Most sports grind to a halt

Professional and major college sports will shut down this weekend, following the lead of the NFL that said America needed time to mourn and reflect on this week's "horrific acts of terrorism."

Major league baseball, several auto racing circuits, college football conferences, the NHL and the LPGA all canceled competition.

"We understand those individuals in sports who want to play this weekend. We also can empathize with those who want to take the weekend off and resume their personal lives and professional careers next week," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Thursday in a statement. "We strongly believe that the latter course of action is the right decision for the NFL."

Some colleges and auto racing had wanted to play on, hoping to "bring our people together," but those decisions were reversed in many cases.

And after the NFL announced that it would not be playing on Sunday and Monday, a flurry of cancellations and postponements quickly followed.

Baseball postponed all games through Sunday. It will resume play the following day.

Commissioner Bud Selig said all players will wear American flags on their uniforms for the rest of the season, and the Stars and Stripes will be given to fans at all games Monday.

"The more I thought about it, I couldn't rationalize starting before Monday," he said.

Season extended

Baseball will make up all the games by extending the regular season, which had been scheduled to end Sept. 30. The games will be rescheduled for the week of Oct. 1.

The Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern conferences reversed field and postponed all of their college football games a day after announcing its teams would play. Among the games postponed were Missouri at Michigan State and Louisville at Illinois.

The three leagues joined the Atlantic Coast, Big East and Pac-10 conferences in calling off the games, meaning there will be no major-college football Saturday.

There were 116 games involving Division I-A and I-AA teams scheduled for this weekend, and it appeared only a handful -- if any -- would be played.

"There was real anxiety as the week went on on the part of our football team about traveling by air," said Bowling Green athletic director Paul Krebs, whose school pulled out of a game at South Carolina a few hours before the SEC reversed course and called off its games.

The NASCAR race in Loudon, N.H., was rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 23 -- the day after Thanksgiving.

"It was NASCAR's decision, but we agreed with them 100 percent," track owner Bob Bahre said.

The Indy Racing League's season-ending race and a NASCAR trucks race scheduled this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway were postponed for three weeks. The decision to delay the races came a day after plans were made to run the races as scheduled without qualifying sessions.

The NFL made its decision following talks with league owners, union leaders and the White House. It was the first time in the league's history that it called off games for a reason other than a strike.

NFL contemplates

A decision on whether to reschedule this weekend's games or play a 15-game regular season schedule is under consideration and will be announced as soon as possible, the NFL said.

The Bush administration provided only information, not a recommendation, said administration spokeswoman Anne Womack. Aides to President Bush kept league officials informed about such things as major memorial services that might conflict with games.

"We asked them to use their best judgment about whether to proceed," Womack said.

Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon left leagues struggling with how to get back to business without offending a nation grieving its dead.

"You can't have a stadium full of people having fun," St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Fernando Vina said, "because that's not what this is about now."

With that sentiment in mind, baseball has put off 91 games to raise the possibility of World Series games being held in November for the first time. The postponements were the most for the national pastime since World War I.

Barry Bonds' pursuit of 70 homers, Roger Clemens' try for the first 20-1 start by a pitcher, and the pennant races were all put on hold with 2 1/2 weeks to go in the regular season.

Tagliabue was well aware of the decision by predecessor Pete Rozelle to go ahead with games two days after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. The late Rozelle long regretted that choice.

"I made the decision," Rozelle once said. "In retrospect, I wish I hadn't."