Orange Bowl (Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables: 2015, foreclosures, lawyers)
MiamiMiami-Dade County
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When I moved to Arkansas, one thing I really liked about the area was the sense of history. Just in the NW Arkansas area alone there are two Civil War parks. Huge parks that are preserved so that our future generations can not just read about history but walk among it. They can feel like they are back in the days when men fought for a cause and not oil. There is alot of history in this part of the country and people hold on to that and protect it.
Then I see how the city of Miami is tearing down one of the only landmarks in the city, the Orange Bowl, so they can build a six hundred million dollar stadium without public approval for the Florida Marlins. Of course, I am not comparing the Orange Bowl with a Civil War park. If we had the choice to keep one, I would keep the park over a football stadium anytime. But the OB, as I like to call it, was one of the only pieces of history that Miami had to look up too. A place where JFK delivered a speech, a place where records were set by college and pro teams, great games were played and the whole country shared memories of. As I grew up in Miami, I attended many Dolphins and Hurricanes games at the OB. I was there to see the Canes win the National Championship in 1987. I was there to see the Fins win two AFC Championships in 1982 and 1984. I was there for the classic 1985 Monday night game when they beat the Undefeated Bears to defend their undefeated record. I remember turning my TV on in time to see the Flutie Hail Mary pass that they show over and over. The first football game I ever watched was in this stadium. It was the Steelers against the Cowboys in the Super Bowl back in 1978. Yes, I am that old. That game started the love affair with football I held for the next thirty years. Now its gone and all because of greedy baseball owners and politicians.
The City of Miami should be ashamed, again. They have been known as crooks, a bananna republic and a third world country for many years. Once the Marlins started greasing palms the little thieves started scheming of ways to build them a cathedral to their ego. I can hear them now: "If we dont fix the Orange Bowl and the Canes move, then we have a huge piece of land we can use for free to build this thing. But what do we do about these annoying voters? They will surley see though our scheme and vote against it? Unless, we dont give them the option. We say its a way to revitalize the city. We can even throw in some of those other scams we have sitting on the backburner. The tunnel to the port we dont need, the street cars nobody will ride, all can be added to this plan! And we use tourist tax dollars so that way they dont think we are using their hard earned taxes. We can even use the 50 million dollar bond they voted for in 2003 to fix the Orange Bowl instead to build the baseball park! And that way, they have no say and I get that house in the Hamptons I have been wanting!"
So lets do the math, 600 million dollars for a ballpark. The Marlins average attendence is 11,000 "fans". (From experience I can tell you most of them got the tickets freely from work or some radio station contest. I worked in promotions for Clear Channel and we gave away dozens of tickets for just calling in) So 11k fans divided into 600 million is....way too much money to spend on a sport with such a lousy fan base. The Miami Dolphins, the areas most beloved and oldest franchise was forced after several lost ballots to finance their own stadium!! They averaged 60,000 fans at their games back in 1986 and they didnt get this huge gift. Why, in this day of poverty, homelessness, foreclosures, unemployement, is the city of Miami (who filed for bankruptcy a few years ago) paying for this? The streets are falling apart, their is no affordable housing (Which some of this money was suppossed to go to) and you need a 600 million dollar stadium? And for a city with a small identity since Miami Beach has the hot spots how you are going to tear down one of the only symbols that people recognize?
Although I dont live in Miami anymore, I swear on my honor that in my lifetime when I visit I will never set foot in this new white elephant. I hope that after tearing down the OB, the deal falls apart some how and the new dump is never built. That way the Marlins, who I am no longer a fan of, can move their sorry asses to Vegas or San Antonio.
Another team I am no longer a fan of is the Hurricanes. By moving to Dolphins Stadium you are now a tenant. You dont have your own stadium. You alienated your student fans by moving to the nothern border of a southern county school. You will never reclaim the mystic you had at the OB. Your a college team playing in a cavernous NFL stadium with no identity. The Dolphins were never the same after moving away from the OB and I hope that curse affects you too.
Good Riddance to both teams and Goodbye to an old friend.
P.S: While in college I had a roomate from Philly whom wanted me to show him the town. I asked him what he wanted to see and the first thing out of his mouth was "Take me to the Orange Bowl".
Very, very good post.. I feel this way exactly and I think we are close to being the same age! My first Dolphins game was at the OB...
What bugs me the most is the speed at which they have demolished the OB... It takes them months to change a light bulb on any given street in Miami and it has taken them a blazing few months to level the stadium.. You can tell that this is all a $$ maneuver... Someone got the demolition contract and wanted to act upon it ASAP before someone changes their mind... Miami is so corrupt, it's digusting... Feels like I am living in South America all over again...
They can feel like they are back in the days when men fought for a cause and not oil.
That's not a fact, that's your opinion. If that was true, don't you think the price of gas would be going the opposite direction?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sergio
You're a college team playing in a cavernous NFL stadium with no identity. The Dolphins were never the same after moving away from the OB and I hope that curse affects you too.
