Saturday, May 26, 2007

South Florida's epidemic apathy shows itself once again

I was pleased to see last weekend that some recent comments I shared with an influential media person, and bcc'd to Gabriel Lopez-Bernal, one of the enthusiastic brains behind one of the best-produced and informative blogs around, Transit Miami, www.transitmiami.com, happened to dovetail with some earlier comments of Gabriel's, which addresses an aspect of life in South Florida that's SO very confounding to those of us who want this area to be so much better than the present reality: rampant apathy.

Gabriel's very insightful posting of May 23rd What's in a Name? A whole lot more than you'd think... is well worth reading! Do yourself a favor and read it!

Below the Chicago Tribune story about the fight that Marshall Fields' loyalists have been putting up, I've also entered an excerpted copy of an email I wrote to a local print reporter last year about the second SFECC meeting I was attending, having previously gone to one in Hollywood. (See
www.sfeccstudy.com so you can be up to speed on the debate.)

The second SFECC meeting, last October in Aventura, was in an area whose destination mall, The Aventura Mall, boasted both a Burdine's and a Macy's for most of its history.

(I worked at the Burdine's at the 163rd Street Shopping Center when I was attending North Miami Beach Senior High in the late '70's, back when it was one of the most popular and successful locations in the chain, and a popular hangout for NMB students on weekends, before or after attending a movie at the nearby Wometco theatres.
My friend, Lisa Cove, a fellow NMB Charger and perpetual well-dressed fashion plate, always seemed to work the same days that I did!)

That the entire area there, including the nearby Highland Oaks and northern Sunny Isles area would be greatly improved by a rapid transit train option nearby, goes without saying.

The people involved with the whole SFECC effort have largely manage to do a good job, based upon my attendance at two meetings.

I must admit, though, that I was greatly disappointed that prior to the meeting I attended in Aventura, they had no informational signs along one of the highest visibility places in all of South Florida to publicize their event to their target audience:
northern Biscayne Boulevard from 213th Street down to the North Miami Beach border, and near West Dixie Highway at all of the railroad crossings.
_______________________________________________________
Subject: My email re Marshall Fields loyalists fighting name change, vs. SoFla.'s typical apathy re Burdine's
Saturday May 26th, 2007

Dear X:

Per my email to you of the 19th, I later sent a copy to Transit Miami, which as I stated then, remains one of the best blogs around in the South Florida community.

Even more aware than even the South Florida East Coast Corridor Transit Analysis hearing folks, http://www.sfeccstudy.com/

I was originally going to send you just the link, but decided to copy the entire page as best I could below so you could have it and not have to bother.

Obviously, it looks different on the actual webpage, because Gabriel does a GREAT job of integrating editorial with illustrations.

I wish this sort of thing existed when I was growing up down here, much less when I'd come home from IU during the summer, and wanted to be able to get around sensibly and quickly, and not forever be in traffic jams on S. Dixie Highway, when I was living down near The Falls.

You know, to get into Coral Gables and see a foreign film and have some dinner with NMB friends the going to the U-M, dressed in my Hoosier attire?

Or be able to ride a transit system with a Metrorail that actually (and originally) connected MIA to the downtown area and the business/legal districts, as is common sense in most other communities, but NOT the natural order of things down here.

Now that you live down here, I'm guessing you really have a better sense of the inherent backwardness of this area than you ever did than while you were living on The Left Coast.

If you don't think the idea of using HOV lanes on 1-95 as pay lanes will be a debacle, with none of the supervision you'd get in Northern Virginia, where many of my friends in McLean and Fairfax County used them to get into DC, you aren't paying attention.

Anywhere else, this would be an idea I'd support, but here, well, a disaster in the making.
_______________________________
http://www.transitmiami.com/2007/05/whats-in-name-whole-lot-more-than-youd.html

Subject: ChiTrib: Macy's State Street flagship store 'doing badly'
Saturday May 19th, 2007
10:15 p.m.

Dear X:

Noticed that you hadn't yet run this interesting story, which I think is worthy of mention, since it touches on one of your favorite subjects: the rapid changes in American culture as a result of technology and consumerism.

