The San Antonio Spurs couldn't knock off the defending NBA champs, but a Miami bridge
nearly did:
It was close to becoming a tragic accident, much like one that had a fatal ending in Lawrence, Kansas just a few years ago:
Marc Hoobler was riding on the top deck of the Cat Tracker on Nov. 18, 2006, when at the exact moment the double-decker bus passed under the 15-foot bridge on Iowa Street at the Irving Hill Road overpass, he crouched down to shield from the wind a cigar he was trying to light.
"The first thing I remember was a loud banging noise, the sound of metal being pounded on," Hoobler said while testifying Wednesday morning in Douglas County District Court. "The four guys up front were trying to get the bus to stop."
Hoobler said he immediately looked for his friend and business associate, John Green, who had been standing about a foot away on the top deck of the Cat Tracker, and he was no longer there.
Green, who was 27, was killed almost instantly when he struck his head on the bridge as the bus attempted to pass underneath it on its way to Memorial Stadium for the Kansas University vs. Kansas State game that Saturday morning.