Yet the attacks touched almost every American on a personal level, and those in the sports world were not immune. From the coach's son who escaped the burning towers to the skier whose cousin died in one of the plane crashes to the baseball player whose son was born that day, Sept. 11 lives on in the hearts of many athletes in a very intimate way.

COACH'S SON: Tim Coughlin still makes the drive from New Jersey into Manhattan every weekday for work. It never feels routine.

"I don't relax until the end of the day, when I'm in the car, through the tunnel and close to home," Coughlin said. "I know this is still a big-time target. I haven't relaxed in five years."

Coughlin's father, Tom Coughlin, was coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars at the time of the attacks. They happened on a Tuesday, game plan day, the busiest day in an NFL coach's workweek.

There Coughlin was that day, on the cell phone with Tim, trying to coach him out of the second tower that got hit. Tim made it out safely. But his life was forever changed.

He thinks about moving away from the hustle and bustle and memories of New York someday. But at 34, and still an up-and-comer in the bond trading business, Coughlin can't yet call all his shots. He is now closer to family, ever since his father moved back to the area to coach the Giants.

Tim said Tom Coughlin was already well attuned to his family before the terrorist attacks. It's an image few outside the coach's inner circle see. But Sept. 11 sharpened the focus a bit.

"I think he's able to look out beyond a little bit better. Not a ton. But without a doubt, there were some sensitivities created around the circumstance," Tim Coughlin said. "He realized how close this came to being a terrible tragedy for his family."