The State Street Marshall Field's was one of my favorite places in all of Chicago when I lived in Evanston from 1985-87, and still recall when I got some crazy deals on Alexander Julian dress shirts back when they were becoming incredibly popular.

What I wouldn't do to have digital photos of that whole retail experience from that era, especially around Christmas holidays!

It was magical, all the more so because I knew that even as I froze, I'd soon be coming back to Miami for a few weeks!
http://stevenswain.blogspot.com/2006/08/shoppers-tend-to-drop-off-as-names.html

The State Street store is also where I first met the late R.W. "Johnny" Apple in 1986 on his book tour, when he'd just written the first edition of Apple's America: The Discriminating Traveler's Guide to 40 Great Cities in the United States and Canada.

His comments were really insightful back in the day, the sort of thing that I personally loved because he wrote from both his heart & his brain, which help explains why I got there very early, and planted myself near his chair for the whole book-signing/chatathon, ears wide-open, ready to hear some wisdom. Very Simon Schama-like.

But with the advent of the Internet and the way that popular city's CVBs
-http://www.gmcvb.com/trade/samples.asp for example- have really amazing info & links on their own home pages to help travelers assimilate on vacations or trips, they now make Mr. Apple's book appear a bit of a, well, dinosaur. (Like travel agents.)

Who would you be more willing to believe, Apple's interesting but dated restaurant observations in his book, or the much more recent restaurant reviews in that particular city's City Paper or New Times -or those paper's websites?

Exactly. That very same technology makes this sort of grassroots effort possible:
http://fieldsfanschicago.org/blog/index.html

As for Mr. Apple's comments on Chicago and Marshall Field's in the most recent paperback version, see
http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader/102-7794081-5294513?asin=0865476853&pageID=S075&checkSum=xrU4n5ebSyooqwPmQ/GeNZg8WcGP2tqgoo7ZQv9yNzU=
It's ironic, given how excited I was about meeting Mr. Apple the first time, that years later, once I moved to Washington, I'd sometimes see him in person quite a few times in one week when he was at the Times' DC bureau.

Though I never it took it for granted, it's funny how used to things I could become.

I could cross the street from the Times to get a Coke and hot dog from a favorite vendor late in the afternoon, and not even think it was odd that while I was standing there waiting for my order, I'd run into the late Jack Valenti on his way over to the nearby 17th St and Eye CVS, and see him dash across the street with a smile and make a beeline for 1627 when he saw Mr. Apple coming down the front steps, getting ready to jump into his Town Car.
Now those guys could tell real stories!

Per even more bade retail news in Chicago, When it rains, it pours: Virgin store to close
"Chicago Virgin Megastore, which opened less than a decade ago at one of the highest-profile intersections on Michigan Avenue, is closing."

Meanwhile, closer to home for both of us, re the old Burdine's downtown:
http://www.transitmiami.com/2006/12/macys-one-day-sale-22-e-flagler-st.html

(FYI: In my opinion, TransitMiami may be THE best-produced blog in South Florida.
As someone who grew-up down here in the 70's, in North Miami Beach, I find their attention to historical detail, especially about downtown Miami -the Biscayne Blvd., Flagler St. and Brickell corridor- SO much more impressive than The Miami Herald's.

Chris Bury's excellent Nightline story last week about South Florida's tax/real estate situation,
'Inside Florida's 'Tax Revolt' http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3177798&page=1
was everything the Daily Business Review's myriad stories on real estate almost always are, but which the Herald's hardly ever are: persuasive!

BTW, some pretty on target comments on that Bury segment are at http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2007/05/rubio_deplores_.html )

Will give you a head's-up later this week when I have finished writing about those matters I broached earlier today, i.e. Donald Trump and his Trump Hollywood project.

