Taunting the opponent at a sporting event is normal. It’s done in good fun — nothing personal, no direct harm intended.

Everyone does it.

When an opponent takes the field, the home team’s fans need to let them know where they are.

But, like with everything in life, there are exceptions.

This is one of those times.

The team taking the field on Saturday isn’t your average team — it’s “”The Military College of South Carolina,”” a service school training the men and women who will one day be defending our country.

And Saturday isn’t your average game day — it’s the nine-year anniversary of Sept. 11, one of the most horrific days in our nation’s history.

I, along with every fellow resident of the New York City area, remember the feeling of that day and the rest of 2001 like it was yesterday.  

It was utter sadness.

People were afraid to move, afraid to speak. A city that was generally booming with energy and noise had suddenly become a ghost town.

Why did this happen? What will happen next?

Just thinking about it now, nine whole years after it happened, sends chills up my spine.

Whether you agree with the fact that our country has been at war since then is up to you, but you can’t deny the gratitude we all feel for the men and women who have been defending us since that terrible day.

The players for The Citadel will one day be among those heroes who risk their lives for us.

So when the players donning blue and white emerge out of the visitor locker room shortly before kickoff on Saturday, they shouldn’t be treated the way Jeremiah Masoli and the Oregon Ducks were last year or the way Steven Threet and the Arizona State Sun Devils will surely be treated when they take the field on Dec. 2.

The fans in the ZonaZoo shouldn’t curse  The Citadel Bulldogs, boo them or even stay silent.

The ZonaZoo should cheer them.

Football is a game of competition and rivalries. It’s a cutthroat sport that requires doing whatever it takes to gain the advantage, and the fans adhere to that philosophy.

But sometimes life is bigger than sports. As was the case on the day the towers went down, we weren’t divided between Wildcats, Bulldogs, Ducks or Sun Devils.

We were Americans.

So when The Citadel takes the field tomorrow, cheer them on and thank them for what they’re doing — because nine years later we still haven’t forgotten, and we still are Americans.