Many on the outside will take the easy route, labeling Hurricanes fans as "fair-weather," "bandwagon," or "frontrunners." But that's nonsense. There are real, uniquely local factors that add up to Sun Life Stadium's emptiness at Canes' home games.
As always, it is Miami we are talking about here, and for better or worse, some things just aren't the same as they are around the rest of the country.
Good morning, Miami :) pic.twitter.com/xNnRaNMIuJ
— Miami Hurricanes (@MiamiHurricanes) June 7, 2014
Sun Life Stadium is 45 minutes from the University of Miami campus.
This is by far the most obvious and worst issue. The University of Miami is located in Coral Gables, yet the team plays at Sun Life Stadium, located in Miami Gardens -- that's not ideal. Though the University offers free shuttles to students looking to attend the game, the idea of taking a field trip just to go see the Canes destroy Arkansas State isn't exactly every 18-year-old's ideal Saturday morning. Students should be able to crawl out of bed, grab a beer, and head over to support their team. The Hurricanes are basically a program without a home they can call their own, which is exactly what a lease is at the end of the day.
Good morning @MiamiandBeaches pic.twitter.com/5EPOh3HMud
— YMI Mechanical, Inc (@ymi_inc) September 1, 2014
It's Saturday afternoon in Miami. Do we really need to explain?
I went to Florida State, where the Saturday-morning options were either the FSU game or, well, the FSU game. Outside of some apartment complex pool filled with a thousand other college bros, or a sinkhole full of snakes and mystery, those are pretty much your choices in Tallahassee. Saturday mornings in Miami obviously offer more options for every type of Hurricanes fan, most of which don't include missing the game, just watching it where other people across America save their pennies to vacation once a year.
