A flag waves from a videographer's camera as Adam Dunn speaks to the media at the Reds' practice Saturday. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        The biggest difference in the Reds' clubhouse was the relative quiet.That's because Pete Harnisch, usually the most vocal guy in the room, was virtually silent.

        That's understandable. Tuesday's terrorist attacks hit very close to home for Harnisch. He grew up in Commack, N.Y., and attended college at Fordham, in the Bronx.

        His older brother, Jim, is a New York city police officer. His brother was safe, but Pete knew people lost in the World Trade Center attack.

        “More than I want to think about,” he said. “I really don't want to talk about it ... maybe in a couple of days.”

        Baseball is seen as a diversion — something to help take American minds off the tragedy. Hopefully, that will be the case Monday when baseball resumes. The Reds don't play again until Tues day when the Chicago Cubs come to town.

A construction worker at Great American Ball Park salutes Ken Griffey Jr. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        But Danny Graves used Saturday's workout as a chance to return to some semblance of routine.

        “My family's not here (in Cincinnati),” he said. “So I've been watching TV all day. It's very depressing ... with no family here, you don't sleep. You cry by yourself.

        “So it's nice to be back in the clubhouse. These guys are like family. It'll give us a chance to laugh, or maybe at least smile.”

        The Reds went through a pretty extensive day. They took infield and batting practice for nearly an hour, then played 12 innings of an intrasquad game to allow all the pitchers to get work.

        They even used a crew of college umpires.

        Manager Bob Boone participated in the prayer service Friday on Fountain Square.

        “It was awesome,” he said. “It was jammed with people.”

        Saturday, no one was quite ready to turn the page, but no one had participated in any baseball activities since Monday, so it was time to get some work in.

        “President Bush said we have to get on with our lives,” Boone said. “We're in the entertainment business. This is our lives.”

        But the events of Tuesday made it clear sports aren't life and death.

        “It showed sports are meaningless,” Graves said. “The focus right now is on what happened in New York and Washington. I haven't thought about baseball. I couldn't care less about baseball. I couldn't go out and play a game today.”

        There has been a lot of debate the last few days about when was the right time to resume play.

        “I heard a lot of that,” Barry Larkin said. “I don't know if there's ever an appropriate time. But it's important to move forward. If we can give people something to cheer about or something to vent their frustrations over, that might be good.”

        That's what the players are hoping.

        “It certainly puts your job in perspective,” Aaron Boone said. “Sports in the coming days and weeks can be an outlet, an opportunity for people to escape.”

        Larkin agreed.

        “The tragedy puts baseball into perspective,” he said. “It's very trivial compared to what really matters. But it obviously has its place. One of the objectives to the terrorist attacks was to uproot society. We've got to get back to some kind of normalcy.”

        The Reds tried to do that Saturday.

Reds get back on the field for practice DAUGHERTY: Oh say, can you sing? Then do it Bowden distances himself from O's GM rumors Hamilton gets first start Wednesday

SULLIVAN: Being free has its price
High School Insider
Cincinnati high school highlights
Cincinnati high school results
N.Ky. high school results
Kalamazoo 41, Mount St. Joseph 18
Thomas More 28, Hanover 21
Prep Football Page
Reading's Wynn out for 4 weeks
St. X defense steps up, shuts out Bethlehem Catholic
Dixie Heights 49, Scott 16
Gramstad power behind Highlands' 42-16 romp
Henry County 18, Newport 12 (OT)
Holy Cross 18, Bardstown Bethlehem 6
Lloyd 34, Mercer County 28
North College Hill 26, Summit CD 6
Simon Kenton 52, Dayton 7
Turnovers, Rebels' Bowling doom Bulldogs
Wilson leads CHCA past Cin. CD

• Return to Reds front page...