Miami fans have given up. The picture above is the crowd at the opening of the game as the Canes, without a home to call their own, ran through the smoke in their leased stadium. It was their home opener. Several local hereos are starring for Miami as freshmen. And the NCAA hasn't even ruled yet on the biggest NCAA rules scandal in almost a quarter-century.
But Cane fans don't care. They're not taking the time to enjoy 2012, which should be better than the sanction-riddled 2013 season and beyond. They're done.
Not that this was unexpected from perhaps the worst fanbase in college sports.
After the Miami Hurricanes were blown out 52-13 by the Kansas State Wildcats in Week 2, we anticipated it being so bad that we actually held a contest to see who could capture the best screenshot of Miami's crowd. Like Miami's crowd, participation was sparse as the Florida State game was taking place at the same time. And it was even worse than expected.
That's OK, though, because both local and national media noticed. Here's the Miami Herald with Noon Kickoff reflects a sad state of affairs for UM attendance
Yesterday's crowd was announced at 39,435, seemingly at least twice the amount of people who were actually there, and we all kind of looked at each other in bewilderment. Sun Life Stadium seats 75,540 for football, according to the Miami Dolphins media guide. I understand the "announced'' crowd reflects paid tickets (and probably includes the band, etc., but not sure about the people working in the stadium), but this crowd was so small on a nice day.
I've been in South Florida many, many years, so I know the situation (super hot, humid, people have conflicts if their kids are in youth sports, too much other stuff going on in this area, too early, etc.). But I'm just wondering your take on it. Kudos to the people who show up, especially on a day in which the game wasn't televised (it was shown only on ESPN3). And it was the home opener, if that means anything. I know it was against Bethune-Cookman, but still...
There's a running joke in the media that Miami inflates its attendance numbers more than any other school. And by a big margin. To announce a crowd of less than 40,000 shows just how few people were actually at the game.
On ESPN, Reece Davis commented that Miami's star freshmen played in front of bigger crowds in high school.
Here are a few more shots.
#GoACC RT @bytimreynolds: Miami crowd update. That's second quarter, folks. twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/…
— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) September 15, 2012
@tomahawknation Bigger Tarps? twitter.com/Gust_Front/sta…
— William Smith (@Gust_Front) September 16, 2012
Still think this program is going to remain a bigger rival than Clemson, FSU fans?