Welcome to SHOO-SHOO, RAH-RAH! The Duquesne Dukes Basketball Fan Message Board!
One of America's Great Message Boards - Any Inappropriate Posts Will Be Deleted!
I guess the drivers of the middle school kids who were on their way home to Iowa, the kids who went to the DC March For Life, the Temple Gymnast squad and the six miles of backed-up nameless others who were "victim" to the semi's that jack-knifed were all special kinds of stupid. Any suggestion of the administration's and George Mason's lack of caring and compassion for the folks on the bus is insulting, if not outright inane. That type of criticism about stupidity and lack of common sense should be directed to and at one group only-the elected officials in Harrisburg. It takes a special type of stupid to try to drive back through the snowstorm of the century. If the Duquesne administration said not to pay for hotel rooms, then they better thank God there wasn't an accident. If George Mason didn't offer accommodations, then shame on them. Hard to believe this is a destination for higher learning when stupidity reigned in a common sense situation.. Eh, we've all made stupid decisions about beating weather. I would be willing to bet that motel rooms were already getting scarce on the route before they even finished playing the Mason game. Also, you are talking what, "Hi, need 10 - 15 rooms. I am sure you can accommodate that!" If anything, I think the exposure and the good publicity over the behavior of the team and the staff more than makes up for this! This was the proverbial "silk purse made from a sow's ear". Given the magnitude of the forecast of a huge snow storm which would affect the east coast including portions of PA, I wonder why the game with George Mason didn't start until 2 pm. Why wait that long? Why couldn't it have started at noon. My guess is that a 2 hour earlier departure from Fairfax, VA would have gotten the Dukes' bus past the point of the stalled 18-wheelers between Breezewood and Somerset before the snow accumulated on the PA Turnpike's road surface. I read where GM initially wanted to start the game at 3 pm and Duquesne insisted on an earlier start time. The Dukes had to settle for the 2 pm start. I guess the drivers of the middle school kids who were on their way home to Iowa, the kids who went to the DC March For Life, the Temple Gymnast squad and the six miles of backed-up nameless others who were "victim" to the semi's that jack-knifed were all special kinds of stupid. Any suggestion of the administration's and George Mason's lack of caring and compassion for the folks on the bus is insulting, if not outright inane. That type of criticism about stupidity and lack of common sense should be directed to and at one group only-the elected officials in Harrisburg. Spoken like someone who has never been caught in a snowstorm on this turnpike. I have when an unexpected blast hit and left only 6 inches, raining snow. I can tell you this: It's dangerous, especially at night. The backups occurred because these semis could not make it up the steep inclines along the mountains. Eh, we've all made stupid decisions about beating weather. I would be willing to bet that motel rooms were already getting scarce on the route before they even finished playing the Mason game. Also, you are talking what, "Hi, need 10 - 15 rooms. I am sure you can accommodate that!" If anything, I think the exposure and the good publicity over the behavior of the team and the staff more than makes up for this! This was the proverbial "silk purse made from a sow's ear". Given the magnitude of the forecast of a huge snow storm which would affect the east coast including portions of PA, I wonder why the game with George Mason didn't start until 2 pm. Why wait that long? Why couldn't it have started at noon. My guess is that a 2 hour earlier departure from Fairfax, VA would have gotten the Dukes' bus past the point of the stalled 18-wheelers between Breezewood and Somerset before the snow accumulated on the PA Turnpike's road surface. I read where GM initially wanted to start the game at 3 pm and Duquesne insisted on an earlier start time. The Dukes had to settle for the 2 pm start. Here is what I know for sure: This storm was predicted early in the week. It began snowing in W.Pa. about 3 p.m. Friday. The game was not moved out of the target dates of the storm. Either no invitation to stay was offered or accepted. A treacherous journey was made after a bad decision. Last edited by rittersdiner (1/25/2016 7:52 am) If anyone saw or heard weather reports they were mixed making it difficult to make plans but the general consensus was that snow would start later after reports early in the week that it would start by early to mid afternoon.
SEE INFORMATION UNDER MEN'S BASKETBALL BELOW:
COACH DRU HAS NOW FILLED ALL OF HIS COACHING POSITIONS
BRONNY JAMES REMAINS IN THE NBA DRAFT
Offline
Re: Hey we made Sportscenter.
grammudder wrote:
Seconded Hear Hear
Vicimus Atlanticum decem
Offline
Re: Hey we made Sportscenter.
duq81 wrote:Tejas_Duke wrote:rittersdiner wrote:
I read posts with lots of speculation on who should be blamed for the incident. In my opinion most of it is pure speculation without knowing all the facts! I know that the outcome was that the team got home safe without any accidents. I consider the win over GM and a safe but very long journey home a win-win situation!
Offline
Re: Hey we made Sportscenter.
grammudder wrote:
I don't see why they could not have spent the night on campus, possibly the rec center, student union or gymnasium. A really bad decision.
Offline
Re: Hey we made Sportscenter.
godukes1970 wrote:duq81 wrote:Tejas_Duke wrote:
I read posts with lots of speculation on who should be blamed for the incident. In my opinion most of it is pure speculation without knowing all the facts! I know that the outcome was that the team got home safe without any accidents. I consider the win over GM and a safe but very long journey home a win-win situation!
Offline
Re: Hey we made Sportscenter.
I spent Friday morning in Carlisle at a workshop and decided along with a buddy who accompanied me to leave early - about 12:30 rather than the conclusion at 2 PM - despite the fact that weather forecasters were calling for snow from Carlisle to Bedford to not start until very late afternoon and heavy snow to not begin until after 9 PM along that route. That's the forecast we saw about mid morning that day while in Carlisle.
By the time we made the mountain approach to the Allegheny Mountain tunnel it was already starting to come down and snowing more heavily from Somerset to New Stanton. That was about 2:30 PM, much earlier than predicted.
I can understand why they decided to attempt the journey home considering the forecasts and also why they ended up stuck on the Turnpike (not maintained by PennDOT by the way). If forecasts were right they would have been OK. Still, Mason should have been required to begin the game much earlier or to postpone or move it. I'm sure in hindsight it's easy to say they should have stayed over at a hotel. But like us they probably heard the same forecast and thought they would be OK. Glad we left when we did.
