A day has passed since the terrible news of Sunday morning’s shooting at Pulse Night Club, a gay bar just south of Downtown Orlando. The city continues to release the names of the 49 dead and many of the 53 wounded are reportedly recovering at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
There is still a lot of mourning and a lot of grieving to come as this community heals. The tremendous amount of support from throughout the world and within the city has been incredible. It has shown the strength of the many to respond with kindness against the evil acts of a vastly small minority.
There will be time in the coming days to sort through why this happened and debate what we as a society can do to prevent this. The emotions range all over the board.
As the stages of grieving move on, there will be demands for more action. The city though has simply looked inward and embraced each other.
Orlando athletes and former Orlando athletes are engaged in their community and asking for something to be done. The teams are going quiet and doing what they can both to provide a distraction and be there for the community.
Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins was on Open Mike with Mike Bianchi on 96.9 FM The Game this morning to discuss his feelings as an Orlando resident, what the Magic are doing and how sports can help heal:
Orlando Magic players and community members were reportedly at blood banks helping out where they could.
According to a witness that WESH interviewed, apparently the gunman was in the club earlier last night with a drink in his hand, normal.
— Adam Papageorgiou (@PapageorgiouMBO) June 12, 2016
Orlando City will play its two games this week — a Wednesday U.S. Open Cup game at Jacksonville and Saturday’s game against San Jose, the first major sporting event in Orlando since the tragedy.
Orlando City said in an open letter to its fans after sending its thoughts and prayers to the victims :
“Sports should be a unifier and a place where people can come together to celebrate all that is good in life. With this in our minds, we will prepare for a home game on Saturday. We believe that we can use that game as a means of uniting our community and bringing our friends together to help heal Orlando. We will announce our plans tomorrow for Saturday’s game, but rest assured that we are working with all the community’s sports teams to ensure that we show the world just how strong and resilient our community is.”
Orlando City said it will not conduct its normal advertising campaigns for its teams this week, in respect to the victims and the community that is grieving.
There are various responses. Plenty of people want politicians to do something.
Former Orlando Solar Bears goalie Garrett Sparks took to Twitter to mourn those whom the city have lost and urge for some form of change. He was clearly deeply effected by the loss felt by his former home:
My heart breaks for the city of Orlando, the victims & their loved ones, who are forever impacted by this cowardly act of domestic terrorism
— Garret Sparks (@GSparks40) June 12, 2016
Orlando was my home. It is a peaceful, beautiful & tolerant city. There is no excuse for this to happen. America has a gun problem #WakeUp
— Garret Sparks (@GSparks40) June 12, 2016
Orlando clearly has a hold still on those who have lived and played here. It is a tight-knit community still coming into its own.
This is something Sparks knows. This is something a former player like John Amaechi knows. This is something many former Orlando sports players know:
It is a welcoming community, making this loss all the worse. It will open its arms again.
The mourning process will continue. The pain will lessen. Life will return to normal. And the city will be stronger for coming through this pain together.
