4B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MONDAY,SEPT.17,2001
Postponed sports leave fans to find free-time fillers
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It will be a dull weekend for Ray Perrenoud, who serves drinks at one of Kansas City's favorite sports bars.
With no sports on television, fewer customers are showing up. With no NFL games yesterday, there was no point, it turns out, for him to arrange to have the dav off.
"Maybe I'll get caught up on some work around the house," Perrenoud said. "It's going to be different, that's for sure."
"It's going to be a difficult weekend," said Joe Fisher, who has season tickets for both the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.
People who would normally be squeezing into stadium seats or settling comfortably in front of the TV to watch their favorite teams now find themselves with a lot more spare time than they asked for.
The Chiefs were supposed to be in Seattle yesterday. The Royals would have been in Detroit.
"I hated to see them cancel the PGA golf tournament in St. Louis, too. I was planning to watch that along with the Chiefs and Royals," Fisher said.
"But I'll get by. It's a small enough sacrifice to make when you think about all that others are sacrificing."
The University of Kansas was scheduled play at home against Wyoming.
"Sports just isn't relevant right now. Until this shakes out and we gain confidence in our security, things won't get back to normal." Gary Stanton
No.12 Kansas State would have drawn more than 50,000 to its home opener a gain st Louisiana Tech
Gary Stanton Kansas City resident
"If they were playing, I would have been at the K. State game," said Wayne Ryder, an office worker from Overland Park. "We'd be there tailgating and having fun."
Most people seemed to understand why their games were not being played.
Kansas City resident Gary Stanton said he would be like most and follow the current events.
"I'm a sports fan but I view the world events and this country as more important. People need to focus more on other priorities." Stanton said. "Sports just isn't relevant right now. Until this shakes out and we gain confidence in our security, things won't get back to normal."
"You can see the tension on their faces. It's been a week like none other," he said.
Brad Newland, head golf professional at the National Golf Club of Kansas City, has noticed a considerable drop in players on the private course.
As soon as he heard of the terrorist attacks Tuesday morning, Newland called his grandfather, John Buckley, a Marine veteran of World War II who helped train the first President Bush as a combat pilot.
"He said, "The world just changed," Newland said. "He said nothing would ever be the same. And he's a man who has seen a lot of change in his life."
Admiral's Cup played in memoriam
The Associated Press
BUZZARDS BAY Mass.
BUZZARDS BAY, Mass.
— The bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" at the 50-yard line while an airplane hummed overhead. Then it passed and a white seagull soared across the bright blue sky.
At each end of the grass field, football players stood silently, helmets under their arms. The game was just a few minutes away.
Massachusetts Maritime Academy vs. Maine Maritime Academy, two military schools playing for the Admiral's Cup.
"I associate this game with the United States of America," said Massachusetts Maritime coach Joe Domingos, a native of the Azores Islands near Portugal. "As an immigrant, that's what I wanted to do when I was young: play football."
John "Jay" Corcoran, class of 1979, played basketball for Massachusetts Maritime. Along with their game programs, fans clutched flyers with his picture.
Corcoran was on United Airlines flight 175 from
His good friend, Mike Saganey, planned to be on the plane but chose a less expensive flight. His plane was diverted to Buffalo, N.Y., where Saganey learned his friend's fate.
Boston when it crashed into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning. The father of two teen-agers, he was headed to Los Angeles to work on a container ship going to the Far East.
"Jay and I were supposed to spend Tuesday night in L.A.," said Saganey, 46, of Weymouth, who spent the past seven years as first engineer on an oil tanker.
Before Saturday's game on this campus, near the Bourne Bridge at the entrance to Cape Cod, one friend after another hugged him tightly as he stood on the bare, metal bleachers. Some cried.
The home fans roared in the second quarter when David Burrill raced 80 yards up the right side for a touchdown. When an official ruled that Curtis Brown had
"I think the game should be played," he said. "Get on with normal lives."
Massachusetts Maritime won 28-7. Burrill set a school record with 315 yards rushing just three weeks after walking around the World Trade Center on his first visit to New York.
caught a low pass for Maine Maritime before it hit the ground, a fan bellowed, "What are you, blind?"
After the game, Domigos said his players "were very concerned about what happened, but we were all focused on the game."
Bob Corradi, athletic director at Massachusetts Maritime, said the decision to play was easy after he talked with officials at Maine Maritime.
Throughout the country, Division I games were postponed. But this was Division III, where players compete without scholarships for the love of the game.
"Being a military college, and the president of the United States said they wanted to return to normalcy, we decided to do exactly that," Corradi said. "We're going to play football, but we won't forget."
land-based engineers, others work on commercial ships. And others become commissioned officers in the Army, Navy, Marines or Coast Guard.
