Tonight was the last University of Miami football game at the Orange Bowl ever.

Imagine if the Swamp shut down or if Doak Campbell got demolished.  It's an institution that has housed so many moments of history it's almost incompresensible.  All day long, as I read each newspaper homage or heard TV or radio pieces, I was getting a little misty eyed.  This was the scene where I witnessed many of my greatest sports memories.  This was where I saw wide right 3 and wide left 1.  This was where I saw the Canes go undefeated on their way to the first national championship in 10 years.  This was where I watched them win 30+ home games in a row.

But this was also where I constantly feared for my life, got urinated on, watched a friend get beaten bloody, and all those other unsightly Miami happenings.

It was almost appropriate, then, to watch the Steel and Cement monster go down in a fit of disgrace. 

If you didn't watch, the Canes lost 48-0 in the biggest shutout EVER.  At least we managed to break one more record before it was all over. 

Also, people were tearing apart the bleacher seats in a feeble attempt to take home a souvenir.  It was disgraceful. 

At halftime, the crowd booed the team off the field louder than they had cheered the whole night (I booed too, they were pathetic). 

By the middle of the 3rd quarter, it was half empty, by the 4th, two thirds empty.

It was sad in many ways.

I did, however, run into two old friends who I haven't seen in years.

After all was said and done today, I find myself slightly surprised to say that you will be missed, Orange Bowl.  May you ride off into the sunrise over the east endzone palm trees and over the city of Miami skyline.