Oops, they did it AGAIN! 25-day old Miami Herald story still #5 Breaking News story on Herald's Broward homepage. Congrats to Jay Ducassi!

Miami Herald vending machine in front of Denny's restaurant, Hallandale Beach, FL.
July 3, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

October 9, 2011 screen grab at 8: 45 p.m. by South Beach Hoosier.

Examine the headline in the lower-left corner above on the Miami Herald's Broward homepage -the fifth of eight headline links: Blackout of Miami Dolphins game averted.

(I have the entire article at bottom.)

October 9, 2011 screen grab at 8: 45 p.m. by South Beach Hoosier.

Blackout of Miami Dolphins game averted

The problem?

It was news on September 15th, not so much 25 days later, and is certainly NOT Breaking News NOW.

Well, at least it wouldn't considered as such at most reputable newspapers in this country, much less, ones of the Herald's purported circulation size.

But once again, the Herald is replicating the very problem I highlighted a few months ago in three separate blog posts.

In May, they notably ran a month-old political story about Donald Trump and had that listed on their Breaking News page FOUR WEEKS later, even after he'd already announced he wouldn't be running for president.

Sometimes, the Herald listed that Trump story as among the top-three Breaking News stories in South Florida.

Really.

See my three blog posts to refresh your memory on that reality check on the Herald's continuing bad judgment in peddling old stories as new or recent ones:

a.) May 16, 2011 Answer: It's about Donald Trump. Question: Why is a month-old story still on Miami Herald's Broward homepage under 'Breaking News'? Blame Jay Ducassi

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/answer-its-about-donald-trump-question.html

b.) May 18, 2011 Donald Trump Redux is further proof of the Miami Herald's gross incompetency and fundamentally-flawed idea of (and coverage of) Broward County in 2011.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/donald-trump-redux-is-further-proof-of.html

c.) July 21, 2011 Miami Herald grave robbers at it again! Herald's threadbare Broward homepage runs 15-day old story as Breaking News to fill-up space!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/miami-herald-grave-robbers-at-it-again.html

How does something that stupid happen?

And then happen again? And again?

Ask Jay Ducassi, the Herald's Local & State editor.

October 9, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Ducassi's the same person who bears the lion's share of responsibility for turning that section of the Herald into a never-ending series of embarrassment for Broward readers looking for news about the world they live in.

But down at Herald HQ at One Herald Plaza, Broward County is considered terra incognita, forever getting short-shrift, even though it represents 45% of the two-county population.

They don't care.

In most newspapers in this country, no matter small, Sunday's local section is usually full of stories and columns that are supposed to capture your attention and really make you think.

Pieces they've made a concerted effort to publish on Sunday to get the highest number of eyeballs reading them on the most-read newspaper day of the week.

It will come as no surprise to those of you living here that the Herald is NOT one of them, and hasn't been for years.

Guess who's responsible?

Today, with six pages of editorial in section B comprising the Local & State section, there is one story about Broward County issues, news or personalities actually written by Herald reporters or columnists in the newspaper.

One story.

And you know in advance that it isn't columnist Myriam Marquez, because if you had a dollar for all the things that she's written since joining the Herald years ago from the Orlando Sentinel that were of particular interest to Broward readers, you STILL couldn't buy the $5 foot long sub at Subways.

As I've stated previously, Marquez's column should be re-titled "South of the Border" and drop all the pretense that she's a general interest columnist the way we've all come to understand that concept, because what she's largely interested in 99% of the time, is solely what transpires between the Herald HQ on Biscayne Bay, west over to Westchester, Calle Ocho, Doral and Sweetwater, and then south towards Havana and Latin America,

The proof is in the pudding -her own columns.

Seriously, why in the year 2011 does McClatchy Company's Miami Herald STILL NOT have even one Broward-centric columnist?

Or even one smart, locally-based conservative columnist, even if that means hiring someone from out-of-state and and moving them here to be a voice for a perspective that's currently completely lacking?

Or an Education blog that runs real stories and tidbits, not just largely press releases from the School Board...

It's simple -they don't want to.

October 9, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

And this absence of Broward-related stories is far from an infrequent occurrence on Sundays.

Give the devil his due, though, Jay Ducassi is nothing if not consistent.

