Miami Hurricanes Embarrass Themselves While Playing North Carolina

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

For consecutive home games, Miami has managed to embarrass itself on national television. As a Hurricanes fan, this is starting to get down right shameful.

The calls for Randy Shannon's head, if not some other sacrificial lambs, only figure to get louder after tonight's contest.

However, unlike the game vs. Florida State where the Hurricanes where humiliated on the field, this week they were made to look awful by their stands.

It was a depressing scene to behold, every time the ESPN cameras showed the stands one couldn't help but notice the sea of empty orange seats.

You'd have thought it was a Florida Marlins game, but they actually manage to draw fans on Saturday night home games. It wasn't just one section, either, but rather the entire stadium which looked more like a ghost town than a prime time Miami home game.

Granted some will say the weather was lousy, but that's just a poor excuse for the lack of fan support. This wasn't a game vs. Louisiana Tech, it was a North Carolina team which has been a thorn in Miami's side for several years.

This game should have drawn at least 50,000 fans, yet I doubt there was more than half of that in attendance.

Now having been to several games at Sun Life Stadium I know that fans sometimes hang out away from their seats to avoid the rain but even after it let up the seats were vacant.

We're only at halftime so we'll see if people were just extending their pregame before entering for the third quarter.

Still it's tough to except that more fans weren't in the stands for a competitive first half against a team that has beaten Miami three straight years. This game had revenge written all over it.

Miami would want to appease their fans after getting annihilated by Florida State. They'd want to help Randy Shannon by cooling down the heat he has been receiving. Most of all they'd continue their march toward a possible Coastal Division title.

Miami for all it's disappointment so far this season is still in contention for a BCS bowl game. That would be huge for this program.

Just making an ACC championship game would be a big step forward, but judging by the stands the fans have already packed it up for the season. Do you think they'll draw more for the Maryland game?

For so long I have heard how other fans from around the country criticize Miami fans. It was always insulting because I know there are many passionate fans down here, but now I'm out of excuses. Miami will never support a loser.

The Florida Marlins can get 65,000 for World Series games but can't get more than 15,000 on a Wednesday night. Do the Florida Panthers still exist? 

The Miami Heat had to trade for Shaquille and now sign LeBron and Bosh in order to sell out. Even the Miami Dolphins couldn't draw a large crowd when they were losing.

Miami has great fans but they are now the minority. Instead you have a huge contingent of people who know nothing of tradition or team histories. They're just at games to be seen.

These people have no idea who Steve Walsh or Randall Hill were. They've never heard of Jerome Brown or Melvin Bratton. Instead it's just fans that only know the team's name and their colors. Luckily they at least got that right.

The Hurricanes need to stop catering to their administration's desire to be viewed as an academic institution more than a renegade sports program. Stop trying to be the Stanford of the South and just be the Miami of old.

It's your football program that got you on the map as a top University. Quit suppressing that bad boy image and instead embrace the uniqueness of your tradition.

You have a private institution, so you can always have high academic standards but make exceptions for your athletes.

This may be viewed as a biased or negative outlook but facts are facts and Miami needs to win big at football in order to draw fans and garner national attention.

Exposure during a championship run or season is priceless, so stop short changing your program and fans by not opening the pocket books for top-notch coaches.

Miami must find a way to excel at both basketball and football. They need coaches who will take their programs to another level.

Guys who would bring excitement to the school and entice recruits to come down to a beautiful private campus nestled in an upper-class community. It's not a very hard sell.

Frank Haith and Randy Shannon are good enough guys, but one can't coach and one can't recruit. Miami needs men who can do both and do so better than most.

Touchdown Travis Benjamin, Hurricanes in route to a big home win, but was anyone even there to confirm it ever happened?