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1995-2000


 
New York City
October 2001

To Play Or Not To Play, That Was The Question
By Tom Kertes

After the terrorist attacks on September 11th, all three active sports leagues took swift action, canceling their games. Their actions, at first glance, were clearly the only thing to do.

At second glance, however, the leagues’ decisions were anything but easy since they had no historic precedent: NFL Games, always played on Sundays, were already in progress on Pearl Harbor Sunday in 1941 and were not stopped. FDR himself encouraged Major League Baseball to go on as scheduled three months later, in order to “lift the national spirit in these troubled times.” And the then-Commissioner, Pete Rozelle, is still reviled in some circles for his controversial decision to go on with the regular NFL schedule just two days after President Kennedy’s assassination.

This time, however, following an intense consultation between NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig – which included some NHL, MLS, and college sports leaders as well on a nationwide conference call – all sports came to an abrupt halt.

“We in the NFL have decided that our priorities for this weekend are to pause, grieve, and reflect,” said Tagliabue.

Football resumed the following weekend (Sept.23), with the league keeping its regular season schedule intact. The Super Bowl is also going to go on at its previously appointed time and place, on February 3rd in New Orleans.

The baseball schedule, resumed on Monday, Sept.17 without the actual loss of any games.

“While I realize the suffering continues, I believe that in the spirit of national recovery and the return to normalcy baseball, as a social institution, can best be helpful by resuming play at the most appropriate time. I believe that time is Monday,” said Selig.

MLS Soccer cancelled 10 late-season games that were never rescheduled. “As we all mourn, I believe it’s appropriate to take some time to acknowledge the nation’s loss and honor the victims and the heroes,” said Commissioner Don Garber.

Sports fans have “voted “ for a pause as well: at Madison Square Garden, the cascading sound of boos stopped the beginning of the third period of a preseason NHL game so the fans could watch President Bush’s speech on the crisis on the huge overhead TV monitor.

Players from all sports have been participating heavily in the nation’s recovery efforts. MLB and its Players Association have created a $ 10 million Disaster Relief Fund to aid victims of the tragedy. The New York Giants went to Ground Zero over the weekend following the tragedy to visit with and encourage rescue workers. Other professional football players by the busloads went into their local communities, holding memorial services, meeting with fans, raking leaves, and planting trees in memory of the victims.

“It is just something our players wanted to do,” said Steelers President Dan Rooney. “They just wanted to do something, anything. We all feel so helpless.” MLS, along with the Women’s Major Soccer League, arranged for a quartet of Benefit Games with all proceeds going to the victims.

 

Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919. Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2001.




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