----

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/15/2409135/sunday-dolphins-blackout-averted.html

Posted on Thursday, 09.15.11

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Blackout of Miami Dolphins game averted

BY CRAIG DAVIS

SUN SENTINEL

It apparently took a cooperative effort between the Miami Dolphins and several sponsors to ensure that the 13-year streak of regular-season games on local television continues Sunday. The game against the Houston Texans will be broadcast throughout South Florida at 4:15 p.m. Sunday on CBS4 in Miami, the station confirmed.

The Dolphins have not made a formal announcement, but season-ticket holders reported receiving an automated phone call from Dolphins CEO Mike Dee stating that sponsors bought up the remaining tickets to avert a blackout. There reportedly were about 10,000 tickets remaining early Thursday.

The NFL's blackout policy, established in 1973, requires games be sold out 72 hours in advance or they are blacked out on stations with signals reaching within 75 miles of the game.

Sunday will mark the 103rd consecutive regular-season game on local television since an Oct. 18, 1998 game against the St. Louis Rams failed to sell out. However, two playoff games were blacked out since then: Jan. 13, 2002 against Baltimore and Dec. 30, 2000 against Indianapolis.

Say hello to the 5-11 Miami Dolphins in Jeff Ireland & Tony Sparano's last year with the clueless, unappealing Dolphins

The worst is yet to come!

Above and below, just some of the dozen Chad Henne jerseys that were NOT flying off the shelves at the Aventura Target last year. October 9, 2010 photos by South Beach Hoosier.

Yes, "the Venezuelan Target," home of la bellessima!

The same store that presciently had the Ronnie Brown #23 jerseys on clearance months and months ago, even as the Dolphins were pretending that he would be coming back to the team this year.

Don't you hate it when retail outlets have a better grasp of the obvious with the team than the people who actually work for the team? The so-called experts.

As I've written here for years, and gotten abuse for saying in numerous Herald stories about the Dolphins, developer and Dolphins owner Steven Ross has no business owning the team, and is making the Dolphins a combination of the worst of the worst -the Bengals of the '90's and the Lions of just three years ago.

Ross may be the single-worst NFL owner around, which is really saying something given the miscues and screw-ups of Jacksonville and Carolina's owners.

Hey Mike Dee, how's that Club LIV at the stadium doing?

View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

Club LIV Comes to Sun Life Stadium

First of its kind nightclub at a football game ready to debut

By Adam Kuperstein | Thursday, Sep 23, 2010 | Updated 7:45 AM EDT

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/LIV-Sun-Life-Stadium-103591419.html

See also:

LIV nightclub creators bring South Beach nightlife experience to Sun Life Stadium for Dolphins football season

http://www.miami.com/dolphins-sobe-style-article

What a f-ing embarrassment!!!

I've got a lot more to say about the dismal prospects for this once-proud team that has fallen into a black hole, but since today is the first day of training camp, the day that savvy Dolphin fans have been dreading since the lockout started, I'd have been remiss if I hadn't posted this Henne photo, which I've been saving for months just for today's post.

I'll likely have more this weekend, once Matt Moore has arrived from Carolina.

Yes, Matt Moore.

That was their back-up plan, after they refused to take a chance on Ryan Mallette or move up in May's NFL Draft, and then couldn't pull the trigger this week for someone else?

(Patriots snapped Mallette up!)

Yes.

Folks, this year, like a bad move that keeps repeating, Dolphin fans are stuck on the S.S. Titanic and this time, we passengers know the iceberg is out there, but they keep steering right towards it, anyway.

Over-and-over!

For once, almost six months ago, I actually agreed with Armando Salguero.

Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/06/2052794/too-many-reminders-of-miami-dolphins.html

Too many reminders of Miami Dolphins’ futility

By Armando Salguero

Posted Sunday February 6, 2011

It’s becoming something of a depressing yearly rite that we look at the Super Bowl teams and think about what might have been for our Dolphins.

If only someone with a functioning brain would have made this or that decision correctly, stuck with this player or that coach, then maybe, we say, fate would have been written differently and that might be our team playing for the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday.

Remember back in the late 1990s when the Patriots went to Super Bowl XXXI with Keith Byars and Jeff Dellenbach? Remember the Packers that eventually won that game boasted Keith Jackson as their tight end?

Remember when the Dolphins discarded all three players?

Last year, Dolphins fans watched in disgust as Drew Brees – the quarterback the Dolphins could have had but passed on twice – helped New Orleans win it all.

