8 minutes and 46 seconds
Sports means something different to everyone. Everyone has their own favorite team, their own memories of “where I was when…”, and that’s what makes sports great. No one person will feel the same about any one sporting event. We relate sports to our own lives, in our own way. It’s that uniqueness of experiences that brings all sports fans together, breaks down all barriers; white or black or brown, male or female, rich or poor, young or old — we are just sports fans.
Each year, we at GoingFor2, give our writers a chance to share that experience, that emotion, that ‘one thing’ that stood out above all else in the past year. The sports story that mattered to them — big or small. The following is one such story. Enjoy…
As a sports fan, I am aware of the sacred place numbers are held:
- 21 Roberto Clemente
- 42 Jackie Robinson
- 23 Michael Jordan
- 99 Wayne Gretzky
- 43 Richard Petty
- 18 Peyton Manning
Numbers that will always be associated with a specific player or a specific time invoking a specific feeling.
On May 25, 2020, a new number gained relevance in our consciousness, eight minutes and 46 seconds.
Lisa Owens made of list of the things you can do in eight minutes and 46 seconds. Some of those things are:
- You can walk 0.44 miles at three miles per hour
- You can run 0.88 miles at six miles an hour
- You can swim eight to nine freestyle laps in an Olympic size pool
- You can take somewhere between 105 and 175 breaths
- You can feel your heart beating somewhere between 526 and 1052 times
- You can kneel on a man’s neck
- You can ignore a man whispering for his Mama
- You can stop a man’s breath
- You can take a life
- You can incite a Movement
George Floyd Jr. was someone’s father and someone’s son. Floyd was 46-years young. He played sports, at six-foot-seven he was a star basketball and football player in high school, but never at the professional level. Floyd had been arrested and served his time in prison. Floyd’s move to Minneapolis was to get a fresh start, where he worked as a truck driver and a bouncer.
And on May 25, 2020, he was detained for allegedly attempting to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a store for cigarettes. For attempting to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, he was handcuffed and originally after resisting was placed in a police car. The officer removed Floyd from the car, Floyd hit the ground, face down still handcuffed. As he was lying face down on the ground a police officer, with one hand in his pants pocket, knelt on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. (Now perhaps it was seven minutes and 46 seconds or maybe it was nine minutes, the number we know is eight minutes and 46 seconds). We do know that at least a minute of the time was after Floyd became unresponsive.
THE AFTERMATH
When Major League Soccer returned to play the players stood collectively and silent for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
French legend and now Montreal Impact head coach Thierry Henry took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds before the game against the New England Revolution.
Dodger Stadium turned on their lights for eight minutes and 46 seconds, while members of the Purdue football program took part in a march and kneeled on the steps of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
The PGA Tour at the Colonial in Texas left the 8:46 a.m. tee time vacant and the University of Missouri players marched from the MU Columns to the columns of the Boone County Courthouse and knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
These were just a few of the many responses collegiate and professional sports took.
Athletes spoke up. United by a number that invoked a specific universal feeling of horror. They tweeted, they posted and they brought forth a sense of universal indignation.
Sports unite us regardless of our skin tone, religious affiliation or gender. We all talk the same language when we discuss sports. We are united by the same passion even though we may cheer for different teams.
TOGETHER
The sports world collectively took notice. It wasn’t just black athletes it was athletes. It wasn’t just American athletes it was Global. Sports unite us. For eight minutes and 46 seconds, we watched the life of George Floyd fade away. We heard with his last breath call to his mother. And together we established a new sacred number in our lexicon of importance and remembrance.
Together we are better. Sports understands this. Teams rely on this. And now we know. We know that no matter what team you cheer for, what athlete you idolize, eight minutes and 46 seconds is a number that defines us all. Together.
Remember, “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eye and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.”–Robert F. Kennedy
It only takes eight minutes and 46 seconds.
