The rain could not dampen an entire off season of enthusiasm for the thousands of Miami Hurricanes fans Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. The show had to go on for the matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
And it did!
The Hurricanes continued their dominance in the series. Notre Dame hasn't won in South Florida since 1977. Miami held on for a 27-24 victory in a game that wasn't close as the score. The performance has brought back excitement to the dominant Hurricanes program that existed during the Jimmy Johnson and Butch Davis days.
ME AND U
My UM fandom is maybe prone to hyperbole, irrational and slightly influenced by optimism. I’m Joe U. Like many Hurricanes fans, I haven’t taken one class at the University. I’m not even from Florida. I was born and raised in New Orleans. My passion bucket, however, is full of love for my Hurricanes. I don’t hunt, fish have an abundance of any particular hobbies (besides playing golf in a quite mediocre manner). The `Canes are my hobby.
If you grew up how I did, you more than likely were fans of the `Canes and Georgetown and UNLV basketball teams. They represented minorities or "us." This was pre-Internet, pre-mass marketed Hip-Hop Culture. The Canes were unapologetically us. They convincingly had fun beating the Blue Bloods of college football. They backed up the talk. We’ve had more ESPN 30 for 30s than a junior high track meet.
Then along came the Internet. Around 1996 my curiosity in this new technology, I discovered message boards. I was able to follow my team more in-depth. This coincided with the NCAAs near-death penalty level punishments, which meant the loss of scholarships and more.
THEY HATE US!
Hurricane fans can almost in unison roll off the “done us wrongs." Cleveland Gary did not fumble, the BCS had no business sending the No. 4 ranked team to play Oklahoma in 2000 when we were solidly No. 2 in both polls. Then there's Terry Porter throwing his flag pretty much after the game was over vs Ohio State in the 2002 National Championship game.
Leading up to Sunday’s game all of the prognosticators agreed Notre Dame had the best running back in the country. Its defensive backs were the best in the country, and the Irish trenches on both side of the ball and defensive line were stout. On Sunday night, the UM offensive line and the rest of the team answered the call.
Bring on Bethune-Cookman!