By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The world of sports has come to a sudden halt in response to the
tragic events that took place on the East Coast earlier today.
In a statement, UCLA announced that it has cancelled weekend
games for women’s volleyball, men’s water polo and
men’s soccer. An announcement on the status of
Saturday’s football game against Arizona State is expected
after a Pac-10 conference call later today.
The cancelled games will be rescheduled at a later date.
“I think it’s unfortunate that we had such a
tragedy,” UCLA volleyball head coach Andy Banachowski said.
“It’s appropriate for us to not play this weekend as
the nation kind of takes in the impact of what has
occurred.”
Banachowski noted that the players were visibly shaken before
practice, so a decision was made to cancel today’s and
Wednesday’s practice with a hope of returning to a regular
routine later in the week.
No announcements will be made by the Pac-10 until after a 4 p.m.
PST telephone meeting with representatives from all the schools,
said Jim Muldoon, assistant commissioner of public relations for
the Pac-10.
Muldoon points out that because of all the factors involved with
college football ““ including economic concerns ““
it’s best to reach a decision of such magnitude as a
group.
“An institution, I think, could cancel anything it wished
to cancel, but it makes some sense to talk about this as a group
and come up with a course of action that is in the best interest of
all of us,” Muldoon said.
Earlier today the NCAA voiced its thoughts and concerns in a
statement.
“The games themselves are insignificant in the face of
what has happened today,” NCAA president Cedric Dempsey said.
“Our focus is entirely on the safety of student-athletes,
athletics personnel and fans. We urge schools to make sound
decisions about proceeding with contests today and in the coming
days.”
In the professional ranks, all 15 Major League Baseball games
have been cancelled while a decision on the postponement of the
National Football League games may come in the next few days.
According to MLB’s Anaheim Angels vice president of
communications Tim Mead, the Angels and the baseball industry
understand what the priorities are at a time like this and send
their support not only as an organization but also individually as
American citizens.
“We’re very saddened and outraged over what has
happened,” Mead said. “Once this resolves itself (our
priority is) to be as supportive as absolutely possible.
“Certainly we, like I’m sure all the other sports,
college and professional, we’ll do whatever we can to lend
any kind of assistance.”
Mead added that the work stoppage will be dealt with on a daily
basis, and further decisions will be made with the utmost attention
to the crisis on the East Coast.
“Everything that is going on in our country is being
played by ear and we’re just part of that right now,”
Mead said.
With reports from Andrew Borders, Daily Bruin Reporter.