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» Florida Law to Require Marlins Park to House the Homeless? |
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Jan 25, 2012 - 10:41 PM - by TheMendozaLine
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Back in 1988, Florida legislators passed a law that would allow sports stadiums to collect about $2 million per year from the government to build new shiny stadiums that would increase economic investment and improve the quality of life.
Tucked into the statutes is an obscure homeless shelter provision, which has mostly been ignored for 23 years, and could be a $300 million “Oops” for stadiums, arenas and spring training facilities across the state.
The law states that sports teams that accept taxpayer dollars to build facilities must house the homeless on off-nights, and lawmakers have brought it back from the dead in a pair of bills gaining steam this legislative session.
Senate Bill 816, which would make teams and stadium owners return millions of taxpayer dollars if they can’t prove that they’ve been operating as a haven for the homeless on non-event nights, passed its first committee in the Senate on Monday with a unanimous vote.
There was some charged language aimed at taxpayer-supported sports franchises during the hearing:
“We have spent over $300 million supporting teams that can afford to pay a guy $7, $8, $10 million a year to throw a baseball 90 feet. I think they can pay for their own stadium," said Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton, who is sponsoring the bill. “I can not believe that we’re going to cut money out of Medicaid and take it away from the homeless and take it away from the poor and impoverished, and we’re continuing to support people who are billionaires.”
The teams, which include the Tampa Bay Rays and the Miami Heat, receive about $166,000 per month for a period of 30 years. Some stadium owners have already accepted more than $30 million in tax credits, and could be on the hook to refund that money if the bill passes. Based on the dozens of homeless people who sleep on the street two blocks west of AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami, it doesn’t appear that a homeless shelter is functioning at the glitzy home of the Miami Heat.
The new Miami Marlins new stadium also received large amounts of taxpayer funding in a controversial deal that has received severe criticism. It is unclear whether or not the Little Havana ballpark will operate a homeless shelter when it opens this spring.
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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/naked...-homeless.html
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» Marlins Invite 22 to Camp |
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Jan 20, 2012 - 3:46 PM - by Miamarlin21
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Most of them we know about, but here is the full list:
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The veteran outfielder Rowand, a former Gold Glove Award winner who spent the past four seasons with the Giants, is one of 11 whom Miami has signed to Minor League deals. Right-handers Rob Delany, Chad Gaudin, Gary Glover, J.D. Martin and Robert Ray and lefty Beau Jones are the pitchers are under contract. Infielders Nick Green, Donovan Solano, Terry Tiffee and Gil Velasquez have also been signed.
The other 11 who can potentially earn a deal in Spring Training are righties Corey Madden, Alejandro Ramos and Elih Villanueva; southpaws Jose Alvarez, Chad James and Robert Rasmussen; catchers Jacob Jefferies, Luke Montz, Clint Sammons and Kyle Skipworth; and outfielder Kyle Jensen.
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» Marlins Being Considered for Season Two of "The Franchise" |
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Jan 15, 2012 - 11:33 AM - by Party
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Not surprisingly, given all the fanfare surrounding them, the Marlins are being considered as the featured teamfor Showtime's "The Franchise," the popular baseball docuseries." The pay-per-view channel confirmed earlier in the week that it has ordered a second season of the series, which last season examined the behind-the-scenesworkings of theSan Francisco Giants after they won the World Series.
With a new ballpark on the horizon, new uniforms, a vociferous manager (Ozzie Guillen) and a new cast of stars, the Marlins are a natural fit for the Showtime series, which last season averaged more than 650,000 viewers per episode.
Showtime is granted exclusive access in order to present a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the sport.
To get an idea, take a look at the first episode from last season here.
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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_...franchise.html
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» LeBatard: These Marlins Just Scream Miami |
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Jan 14, 2012 - 8:39 PM - by Party
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Posted on Sun, Jan. 08, 2012
Everything about these Marlins just screams Miami
By Dan Le Batard
[email]dlebatard@MiamiHerald.
Rather famously, the reckless, renegade football champions at the University of Miami did an excellent job of representing the strange and wonderful city that surrounded them. Fun. Crazy. Out of control. Those teams, in the carnival of sports, even held the racial tension of the time up to a funhouse mirror. Miami, the city, and Miami, the program, were intertwined in a way that made those insane Hurricanes feel like an accurate symbol for this insane city. Years later, LeBron James came along and the Heat took our international city’s superficial evolution and framed it in flashbulbs. Florescent and famous. Big and bold. A little bit “too much” but wearing that “too much” proudly, like the guy buying bottles at the club soaked in all that jewelry and cologne.
