Storm Attacks Georgia Dome, Skewing SEC Games

Sounding very much like a freight train, an apparent funnel cloud blew through downtown Atlanta, leaving the Georgia Dome visibly damaged. The storm lifted buses and forced fire doors to open at the 16-year-old building. Debris littered the floors.

Mississippi State and Alabama were playing overtime in the SEC Tournament when the storm hit. After a lengthy delay in action, Mississippi State prevailed 69-67. The Kentucky-Georgia match-up was postponed and rescheduled for noon EST today, forcing the winner to play twice in one day to make the SEC Tournament final. The winner plays at approximately 8:30 p.m. when the Arkansas-Tennessee game concludes.

This arrangement isn't fair to Kentucky or Georgia. SEC officials should have played the game as soon as possible last night. The Georgia Dome was deemed structurally sound soon after the storm ripped a hole in the roof. Personally, I don't see how such a proclamation can sound accurate in such a short span of time. There was not enough time to conduct a proper inspection of the place. But, officials decided to lock things down to keep people from leaving.

In all likelihood, the Georgia Dome was structurally sound in spite of the damage and the unfounded proclamation of said structural soundness. The Kentucky-Georgia game should have commenced. Instead, officials wasted the rest of the night for nothing.

What were they expecting? Did they think the storm was coming back for another pass? What storm does that? I mean, really. And they decided to finish the overtime with Alabama and Mississippi State. They absolutely couldn't play the next game and keep the tournament on schedule? I don't get that. They wouldn't allow people to leave the building, yet they didn't think it wise to use the building to play the second game. Then they return to the building today to hold more games. What is the rationalization for that? They couldn't go ahead with Kentucky-Georgia.

Sometimes inanity is an amazing thing to behold. On the other hand, maybe it's not so amazing. It's certainly something though.