Sports have been an important part of the lives of Americans for at least three or four generations now, but the last five years have seen them take on new meaning.

With the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks coming up Monday, as well as the already-passed first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it seems sports have become even more important during that time period.

Sports provided the perfect diversion following the attacks five years ago, as the New York Yankees suddenly became America&8217;s team and the red, white and blue-clad New England Patriots made a miracle run to the Super Bowl XXXVI championship.

It was a strange time in America, and a lot has changed since then &8212; much of it not for the better &8212; but one thing that hasn&8217;t changed is that we as Americans will never be too afraid to come together in a spirit of fellowship and watch sports, be it at the stadium, at a bar or at home with friends.

The aftermath of Katrina evoked many of those same feelings, even if it was a bit more localized.

LSU, the Saints, Tulane, Southern Miss and countless high schools from the Mississippi coast and southern Louisiana became everyone&8217;s favorite teams. The hardships many teams and players went through during the first six months are almost unimaginable for someone who wasn&8217;t there at the time, but the entire nation got behind those teams from the very beginning.

Who could possibly forget the weekend LSU traveled to Arizona State and rallied for a miraculous win, followed by the Saints&8217; rousing victory over Carolina the following day? While the Saints&8217; season fell apart, LSU took up the mantle of Louisiana and put together something quite inspiring.

Players from the New Orleans area scattered throughout the nation as clean up commenced, and those players provided plenty of great stories.

I covered one young man from New Orleans who somehow wound up in Cullman, Ala., a town about 60 miles north of Birmingham. He helped lead the football and basketball teams to strong finishes, and got a college scholarship.

We all know the story of Bastrop High School in Bastrop, La., where a number of Katrina evacuees helped lead the school to its first title in 78 years.

Even if that title is tainted by the actions of the Bastrop coaches, what those kids did will always be something they can be proud of. They&8217;re innocent in my book.

And that is what this is really all about. Wars, natural disasters and other tragedies will always happen, but the last five years have shown that no matter how bad things get, we still care enough to fork over the ridiculous sums of money associated with college and professional sports; or just the stadium seat and ticket needed to enjoy our young men and women in prep sports.

Why do we love sports so much? The world may never know.

But I don&8217;t know where we&8217;d be right now without them.

Tim Cottrell is the sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by phone at 601-445-3632 or by e-mail at

tim.cottrell@natchezdemocrat.com

.