The events of Sept. 11 will forever be remembered by every American.

And as the opening ceremonies of the 19th Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City showed, we aren’t the only ones who remember.

From the introduction to the lighting of the cauldron by the 1980 men’s Olympic hockey gold medalists, these games have taken on a new persona.

There’s still going to be that competitive fire that’s been the foundation of the games for as long as one can trace it back, but now more than ever, the nations are more unified.

America and perhaps the entire world will never forget the images of the twin towers crashing down upon the Manhattan landscape.

The olympians are here to represent, and win medals for their countries, but they’re also here to show these games can exist during a chaotic time.

That was my feeble attempt to create a NBC-like dramatic introduction to this column. For some better insight on the ceremonies and what these games represent, I’ll send it over to the king of melodramatic sports commentary - Bob Costas.

“On a mountain side in Salt Lake City tonight the 19th Olympic Winter Games will not come with a simple ceremony of innocence,” Costas said during the introduction. “But a ceremony of resonance.”

Thanks Bob.

In previous ceremonies I think people took what the Olympics meant for granted. Instead we enjoyed watching furry mascots with names I can’t pronounce skip and dance around.

These ceremonies seemed to have fewer of those overdone performances, with more focus on unification and patriotism.

Of course with the games being held right here in America, our patriotism gleamed from mountain top to mountain top. But for some reason I don’t think the Germans or the Dutch seemed to mind.

I think this kind of ceremony was exactly what was needed to set the mood for the next 15 days.

I wanted to see the police officer from New York sing “God Bless America,” I wanted to see the live video feed from troops in Afghanistan and I wanted to see the American flag that was buried in the World Trade Center rubble for three days.

I’ll admit I didn’t want to see R. Kelly perform, but his song accompanied with a montage of memorable Olympic moments and that flashy symbolic robe, just kept me interested.

Seeing President George W. Bush sit down with Costas for a one-on-one interview was nice, despite hearing most of his sound bites before. But just to see our leader there in person seemed to give the ceremonies a different feel.

I mean, he was the first U.S. President to attend a Winter Olympic opening ceremony held in the United States.

As I watched the participants of the greatest upset in Olympic history come together one more time to light the torch, I thought, what could be better?

Sure we may have drove the patriotic images into the ground, but who cares. We’re the host and this is another example of showing just how strong this nation is.

As I watched the events on Saturday and saw American speed skater Derek Parra beat his personal best time by 15 seconds and momentarily become the world record holder in the 5,000 meters - I was proud.

As I watched the cross-country skiers maneuver through a beautiful course it had to be pointed out by the broadcaster this was the United States.

I think the Olympics will help people realize it means a little bit more than any other games that have been held before.

The Olympic events are the essence of what competition is supposed to be. Seeing people square off from all over the globe is a pretty amazing feat in itself, but to see it happening in America after such a tragedy makes it even more special.

I’m going to root for every American, but I’m rooting for the competitors the games always create, regardless of who they are. Because every athlete is a little bit American this time.

Ryan Wallace can be reached at wallac89@msu.edu