As a Bears fan and an FIU fan, I can say that there was never a team that played there that I actually rooted for. I was even at the "brawl" between FIU and UM, only I was for FIU. When is Miami going to realize that UM does not represent the true interests of Miami. UM is an outpost of elitist northeastern wealth and influence; a magnet for bergs, sterns, steins as well as others from their elite sphere of academia. In the next few years, Miami will wake up to this reality and switch their endorsement to FIU. Until this happens, people like you will be confused as to why an old an ailing UM is no longer the preeminent force in Miami Politics. Look at the headlines in the Miami Herald, 9 out of 10 are about FIU: "FIU building $65 million dollar football stadium" (ON CAMPUS) "FIU - Gets approval for new med school" /// "FIU has the highest percentage of Law graduats who pass the bar exam - 94%, in the state of Florida!!!" (UM was below UF and FSU)
I was certaily aware of the history when I walked in that stinky old stadium. It reeked of "old guard" politics. Moderator cut: comment A new and changing Miami is at hand...Something greater is going to replace the Orange Bowl, which has outlived its usefulness. You guys would be barking even louder if they wanted to build that stadium out in the everglades.....
Last edited by Keeper; 05-12-2008 at 05:22 AM..
Reason: removed hispanic reference
Whatever you say, FIU can't compare with the academics of UM. FIU is waaayy behind UM and that is not going to change, UM is constantly moving up in the rankings.. their business dean is from Wharton school of business. They recruited 16 professors from Duke in their sciences and Frost school of music is top notch. FIU's med school just got approved.. UM's med school is known as one of the top in the nation. I'm not saying FIU is a bad school.. but its not even close to being put in the same field as UM.
i'm looking forward to the new ballpark. watching baseball at dolphin stadium is not fun, and so is burning your a$$ in one of those seats at the old orange bowl.
Many of UM's academic programs were, have been, and still are better than FIU's. Notable exceptions are the law school and the school of accounting - FIU students pass the Florida bar AND the Florida CPA exams at at much higher rate than UM students. FYI, lawyers and accountants run the civilized world.
The point that I was trying to illutrate was that UM's century long strangle hold as being the city's only major university is starting to loosen. The sun is setting in Coral Gables, etc. Of course, there is more concentrated wealth around UM, as well as generour donors. HOWEVER, at FIU's current rate of growth and prestige, as seen in its new law school, and maybe its new med school, I think it will be the preeminent research university in Miami in 20 years. Both in dollar terms, number of students, number of grants, etc.
Modesto Madique is the biggest wheeler and dealer in town, and I don't doubt what he can pull off. I'm sure he hates the stigma of being second to UM more than anyone.
FIU's Landon business school is ranked 7th best in the U.S. and the Graduate School is in the top 20 or so. FIU's College of Business has been ranked above UM, FSU and UF. Not to mention FIU's great Law School, Accounting, School of Architecture, Engineering, Hospitality Management program, and its Med School, it's on-campus football stadium, future on-campus Florida Dep't of Health headquarters, partnerships with Miami hospitals, highest bar passing rates in Florida, one of the largest universities in the country with 40,000 students, FIU has a campus in Tianjin, China, the first U.S. university to do so in China, etc. FIU has quickly become a big player in education and is definitely on its way to the top 10 public urban universities, like Maidique wants FIU to be at by 2015.
FIU's Landon business school is ranked 7th best in the U.S. and the Graduate School is in the top 20 or so. FIU's College of Business has been ranked above UM, FSU and UF. Not to mention FIU's great Law School, Accounting, School of Architecture, Engineering, Hospitality Management program, and its Med School, it's on-campus football stadium, future on-campus Florida Dep't of Health headquarters, partnerships with Miami hospitals, highest bar passing rates in Florida, one of the largest universities in the country with 40,000 students, FIU has a campus in Tianjin, China, the first U.S. university to do so in China, etc. FIU has quickly become a big player in education and is definitely on its way to the top 10 public urban universities, like Maidique wants FIU to be at by 2015.
Could you provide some links? I found that Landon was ranked 7th in the US for undergraduate international business program. The Business Week ranking I found for 2007 shows FIU's undergrad business school being ranked 80th, below UF (43), UM (47), and FSU (77); FIU was not ranked in the 2008 rankings as far as I could find.
As for the Orange Bowl, it is yet another place in Miami that will only survive as nostalgia for those of us who knew it. I don't think that the Marlins need a new stadium, nor will a new stadium help attendance at Marlins games. Especially one that is funded by the city.
Baseball and basketball fans in Miami are far too fairweather to commit to their teams, so where the games are played is not going to make a difference. I cannot forget the time I went to a Heat game while they weren't a winning team, and actually had a "fan" giving my friend and I dirty looks for cheering when they were doing well (we were fresh out of our college team going to the Final Four, so we were pumped and very much used to cheering for our team). Not to mention, the AA arena was virtually empty. It was sad.
Whatever you say, FIU can't compare with the academics of UM. FIU is waaayy behind UM and that is not going to change, UM is constantly moving up in the rankings.. their business dean is from Wharton school of business. They recruited 16 professors from Duke in their sciences and Frost school of music is top notch. FIU's med school just got approved.. UM's med school is known as one of the top in the nation. I'm not saying FIU is a bad school.. but its not even close to being put in the same field as UM.
Who cares about UM's school of music, honestly? That's the least important dept. of any university... When I went to FIU I had a prof. from Harvard and one from MIT, boo hoo...
The Orange Bowl while im sure native Miamians and even people abroad loved, it was stinky, ugly, unflattering, and used 6 times a year. As a baseball fan I can't wait till theres one here, I know alot of people here hate it just by the fact that the city and county are partly funding it, but alot of you probaly haven't been to a baseball game in a football stadium. Im one that thinks every city needs a baseball stadium, im sure alot of you also dont think so but im not here to change some of your minds. (btw im a Giants fan)
And someone mentioned the Heat as having bad attendance, even with what is probaly their worst season ever they still ranked on top when it came to attendance actually 8th out of 30 teams, exremely good for a miserable season.
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