By Howard Fendrich
The Associated Press
General management sophomore Chesare Hill is wondering what Saturday will be like without the scheduled football game.
After announcing Wednesday the home game against Missouri was on, MSU and Missouri officials decided to cancel the game Thursday, because of unusual travel logistics following the terrorist attack Tuesday.
Now Hill, and many others in the MSU community, are left wondering if the cancellations are the best thing for a wounded country.
“I know that (MSU) President (M. Peter) McPherson and most of MSU wants to sustain the normality here at the university,” she said. “The cancellation is unfortunate, because it’s still a way the terrorists indirectly put a halt into our daily routines, even though we aren’t in New York or Washington, D.C.”
But Spartans - past and present - seem to agree the game is not a top priority after the tragedy.
“This is definitely a minor issue compared to the tragedies of the past week,” elementary education junior Sarah Masternick said. “The cancellation is disappointing, but more than totally understandable.”
Mike Kivisto, a 1994 MSU graduate living in Chicago, said he was considering coming to East Lansing for the Missouri game because it wasn’t going to be shown on TV. And although football was wiped off his weekend planner, he thinks it’s the right decision.
“I thought games across the country should be postponed,” he said. “Sports, concerts and things like that are celebrations and this is not the time to celebrate. We need to take a good amount of time to mourn this and when sports return next week, it will be a great event.”
In addition to the throngs of fans and tailgaters, the postponement also throws a kink into the plans of the Spartan Marching Band, which was scheduled to host its annual alumni show this Saturday.
“With so many alumni coming in from all over the country, we don’t know if or when we’ll be able to reschedule it,” band president Mike Emerson said.
“There’s pretty much mixed feelings in the band, from the people I talked to. About half think this is a pain and we should go on with it because life goes on. But the other half see it as kind of nice to get a break.”
But personally, Emerson said he agreed with the decision to shift the game.
“Although it’s true that life goes on, I think it’s cool that we’re respecting what happened and following a lot of other colleges that postponed their games,” the instrumental music senior said.
By Thursday night, all NCAA Division I-A football games had been called off.
The announcement also squashed telecommunication freshman Beckett Fabbie’s Saturday plans. Fabbie is a member of Spartans for a Rape-Free Campus and she planned to participate in a group demonstration outside of the football stadium.
“Obviously, we understand why (the game is) being postponed and we’re all saddened by what happened,” She said. “This doesn’t let the terrorists take over - it’s out of respect for the victims.
“(The postponement) won’t affect us too much. We’re still going to go on with our cause and we’ll be at the next home football game and the next (MSU) Board (of Trustees) meeting.”
