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**DB:** Well it is obviously a very solemn day here as it is all over the United States with the great tragedy yesterday. I think we have all been affected either directly or indirectly by what happened, just a great, great tragedy. I would like to express an appreciation and admiration for the real heroes in this situation. Those being the firemen and policemen, paramedics and so on that selflessly gave their lives to try and save others. You know so many times we as athletes are held up as heroes to be admired, but the true heroes are the people that are willing to risk their lives, and in this case give there lives, in order to save other citizens.
Q: Do you have any second thoughts or thoughts at all about playing this weekend?
DB: I don't know what is going to happen and I'll just say that we're preparing to play a game and we will be respectful and mindful of whatever decision is made.
Q: Would you want to play, if you were the commissioner?
DB: I am not in a position to give an opinion on that.
Q: How do you feel about flying out of Logan?
DB: Like I say, if there is a game we will play.
Q: How do you feel about being here at work?
DB: It's…I think, my first inclination and my first instinct in this kind of a situation is I want to be around my family and that was my first reaction yesterday. I think all of us, especially those of us who don't live with their parents, your first instinct is that of protection, to want be close to your family and keep your loved ones close to you. But that being said, we are back here today and going forward.
Q: Are your boys too young to talk about this?
DB: Right, yeah. Stu was curious about what had happened, but he is obviously not near old enough to understand or have any concept of the magnitude of what's happened.
Q: How old is he now?
DB: Stu's three. He'll be four in another month.
Q: Do you ever think about the fact that you are an athlete, a public figure, and in a situation like this people can become targets?
DB: No. You know we are in a very visible profession, but at the same time we are also protected as such. There are greater security measures surrounding our team and the league as a whole. Like I said, is it a concern? At some levels, yes it is but at the same time there are greater precautions taken to protect us because of our visibility.
Q: Do you know anybody in New York or Washington, DC?
DB: Yeah I have one friend that works in Manhattan and I got a call from him yesterday afternoon and he was ok. So that was…my first thought was, selfishly I was relieved that none of my immediate family was close, but secondly was to think of friends and people close to me that were around that area and to try and get a hold of them and touch base with them. And thankfully my one close friend who was there got a hold of me last night and he was fine.
Q: Does he work at the World Trade Center?
DB: No, not at the World Trade Center but he works in Manhattan.
Q: You still have to prepare for a game and quarterback requires a great deal of preparation, how do you or can you focus?
DB: I guess I'd put it this way, when there is an act of terrorism the greatest effect of that is, just what it says, the terror and the intention is to immobilize people and bring everything to a stand still and I think that one part of the reaction to that is to go forward while being mindful of the situation and doing whatever we can in whatever small way to help. At the same time, one of the things that has to happen is that people have to continue to act. You can't be frozen by terror, you have to continue to go forward whether you are involved directly in the relief and rebuilding effort or you are involved in your own day-to-day life. I think one of the things that we all have to do is that we all have to continue to act. We can't be frozen whether or not we are acting directly to help the situation or whether we are acting indirectly by starting to pick up the pieces and move forward in our own lives. So I guess the simple answer to your question is that while being mindful of the situation we also have to be able to press forward.
Q: Does something like this put sports into perspective and show how small it is?
DB: Oh there is no question. There is absolutely no question. It's like I say so many times and all the time, there's so much attention given to what we do and we are put up on a pedestal and when something like this happens I think it helps everybody to realize what I think I already realize and what most of the athletes realize is that what we are doing, we're competing, we're doing our very best but that ultimately we are playing a game and the real heroes are people that are out there putting their lives on the line and those are the people that should be held up as examples to our young people.
Q: Is part of this week going to be you, the players, talking amongst yourselves?
DB: Yeah, there have been extensive conversations between the players this morning and guys that were in yesterday, about what's happening and there are a lot of young people on our team and guys, most of us with the exception of the coaching staff, haven't been through anything that was anywhere close to this. So there have been a lot of conversation and a lot of sharing of ideas and beliefs and so on about those things. The other thing is there are a ton of guys with young families so there is obviously a great deal of concern from that standpoint about where this world is headed.
Q: Is it your understanding that some of your teammates may be directly affected by this?
DB: Yeah. I think that all of us will be affected, but I know that there are some guys on the team that are more directly affected than others.
Q: You must feel like everybody else as you watch it on TV and wish there were something you could do, but there is nothing you can do?
DB: Like I said, the one thing we can do if we are not directly involved in the relief effort is to push forward in our own lives and help to start in the rebuilding process by moving forward and acting in whatever way we can