This year, the local lament is about coaching talent that got away.

When the Steelers and Packers play this Super Bowl, Dolphins fans can take absolutely zero solace in the fact Mike Tomlin once interviewed for the Miami head coach job and was passed over for someone far less capable of doing the work.

In the first month of 2007, the Dolphins were searching for a coach to replace Nick Saban and identified Tomlin as a rising star worth a visit. They talked to Tomlin. Probed him. Considered him.

Then they passed on him.

A bad choice“Too hip-hop,” one Dolphins employee who had a say in that decision would say of Tomlin weeks later.

Miami went with Cam Cameron instead.

Tomlin interviewed with the Steelers days after his Miami interview. He hadn’t suddenly gotten wiser. He hadn’t magically become a better coach. He was just himself – prepared, pointed, optimistic, realistic.

Tomlin got the job succeeding Bill Cowher.

If the Steelers win on Sunday, that would deliver to Tomlin his second Super Bowl ring as Pittsburgh’s coach and third overall because he’s got one from Super Bowl XXXVII when he was the defensive backs coach for Tampa Bay.

“Every day I go to work, I don’t think about things I have to do, I think about the things I can do to make my men successful,” Tomlin said this week in North Texas. “So I have a servant’s mentality in terms of how I approach my job, and I get that from coach [Tony Dungy].”

A Tony Dungy disciple with a servant’s heart.

Too hip-hop, the Dolphins decided.

I’m not saying Tomlin would have come to Miami and overcome a roster that lacked talent and certainly didn’t compare to Pittsburgh’s. I’m not saying he would have won a Super Bowl already in Miami as he has in Pittsburgh.

I am saying the Dolphins looked in this guy’s eyes and didn’t see what the Rooneys saw when they interviewed Tomlin. They didn’t find out what the Rooney family found out.

That is the difference between being great and being good. Teams such as the Packers and Steelers look at players or coaches other teams have similarly studied and see something special the others miss.

I remember a phone conversation with Saban in 2005 in which he told me he was about to hire Dom Capers. “He’s one of the best defensive coaches out there and he has been for a long time,” Saban said.

Within a couple of years of Capers’ hiring, very few folks in South Florida would have believed that he was among the best at anything. As defensive coordinator of the 2007 Dolphins, he managed to author the worst run defense in the league and the Dolphins ranked 30th in points allowed.

Capers was fired. This year, under Capers’ direction, the Packers were second in fewest points allowed which was an improvement over last season when Capers had his unit ranked seventh in fewest points allowed.

Did Capers become a terrible coach in 2007 after having proved to Saban previously he was an outstanding coach? Did he, becoming suddenly idiotic in 2007, regain his senses the past two years in Green Bay?

Or is it that Capers never stopped being an outstanding coach, but was simply victimized in 2007 by too many injuries ravaging a roster lined with far too little talent?

Great teams often recognize talented people down to their roots. They get a conviction about people. Then they stick to those convictions when crisis hits – which, in the NFL, is every week.

“Panic doesn’t seem to work. Let’s put it that way,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said. “There are enough people that seem to have gone through that mode and our feeling is that you pick good people and you try to stick with them if you have good people. There are ups and downs in any sport, but if you have the right people in place, you’ll always have a chance to be successful and that’s what we do. ”

Do you hear that Tony Sparano doubters?

Is Miami’s current coach the best head coach in the NFL this year? No. His team couldn’t finish strong or win at home.

But did the guy who led the Dolphins to perhaps the most dramatic turnaround in NFL history – going from 1-15 to 11-5 in one year – suddenly becoming incapable of leading and coaching his team?

Formula for successIt speaks well of club owner Stephen Ross that he didn’t knee-jerk and replace Sparano with an unproven Jim Harbaugh last month. The cautious approach might not be rewarded with a title next season, but it gives the Dolphins a chance to have continuity.

And the Steelers, a club with only three coaches since 1969 and having never fired any of them, have proven that continuity can bring success.

The hope is Ross sees something in Sparano, knows something about Sparano that convinced him to keep Sparano even while some were calling for the coach’s head.

The Dolphins have too rarely made us think they know something no one else does. They made us feel that way in 1983 when they picked Dan Marino late in the first round.

They made us feel that way lately when they plucked Cameron Wake out of CFL obscurity and within two seasons saw him go to the Pro Bowl.

