March Madness Interrupted -- Cox Arena --UPDATE, All Clear

Cox Arena in San Diego has been evacuated as a result of a reaction from a bomb sniffing dog.

March Madness is taking place out there.


Pray for safety.

San Diego NCAA arena evacuated on bomb scare

Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:34 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police evacuated a San Diego college arena on Thursday, hours before a first-round NCAA championship basketball game, after a bomb-sniffing dog signaled a potential problem at a hot dog stand.

Cox Arena at San Diego State University was cleared while police tried to determine if there was an explosive device in the hot dog stand, college spokesman Jack Beresford said.

He said it was not immediately clear how many people were inside the building at the time but that the teams had not yet arrived.

"A bomb-sniffing dog noticed something in a hot dog cart," Beresford said. "They got a hit on something that was in the cart itself.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.



The schedule that has been interrupted includes

Oakland
10 Alabama vs. 7 Marquette 2:40 PM
15 Belmont vs. 2 UCLA 4:45 PM
14 Xavier, Ohio vs. 3 Gonzaga 7:20 PM
11 San Diego State vs. 6 Indiana 9:40 PM



Cox Arena evacuated before NCAA tournament tipoff
The Associated Press

March 16, 2006, 1:16 PM CST

SAN DIEGO -- The arena for the first-round NCAA men's tournament game between Alabama and Marquette was evacuated Thursday after a suspicious package was found about two hours before tipoff.

The University of Illinois is scheduled to play Air Force at the arena tonight.

Two bomb-sniffing dogs detected the package inside a condiment container near a vendor cart outside Cox Arena. A bomb robot was sent to the scene, FBI spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

Fans and officials were told to gather behind a parking structure across the street.

Players and staff from Alabama and Marquette stayed at their hotels.

Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press

Update Given at 1:32 PM CST

All clear given. A suspicious box WAS found, but it was not serious, or dangerous.
The dog had sniffed out a Condiment Box. It was checked out, and found to be just that.

Thank the Good Lord.

God Bless!