It was a day that should give us all pause from whatever trivial pursuits might have engaged our short attention spans. A day when our comfortable lives were rocked forever.

Yet in the hyped-up world of college football - on the approach of the biggest weekend of a young season - Tuesday morning was business as usual.

The juxtaposition and timeline were surreal.

At 8:45 a.m. EDT, a hijacked commercial airplane crashed into north tower of the World Trade Center.

At 9:03 a.m., in front of our horror-stricken eyes on live television, another hijacked jet banked into the south tower.

At 9:43 a.m., the Pentagon was hit by another kamikaze plane strike.

At 9:48 a.m., the White House was evacuated and all U.S. air traffic was grounded.

The World Trade Center towers collapsed, the first at 9:50, the second at 10:29 a.m., into a smoking heap of rubble.

At 11:05 a.m., my wife was en route by van to New York to report for her newspaper on the biggest crisis in U.S. history. I was on the telephone to Atlanta with my sportswriting peers asking Georgia Tech quarterback George Godsey about the biggest football game of the season.

Questions such as - Is Georgia Tech afraid of Florida State?

AFRAID OF FLORIDA STATE? HOW ABOUT BEING AFRAID ABOUT THE STATE OF WAR? HAVE WE LOST ALL SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE?

At 11:30, Godsey had to cut off the teleconference. He needed to be in class by noon. (Unbeknownst to him, classes at Georgia Tech were already canceled).

By the time head coach George O'Leary began his own weekly press conference, TV reports showed people dancing in the streets of the Middle East, passing out candy and chanting ''God is great!'' Rescue workers and innocent citizens were running for their lives in New York.

We awakened this morning to a clear day full of the usual promise. Then on live television we watched as the single most catastrophic act of worldwide terrorism flung our nation into shock and despair.

How are we supposed to act? What's appropriate?

Major League Baseball games were canceled as teams and players were stranded around the country. The first day of play of the World Golf Championship event in St. Louis was wiped out for logistical reasons.

The World Trade Centers and more than thousands of lives no longer exist ... but so far the preparations for Georgia Tech-Florida State, Washington-Miami, Tennessee-Florida and many other sporting events move along without skipping a beat.

This unprovoked attack is on a scale beyond Pearl Harbor. Beyond the assassination of President Kennedy. Beyond the Oklahoma City bombing. It was the worst crisis the United States has ever experienced. America's mainland is under attack.

But it's a different world today, and the enemy is not so clearly defined. How do we respond? Do we stop everything to mourn our lost lives and lost innocence? Do we pause long enough to gather our wits and deal with the pending disruptions?

Or do we just move on, playing our games and living our lives in defiance of the terrorists' intent to alter our world?

At 12:03 p.m., O'Leary retreated into his football universe and said, ''We need to continue on.''

At 12:07 p.m., my mail arrived as usual and on time.

On a day none of us will ever forget, the most alarming memory will be our casual sense of normalcy and numbness.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219.