PDA

View Full Version : Dolphins vs. Titans moved to Saturday



Bob_R
09-09-2004, 05:09 PM
The Miami Dolphins' opening game against the Tennessee Titans will be played Saturday instead of Sunday because of approaching Hurricane Ivan.

Ivan could reach southern Florida as soon as Sunday, forecasters said. The Dolphins and Titans had been scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. EDT that day.
"It's pretty wild," linebacker Junior Seau said Thursday. "Where I come from, we have earthquakes. It just happens. Here, you can monitor hurricanes for days and days and your life stops.

"With the weather we have, it can scare a lot of our fan support away and that's understandable."


A satellite photo of Hurricane Ivan taken Thursday shows it's intensifying and heading directly for Jamaica, with Florida possibly in its path. ( / AP)

The change was made to allow Miami residents and officials more time to prepare for Ivan, which has top sustained winds of 160 mph. At midday Thursday, it was about 900 miles southeast of Miami. It could hit Florida by Monday, forecasters said.

The sold-out game will be televised by CBS affiliates in Miami and Tennessee.

For the Dolphins, the scheduling change is the latest development in a preseason that included the retirement of running back Ricky Williams and concerns about Hurricane Frances. The storm last week prompted talk of a player boycott when the Dolphins were forced to play an exhibition game in New Orleans against their wishes as the storm threatened Florida.

"We're bullet-proof at this point," coach Dave Wannstedt said. "There's nothing that anyone can do or say that will hurt us. Everyone knows what we've been through."

As the Dolphins prepared to practice Thursday, quarterbacks A.J. Feeley and Safe Rosenfels studied a laptop showing the projected path of the hurricane.

In 1992, devastation from Hurricane Andrew forced the Dolphins to move their opener against New England to the bye week in October.