Pulling Together For the Marlins

Following is a very good letter to the Miami Herald by Cutler Bay resident Paul Czekanski that touches on several important aspects of the whole Florida Marlins ballpark deal and what it can mean for South Florida if people are willing to get behind the team.

There was a song back in the '60s called Give Peace a Chance. How about giving the Florida Marlins a chance, too. Let's have a fresh start for our team, two-time World Series champions. Let's get behind and support them. Enough already with bashing the team and stadium deal. It's tiresome.

The stadium deal was done in a public forum. Whether or not you agree with the final decision, the pro side won, and it's time for opponents to stop whining like spoiled children who did not get their way. Move on, and support something positive in our community. Would you rather the Orange Bowl site sit unused, rather than be the site of a tax-generating facility?

Those who blame attendance on having minor-league players should know that Major League Baseball payroll very often does not produce. Look at the Mets now, and the Yankees are not doing much better with their bloated payrolls. And yet our lower paid ``minor league'' players won two World Series championships.

To our Broward and Palm Beach fans: We want you and need you. But please, enough griping about where the stadium is located and having to ``drive all the way down there to see a game.''

Mets and Yankees fans who live in New Jersey, upstate New York and Connecticut often travel up to an hour or more to watch their teams play, as my family did when I was growing up. Not every Red Sox fan lives in or near Boston.

The Marlins stadium site is not that far from Fort Lauderdale, or even West Palm Beach. Eventually a rail link or other transit options might make it easier.

Get behind our Marlins and give the team a chance.

Don't be annoyed at the team changing its name to the Miami Marlins. Let's be honest, not one public entity from either Broward County or Palm Beach County ever stepped up to try to forge a partnership with the team, or with Miami-Dade County to build a permanent home. From the get-go, it has been the city of Miami and Miami-Dade that have stepped up to the plate and have gone through this painstaking process. Therefore, this community has every right to rename the team.

Let's pull together for a fresh start. Get behind our Marlins and give the team a chance. You might actually enjoy the national pastime again in South Florida -- and in a comfortable setting devoid of rain delays or postponed games.

PAUL E. CZEKANSKI, Cutler Bay