That type of ghoulish vindication may be cathartic, but it's completely irrelevant to the threat evaluation ECU made on Tuesday. Their decision was not some sort of cowardly attempt to avoid playing Tech, which will hurt both school's budgets. Nor was it hypocritical for ECU to send their football team out of town while prohibiting all other teams from traveling for competition over the weekend. It's common sense, and basic continuity of operations planning. The football team was fleeing danger, got while the getting was good, and is now in position to practice for & play their next game. Given the circumstances, that's the right call, every time.

Expressing legitimate frustration is one thing, but a lot of y'all are acting like babies. Throwing a tantrum because someone took your toy away is understandable, even if it isn't your favorite toy to play with; but it's also unbecoming of adults. It sucks that we're losing a game this season, and the economic impact will be significant for both Tech & Blacksburg; but that's what happens when dealing with a catastrophic weather event AKA an "act of god."

If you look at ECU's alert website (https://www.ecu.edu/alert), Monday's initial warning indicated the university planned to reduce operations at noon on Tuesday, and suspend operations at close of business on Wednesday. That fits with Whit's plans to wait and announce a mutual decision on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Florence didn't cooperate, and emergency management decision makers don't dicker around when a storm is shaping up to be catastrophic, which a category 4 hurricane clearly is. Thus, ECU suspended operations Tuesday, prior to announcing it's unfortunate decision about the football game.

Folks still complaning about Tuesday's "early" announcement ought to read the relevant text for ECU staff as relating to Employees Condition 2 (Suspended Operations): "The University remains open on a very limited basis, but has formally suspended all but mandatory operations due to minimal staffing levels. Employees designated or temporarily assigned as mandatory must report to work as directed; all other employees may not report to work or must leave the workplace when this status takes effect." (http://www.ecu.edu/prr/06/45/02)

Essentially: Get out of Dodge, now! Do not pass "GO." Do not collect $200. Do not stick around until Wednesday to make an announcement about a football game.

Sure, storms frequently shift course, and that happened in this case. However, current knowledge doesn't negate the level of the threat apparent on Tuesday, when the hard call actually had to be made. Delaying a life safety decision for financial concerns is how people end up in harm's way. An ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure, and all that jazz. Flying to Florida early was the best case-scenario for ECU Football to ensure its continuity of operations. It got them out of the projected path, & let their normal support staff make travel arrangements for ~100 players/coaches/staff, and the team's equipment. These are not trivial arrangements to make, especially on short notice, not to mention while a CAT4 hurricane is rewriting travel plans for folks up & down the east coast.

I get that the ECU series is unattractive to a lot of fans, but trying to justify dumping them as an opponent because they bailed on us to flee a hurricane is tantamount to kicking an opponent while they're down. Be better than that. There are enough legitimate complaints you can express without being a poor sport about this.

Go Hokies!