in 2001, it was a little over one month after the attack,” Fleischer said. “The crowd roared ‘U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!’ so loud, the stadium shook. And it was at a time when everyone in this country wanted to feel good about being an American.

“And who would have thought that a ceremonial first pitch would give everybody a reason to cheer ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’ ”