The NFL will decide early this morning whether to proceed with its second week of games, but Major League Baseball has already announced widespread cancellations.

Almost immediately after the World Trade Center towers collapsed, the office of the commissioner announced the cancellation of all of Tuesday’s 15 professional baseball games.

The cancellation of those regular-season games, in addition to the cancellation of yesterday’s and today’s games, marks the first time since the end of World War I that professional baseball had been cancelled for more than two days.

“I believe we are a social institution,” said baseball commissioner Bud Selig. “We have a lot of responsibilities, but above all, we have a responsibility to act in a manner befitting a social institution.”

International sporting events on American soil have also been affected by Tuesday’s tragic turn of events. The U.S. national women’s soccer team Nike Cup match against Japan was cancelled and reportedly will not be rescheduled. In addition, the World Golf Championship tournament, scheduled to begin today in St. Louis, has been cancelled by the Professional Golfer’s Association, marking the first such cancellation in over five years.

At Harvard, the athletic department said they were attempting to pres forward.

“We’re trying to carry on in our normal way as best we can, while understanding how this tragedy has touched and affected the lives of so many in our community,” Scalise said.

—Staff writer Daniel E. Fernandez can be reached at dfernand@fas.harvard.edu.