As Tulane's football team embarked on an unexpected trip to Birmingham, Ala., with Hurricane Gustav on their minds, center Michael Parenton figured it couldn't be any worse than the previous time the Green Wave left campus with a major storm threatening Louisiana's coast.

"We've been through it before and we made it," Parenton said, recalling the 2005 season, when Tulane played all its games on the road after Hurricane Katrina flooded most of New Orleans. "We'll be all right."

Across south Louisiana, other colleges (Louisiana-Lafayette, McNeese State and Nicholls State namely) and pro teams spent the weekend packing up and leaving their regular training sites for safe havens away from the coast while, in many cases, trying to remain focused on the season ahead.

The New Orleans Saints, who like Tulane spent their entire 2005 regular season outside New Orleans, were in Indianapolis, where they intended to practice until Friday. The Saints tentatively scheduled a Saturday walkthrough in New Orleans, hoping their regular-season opener Sunday against Tampa Bay still can be played in the Louisiana Superdome.

The New Orleans Zephyrs, the Class AAA affiliate of the New York Mets, canceled their final two home games of the season yesterday and today.

The NBA's Hornets, which spent two seasons in Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina, are supposed to open training camp in about a month. Their training headquarters are on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Because it's the NBA's offseason, players were out of town and front-office employees left town to be with friends and relatives.

Jamie Carey hit a jumper with two minutes left and two free throws in the closing seconds to lift the host Connecticut Sun (19-10) to an 80-76 victory against the Seattle Storm (18-10) in a battle of WNBA conference leaders.

Asafa Powell rebounded from another disappointing Olympics by winning the 100 meters in 9.87 seconds at the British Grand Prix in Gateshead, England. Powell, the former world-record holder in the 100, finished fifth at the Beijing Games.

Olympic stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost for the first time in more than a year, dropping a 21-19, 10-21, 25-23 decision to Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in The AVP Crocs Cup Shootout in Mason, Ohio. With the loss, the two-time Olympic champions' winning streak ended at 112 matches and 19 titles. They previously lost Aug. 19, 2007, also to Branagh and Youngs.

Peppers Pride's bid for a North American-record 17th win in 17 starts has been put on hold after the horse was scratched from the Lincoln Handicap in Ruidoso Downs, N.M. Trainer Joel Marr scratched Peppers Pride after the Ruidoso Downs track turned sloppy due to rain over the previous day and a half. The thoroughbred mare has never raced on a wet track, the track said in a news release. Peppers Pride is in position to break the mark of 16 consecutive victories she shares with Triple Crown winner Citation, two-time horse of the year Cigar, Mister Frisky and Hallowed Dreams.

• Deweycheatumnhowe is still undefeated and king of the trotting world. This 3-year-old colt ran his perfect record to 17 for 17 with a three-quarter length victory in $565,000 World Trotting Derby at the Du Quoin State Fair in Illinois. Winning time for the mile was 1:50.4, the fastest mile trotted by a standardbred in 2008.