Adios!
_____________________________________
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0705180861may19,1,3208670.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Macy's: State St. store 'doing badly
'Official says greater effort needed to get traffic into flagship
By Sandra Jones Tribune staff reporter
May 19, 2007

CINCINNATI -- The parent company of Macy's acknowledged Friday that its State Street department store, flagship of the former Marshall Field's chain, is "doing badly."
Since replacing the green Field's awnings across the upper Midwest with the Macy's name and red star in September, Federated Department Stores Inc. has been on a mission to win over Chicago-area shoppers, many of whom were attached to the hometown Field's brand and unfamiliar with Macy's.
Federated executives have suggested at times that they were struggling with the transition, but the company does not break out revenue figures for individual stores or chains under its very large corporate umbrella. This week the company said it was disappointed with sales at the roughly dozen regional department store chains the company converted to Macy's eight months ago.
At a press conference after its annual meeting here Friday, Federated's chief financial officer, Karen Hoguet, said former Field's stores are performing no worse or better than the roughly 400 regional department stores Federated acquired from St. Louis-based May Department Stores Co. in 2005 and converted to Macy's.
But there is an exception: the Chicago store on State Street.

The landmark store, long a tourist destination, is "doing badly," Hoguet said, without providing specific performance data..
Macy's hasn't been doing enough to drive traffic to the store, she said, something the retailer is working to change.
This weekend Macy's is advertising 50 percent discounts on clearance merchandise at the State Street store only and total savings of 60 percent to 90 percent on thousands of spring fashions.
The promotion is part of a broader move, announced this week, to step up advertising
and sale events at former May stores to boost sales.
Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Lundgren was quick to interject that operating a Midwest flagship in Chicago remains core to Macy's strategy.
"We're very committed to that store," said Lundgren, noting that rival Carson Pirie
Scott a few blocks south closed its flagship store earlier this year. New owner Bon-Ton Stores decided the giant emporium was too costly to operate.
On Wednesday Lundgren characterized the former May stores' sales performance as "disappointing," as Federated missed its first-quarter sales target and earned less than Wall Street had expected.
Analysts estimate the sales drop at former May stores averaged 7 percent to10 percent.
Sales at all Federated stores open at least a year, a key measure of a retailer's health, rose 0.6 percent, well below the increase of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent Federated had predicted in February for the first quarter. The former May stores account for about half of Macy's approximately 800 stores.
Lundgren explained the sales miss by saying that he threw too many changes at the former May stores too quickly, namely lots of new in-house merchandise and fewer promotions.
The arrival later this year of the Martha Stewart Collection for the home, made exclusively for Macy's, should bring more shoppers to the stores, Lundgren said.
Home goods account for about 15 percent of Federated's sales.
The business has been "challenging" lately, he said, as people delay buying new homes.
At the meeting, shareholders approved changing Federated's corporate name to Macy's Inc. effective June 1. The change is intended to boost awareness of the Macy's name. Macy's accounts for 90 percent of Federated's business. Bloomingdale's makes up the rest.
Federated's board also declared a 2 percent increase in the quarterly dividend,
to 13 cents per share.
Lundgren reiterated after the meeting that Federated is close to a decision to move Frango mint production to Chicago. Lundgren pledged to Mayor Richard Daley after Federated acquired Marshall Field's and changed its name to Macy's that he would try to return some of the famous chocolate-mint production to Chicago.

----------smjones@tribune.com
__________________________________________________________
Wednesday October 11th, 2006
1 pm

Dear X:

Hey! Thanks for the follow-up.
Glad to hear that you finally received my email about tonight's SFECC meeting at the Aventura Comm. Rec. Center on NE 188th Street.

Sorry it devolved into a bit of a South Florida baseball tangent, but since I tend to write like I talk, which is fine most of the time, but when I have a lot on my mind, and little time to send it in an email, as was the case then, my fingers can't keep up with all the thoughts in my cabeza.

Yesterday, I put on my detective hat -minus the Columbo jacket- and checked out in detail the area I had mentioned in my 9/28 email about what I perceive to be THE best possible FEC train station location in Aventura/northern NMB, which would not only serve the greatest number
of frustrated people, but also have the added result of possibly leading to some smart growth in the area, instead of, well, the norm.

The area I had referenced in that email, the area of W. Dixie Hwy. as it becomes diagonal, a few blocks north of NE 183rd Street, is actually NE 193rd St., with the MIRON Building Products bldg. immediately across the street to the west at 19400 W. Dixie Hwy.

