Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Three Cheers for the Florid...umm...Miami Marlins!

The long awaited dream will now become a reality for Florida baseball. The last hurdle for approval to build a new stadium in Miami has been jumped and the Marlins will get a long-needed new stadium. It's been a long time coming and it's about time.

The Fan has a soft spot for the Marlins. Twelve years ago, the Fan spent a special 40th birthday at the Marlin's ballpark in the company of one Karin Jones, young, vivacious, an excellent rollerblader and a huge baseball fan. The Fan taught her how to keep score, which she found very exciting. We watched the Marlins win the game and then sang Melissa Etheridge at the top of our lungs on the way home in her white pickup truck. Karin died two years later of cancer at the age of 25.

Ever since that wonderful memory, the Fan has watched the ups and downs of the Marlin franchise and took special interest in their efforts to secure a stadium. It's not that the old one lacked charm. It was colorful and attractive. Those positives did not overcome the huge negatives that a deluge could occur at any time (and usually do in south Florida in the summer) and when it didn't rain, it was hotter than blue blazes. That's a lot to ask a fan to sit through day in and day out.

The Fan has noted the posturing of the local politicians who have fought the long fight to kill the stadium deal. The cost to taxpayers is high. But so are the benefits. The constructions jobs at a time when construction is dying down there will really help that economy. And the amount of employees that keep a franchise going and its stadium is a large number and all those folks pay taxes and spend in the local economy. It's better to keep those folks working rather than see them in the unemployment lines that would have occurred if this deal didn't work out and the Marlins moved away from there.

Loria pitched this the right way. His stance was: "Do you want Miami to be the only major city in America without major league baseball?" Okay. That was a little hyperbolic. Las Vegas doesn't have a team. The Carolinas don't have a team. But still, the point was dead on. There is a give and take in any of these discussions. The team couldn't keep its players because they didn't have the right stadium to accommodate its fans. Change means spending some money. But the benefits in the long run far outweigh the cost. The team will pump millions into the economy for years to come.

This is a great day for the Marlins and its loyal fans. And it's a great day for you, Karin. I hope you are smiling.

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