But for the couple of decades now, the Dolphins have mostly been among those folks that weren’t aware or didn’t know or missed on a guy by just this much.

That’s not an indictment on the team’s current administration. That’s an indictment on administrations going back to Jimmy Johnson.

The Dolphins missed on Randy Moss, Anquan Boldin, and Brees twice. This isn’t second-guessing or playing the result. All of those players were favored, expected, supposed to join the Dolphins if the brainiacs leading the franchise had been thinking straight.

So where does that leave us?

The hope is Miami folks currently in charge can avoid the curse that obviously befell their predecessors. The hope is the folks running the Dolphins now know something other teams do not.

Tone-deaf billionaire owner of Miami Dolphins looks for Broward County tax money -$225 M- to renovate (his own) stadium. Sure, how much do you need?

My comments follow this very thorough story by the Sun-Sentinel's Scott Wyman and Co.

-------

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-broward-stadium-dolphins-20110105,0,5932754.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel'
Dolphins look for Broward aid to renovate Sun Life Stadium stadium
By Scott Wyman, Sun Sentinel
9:07 PM EST, January 5, 2011

The Miami Dolphins want Broward County to share its tourism tax revenue to help pay for a $225 million renovation to its stadium in Miami-Dade.

Dolphins CEO Mike Dee has been meeting with area hoteliers, business executives and tourism officials to pitch the idea of rewriting state law to allow Broward to spend its tax money outside the county. The Dolphins argue that Broward has benefited heavily from past Super Bowls at the Miami-Dade venue and that a new stadium would help ensure their return in the future.

Broward played host to the Super Bowl headquarters in 2010. That game, along with the subsequent Pro Bowl, generated $333 million for South Florida businesses. Dee said a renovated stadium could add about $2.5 billion to the South Florida economy through 2040.

"This is a community decision," said Dee, who publicly unveiled the idea in a speech Wednesday at a Miami chamber of commerce lunch. "This is about the ability to continue to bring big-time events to the community."

Although South Florida has been home to both the 2010 and the 2007 Super Bowls, the chance at more games has been in doubt because of the condition of the 23-year-old Sun Life Stadium. NFL officials have made clear that while they enjoyed the area's amenities, that is not enough to return. Newer and fancier venues have been chosen for future games.

The Dolphins last year unveiled plans for a renovated stadium that include a partial roof over the seating area and seats closer to the action. But after spending $300 million on stadium upgrades over the past six years, the team has maintained that it cannot make the investment by itself.

Broward County commissioners, who control the tax dollars that tourists pay to stay at hotels, reacted skeptically to the Dolphins proposal. Broward and Miami-Dade have flirted with cooperation on sports venues before to no avail.

Commissioners said that Broward has many needs of its own for the tax dollars, which already go to promote tourism and pay for the debt on the construction of the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. The tax money has been a key feature of plans to both expand the Broward County Convention Center and build a nearby hotel for convention-goers.

"There would have to be a lot of sweetener in the pot before I would even think about it," Broward Mayor Suzanne Gunzburger said.

Commissioner Lois Wexler said she opposes any additional use of tourism dollars to support professional sports teams. Meanwhile, Commissioner John Rodstrom, one of the primary architects behind the construction of the BankAtlantic Center, said he would want to see a significant sharing of revenue or taxation from the stadium in order consider a deal — even suggesting that the county line be moved to split the stadium.

"I'm willing to listen to any plan, but you have to put it into the context of the dollars that come out of it," Rodstrom said. "We're being asked to fund a stadium that is not in our county. We all recognize how important the Super Bowl is, and it would be good if we could get it every couple years. But we also have other needs in Broward."

The Dolphins have sought Miami-Dade hotel taxes for at least a year, but had not previously included Broward tax money in the plan. In another significant shift, Dee also is pledging Dolphins financial support for a stadium renovation.

Dee said the Dolphins want to pursue legislation that would allow counties to increase the hotel tax from the current maximum of 6 cents to 7 cents. The plan would then be for Miami-Dade to split its increased tax revenue between the stadium renovations and a rehab of its convention center. Broward currently charges a 5-cent hotel tax and also would be allowed to raise it and spend proceeds outside its jurisdiction.

The Dolphins plan is dividing the region's business community.

The head of the Greater Miami tourism bureau has not endorsed it, and city commissioners in Miami Beach have voted to oppose public funding for the football stadium. Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the operators of the BankAtlantic Center, issued a strong statement Wednesday opposing the plan as well.