(As a kid growing-up in NMB in the '70's on NE 14th Avenue, just south of the 163rd St. Mall, I recall that funky building very well.

First, on Saturday mornings, driving past it with my Mom on our way to a big home decor place in Hollywood just off Dixie, and later, while at NMBSH, on weekends, jogging from 163rd to Greynolds Park, then Ojus and then past the MIRON bldg. on my way up to Hollywood Dog Track, before turning around.

And thinking that NEXT time, I wouldn't run as far!

That version of the MIRON building was largely jalousy windows on the Dixie Hwy. side, and I always wondered how they'd get thru a serious hurricane -embarrassing considering the kind of store it was- but knock on wood, we never got one when I lived here from '68-79, before leaving for college at Indiana.)

To me, that particular location has lots of advantages over other prospective northern NMB and Aventura locales, principally, the advantage of allowing "Kiss & Ride" drop-off points on both the Biscayne Blvd. and W. Dixie Hwy. sides, instead of just on one side, which is the norm for most K&R drop-offs in the DC Metro system, which tended to be near residential neighborhoods, or located in places where the initial land costs in the '70's were too tough a nut to crack to have much parking.

As I mentioned in my previous email, I used the Metro almost daily for 15 years, and am all too aware of both its strengths and weaknesses, but the Arlington stations, in particular, were genius in their use of land and space and a real model for how these sorts of things can and should be done.
There's no need to reinvent the wheel!

You have a commercial property, perhaps with high rise condos or apts above or adjacent to the entrances, with COOL retail on the bottom near the station entrance.
http://www.cooltownstudios.com/

This would help serve populations from an area of roughly Skylake, Ojus, Highland Oaks and Aventura, plus the Golden Beach and northern Sunny Isles folks coming over the Lehman Causeway.

Plus, if there's no Hallandale Beach station, that would be the go-to station instead of Hollywood.
You think the people in the condos in Aventura and over on the beach wouldn't love to be able to get dropped off, either thru their spouse or a bus shuttle, grab some coffee and bagels and sit awhile before grabbing a train and reading the paper into work instead of making that drive over to 1-95 to slog their way thru traffic?

Additionally, if you use the common sense the location provides, you extend the station north to 195th Street, where you build a pedestrian bridge across Biscayne Blvd. over to Aventura Mall, thereby cutting down the parking congestion insanity there, esp. around holidays, and giving the Mall entree to tens of thousands of additional customers, esp. seniors, who don't own cars, but who don't want to press their luck with the weather waiting for buses, which may or may not be on time, and probably jam-packed in any case.

I see that area of Dixie Hwy. as one that could become the kind of smart, urban -dare I say hip?- spot that Arlington had in abundance near its Metro stops, particularly near the Ballston Metro station, which was my station in northern Arlington, and whose proximity to my home made it possible for me to live in such a nice neighborhood -and walk.

See http://www.commuterpage.com/ART/villages/ballston2.htm and
http://www.commuterpage.com/ART/villages/index.htm

The station at Arlington Courthouse would also be ideal one to replicate, in that it connected upscale shopping and movie theatres and the county govt. offices, with the Fresh Foods store and an APPLE store two blocks away, plus dozens of chic bistros and live music bars of different types that drew people from ALL over the Washington area.
Nice fun places, not the South Beach over-the-top zoo scene we're all familiar with.

While playing detective yesterday I discovered that the east side of Dixie Hwy. at that location is currently an outfit that's called JR United Industries, which according to a Google search is:
19401 W Dixie Hwy, Miami, FL 33180 Phone : (305) 933-7100
Product & Services: Linens Manufacturers, Linens Wholesale,Quilts, Blankets & Bedding

According to the guy I spoke to at MIRON, it's been there for about 7 years.

It's really MUCH more run down than you'd think it'd be for a going concern, with LOTS of trash and debris along the road -shocker, there's no sidewalk- and the inside of their security fence is not much better, as the northern edge of the property had large Dumpsters that looked like Shaq had shot free throws there, i.e. more garbage around it, than probably actually in it.

There's a relatively new kosher bakery just north of it, which is located in an area that I think years ago was a plant nursery of some sort.

