think sometimes we can get carried away when our favorite sports or sporting events take over our lives. We sometimes forget that real life events are out there and carry more weight than the fantasy sports world we live in. We always plan out scenarios in case illness, pregnacies, emergency room runs take place. At one point does life matter more? I'm probably talking way out of turn, but what happened last night and what will be happening in Atlanta for the SEC Tournament made me wonder some things.



For those who don't now, severe storms (possibly even a tornado) passed through Atlanta during an SEC quarterfinal game between Alabama and Mississippi State. There was damage to the Georgia Dome and after about an hour or so delay, the game went on. I watched the end of that game and it was clear, at the very least, the announcers were shaken by the experience. I was following another blog last night (Vegas Watch.net; use my link to see this-it's a cool page!) and somebody emailed the site, indicating he was there and how scary it was. Keep in mind there was one more game to play and it was after 11PM.


The decision that was ultimately made was that the rest of tournament was moved to the Georgia Tech campus in a much smaller venue. I think the SEC made a good call here and I'm sure the right people will get their refunds. Considering the damage to the Georgia Dome, sanity won out. What I find troubling, however, is that the last quarterfinal game must be played this morning, then the semi finals will played later in the day. The quarterfinal winner is potentially Kentucky, a Bubble team. You mean to tell me, the NCAA (and SEC) will allow a team to play twice in one day??? And if Kentucky is lucky enough to win twice today, play a third time in little more than 24 hours? The Selection Committee's stance is that the automatic NCAA bid must come from the conference tournaments and that there must be only one winner, not co-champions.


I have to say, that at this point, the NCAA shoots an airball on this one. A truly (fluky maybe) potentially catastrophic event happened, something I don't think ever happened. Life happened. Could the selection committee make contingency plans, depending on who's in the SEC final and go from there? If it's Tennessee, place them where they would have gone? Arkansas and Kentucky are potentially affected by this. Could the SEC be played on Monday, again with contingencies so their precious Selection Show is not affected? What about the student-athletes? Are we being fair to their well being if it's Kentucky or Georgia who is moving on? Aren't they at an unfair disadvantage?? Was this the best solution for a fluky situation? We shall see...