In his statement, Sunrise Sports president Michael Yormark said he believes the Dolphins intend to turn their stadium into a multipurpose entertainment facility that would then compete with his venue. "So their request is, in effect, to use Broward County tax dollars to help a privately owned Miami-Dade facility compete with a publicly owned facility in Broward County," he said.

Broward tourism czar Nicki Grossman, though, described the Dolphins proposal as tantalizing if it means Miami-Dade lands future Super Bowls. She said Broward hoteliers did the "lion's share" of business associated with the Super Bowl, and that the Dolphins training camp at Nova Southeastern University in Davie also pumps at least $15 million into the Broward economy.

Grossman, the president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Broward hoteliers want Super Bowl 2015 in South Florida and that she understands that "in order to get a Super Bowl, the stadium has to be a major player.''

"What they need is a reason for Broward County to get into this game," Grossman said. "My reach into the hotel community says that our hoteliers really want to continue to be Super Bowl hosts, and Pro Bowl hosts."

Staff writer Brittany Wallman, Pro Sports Editor Joe Schwerdt and the Miami Herald contributed to this report.

------------

Ron Book is the lobbyist hired by Stephen Ross and the Dolphins on this Quixotic effort to fleece Broward County taxpayers.

Anyone who saw the embarrassing video 11 months ago of Greater FTL tourism czarina Nicki Grossman reacting to New York City being awarded the 2014 Super Bowl over South Florida and other candidate cities, knows what sort of silly sycophant she is for any corporate interest who'll tell her what she wants to hear.
In my opinion, she's an old-fashioned shill for hire.

When someone actually stumbled into telling the truth for a change about what happened in January, i.e. that the fix was in for NYC to be awarded the game, and that person was the Chair of South Florida's effort, influential Rodney Barretto,
http://www.southfloridasuperbowl.com/Host_Committee/Board_Of_Directors.html
predictably, Nicki Grossman acted just like the corporate puppet she is, and actually criticized HIM, not the shell-game that was perpetrated on them by the NFL at taxpayer's expense.

Surprise!

I know, I know, you don't have to tell me.
You're hoping for a snowy Super Bowl three years hence, too!

¿Ya es lunes? Dear Dolphins: Do we have to wear our orange sombreros, too? Me gusta Lana Parrilla!

Orange you glad I reminded you?

Below, excerpt from a recent email
I received from the Dolphins.

Is It Next Monday Yet?

Fresh off the big win against AFC East rival Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins face another rival, the New York Jets, next Monday, October 12th at 8:30 p.m. at Land Shark Stadium.

Be here to see live:

• Dolphins players wear ORANGE jerseys for only the third time ever. The last two times the team wore orange jerseys resulted in Dolphins’ victories!
  
• The Dolphins along with the NFL celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Among the festivities is Latin Grammy award-winning Jesse and Joy performing live at the Land Shark Tailgate Stage, Marc Anthony singing the national anthem and a special “Celebration of the Americas” halftime show with participation by Gloria Estefan and a live performance by Jocelyn Rivera.

So be here for what promises to be an unforgettable night in South Florida in this Monday Night Football game. Wear your Dolphins ORANGE and come ready to FIESTA!

---------------------
Actually, I have quite a lot of orange
t-shirts, but this makes as much marketing
sense as having IRL drivers in Davie at
Dolphins HQ, and the Herald mentioning
that the drivers were photographed next
to the Dolphins Super Bowl trophies
from 35 years ago, plus the the racing
trophy.

But be sure to call me if you spot
Lana Parrilla of CBS-TV's upcoming
drama Miami Trauma before kickoff!
Her I adore!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0663469/
Ever since Boomtown seven years ago.

(Per Lana's show Miami Trauma,
where she'll play surgeon Eva Zambrano,
-"It could be paradise.
But even paradise needs its angels",
see http://twitpic.com/32l5u
and
http://www.jbfilms.com/archive/home.html -
some of the well-informed people
I hear from regularly in LA, plus,
the plugged-in folks at The Wrap,
http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/cbs-says-yes-more-flashpoint-8265
have suggested it could air in a few
months on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. after
NCIS:LA's time slot if the Juliana
Margulies vehicle The Good Wife
is eventually axed.

