Georgia Dome Rocked By Storm-Kentucky And Georgia Postponed
Well if you thought that a basketball game couldn’t be stopped by a storm, you were wrong. Strong storms through the Atlanta area led to a possible tornado striking the Georgia Dome, site of the SEC Conference Tournament. According to Fox:
While the weather service waffled on whether a tornado struck the 16-year-old dome, everyone sure felt that’s what they had been through after a loud rumbling noise swept over the building. The fabric roof rippled like waves in the ocean, while scaffolding, catwalks and a temporary video board swayed dangerously over the crowded stands.
Metal bolts and washers fell from the roof, and two cloth panels above the upper deck tore open. Outside, large chunks of insulation and metal panels - some as long as 25 feet long - were blown off the building.
But if you really want to read a quote that sums up what it was like to be in the building, here it is:
“I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack,” said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, who was guarding Alabama’s Mykal Riley when rumbling began above their heads.
This is a tough one. It’s great that apparently no one was injured in the incident, which is just one of the fun parts of living in the South when the weather can’t decide what it wants to do from day to day. In the span of a week we had 75 degrees and sunny, 50 degrees and rain, and 24 degrees and snow and ice storms.
While the Alabama-Mississippi State game was finished (Miss State won 69-67) the cancellation of the Georgia-Kentucky game brings up problems for the participants in that game, as it looks like they may have to play a double-header tomorrow, playing the cancelled game in the morning, with the semi-final game played later that night.
For a team like Kentucky that is playing for it’s NCAA hopes, this is a dagger. Georgia is playing for pride and the SEC Championship. Kentucky’s NCAA chances possibly ride on this tournament. I’m no Kentucky fan but I definitely feel for them and their fans on this one, should they be the winner of the early game. Maybe the SEC will figure out a better solution by tomorrow, but I really doubt it. After all, it’s probably in the kid’s best interests to play five hours of basketball tomorrow, and of course, as we all know, it’s all about the safety and health of the student-athletes.
Update: According to the AJC, games are being moved to Georgia Tech this weekend, and more storms are expected on Saturday. To view some pics of the damage click here. Just really nasty weather. I know quite a few people that are down there to see Tennessee play and I hope that they had found cover by the time that this thing rolled through.