It cannot get any worse for the Hurricanes

It officially cannot get any worse for the Miami program - Miami (FL) senior DT Bryan Pata was found dead, the victim of an apparent homicide, outside his apartment today just a couple hours after practice.

There is no nice way to say it, but if this happened at Vanderbilt, we would all be shocked. It happens in Coral Gables near the OB, then most sports fans think it is just another story out of the U.

No one should argue if they chose not to play this weekend against Maryland in this time of grief. Someone will vehemently disagree that they should play on to honor Pata, that he would have wanted it that way - but no one knows what Bryan would have wanted unless he had a living will.

Let the athletes and coaches get together, talk it out, and then decide whether to go forward this weekend or not. They can't make a wrong decision here - they gotta go with what feels best.

Need I remind you of this years' other events to have shed a deep shadow over this once proud program:

• Safety Willie Cooper shot in the buttocks.
• 5-4 record with losses to GT and VT, and close wins over Duke and Houston.
• Before the Louisville game, it was thought to be intimidating to jump on the Cardinal logo. Scoreboard = 31-7 Cardinals.
  
• Bench clearing brawl with cross-town rival Florida International.
• During that brawl, TV commentator and former Hurricane WR Lamar Thomas was fired for what can conservatively called impartial commentary. (YouTube video no longer exists)

Let us all put that aside for a moment and focus our thoughts and prayers on the Pata and the Hurricane families .