Carpenter Crunch Time Week 3: Remembering 9/11

BUCKHANNON – As I type this up on Wednesday, it is the 23rd anniversary of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.

All my life has been wrapped around sports, but that Tuesday was one of the days in my life where sports didn’t matter.

I was the assistant sports editor at the time at The Record Delta and didn’t have to be in the office until 11 a.m. I got up and got ready and went into the office with no idea of what had happened. When I arrived to the office, the staff had hooked up an old television which was very weird, and I could tell as soon as I walked in something was wrong.

As soon as I was caught up to speed with the events of the morning, I sat down at my desk and tried to start typing stories, the only problem was I couldn’t concentrate on anything but what had happened. I told my boss I was going home and at that time, no one was sure if there were still more terroristic events to occur. I went home and called my wife to be careful coming home, and that I would see her soon.

That evening, B-U still had football practice and after practice on Tuesday’s is when I interviewed then coach Eddie Vincent. It was probably the least enthusiastic interview I ever did. I didn’t want to be there, and at that point, high school football seemed irrelevant when our country was under attack. I remember Eddie telling me they had practice to keep some sort of normalcy for the players, which was a good point, but I personally still had trouble staying focused.

B-U played Elkins that Friday and put on a beautiful tribute pre-game which made me proud to be a Buccaneer, but to say that was probably one of the most difficult weeks of my professional career would be a huge understatement. My heart and prayers still go out to the families that lost someone on that fateful day.

Onto more pleasant things, let’s take a look at the My Buckhannon standings this week:

Name   Week   Overall

Brian     5-2       12-2

Duane  5-2       11-3

Katie      3-4       9-5

Monica 4-3       7-7

Brian and I won the week with identical 5-2 marks while Brian still holds a one game lead overall. It is shaping up to be a fun season. A big thank you to our loyal readers as the turnout for the Crunch has been fabulous the first two weeks. Our weekly reader champion was Robert Kimble who was the only person to go a perfect 7-0. He won a $20 gift certificate to Papa John’s.

If you haven’t gotten your picks in this week, there is still time as we accept them up until Friday at 6:59 p.m. Click here for the schedule this week.