Last Farewell

Hello everyone, back from my mini-hiatus. Unplanned, but I guess you can chalk it up to life getting in the way of my blogging schedule.

Now to the topic at hand:

The Orange Bowl hosts its last University of Miami game this evening. As I've written in several previous posts, I am personally saddened to see a 70-year-plus tradition come to an end.

As I stated in those previous posts, it's truly an embarrassment for all self-respecting Miamians that a building where so many great and significant games have been played was allowed to deteriorate and become the shell of what it once was.

Instead of focusing entirely on paving the way for developers to build huge condominiums that are 50 percent full at best, you would think that the powers-that-be in Miami would have spent just a little time showing some much deserved love and care for a national sports treasure. Nope. The folks who allowed this to happen ought to be embarrassed not only for their incompetence, but also for their lack of regard for a significant piece of Miami tradition.

City of Miami politicians, I'm pointing my finger right at YOU.

Arguments that the Orange Bowl has seen better days, that it should be razed, etc. etc., make sense from a practical, pragmatic perspective. Yes, the OB is in terrible shape, and perhaps it was past the point of no return.

Still, that's no excuse for letting it get to that stage. Frankly and simply, the City of Miami politicos allowed it to happen. All I'm asking for is a little care for our local traditions. Someone please tell me why the Miami city commissioners and Mayor, most of whom were born and/or raised not only in the city of Miami, but near the shadows of the old bowl itself, let this happen? Don't they care about the history and tradition of their city, of their OWN history? How many fellow Miamians haven't been to the Orange Bowl and been mesmerized by the electricity in the building?

Those who coldly and pragmatically state that the OB must be razed with little thought for its history and significance see this as a case of "water under the bridge". Perhaps they have bad memories of the place. They accuse those who wanted the OB to be saved as being too nostalgic and stuck in a past that no longer exists.

If care and respect for local history and tradition is such a bad thing...then I'm guilty as charged. What's next: tearing down the Freedom Tower because Cubans don't get processed through there any more? What are we teaching our children and grandchildren when we explain to them that a local landmark was torn down because no one cared about it any more?

OK, enough complaining.

I'm not going to the game tonight because I have other plans. Still, I wouldn't have gone even if I had no plans. I'm not big on celebrating farewells. I don't want my last memory of the Orange Bowl to be one of sadness. I want to remember the Dolphins and Hurricanes games I attended as a child, when lifetime loyalties were formed. I want to remember the OB rocking with glee when, as a 14-year-old, I sat in the west end zone and witnessed UM beating heavily-favored Nebraska to win their first national championship. I want to remember my first Dolphins Monday Night Football game against the Patriots back in the late 70s in that same west end zone. I want to remember Vinny Testaverde stomping all over Oklahoma in 1986. I want to remember sitting in the west end zone and watching cocky and self-righteous Notre Dame get their heads handed to them back in 1989. I want to remember watching the U.S. women's soccer team tie China in front of 55,000 wildly-cheering fans during the 1996 Olympics (yes, I sat in the west end zone for that game too).

I want to remember the open east end zone with the one-and-only view of the palm trees and Miami skyline.

Those are my memories of the old Little Havana bowl.

If there's any solace, it's that it's entirely possible that a new baseball stadium will be built on the same grounds. While not a true replacement for the Orange Bowl, at least it could be place where new loyalties, memories and traditions will be made for future generations.

Let's only hope that the new stadium will be treated with more consideration than its worn-down but noble predecessor.

Good-bye Orange Bowl. You will always have a proud place in history.

Bye-Bye OB

AP photo

The sad but not surprising news just arrived a little while ago - the University of Miami football team will play its last season in the Orange Bowl in 2007 before moving to Dolphins Stadium in 2008.

As I mentioned in a post back in July, this is not good news for me. Not to belabor the point any further than I did back in July, the City of Miami screwed up big time. This is mostly on their hands, no doubt about it.

Orlando at El Machete shares his thoughts pre-decision, which pretty much echo mine.

So what's next? Ironically, this may very well end up being the break the Florida Marlins and the aforementioned City of Miami need to build that baseball stadium. City Manager Pete Hernandez has all but said that. Perhaps that's the best outcome that can come out of this, at least for me and for baseball fans in South Florida. We'll see.

A Plea For The OB

Recently, the University of Miami announced that it is considering moving from the Orange Bowl to Dolphins Stadium for its home games as early as 2008. I don't blame them.

Well, maybe a little.

The issue at hand here is what to do with the venerable Orange Bowl Stadium. Dan LeBatard says knock the thing down. Greg Cote says it deserves to be saved. The city of Miami, which owns the stadium, has acted year after year as if they don't know what to do with it.

The Orange Bowl is in sad shape. It's embarrassing, actually. Why the city of Miami has allowed the stadium to almost literally fall apart should be a source of shame for anyone involved with city government. UM, the primary tenants, deserves some of the blame too for not being willing to chip in their share.

However, I point my finger once again at the city for incompetence and neglect, and not just the current administration. This has been going on for a few decades now.

Let's talk about the OB's history. Located in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, it was built in 1937. The University of Miami football team has played every season since the beginning. It has hosted 5 Super Bowls, 11 NCAA National Championship Games, Olympic Soccer, World Cup Qualifying matches, etc.

It has also been a focal point for non-sports related activities. Rock concerts, civic gatherings have all been held at the Orange Bowl. JFK's post-Bay of Pigs speech in the Orange Bowl is a part of local and national history. Many a Cuban exile has shed a tear or two at the OB, either while attending emotional rallies or U.S. citizenship ceremonies.

My first game at the Orange Bowl was a meaningless University of Miami vs University of Florida game on a chilly night in the late 70s. Since then, my memories of the place are all good ones. I never saw the home team lose there, whether UM or the Miami Dolphins. The place literally rocks when full. The sight lines are awesome (unless you're stuck behind one of the upper deck support pillars), and the open end view of downtown is second to none.

It should then come as no surprise that I believe the Orange Bowl should be renovated and returned to its past glory. In a region where we too often neglect and tear down our history (yes, we DO have one), the typical knee-jerk reaction is to replace the old with the new. Have these led to improvements? Hardly. Anyone remember the Orange Bowl Parade in downtown on New Year's Eve? It was eliminated shortly after the Orange Bowl game moved up to Dolphins Stadium. Not the most spectacular parade, but it was part of growing up in Miami. What have we replaced it with? That's OK, you can now stop breaking your head thinking about it.

Greg Cote's column is spot on. Am I allowing my emotional attachment to the stadium to cloud my opinion? Yes. Am I wrong for doing so? No. If only more of us would act on our emotional attachment to our communities, perhaps they (and we) would be in better shape. Nothing motivates improvement more than personal attachment and interest. A little care and respect for our history and traditions would have solved the OB mess a long time ago.

The history of the Orange Bowl shouldn't be flushed down the toilet. Shouldn't history and tradition mean something? City of Miami politicians and administrators, many of them which grew up in the shadows of the old stadium and no doubt remember the noise from the crowds spilling through Little Havana on game days, should know the answer to that question. Unfortunately, they've been too busy throwing money away elsewhere.

In all fairness to the city, they have made an offer to UM. However, it could be a case of too little, too late. Here's hoping that's not the case.