Personally, I think there are other CBS
shows that really ought to get axed before
Good Wife, which I really enjoy because
of its excellent cast and nuanced intelligent
approach to a situation seldom dealt with
well on TV -family life after a political
scandal.

Plus Margulies is not only a very talented
actress, but is also very, very likable and
someone that other talented people enjoy
working with.
That still counts for something, even in the
Hollywood of 2009.

Personally, I think NCIS: LA is a better
idea for a TV series than reality has proven
thus far, since it leaves me cold so far,
even though I'm a big fan of NCIS,
having watched it from the very beginning.)

Don't want to even think about the 1,001
ways the Herald and Sun-Sentinel will
use the word "siesta" on Tuesday if los
Dolphins lose to los Jets.

If so, I will have todo sobre ESPN
using Spanish in particularly galling,
over-the-top ways throughout the
ballgame.

Which Hispanic celebs will they interview
at halftime?

What's the over-and-under on someone
on the broadcast team using the words
"salsa" or "caliente"?

What sort of ridiculous and cringe-worthy
things will new owner and celebrity groupie
Stephen Ross or possibly Dolphins
Enterprises CEO Mike "Hanging Sox"
Dee say about the Dolphins trying to
're-connect' with South Florida's Hispanic
population?
(Re-connect? Where did they go?)

It could get very bad very quickly when
they start spouting their marketing nonsense,
something which plagued all the early media
stories about both men, esp. Ross' very
dopey comments about his making the
Dolphins more Miami-er, read,
they were too Broward under Huizenga.

excerpt from June 26, 2009
Miami Herald
by Daniel Chang and Adam H. Beasley
MIAMI DOLPHINS:
SINGING WITH THE DOLPHINS?

...Ross emphasized that the Dolphins' priority remains winning games, but he said the team is serious about reaching out to Hispanics, even in a community, Miami-Dade County, where more than half the population identifies as Hispanic.

Jose Cancela, principal of Hispanic USA Inc., a Hispanic market communications firm, said the union of the Dolphins and two of Miami's best known entertainers was a long time coming.

"This is the home of [Spanish-language TV networks] Univision and Telemundo, the home of some of the most famous stars of Latin America," he said. "This is really the Spanish-language Hollywood . . . and it's been sitting at the Dolphins doorstep for a number of years, and it was smart to take advantage of it."

While most marketing efforts in South Florida will naturally reach Hispanics, Cancela said the Dolphins will benefit by personalizing the pitch with recognizable faces and in Spanish.

"You want to do it in language, in culture he said of marketing efforts that target Hispanics. "If you go in language and nuanced correctly, you'll reach them even deeper and create a deeper bond."

BILINGUAL DUET

Ross said all team press releases will now be issued in Spanish and English. A Spanish-language website for the team will launch Aug. 15. And Gloria Estefan and Hank Williams Jr. will debut a bilingual duet of the Monday Night Football theme song, Are You Ready for Some Football, on the Oct. 12 telecast -- the night the Dolphins host their archnemesis, the New York Jets, at LandShark Stadium.

Mike Dee, the Dolphins' chief executive, said the team wants to motivate more Hispanics to become "active fans" who attend games.

And although home-game attendance is about 37 percent Hispanic, according to Dolphins marketing director George Torres, Dee said that's not good enough.

"We're not where we want to be," he said. "We want to be the best in the NFL."

Ross first approached the Estefans shortly after acquiring the team in January from H. Wayne Huizenga. Ross' mediator was Miami condo developer Jorge Perez, a friend and business partner.

Perez said Ross had the "laid-back Anglo" demographic covered with Buffett, and wanted to broaden the team's appeal to the largest ethnic group in Miami-Dade.

Perez immediately thought of the Estefans, and he arranged a meeting.

"Steve has been looking to make the Dolphins a totally integrated team," Perez said. "There needed to be great outreach and inclusion in the Hispanic community and not just token representation."

Why, do they give an attendance award?
Win games -period!

Why does the Herald continue their
absurd policy of asking people -and
the very same people at that!-
with a clear economic interest in a
subject what they think, like Jose
Cancela, above?

Or like continually quoting former
Miami Beach mayor and current
lawyer/lobbyist Niesen Kasdin,
who's also the Vice-chair of the
Downtown Development Authority.

He was quoted for what seemed like
a week straight on Miami 21.