And now here come the new-look Marlins, swaggering and unlike anything we’ve ever seen around here. In terms of accuracy, there probably has never been a South Florida team that better represented its surrounding neighborhood — not how we’d like to think of ourselves as a city, on the days we look our best, but rather what we actually are, at our complicated core, when we wake up without the makeup. These Marlins are so very, very Miami, from the foul mouth and heavy accent with which Ozzie Guillen speaks to the federal investigation that surrounds the new stadium.
Even in this land of artificial enhancements, even in this odd place where a fake doctor gets arrested for trying to make a butt enhancement out of concrete and fix-a-flat, how the Marlins have transformed recently feels, well, unreal. Here’s a partial list of things the franchise has changed in just the past few months of plastic surgery: team name, home address, uniform, shortstop, closer, payroll, pitching staff, manager, reputation, entire bleeping blueprint and philosophy. Even for a team that had a reliever named Leo Nuñez who wasn’t really Leo Nuñez, even in a city where a lot of people are trying to pretend to be something they are not, that’s a pretty seismic transformation, the kind of facelift usually reserved for fugitives.
Did they buy your trust? With $191 million dollars? Their offseason was very Miami — gluttonous, big, reckless, loud, flashy, fast and loose — and especially jarring for a franchise that very recently suffered the unprecedented shame of being forced to spend more by edict of Major League Baseball and the players’ union. But we’re used to fast financial rises and falls around here, whether it be a downtown built upon drug money or leading all of America’s metro areas in rate of foreclosures. Sometimes, the rags-to-riches feels as authentic as Emilio Estefan’s. And sometimes it feels as counterfeit as Scott Rothstein’s. Regardless, the Marlins bought $191 million worth of buzz, something that this city traffics in like narcotics, and now asks for your trust after a history of betrayal from this franchise that predates even this management team. You giving it?
All those new contracts are heavily backloaded for a reason. The Marlins are giving this three years to work, to prove once and for all around here if baseball is indeed sustainable. Either we attend the new home, with no weather or payroll excuses, or the Marlins can throw up their hands and say, “Hey, we tried,” and then start pocketing some of that new-stadium revenue, public relations be damned. It is why the Marlins were willing to offer Albert Pujols $200 million but not a no-trade clause. The Marlins said it was against club policy to give a no-trade clause, but it had also been always against club policy to, you know, offer a 10-year, $200 million contract to a first baseman who may or may not have been 31. They wanted the promise Pujols would bring the first few years but didn’t want to promise him or anyone else anything beyond that. The Marlins will, for the next few years, prove themselves to you while waiting for you to prove yourself as fans to them. But there’s an expiration date on that, and it is going to hurt when it comes if there isn’t sustainable buzz and winning before it.
In the interim, though, all they’re doing is fielding the most interesting team in the sport, especially when you consider that sports are just a way for males to rationalize enjoying soap operas. The Marlins lead the league in crazy. Guillen, as a voice. Carlos Zambrano, as an arm. Logan | ... [Read More]
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» Eduardo Perez Concerned About Hanley's Bat |
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Jan 09, 2012 - 2:44 PM - by Polky
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A guest of MLB Network Radio on Monday, Miami Marlins hitting coach Eduardo Perez admitted to having some concerns about how the position change and shoulder surgery will impact Hanley Ramirez’s bat next season. Perez, like manager Ozzie Guillen said earlier this offseason, believes playing a less demanding position should facilitate Ramirez having a bounce back year.
“I think everybody has his concerns,” Perez told hosts Kevin Kennedy and Jim Duquette. “The good thing is it’s not like he’s going from third base to shortstop or to a higher level, difficult position. Going to third base we’re hoping it’ll keep his legs fresh…There’s a lot more diving going on with a lot more force at shortstop than third. Third base is a step and a dive, which you don’t really feel it as much. He’s got all the athletic ability to be successful. Now internally, can he handle that change of position for the better of the team and even for the better of his health and better of his well-being and longevity of his career? We’re not going to know until spring training arrives.
“Right now, yes, we can say he’s approved of the move, but we really won’t know how that will affect him, defensively, but most importantly offensively. Everybody two years ago was talking about Hanley Ramirez being the best offensive player, could be one of the best offensive players in the game all-around.”
Perez also is curious to see how Ramirez’s shoulder will respond in live competition.
