When you see pieces of the arena falling to the ground, you realize there’s a serious problem. And anyone that was at the Alabama/Mississippi State game will say it was one of the scarier events of their lives.

So tell me again: Why are we planning to continue the SEC tournament?

Late Saturday night, ESPN.com reported the league was going to try playing the canceled Georgia/Kentucky quartefinal Saturday morning, then moving the first semifinal to 6 pm, with the second semi around 9 pm (which would force the Bulldogs/Wildcats winner to play twice in less than nine hours). Where will this be played? Surely not at the damaged Georgia Dome. No, not there: At Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Which makes perfect sense: The arena fits only 9,100, cannot host all 200 media members, and is nowhere close to being ready for an event as big as this.

Have we all gone nuts?

Here’s why the games should stop:

A LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE: UK is going to bring thousands of fans, and Georgia likely had a ton of walkup sales (plus all the Mississippi State fans who had tickets for last night’s session AND Alabama fans who had duckets and would stick around). Who do you say cannot stick around? And just how many UK fans are you gonna deny? Those crazy bastards will be PISSED!

HAVE YOU SEEN THE OTHER DAMAGE?: Apparently there are buildings flattened. Groups of people injured, possibly dead. The area around the Georgia Dome is an awful mess, and the people’s lives are forever changed. Basketball really isn’t that important.

UNFAIR ADVANTAGE: Asking a team to play a night game and play the next afternoon is difficult enough. But having Kentucky and Georgia play at noon, then again at 9?!?! What if the game goes to overtime? By the time they take the court, Mississippi State will have had nearly a whole day off. UK or the Bulldogs? Try less than seven hours. And if you win? Congrats: You gotta come back and play again 15 hours later.

UNIMPORTANT GAMES: With Arkansas’s upset of Vanderbilt, the Razorbacks slid solidly into the field of 65. So is Mississippi State and, with the bubble collapse of Thursday, so is Kentucky. Tennessee is likely a one seed, and can only hurt itself by continuing the tournament. And, no offense to Georgia, but it’s not going to win.

So with all the bids solidified, and surely more important things outside the games, who cares who wins? Sure, the Bulldogs, Wildcats or Hogs could move up a few seeds with wins, but they’re all going dancing. The games are mostly meaningless.

Here’s what you do: Award the automatic bid to the regular season champion Tennessee. Feel comfortable you’ll get four of the five remaining teams left into the NCAA tournament (and Vanderbilt). Give Dennis Felton and Georgia a nice doggy bag, a pat on the back and say “better luck next year”.

And please: Stop while you’re ahead. You averted disaster on Friday. You can avoid a bigger one by ending this, refunding tickets, and going home.