Question never asked of him:
If he and his business pals with
their castle-in-the-sky condos
were as sophisticated and dynamic
as they claim to be, why wasn't
there a single general interest
bookstore within the Miami
city limits?

(For more on Kasdin, see this
July 2, 2007 Eye on Miami post
titled, Niesen Kasdin and Dan Ricker,
polar opposites by gimleteye
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2007/07/neisen-kasdin-and-dan-ricker-polar.html
and see his Akerman Senterfitt bio, too
http://www.akerman.com/public/attorneys/aBiography.asp?id=1083)

Were there no savvy business professors
to be found in all of South Florida?

Just wondering, how many Dolphin players
do you think live in Miami-Dade now?
A handful, maybe?

This isn't 1973 when few Dolphin players
lived north of Miami Lakes or the county
line, and Pembroke Pines and Miramar
were treated by folks in NMB like they
were small obscure Arctic fishing villages,
largely beyond the reach of civilization:
out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

And where is the Dolphins training camp
and HQ located now?
Nope, not 330 Biscayne Blvd. anymore,
where once upon a time, I could actually
run into Joe Thomas on my way in to
pick-up some more of those Dolphin decals
that used to be ubiquitous down here on
cars, and he'd talk to me for ten minutes
about what he liked about IU.

'Nuff said about Ross and his concern
about the Dolphins not being sufficiently
Miami-centric.

By the way, does anyone know why
no stories about Ross ever include a
mention of when he first became a
Dolphins fan, or what big games he
actually attended in person at the OB?

Or was he just a TV fan in NYC as
many rightly suspect?
He's no Bob Kraft, that's for sure.

¿Ya es lunes?

See also:
NFL Latino Effort Pits Jets Fan vs. Dolphins Fan
Monday Night Game Centerpiece of League's
Hispanic Heritage Month Campaign
Posted by Laura Martinez, October 9, 2009
http://adage.com/bigtent/post?article_id=139573

This column features the line,
"Who says Latinos were only into
soccer?"

That's a straw man, especially down here.
Nobody says that.

Except when the Toros were here,
Miami area sports fans were told in that
same condescending marketing B.S.
way that Cubans weren't just into beisbol,
and would flock to the Orange Bowl.
Except that it never happened.

The Toros home games at the
Orange Bowl were largely populated
by kids like me from North Dade
-NMB, Miami Shores, Palm Springs
North, Norland- and the
Karl Kremser-influenced duchies
of the Kendall area around Dade-South,
which is why the Toros moved to
Fort Lauderdale and became more
European-centric in their player
selections as the Strikers and the
rest is history...

By the way, Donald Trump ruined
the NASL for everyone, including
my friends on the IU soccer team,
who weren't really too interested
in playing the bastardized indoor
soccer after Trump ruined the
competitive financial structure of
the NASL.

Below, from my South Beach Hoosier
blog, which I've really neglected the
last few months and plan on revamping
in time for IU's basketball season
in a few weeks
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/

NASL - Ft. Lauderdale Strikers

& Miami Toros/Gatos

I think it's fair to say that from 1971-'76, there were few people in South Florida who attended more Miami Toros/Gatos NASL soccer games at the Orange Bowl than yours truly, including their game against Pelé at F.I.U.
I first started going when they were the Gatos in 1971, as a ten-year old, and kept going after they were re-christened the Toros, a much better name.
I witnessed all their great FEISTY games against their arch-rival Tampa Bay Rowdies.
I even witnessed their heart-breaking loss in the 1974 NASL title game to the Los Angeles Aztecs in penalty kicks, after two over-times.

Somewhere, I still have the Toros game programs, esp. the ones that on the cover proclaimed Kyle Rote, Jr. of the Dallas Tornadoes as the American Pelé.
Rote was a tremendously talented player who understood his unique role as an ambassador
for the sport, but putting things like that on the cover of game programs was FAR TOO MUCH pressure for a kid just barely out of college!)

When Joe and Elizabeth Robbie relocated the team to Ft. Lauderdale and Lockhart Stadium for the 1977 season, much closer to my friends and I in North Miami Beach, we were ecstatic.

The drive to Lockhart up I-95 was so much quicker, as we joined other "Striker Likers", eager to literally yell ourselves hoarse watching their exciting brand of soccer, esp, against the dreaded Rowdies and N.Y. Cosmos!
Oh, did we ever hate them!!!

For more info, see http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dulyjs/strikers/strikers.html