My son and I were there for our first sec tourny. We went down Friday morning. We had a room at the Hampton Inn downtown..right next to the Marriot for those of you who are familiar with Atlanta. We were sitting in the temporary seats located next to the jumbotron that was swinging and the arrea in the roof that was damaged when the tornado hit. When the sound first began(it DOES sound like a train) we didn't know if the building was collapsing, if there was a terroist attack..weather...or what. We just left our seats and headed for the concourse. This was our first close encounter with a tornado. When the game was officially called off and we left, our walk back to our hotel was a trck through what has to be described as a war zone. There was debri, glass, twisted metal, damgae to just about everything. There was NO WAY this area could have been made safe by the next day. We went to bed not knowing about what the plan would be the next day and with storms still passing through, had a pretty sleepless night. When we found out the next morning that we would not be seeing any more games in person, we did what evry other fan in the hotel was doing, accept the facts and go home. The situation was what it was, no one's fault. We were discussing what might be done the night of the tornado with fans from other schools and everyone agreed there was no easy solution. The next morning when the news was discovered, I heard no complaints. I think people realized that there are more important things than a ball game. We were thankful to be safe and that my son's car had not been damaged as somw were just a few feet away.
To bring things in prospective, my son told me of his conversation in the restroom at the dome after the tornado hit. They have tv's in the restrooms and he was watching one when another fan, don't know from where, asked my son if he had thoought about what mught have happened if Alabama had not hit the three that sent that game into overtime. Many fans would have left and walked right into the path of that storm...yes, the Man upstairs DOES work in mysterious ways...sorry to have been so long..and yes, I think the SEC did OK..
