Welcome To The Canes Cave

Welcome to The Canes Cave, Canes fans. You have entered a safe place for all the irrational feelings you have towards the University of Miami, and their sports programs. No topic will be off limits in this bar. Feeling angry? So am I. Riding a high? Yep, me too.

The Cave is going to be a place for us all to meet, whether after a win, a loss, or a boring day in June. Our own little online sports bar.

So grab your favorite drink, and come on in…

Let me first introduce myself, I am a 52 year-old lifelong Canes fan. I lived through the glory years of the late 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. I spent many a day and night tailgating under the overpass, then taking that long, beautiful walk up over the bridge, through the gas station, and down the street until the spectacle of the Orange Bowl lights came into focus.

I had many friends in those houses, where I parked my car, and then waited hours upon hours until the owners of the one car blocking me in from leaving, showed up after a big win.

The street vendor sausage after a big win, coming out of the stadium, hit as hard as a night out at an upscale restaurant. There was something in those hot dogs and sausages, that just made the Orange Bowl feel like home.

And it was home for me, every Saturday, right up until the day in 2007, when we got embarrassed by Virginia 47-0. That closed an era, and my childhood, all in one swift night.

As I became older, like most Canes fans, I had to adjust to our new reality. Hard Rock Stadium would become home, and we would spend over two decades chasing the glory days. It was a double-whammy of sorts.

Not only did we lose a relationship we thought would last forever, with that Orange Bowl. But we also would suffer from something even more confusing. A regression to mediocrity.

Were we not whole because we lost the aura of the OB, or was the aura gone because we no longer had teams on the field to carry on that aura?

It was a question we collectively attempted to answer. Every Saturday, sitting in the Hard Rock parking lot, doing our new version of tailgating. Asking questions week after week of if we would ever be back. The debates were hot and heavy, and filled with emotion. And just when we were all ready to give up…

2017 happened. Two nights, back-to-back weeks. Virginia Tech the first week, where I sat in my seats at the Hard Rock, and for the first time, thought, this place could have magic of its own, if the team just had the firepower to bring it to life.

Then the next week confirmed my thoughts. I contend to this day, that night was the loudest, and most electric, I have ever heard any stadium, anywhere. My cousin, who lives in New Jersey, a Notre Dame fan, said it was the craziest he has ever seen a stadium.

And right then, I knew, we were close. It was all coming together.

Except on cue, it promptly again fell apart.

The doubts came back. Why can’t we have nice things. That was my thought process. Along with, well at least I experienced something in the glory years, that most fan bases never have. That was my personal justification.

Fast-forward to December 2021. Mario Cristobal hired. I will never forget where I was. Walking around Epcot, pumping my fist, staring into my phone, soaking in the moment. All while my then-girlfriend, a Florida Gators grad (I know, I know, don’t judge), thought I was crazy.

I did the usual song and dance about how this felt different. How Mario said this, or said that, and somehow he was the one that would bring us back to the top.

First year was rough. I watched as the Miami community, as we are known to do, overreacted. The doubts were many. We were a fan-base who had seen this far too often over the past 20 years.

Then Cam Ward came in, and will be, in my mind, the player that reset everything. He saw Mario’s vision, and worked to install the culture.

I got engaged at the Swamp that year, the perfect location for a lifelong Cane to propose to a lifelong Gator. And when the Canes won that day, you can image how it went down as a highlight for me in my life.

Did we fall short that year? Yes. But that is part of the climb back to the top. Ward and Mario had set the culture, set the expectations, and set the trajectory.

Which brings us to 2026. I don’t have to explain the emotions to you all. I was in the stands when we lost to SMU on a crusty afternoon in Dallas.

I was coaching my grandson’s soccer game in December, when the playoff brackets were announced. And when we were announced in, I literally jumped in the air, which likely looked weird for the parents in attendance, since our team had not scored a goal.

Mark Fletcher carrying A&M players down the field in a show of will.

Carson Beck scampering into the endzone against Ole Miss. A breath-holding, here we go again moment when Ole Miss throws a hail mary into the endzone. Pass interference was surely coming. I waited, I waited. No flag. Holy shit. We may have actually turned the corner.

New Year’s Eve, Keionte Scott Pick-Six, chills. Exorcising the demons of Ohio State. A forever memory.

One more Carson Beck pass, and a head full of questions. Why that receiver. Mali was open in the middle. Put a little more on the pass, get it over the corner.

But those thoughts morphed quickly after that game, into, things changed over the past month. We aren’t fighting to be back. We ARE back.

I digress, I forgot one key point in this story. Over the past 15 years I have run a very successful high school baseball network here in South Florida. I am a writer by trade. I have always had the ability to turn my emotions into words.

So I figured, why not combine my two passions, writing, and the Canes.

Which lands us here, in the Canes Cave. a new home for Miami Hurricanes feelings. Having a bad day, stop in and have a drink, or play some pool. Having a good day, stop in and have a drink, or play some pool.

But stop in. Show up. Let’s all navigate this emotional roller coaster together!