Farewell Orange Bowl

It was a sad weekend for the University of Miami Hurricane fans, past and present, bidding farewell to the Orange Bowl. Saying goodbye to the home of much tradition and memories was hard on the fans, but the loss of 0-48 to no. 23 Virginia added extreme insult to injury.

There was a lot of history made in the Orange Bowl and regardless of the past few years, The University of Miami has the most successful football program of the past quarter century in the NCAA. A couple of statistics the 'canes are proud of include winning 58 straight home games, which is an NCAA record and winning 5 national titles, 3 of which were played in their very own, Orange Bowl. Since 1983, no school has won more national championships, won a higher percentage of its' games, or produced more first round NFL draft picks. With having a total of 285 players advance to the NFL which is in the top ten of NFL producing schools, and this year they have the most players currently playing in the League. In the 2007 Superbowl, the first two touchdowns were made by Devin Hester and Reggie Wayne, both of which graduated from the University of Miami. In addition, two Hurricanes have won the prestigious Heisman Trophy: quarterback Vinny Testaverde in 1986 and quarterback Gino Torretta in 1992.

The Miami Hurricanes have had much to celebrate in the beloved Orange Bowl, and I'm sure that's why the stadium was filled on the night of November the 10th. All gathered to watch another game make Miami and Orange Bowl history. With 2:26 left, Virginia's Chris Cook had a 44-yard fumble which put this final game in the Orange Bowl to be the worst shut out in Hurricane history, topping the 44-0 loss to Notre Dame in 1973. It was Miami's first home shutout since 1974 against Auburn, and the Hurricanes' worst loss since losing 66-13 at Syracuse in 1998. The last time Miami lost this badly at home was in 1944, when Texas A&M beat the Hurricanes 70-14.

Some say leaving the Orange Bowl on this note is going to make the move a little bit easier, but scanning the crowds that night, there were numerous signs expressing their upset with the decision to move to Dolphin Stadium. Besides leaving the tradition and location in the City, there are going to be some perks to moving to the home of the Miami Dolphins. The new stadium has two Jumbotrons and a higher capacity, although its highly unlikely they'll be needing that extra space. It has more concessions, is safer, and is much more modern, but it seems to lack one big thing: character.

That is what the Orange Bowl is known and loved for. The Orange Bowl is like the Fenway Park of college football. It's the tradition and history that has made it to be the historical monument it is today. The community surrounding the stadium will not be the same without Hurricane games. The houses surrounding the stadium were receiving and average of $1000 income from the games just for charging persons for parking. To think that not only would the City of Miami refuse to renovate the Orange Bowl, causing the 'Canes to relocate, but they've decided to demolish the infamous sports stadium we've all grown to love.

What's going to happen to the Miami Hurricanes now, we ask ourselves? The physical destination is known, but how can the program ever be the same again?
After their recent downward spiral way out of the rankings, we wonder if they'll ever make a comeback after the big move. After going through so much as a team, it's so hard to envision the Hurricane football program without the Orange Bowl. We can all only hope that this move to a bigger and 'better' place will only mean bigger and better things for the Hurricanes in the near future.