There are some big games being played this weekend. However, they pale in comparison to tonight's events at the SEC tournament in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Mississippi State led Alabama by three points with two minutes left in overtime, when part of the roof started falling in. A tornado hit downtown Atlanta, tearing two holes into the side of the building. Atlanta has some really strange weather, with snowstorms and tornadoes occurring within a month of each other. However, this takes the cake. Their weather sounds like the weather in Oklahoma.
Word is that they are going to resume play tonight. I'd be shocked if they could get another arena for three days on short notice. There are a lot of Kentucky Wildcat fans in town to accomodate. The Atlanta folks will need to get the Georgia Dome in some kind of safe shape, fast.
Wild stuff.
Update: The weather cleared enough for Mississippi State to finish Alabama off in the overtime. Another storm moved through downtown Atlanta and made the Georgia Dome an unsafe place to be. SEC officials postponed Friday's late game between Georgia and Kentucky. The rest of the tournament is in doubt.
At this point, it doesn't really matter if the rest of the tournament is played. The fans are in Atlanta spending money already. The Kentucky fans will go ahead and party in Atlanta without any games. The remaining teams are already a cinch to make the NCAA tournament, except for Georgia, who probably wouldn't be able to beat Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Tennessee or Arkansas all in a row. So, the only variable is what to do with the unused tickets, and with the TV coverage. If the building and event is properly insured, the SEC should be able to refund the value of the unused tickets to the fans. The SEC would also be forced to refund TV partners Raycom and CBS for games not played and not shown.
All of the above is a small price to pay for safety. Luckily, no one was hurt at the Dome in tonight's storm.
Second update: The pooh-bahs of the SEC have decided to move the tournament to Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Georgia Tech. Ironic, since Georgia Tech is a former SEC member. Since the Georgia Tech arena only holds around 9,000 people, only family members, cheerleaders, bands, and other selected people are being allowed into the arena to watch the games. The SEC is refunding money for tickets sold to the Georgia Dome. It would stink for someone that has driven all the way from Kentucky to see this thing, only to watch it on TV in a sports bar.
Speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats will play their quarterfinal game with Georgia today at 12 noon local time. The winner will play Mississippi State tonight at 9 pm local time, following the Tennessee-Arkansas game. Shades of AAU tournaments for these guys, where they played multiple games in one day. Sunday's final has been delayed by two hours in order to facilitate a little rest for the UK/UGa-MSU winner.
3 comments:
That's craziness. I read your blog last night when they postponed the games. I didn't know that the thing started falling apart! Scary! Thanks for the updates.
Yeah, they're going to be playing in a glorified TV studio today. :-)
It would have been scary to have been in the dome last night. Other parts of downtown Atlanta got even more damage. Atlanta has really strange weather.
I thought we had it bad with snow twice last week and 90 degrees this week! lol
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