A week-and-a-half ago we took a look at the use of the words postpone and cancel which only touched the surface of what can happen when circumstances outside of your control can wind up affecting the event you are announcing.  Today, we take a look at other words, what they mean, and proper usage.

SportsAnnouncing.com:  Postpone vs. Cancel, The Difference

We know that to postpone something, is to put it off until another day, that there is still the chance the game will be played, it’s just not going to happen today.  An attempt was made to play the game.  An attempt is getting ready in any fashion for the game and includes players making their way to the stadium or even front office people coming to work.

To cancel means it won’t ever happen.

What about other situations?

A game is suspended when the game has begun and frozen in place, to be picked up where it was stopped the next time the teams are able to meet.  It could be the next day, next week or next month.  A suspended game can become canceled if the teams won’t meet again, and in some cases the stats will still count.  A suspended game takes precedence over a postponed game in that suspended indicates the game had already started and will be attempted to play to its completion.

A game may be rescheduled if conditions won’t allow a game to be played such as an impending weather event or a large-scale blackout such as what happened in the northeast and upper midwest in 2003.  This happens quite a bit in the winter when storms threaten.  The game is not postponed as there was no attempt made to play the game.  Games that are rescheduled happen before the day of.

Herald Tribune:  Blackout postpones sporting events

A game is delayed once the originally scheduled starting time has been achieved and the game cannot be started, or the game is stopped during play with players, officials and fans waiting for whatever is causing the delay to end.  Delays can range from rain, snow, lightning or fog, to bugs, lights, wind, sprinklers or repair.  Typically, a simply repair to the pitchers mound is not listed as a delay, but if the lights go out the game goes immediately into a delay.  Same with tarp being pulled onto the field.  The delay ends once the game resumes.  The start of a game may be delayed, and a game can be delayed once the game has started.

OhioStateBuckeyes.com:  Ohio State vs. American Game Moved Indoors Saturday

A game has a change of venue when playing conditions at the scheduled venue won’t allow the game to be played.  This sometimes happens when teams move games indoors if they have the ability.  Or another venue is not available.  Sometimes a change of venue also has a postponement or rescheduling of the game that takes place.

Postpone vs. Delay – Postpone indicates you’re putting it off for an extended period of time, where a delay is going to be a few minutes where you’re making every attempt to play, fans & players remain on site, and we could play soon.

Cancel vs. Suspend – You cancel the game, it will never be played.  You suspend a game and it will be picked up right where you left off, may not happen immediately.

Postpone vs. Suspend – Postpone can happen only before the game has started, then it can be suspended, delayed or canceled.

Postpone vs. Rescheduled – Postpone means an attempt was made on the day to play the game where reschedule indicates the game date was completely moved.  However, you can have a game postponed and then rescheduled.  If you know you can’t play today, you can postpone it now then reschedule it later.  Once the game date has been changed, it has been rescheduled