Yesterday, two NCAA Division I field hockey games were curtailed because of circumstances out of the control of the site managers and umpires.
One of these two games could not be played because of torrential rain and flooding which have come with the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The flooding rains have devastated numerous towns in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and western North Carolina. This includes Boone, N.C., the home of Appalachian State University,
Footage and pictures from Watauga County show destroyed roads, since the roadbeds were washed away because of the rain. One nearby interstate was completely washed out and will take some time to repair. In Boone, a boil-water advisory and a mandatory curfew were put into place.
One event which was cancelled was the Mid-American Conference field hockey game between Appalachian State and Bellarmine. We don’t know whether the flooding will recede in time for App State’s scheduled match on Sunday with Central Michigan, but I am sure the university and the community will have more on their minds than a simple game.
You can say the same for the field hockey community in the city of Philadelphia. Yesterday, a game being played at Temple’s Howarth Field between La Salle and Saint Louis was cut short with about 10 minutes remaining because of audible gunfire from a carry-out across Girard Avenue from the site. Approximately 20 gunshots could be heard on the ESPN Plus broadcast, sending players, umpires, and coaches sprinting from the pitch to find protection from the violence.
As with the Appalachian State-Bellarmine game, we don’t know whether the La Salle-Saint Louis game will resume, but that is beside the point. That is because the indiscriminate shooting which happened in Philadelphia is part of everyday life in many American cities. The odd thing is that Philadelphia has been in a downward trend in the number of murders and gun crimes this year. Of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., the City of Brotherly Love has seen the biggest drop in gun violence, according to the Center for American Progress.
Still, the tabloid media latches onto killings and indiscriminate shootings in the presentation of stories about murder in the city. One of the local television news stations, for decades, has used the title card “Caught In The Crossfire” every time a story about bystanders or random people were wounded or killed as the result of gunfire nearby.
The area around Temple, as well as in many locales in Philadelphia, is densely packed with houses. These are neighborhoods with hard-working people who cannot help but feel like they are under siege because of the omnipresence of rapid-fire weapons. It wasn’t just the field hockey players who had to hold down yesterday, but the people in the neighborhood who were trying to live their daily lives.
Now, I’ve been in the area for numerous contests over the years, including the first attempt at a professional field hockey tournament in the U.S., the 2013 Harrow Cup, held about four blocks away from the Howarth shooting.
We felt very safe that afternoon. And I’d probably feel very safe tomorrow going up there; all you have to do, as a citizen, is to not show outward weakness, trust your instincts, and know what to do in case of an emergency.
My hope is that the sides involved in the cancellations of these two games are able to resume their team activities and rise above these circumstances.