It’s been a rough few weeks in Hurricanes Nation. This program has been getting it from all sides and it seems as if UM has again become college athletics’ official punching bag.
While we know the fate of the current players on the team that got themselves wrapped up with Nevin Shapiro, this story is not going to end any time soon. The NCAA is still investigating and probably won’t be done till January, at the earliest. That means Miami will be going through this entire football season with the investigation hanging over its head.
The one saving grace; the return of the game itself. Soon ESPN and Yahoo! will be too busy trying to figure out BCS rankings to throw stones in UM’s direction. The blown call by a line judge in a Big Ten game will overshadow the NCAA’s investigators sneaking around in the shadows, looking for dirt.
It’d be naive to think UM will completely disappear from the public eye, but hopefully some big wins will keep outsiders focused on the field, not the individuals who have erred off it.
Last night as I was attached to Twitter, I started noticing a trend. I’m not talking about #ReplaceBookTitlesWithBacon, which was also trending nationally. I noticed that a lot of the suspended UM players got back to social networking after a voluntary silence.
Sean Spence, Jacory Harris, Marcus Forston, Travis Benjamin and others were back online, relaxed and upbeat. You could see that a huge weight has been lifted off their shoulders. Yes, those four in particular will all serve their one-game suspensions, but they appear to be moving forward and taking it all in stride.
I’m not of the camp that believe the kids shouldn’t get some blame for this. A college-aged kid should know right from wrong. However, this is a forgive and forget society and in due time we won’t remember that eight guys were missing from this year’s season opener.
It feels good to finally say it; football is back. Next week it will be back to the quarterback “competition” with Harris returning to battle Stephen Morris. Fingers will be crossed that cornerbacks can cling to opposing receivers. We’ll peek through a hand over our eyes are newbie Jake Wieclaw attempts a 47-yard field goal from the left hash mark with the wind swirling.
We’ll finally learn what offense Jedd Fisch is running, what Mark D’Onofrio is implementing defensively and what kind of game day head coach Al Golden is. He’s made all the right moves this off-season, but as I’ve said in the past, we’re yet to play a game. That all changes on Monday.
Football is hear and Nevingate finally shifts to the back-burner. The players have moved on and as fans, we should do so, too. At least until the next hammer drops.
IN OTHER NEWS : Hoping to see a lot of you at the Titanic Brewery (next door to allCanes) this evening from 7pm to 9pm ET for another exciting edition of allCanes Radio. Former Miami running back Najeh Davenport will be in the house, as well as our friend Platon from ProCanes.com. We’re going to talk about a great era of Hurricanes football and No. 4 will share some stories from his days at ‘The U’.
Mr. allCanes, Harry Rothwell has offered to buy a draft beer for the first TWENTY-FIVE fans who walk through the door after 6:30pm shouting, “I Stand With The U” as they enter. (Must be 21+ to participate.) We also have a free swim with the dolphins at Miami Seaquarium to give away.
C’mon down and let’s talk Canes and for those who can’t make it, stream on the allCanes iPhone app, listen live at allCanes.com or download the podcast tomorrow via iTunes!