It’s about 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3 and Eastern Michigan University is scheduled to open its season against Howard University at 7 p.m.
I’m sitting in the press box sweating buckets because it is 95 degrees but feels like 99 due to the 40 percent humidity in the air. But to me it’s all worth it just to see some football and what I’ve
projected to be the start of something new for EMU.
I receive a text saying “hopefully we don’t get the rain that Michigan is getting right now because Ann Arbor is getting pounded.”
With that information I decide it’s time to check my Twitter and see what people are saying at the Big House. All I see is a ton of tweets about the rain. ESPN tells me there’s a delay at the Michigan game.
No more than five minutes later, with 47:47 left on the game clock for warm ups, the players are taken to the locker rooms and the announcer advises everyone to evacuate the stadium.
There was lightning spotted in the area and NCAA regulations require a 30-minute delay after the last lightning strike. We all know the storm in Ann Arbor is headed for us.
Students, staff and fans pack into the Convocation Center and underneath bleachers. Rain starts to pour down, the temperature drops to 88 degrees and winds pick up. The earliest the game is going to start is 8:30 p.m. and talk starts to go around about a possible cancellation.
At about 8 p.m. Michigan and Western Michigan University decide to cancel the remaining minutes of its game and settle for the UM 34-10 win. It’s not looking to good for the future of this season opener.
Looking at the radar we can see there is a second cloud storm on its way from Chicago and it’s a lot worse than the first one we just came out of.
The last time EMU canceled a game was in 2001 when the 9/11 terrorist attacks postponed a scheduled Akron-EMU match-up scheduled for Sept. 15. The game was rescheduled to the end of the season.
The only game to ever be canceled and never rescheduled was in 1916 when the season ended early due to a smallpox outbreak.
After the announcement was made advising everyone to seek shelter in the Convocation Center arena, those of us in the press box are told to leave via the stadium stairs.
We open the door, walk outside and notice the black cloud making its way over the Stadium. Winds pick up to 15 miles per hour, blowing signs around the field and lightning continues to strike.
Not too long into the second storm we are informed that the game has been postponed to Sunday at noon. Needless to say, it was a relief to find the forecast at kickoff was 76 degrees and partly cloudy. The season is under way!