Some graduates become
Two Maine Maritime players had more than football to worry about.
They're on call with the National Guard.
Mariners co-captain Jerrad Murray said it was tough coping with the tragedy early in the week.
"As a team, we decided we need to stick together to get through it all," he said.
Saturday was homecoming day. Behind one end zone, Cape Cod Canal shimmered from the sunlight. Behind the other was Buttermilk Bay. Before the game, there was a moment of silence. Members of past classes stood behind the band as it played the National Anthem. One man in a group of five held a blue sign with white numbers, "1941."
In the stands, 82-year-old Lee Frank remembered where he was when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
"I was building P-47s for
Republic Aviation in Long Island," he said, leaning on a cane that helps support two artificial knees. "Then I enlisted in the Signal Corps and served in the Pacific theater.
"The World Trade Center is worse than Pearl Harbor. How can you fight fanatics who know that they're going to die?" said Frank, an avid fan who felt the game should be played.
Just then, Massachusetts Maritime players ran onto the field between lines of their classmates who wore dress uniforms — white shirts and dark blue pants.
Fullback Matt Desmond led the charge, waving a small American flag.
"My idea. No one knew about it," he said. "I went to a vigil last night. It meant a lot to me."
With 36 seconds left in the third quarter, Desmond scored on a 1-yard run.
The crowd cheered for the touchdown.
The band played "Anchors Aweigh."
Fans find diversions in football's absence
Across country stadiums stood empty
empty
The Associated Press
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — At the Purple Porpoise, a popular restaurant across the street from The Swamp, two guys drank beer at the bar while a Florida student, Kathleen Powell, sat a few seats down with her head buried in a book.
Powell was the waitress.
"Normally on a football Saturday, you can't get a table in here," she said, shrugging as she looked at 35 wooden tables and booths, all empty. "Today, it's different."
Such was life Saturday in Gainesville, Fla., where one of the weekend's biggest games — No. 2 Florida vs.
No. 8 Tennessee — was supposed to take place. Gainesville wasn't the only
college-football ghost town.
From Norman to Madison, and from Albuquerque to Tallahassee, stadiums were dark as all major colleges postponed or canceled games in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist tragedies in New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C.
"It's real eerie around here," said Don Fitch of Ann Arbor, Mich., where the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines were supposed to play Western Michigan.
At Ohio State, 15,000 fans — about 85,000 fewer than normal — filed into Ohio Stadium to pay tribute to the country's dead and missing. At a tribute in Clemson, S.C., it was flag-carrying ROTC cadets who made the traditional run down the hill at
Plans all around the country changed, as the absence of college football — a tradition-filled rite of passage on any autumn Saturday — left a void in America's schedule.
Memorial Stadium, not football players. In Champaign, Ill., about 7,000 fans went to a ceremony that took the place of the Louisville-Illinois game.
"I cried, because for the first time, I understood what it is to be an American," Illinois senior Eamon Kelly said.
For an actual football game, the only option in the entire state of Florida was at tiny Jacksonville University, where the Division I-AA Dolphins defeated Moorehead State. 39-27.
Two other Division I-AA games stayed on the schedule: Wisconsin-Eau Claire defeated Valparaiso 31-9, while Southwest Missouri State played at Southeast Missouri later Saturday.
Before the Jacksonville game, the teams and about 1,000 fans observed a moment of silence, followed by the playing of taps, the singing of "God Bless America" and the national anthem.
In Manhattan — nicknamed The Little Apple — No.12 Kansas State was supposed to play Louisiana Tech.
The sidewalks were nearly empty near the stadium. Outside the Wildcat Souvenir Shop sat a big sign that screamed, "Yes, We're Open," but the doors were locked.
Flags flew at half-staff in front of fraternity and sorority houses near rain-soaked Memorial Stadium, where defending national champion Oklahoma was supposed to play Tulsa.
The display windows at a souvenir shop overflowed with OU hats, T-shirts, sweat shirts and other goods. Inside, owner Grover Ozmun rearranged a few shirts in his empty store.
"I've been cooped up for two or three days, emotions have run high," said Jack Leonard, who had planned to go Tallahassee to watch No. 6 Florida State play No. 10 Georgia Tech. "I think it's time to play the game. This will take things off the minds of a lot of people."
"I don't think anybody wants to play football while they're looking for bodies," Ozmun said.
This was arguably the biggest pigskin weekend of the year in Albuquerque, where New Mexico State and New Mexico were set to renew their annual rivalry Saturday.
Lobos fan Bill Duffey and about 30 friends gathered in the parking lot outside empty University Stadium, had a few drinks and grilled their traditional green chili hamburgers.
"We just thought it would be a good time to get friends together and put this week behind us," Duffey said.
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