BEWARE the Ides of March...

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. A date where superstition reigns, especially if you are one of the 15, 000 die hard University of Kentucky fans, who took time off from work, trekked down to Atlanta, wore your blue and white with pride and right before your beloved Wildcats are set to tip off in the South Eastern Conference men's basketball tournament last night at 9:45 PM, severe weather barrels down upon you, winds swaying the building and ripping open the roof of the 41,000 seat Georgia Dome. As you look at your fellow crazed UK fans huddled in the seats and foyers you know things are NOT looking good. A sense of gloom hangs over hushed crowd as rain flows down the escalators making it appear as it's a water feature in the building. The game is canceled but fans are advised not to leave until the second cell passes through the Atlanta area. Confusion abounds.

This morning the news is not good. In fact it is beyond horrible. The SEC will take the unprecedented move and have a team play twice in one day in order to conclude the storm-delayed conference tournament in Atlanta before the NCAA tournament selection announcement Sunday at 6 p.m.

Early Saturday morning, SEC director of communications, DeWayne Peevy, told ESPN.com by phone from Atlanta that Georgia and Kentucky would play at noon Saturday in a makeup of the postponed quarterfinal on the campus of Georgia Tech at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum, instead of the storm-damaged Georgia Dome. The first semifinal pitting Tennessee and Arkansas would take place at 6 p.m. while the second semifinal between the winner of Kentucky-Georgia and Mississippi State will tip at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Peevy said the league also will limit attendance in the 9100-seat arena to only the players' families, cheerleaders, bands and other credentialed individuals. He said further announcements were pending about refunding tickets.

I feel so bad for all of the people from Kentucky who went to Atlanta for the games. Basically the SEC said "Sorry fans. Sorry about not seeing the game. Nothing we can do now that you made the trip, missed a day of work, paid for airfare, a hotel and a rental car. Sorry. It just isn't going to happen. Go back to your room and watch the game on TV because that is as close you will be getting to your Cats today. Sorry....."

I am not a true blue 'Cats fan but can imagine how disappointed I would be if we had made the same type of effort to attend a Stanford game. The worst news of all is that the change in the SEC schedule may cause a true tragedy in our home. It is likely that the local CBS affiliate will air the first SEC semi-final at 6 PM instead of the highly anticipated PAC-10 Championship game between Stanford and UCLA. The Stanford game is mostly for pride, NCAA seeding and bragging rights since both teams are assured of NCAA berths; however we were all looking forward to watching the game and ordering pizza for our big Saturday night activity.

Thanks March 15th. Thanks a lot....