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| College: North Carolina State |
Height: 6-0 |
| Born: June 5, 1976 |
Weight: 190 lbs. |
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Fears and concerns about returning to work
By Torry Holt
Special to ABC Sports Online
Dealing with the terrorist attacks was tough, not only for the Rams or other teams in the National Football League, but the whole nation. It was a great response by Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to postpone the weekend's games. It gave guys an opportunity to remorse with their families and to gather their emotions.
|  | | Torry Holt and the Rams travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers on Sunday. |
Personally, I didn't have anyone involved, but I do have a couple of friends in the New York City area and have spoken with them. They seem to be OK. Obviously they are affected, but for the most part, they're handling things well and ask for everybody's prayers.
But several guys across the league had family members or friends involved in the attacks. So it would have been tough for those guys to go out there and participate at a level that this game demands. It was good that everything was postponed.
With the week off, everybody got a chance to get their emotions and feelings back together and contact their families to tell them how deeply they love them. That will allow us to go to our next site, or for the teams that are playing at home, to get ready for this next game.
You have to move on, and it's easier said than done. At some point, though, we do have to try to move on and just pray.
As a team, we had a moment of silence. Brother Ray Agnew said a prayer for everyone. We had a lot of guys attend church on Sunday and speak out about how they felt about the situation. That had a great influence on the people here in St. Louis. A lot of the athletes in the area, not just the Rams, helped soothe some of the pain that we're all feeling.
The mood in practice was OK. I think we practiced extremely well on Monday, considering the conditions we've been placed under. We got a lot of things accomplished. Now we have to dig down and try to re-channel our focus and our mindset in order to get ready to go back to work and get down to business.
Seeing Major League Baseball get back -- and the way the Cardinals handled everything -- helped a lot. The Cardinal fans and organization sent out a message, not only to St. Louis or the baseball world, but more importantly to America. Basically, they said, "We're going to stand strong and resume our ball games." So I think baseball sent out a message Monday night, and it made a lot of pro teams feel comfortable about going back to work.
A lot of guys are still hurt by this, though. Many players on this team, and maybe across the league, have a fear. Not of traveling -- I think the plane rides will be fine -- but with us getting into those stadiums which are 60-70,000 people strong. What better place to target than a stadium? Or a baseball game? That's a definite concern. And once we get over the fear of something happening during a game, then we'll be able to get back to normal, as far as playing a game.
On a different note, there's a feature on me in the Oct. 1 issue of ESPN The Magazine. It's a very interesting piece, and I'm excited and honored to have a story come out about me. Playing in the NFL, especially for a team like the Rams, with all the high-profile players and all the success we've had over the last couple of years, to have a feature in ESPN the Magazine is great.
I hope people go in-depth with the story and see what it's all about. I want them to feel and understand what I've been through to get to the point where I am today.
The main thing for me is to keep the work ethic, humility and down-to-earth attitude that I have, in order to be successful not only in the NFL, but in life.
St. Louis wide receiver Torry Holt contributes a weekly column throughout the 2001 season for ABC Sports Online. Click here to go to Torry's official web site, www.torryholt.com.
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