Atlanta Sports: A Tale From The 2008 Tornado Tournament

There are a number of those “never to forget” memories for the Atlanta Sports scene and its fans. The Tornado that hit the 2008 SEC Tournament definitely ranks.

As the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament tipped off last night, with a UGA win no less, there was lots of talk about the last time the Bulldogs were in this same position: Needing to win the entire tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. It’s an easy narrative for the media because it is the 10 year anniversary of the miracle tournament win for the Dawgs. But the Atlanta Sports scene remembers 03/14/2008 for a different reason. And this writer was in the building.

It was a typical Friday in Atlanta. Everyone was scheming with each other about Friday night plans to avoid traffic and crowds. I was working at a local bank as a Commercial Lender and had Georgia Dome suite tickets for that night’s SEC Basketball Tournament games. Georgia was due to play the 10 PM game.

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I had 3 or 4 big clients coming, and invited a few of my close buddies (Sloff Dizzle, Beef Tips, The Big Indian), and a cousin (The 7), to join. Most of whom were Dawg fans. There was the odd Auburn fan. Eclectic group. Good basketball, beverages, and food. It was destined to be a memory. Just not the way we thought.

In short, I’m standing there talking to a client, a prospective client, and a couple of my friends, while the third game of the night played. It was overtime. Then it happened.

The TVs in the suite had the local channel that was covering the tournament on, but they weren’t showing it. They had the weather folks on there talking about how nasty it will be. Murmurs of, “Man, I hope that’s gone by the time we drive home.” floated around the luxury box. “Beef Tips”, the odd Auburn fan, was not socializing. He was doing what he would always do in that situation. If there is good food, and overtime championship basketball, dude is out there watching.

Mid-sentence, I hear, “Dude!”. I look over, and apparently Beef Tips had been trying to get my attention for a few seconds. I sternly looked at him. Then, he pointed up to the ceiling of the Georgia Dome. It was at about that time, the entire building started exhibiting a slight tremor. Fuselage was falling from the sky like confetti. The problem is that it was the actual ceiling. Folks on the court, and in the stands, started screaming and rushing to the exits. The scoreboard was swaying.

Trust me when I say that, when you are in a structure that large, and the entire place starts moving to the rhythm of a muffled roar that is coming from outside of the building, it’s not reassuring.

Thankfully, none of our folks got hurt. We had to stay in the suite until around 1 AM. During that time we had no idea what had actually happened. Once we were allowed to vacate, we saw. Escalators had been turned into rushing waterfalls. Giant 50 foot windows blown out and shattered. Once we got to our cars, and started exiting the property, it looked like a bomb had gone off outside the stadium.

Some folks did get hurt. But the loss of life could’ve been magnified by 10, if that game had not gone into overtime.

And we know how it ended. Georgia played that game against Kentucky in the Quarterfinals the next day on the Georgia Tech campus. They miraculously won that game. Then went on to win the entire tournament to finish off the craziest 4 days of basketball Atlanta Sports had seen in decades, if ever.

As we look back to a decade ago, there are two things that stand out. The Georgia Bulldogs just upset Missouri today to make it to the Quarterfinals. And who do they play, almost 10 years to the day? That’s right. Kentucky. And the Dawgs have to win the entire tournament to go dancing. Eerie.

The other thing that stands out is my cousin. It’s one of my favorite stories. In all of that chaos, he was late, and was not in the building, but had texted he was en route. I told him weather looked rough. Be careful.

Once the tornado hit, I assumed he had pulled off somewhere. Nope. About 45 minutes after the storm hit, the basketball games were cancelled, and while we told by uniformed Police Officers that we could not go anywhere, there was a knock at the door. The dude had driven through a tornado, or missed it by a matter of a few blocks, had somehow got through security, and was standing at the door.

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Upon learning that a tornado had just hit, his reply was something like this: “What? That’s crazy. Is there any food left?” No kidding.

If I hadn’t lived it, I wouldn’t believe it.

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