The sports world was greatly affected by the terrorist attack in New York City on Tuesday.
Major League Baseball postponed all games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and also postponed the games through the weekend.
There is a possibility that the games will be made up after the season was to end on Sept. 30. For the first time, the World Series could go into November.
The sport’s closest division is the National League West, where the top three teams, first- place Arizona Diamondbacks, second-place San Francisco Giants, and third-place Los Angeles Dodgers are each separated by a game and a half.
The Diamondbacks finished their season series with the Giants, but play the Dodgers seven more times, including the final three of the season. The Dodgers are chasing their bitter rivals, who lead the wild card race have six more games against each other.
The playoffs are scheduled to start in three weeks, and with the pending canceling of games, four of the division races could be greatly affected, along with the both wild card races, and Barry Bonds’ chase to break Mark McGwire’s single-season home run record. McGwire had 70 home runs in 1998, and Bonds currently has 63.
The college football season could also be greatly affected with the postponing of all Division 1-A games. The Penn State-Virginia game will be made up Dec. 1.
The Ohio-North Carolina game will be made up Nov. 24, and there hasn’t been a date announced for the make-up of the Texas Tech-UTEP game.
The PAC-10 conference had voted late Tuesday night to postpone all conference scheduled for this weekend.
The Arizona State and No. 12 UCLA game at the Rose Bowl will most likely be rescheduled for Dec. 1. The San Diego State-Ohio State game scheduled in Columbus was the first game that was postponed. The two teams will play Oct. 20.
“We feel that for these two institutions (San Diego State, and Ohio State) this is the right decision at the time,” San Diego State executive director of athletics Rick Bay told ESPN.com.
“We feel fortunate to have an alternative due to the fact that both universities had an open date on Oct. 20.”
The South Eastern Conference (SEC) originally had planned to go ahead and play the games on Saturday, but had decided on Thursday to postpone all of Saturday’s games.
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) also postponed games that involved four of the conference teams.
The college football spotlight would have been on the state of Florida with three huge games involving the three college powerhouses in that state. No. 8 Tennessee visits No. 2 Florida, in their annual season game that, like in years past, costs the loser a shot at the SEC championship, and well as the National Championship. There hasn’t been a make-up game announced.
The game between No. 13 Washington at No. 1 Miami and will be made up on Nov. 24. Washington defeated Miami last season 34-29 in Seattle costing the Hurricanes a shot at the national championship. The game between Notre Dame, and Purdue will be made up on Dec. 1. No date has been set for game between No. 11 Georgia Tech and No. 5 Florida State.
The two biggest factors in the decision not to play the games were dictated by what the rest of the sports world has done, mainly the NFL. Like the NFL, there were logistical problems in getting the teams, and personal to the locations.
There was a much-heated debate whether or not the NFL would play the games scheduled for week two, a topic that hasn’t come up since the NFL played games two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Commissioner Pete Rozelle said that was the worst decision he made in his 29 years as the commissioner of the NFL. With that in mind, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue decided Thursday morning that there will be no games played this weekend. This is the first non-strike postponement of games since Kennedy was assassinated.
New York Giants owner, Wellington Mara, and league official’s said that there were three possible options:
?Wild-Card games would be canceled, and this week’s games would be played on wild-card Saturday, Jan. 6. That would put eight teams instead of 12 in the playoffs. The teams would be the six division winners, and one wild-card team from each conference.
?Juggle bye weeks a 16-game schedule and leave the playoffs the same. This is seems to be the least likely option.
?Play a 15-game schedule except for the San Diego Charges, who will play 16 games because they have a bye scheduled for this week. The players would lose a weeks worth of pay, something that Mara, and Gene Washington, NFL players association executive director both agreed on.
The NFL will go back to their normal schedule on Sept. 23.
The postponing of sporting events is not the biggest loss to the sporting world.
Two Los Angeles Kings scouts were killed in the terrorist attack Tuesday. Garnet “Ace” Bailey, director of pro scouting for the Kings, and Mark Bavis, an amateur scout for the Kings were aboard United Airlines flight 175, the second plane to hit the World Trade Center. Bailey and Bavis were heading back to L.A. for the start of training camp for the Kings, held in El Segundo.
Bailey, 53, won two Stanley Cups as a player for the Boston Bruins in 1970, and ’72.
He was entering his 33rd season in the NHL as a player or scout. This would have been his eighth season as a scout for the Kings.