They won't be getting ready like they would during a normal bye week.
This storm is going to be a huge distraction.
The best thing from a pure football perspective would have been to get these guys out of Miami, play the Arkansas State game, and practice in Atlanta away from all the distractions.
No. A lot of the players might have family responsibilities. They should concentrate on doing whatever is necessary to make sure their families are safe.
I live up north but I have a great deal of concern over the effect this storm might have on south Florida. I recently saw a lot of videos of the August 1st flooding in south Beach. I grew up on the beach, living most of my life in Bay Harbor, the islands near Surfside and just across from North Miami by the Broad Causeway. I left in the early '60's when my family moved to central Florida.
I don't ever recall seeing flooding in south Beach like the various videos I saw of the aftermath of the August 1st rains. I'm sure most of you know what I am talking about, since most of you live in south Florida. Of course, the minor flooding on south Beach was a tiny fraction of the flooding in Houston--there's no way one could even compare the two. So, it was a nuisance, not devastating and life-threatening like Harvey was in Texas.
Still, if a bad rainstorm, with around 7 inches of rain (as I found in a weather report) could cause that kind of flooding in south Beach, what would a big hurricane do? Remember the destruction from Andrew, particularly in the southern parts of the county as I recall. A lot of that was from wind, I guess. What can a real hurricane, particularly one with is Category 3, 4 or 5 do to parts of Dade County, both from wind and much more rain than the August 1st rainstorm that created minor flooding in South Beach? Could a huge storm surge completely overtake Miami Beach and parts of the mainland?
Now, maybe I'm being an alarmist and perhaps a lot of you will disagree, but I look at the worst case scenario. I'm very concerned about very serious destruction, flooding, and danger to life from this, which right now is perhaps the most powerful hurricane ever (according to reports).
So, we can't worry about games. I'm just being realistic and hope that I'm wrong, but forget about this game. (I even think there might be reason to cancel FSU depending on the path of the hurricane and whether it heads up the coast and affects the panhandle.)
If you're religious, pray. Neg away if you must, but I think this could be very bad, and I hope it is much less than that.
My thoughts and prayers are with all the Canes fans, the players and staff (and their families) and everyone down there.
I'm not going to worry too much about playing ten instead of eleven, preparing for FSU and all of that. I hope that south Florida and all you folks down there get through this safely. I just realized, that there have only been two other Category Five hurricanes to hit south Florida, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and Andrew in 1992. I suspect that some of the posters on this board don't remember Andrew--if they are in school or recently out of school they might have been born after Andrew, which was 25 years ago. Some of you might have been very young when Andrew occurred.
You could get a hurricane that makes you forget football for a while. I hope that doesn't happen. Stay safe.