“Everybody talks about, well, he’s hitting, he’s swinging and I’m really happy he’s doing that being the hitting coach of the Marlins, but at the same time what I worry about is not just the BP fastball, but what about in-game situations, that check swing?” Perez said. “That’s where a lot of strength goes into holding on to your swing. Or when you get fooled on that slider down and away, it’s all shoulder there. That’s the big test. That’s the one where Hanley is going to have to be very careful.”
Perez said Ramirez’s shoulder trouble made the high, one-handed finish to his swing problematic. What Perez wants Ramirez to avoid is having to make a major adjustment because of his shoulder issues.
“That’s one thing I don’t want Hanley to do is completely change his swing,” Perez said. “Last year, before he got hurt, he was on a roll. We had him right where we wanted to have him offensively and with the right mindset. His average was going up…and all of a sudden he gets injured. Hopefully that shoulder will be strong enough to make sure he can finish high and complete his swing and be as aggressive as he has been throughout his career.”
Perez also addressed how he’ll approach building a relationship with Jose Reyes.
“The beauty about Jose Reyes is he’s the complete package offensively,” Perez said. “Being that switch hitter, creating havoc on the bases, and he knows his role. He knows his job and it’s going to be a pleasure working with a guy who understands who he is at the plate and also in the ballpark. He knows how to make a team better. What we’re going to need from Jose, bottom line, is presence. He’s got that infectious presence of wanting to play, wanting to hustle, and that will carry over on the rest of the guys.
“This is a plus-plus situation for us. A lot of people say there’s going to be a lot of chaos. I don’t think so. I think having Jose Reyes there offensively is going to make my job a lot easier in many ways. He understands when he needs to bunt, he’ll bunt. He understands that when he needs to get on base, he’ll get on base. He understands when he needs that triple or that double, he’ll do so. Not only is he a good hitter, he’s a very good baserunner and an aggressive baserunner. That’s what we want out of Jose to carry over for the rest of the guys on the team.”
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http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports...nleys-bat.html
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» After All That, Buehrle Can't Live in Miami |
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Jan 06, 2012 - 4:21 PM - by Miamarlin21
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Mark Buehrle's left arm may have been greeted warmly down in south Florida this offseason, but the same can't be said for one of his family's four dogs.
According to the Miami Herald, "Slater" Buehrle, an 18-month-old American Staffordshire terrier, falls under a pitbull ban that has been in place in Miami-Dade County since 1989. That means the Buehrle family didn't have the option of moving anywhere close to the Miami Marlins' new ballpark after Mark signed a four-year, $58 million deal with the team last month.
Mark Buehrle, a dog lover who made headlines when he said he hoped Michael Vick would get hurt, avoided the ban by moving his family to a dog-friendly development in south Broward County. And while he says he wouldn't have signed with the Marlins if there had been no housing alternatives for Slater and the rest of his family, Buehrle still wants to speak up against the injustice of the ban.
From the Miami Herald:
Mark Buehrle believes "it's kind of ridiculous that because of the way a dog looks, people will ban it. Every kind of dog has good and bad, and that depends on the handlers. If you leave a dog outside all the time, it'll be crazy. Slater would never do anything harmful.''
Mark Buehrle grew up with cats, rabbits and fish, but got his first dog with Jamie. They married in 2005 and are spokespeople for Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, which accepted 22 of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick's pit bulls.
The Buehrles have three other dogs — Viszlas named Diesel, Drake and Duke — and adopted Slater after Jamie fell in love with him during work with an animal rescue group. Judging from his festive getup in the picture above, he sure doesn't look too menacing.
As a dog lover who has admired Mark and Jamie Buehrle's work with "Sox for Strays" in Chicago, I agree 100 percent with the pitcher's stance. Without getting into a long drawn-out debate on the subject, the danger with pitbulls lies more with the responsibility of its owners and not the breed itself. There's absolutely no reason why a well-trained dog and its family should be discriminated against through government legislation.
The good news, of course, is that at least this tale has a happy ending. Though Slater and the Buehrles were forced to go live elsewhere, perhaps their story will help end a ban that causes a much bigger hardship for other families.
After all, not everyone who moves to Miami-Dade County for a job has the luxury of being able to choose where to live. The awareness the Buehrles are driving could prevent dog owners from having to make a decision they shouldn't have to in the first place.
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Something to read on this Friday afternoon.
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» Important Dates |
January
Begin: Playing surface installation
Jan. 9: Hall of Fame Class of 2012 announced
February
TBA: Construction ends at new ballpark
February 22: Pitchers and catchers report
February 26: Pitchers and catchers report
TBA: Fan Fest at new ballpark
Complete calendar here
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SoFlaMarlins.com
