A Global Timeout

It is Friday in Iran and a soccer stadium in Tehran has gone silent. For 60 seconds, players, coaches, officials and 60,000 spectators pause and bow their heads in silence, in poignant counterpoint to the history that came crashing down in the city 22 years ago.

In 1979, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was seized by militants and Americans taken hostage, beginning a standoff that would last 444 days and paralyze relations between the countries for years. But on this day of mourning in America, the national soccer teams of Iran and Bahrain observed a minute of silence before their World Cup qualifying match to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

In Sydney, the Olympic caldron was re-lit, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the 2000 Summer Olympics and celebrating the fact that those Games were completed in peace, without international incident.

“A year ago, the people of the world gathered here in Sydney for a sporting and cultural festival conducted and experienced in a spirit of harmony and great goodwill,” New South Wales state Treasurer Michael Egan said at the ceremony.

“We saw the best of humanity on display: friendship, courage, grace in victory and honor in defeat. It is important for us all to celebrate those qualities, especially at this time.”

Across Europe, professional soccer players readied for weekend competitions with an extra piece of equipment: black arm bands to be worn during games played today and Sunday. In similar fashion, members of the Ferrari auto racing team, preparing in Monza, Italy, for the Italian Grand Prix, started some cars with black noses during practice Friday.

And in Klettwitz, Germany, the first CART race to be held in Europe announced it was changing its name from the German 500 to the “American Memorial”--to “offer the proper respect in the situation,” CART Chairman Joe Heitzler said.

An American tragedy has resonated far beyond U.S. borders and coastlines and pastimes. From these shores, where sports and culture are often viewed with a red, white and blue myopia, the global response to our day of mourning has been eye-opening.

It is one thing for major league baseball and the NFL to shut down operations this weekend as a nation grieves, trying to regain its bearings without the unsettling intrusion of home run fireworks and exploding scoreboards. But baseball and football are essentially games played for American amusement, home-cooked entertainment for American tastes.

It is simple common sense to tell the Yankees and the Mets, the Giants and the Jets to take the weekend off while bodies are still being dragged from the rubble mere miles away.

Friday, as memorial services were held from Washington to Yorba Linda, sports officials in Tunis, Tunisia, decided to scale back the closing ceremony of the Mediterranean Games to show “compassion for the families” of the victims of the terrorist attacks. In Stockholm, an exhibition game between the Colorado Avalanche and Swedish champion Djurgarden was canceled.

“A lot of people will be disappointed in Sweden,” said Peter Forsberg, the Swedish star who plays for the Avalanche, “but it was right to do it.”

Mikael Johansson, a member of the Djurgarden team, agreed.

“It’s a pity that we won’t play Colorado, but I can understand it,” he said. “All the players are disappointed, but what is hockey compared to what has happened? It is nothing.”

At the same time, the world’s two most famous athletes decided to retreat from the spotlight.

Michael Jordan, expected to formally announce his return to the NBA, canceled plans for a news conference, believing it inappropriate at this time. According to a source close to Jordan, the former Chicago Bull star will deliver the news that he is ending his three-year retirement in a more low-key fashion, possibly by sending a simple fax.

Tiger Woods canceled a trip to Paris for next week’s Lancome Trophy, costing him a reported $2.25-million appearance fee, because of concerns about propriety and travel safety.

“I feel very strongly that this is a time to pause, reflect and remember the victims of Tuesday’s horrific attack,” Woods said on his Web site, https://www.tigerwoods.com.

“I have always felt that I must be fully committed to each and every golf competition I enter, but due to this week’s events, I am not.

“I also fear that the security risks of traveling overseas at this present time are too great.”

Across the United States, athletes and sports organizations used Friday as a day to reflect, to commiserate and, in some cases, do some public service.

Tampa Bay Buccaneer wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson said he is donating a week’s pay, more than $31,000, to the Red Cross and Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban said he will give $1 million to the families of police officers and firefighters lost in the rescue attempt.

The New York Giants canceled plans to visit the attack site in lower Manhattan because, Coach Jim Fassel said, “They said we would be more of a hindrance than a help.” Instead, the Giants decided to buy relief supplies and load them onto supply boats in Jersey City, N.J., today.

The San Francisco 49ers held a team-wide blood drive, with nearly 100 members of the organization, from owner John York down, donating 70 pints of blood to the Peninsula Blood Bank.

“Since we had the whole team here, there was an overwhelming desire to do something instead of sitting on our hands,” York said.

The Dodgers joined with Channel 7 and three local radio stations to hold a fund-raising drive in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, with a prayer service held at noon. According to Dodger vice president Derrick Hall, hundreds had stopped by to make donations, including one for $10,000. The Angels announced they would hold a similar event Sunday at Edison Field, beginning at 8 a.m.

The Kings also set up tables for donations at their El Segundo training facility, where the team had scheduled intra-squad games Friday and Sunday. All money raised, along with net proceeds from Tuesday night’s exhibition game against the Mighty Ducks at Staples Center, will be donated to the families of fallen New York City police and firefighters in honor of King scouts Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis, killed aboard the second hijacked airliner that crashed into the World Trade Center.

Officials at Irwindale Speedway, who planned to go ahead with tonight’s regularly scheduled stock car racing program, announced that all gate proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross and the Fireman’s Relief Fund.

“We had thought about canceling or postponing the event,” track vice president Bob DeFazio said, “but an empty race track on a Saturday night can’t do anyone any good.

“Racing is a community. The fans and the racers who come here week in and week out will be doing something positive that they can feel good about. We all need that.”

The PGA Tour, which canceled four tournaments this week, said it would donate $2 million in relief funds for victims of the attacks and gave fans the option of adding to the fund by donating the cost of any unused tickets this week.

And two Angel players, Tim Salmon and David Eckstein, spoke at a “Tribute for the Heroic Rescue Workers” held at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

Standing at a podium flanked by seven U.S. flags, a California flag and enlarged photographs of New York City police and firefighters at the disaster scene, Salmon told the gathering that he spent an entire day, Wednesday, without thinking of baseball once.

“It made me realize what’s important--my faith, God, my family, my children,” he said. “I was so grateful I was able to go home to my children when so many weren’t. ...

“And this nation, I’m proud of it. A new generation of people will come to understand what patriotism is about and what it means to be part of this great nation.

“Thinking about the firefighters, the policeman, the rescue workers, I’m reminded of their courage and their sacrifice. It makes me as a citizen realize what sacrifices I’ll have to make.”

Salmon said he wanted to speak at the service because, “I wanted to take part of something, whether it was going to church or something like this. I’m proud to be part of this, with so many policemen and firemen who sympathize with their brethren.”

Eckstein said that “coming here and hearing the other speakers, being in an atmosphere of people coming together, definitely helps my psyche. With all these days off, it’s nice to be out here with people.

“This is definitely humbling. It’s a big time honor to be here.”

The Angels and the rest of major league baseball will resume play Monday. Eckstein said he wasn’t sure “what it’s going to be like” when the players return to the field.

“I’m sure in between pitches, I’ll look at people in the stands and feel how fortunate we are,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be different.”

When they do return, they will do so with a slightly different look. New Era Cap Co., which manufactures headgear for major league baseball, devoted Friday to stitching an extra emblem on the caps the players will wear next week.

On the left side of each cap, about an inch in height, will be a small American flag.

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Times staff writers Mike DiGiovanna, Chris Foster, Bill Shaikin and the Associated Press contributed to this story.