I have a vague memory of visiting down here around Christmas in the mid-90's, and going there with my step-mother there to buy some garland or holiday stuff, but I could be mistaken.

In any case, that particular area is horribly underutilized and would handsomely profit the community in lots of ways if a station that drew thousands of heretofore frustrated commuters -and made them happy on their way to work instead of harried- was located there.
It's a real no-brainer.

I'll probably be at the meeting a half-hour early, since,
a.) I've never been to the Aventura Rec Center before, and
b.) owing to the 15 years I spent in DC, I've learned to show up early for public policy meetings that are open to the general public, so I can gauge the political temperature of the room when I show up and can see who's feeling chatty and enthusiastic about the subject, and who's keeping their cards close to the vest so they can pop the collective balloon and ruin the mood at the very end.

Considering the very obvious common sense nature of the project, the one thing that surprised me at the Hollywood SFECC meeting a few weeks ago was the large number of naysayers angling for microphone time, who, for reasons that were totally inexplicable to me, seemed to think that Tri-Rail was the answer to everything.

Myself, I don't know anyone who uses TriRail for the very reason that it doesn't really go anywhere, and I suspect that will be the case for the vast majority of people at tonight's meeting as well, who, hopefully will remember to set their VCR or TiVo for Lost.

In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation

In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation
"In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation." -South Beach Hoosier, 2007

#IUBB, #bannersix

#IUBB, #bannersix
Assembly Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Click photo to see video of Straight No Chaser's version of Back Home Again In Indiana, 2:37
The South Florida I Grew Up In

Excerpts from Joan Didion's Miami, 1987, Simon & Schuster:

In the continuing opera still called, even by Cubans who have now lived the largest part of their lives in this country, el exilo, the exile, meetings at private homes in Miami Beach are seen to have consequences. The actions of individuals are seen to affect events directly. Revolutions and counter-revolutions are framed in the private sector, and the state security apparatus exists exclusively to be enlisted by one or another private player. That this particular political style, indigenous to the Caribbean and to Central America, has now been naturalized in the United States is one reason why, on the flat coastal swamps of South Florida, where the palmettos once blew over the detritus of a dozen failed booms and the hotels were boarded up six months a year, there has evolved since the early New Year's morning in 1959 when Fulgencio Batista flew for the last time out of Havana a settlement of considerable interest, not exactly an American city as American cities have until recently been understood but a tropical capital: long on rumor, short on memory, overbuilt on the chimera of runaway money and referring not to New York or Boston or Los Angeles or Atlanta but to Caracas and Mexico, to Havana and to Bogota and to Paris and Madrid. Of American cities Miami has since 1959 connected only to Washington, which is the peculiarity of both places, and increasingly the warp...

"The general wildness, the eternal labyrinths of waters and marshes, interlocked and apparently neverending; the whole surrounded by interminable swamps... Here I am then in the Floridas, thought I," John James Audobon wrote to the editor of The Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science during the course of an 1831 foray in the territory then still called the Floridas. The place came first, and to touch down there is to begin to understand why at least six administations now have found South Florida so fecund a colony. I never passed through security for a flight to Miami without experiencing a certain weightlessness, the heightened wariness of having left the developed world for a more fluid atmosphere, one in which the native distrust of extreme possibilities that tended to ground the temperate United States in an obeisance to democratic institutions seemed rooted, if at all, only shallowly.

At the gate for such flights the preferred language was already Spanish. Delays were explained by weather in Panama. The very names of the scheduled destinations suggested a world in which many evangelical inclinations had historically been accomodated, many yearnings toward empire indulged...

In this mood Miami seemed not a city at all but a tale, a romance of the tropics, a kind of waking dream in which any possibility could and would be accomodated...
Hallandale Beach Blog
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach Blog is where I try to inject or otherwise superimpose a degree of accountability, transparency and much-needed insight onto local Broward County government and public policy issues, which I feel is sorely lacking in local media now, despite all the technological advances that have taken place since I grew-up in South Florida in the 1970's. On this blog, I concentrate my energy, enthusiasm, anger, disdain and laser-like attention primarily on the coastal cities of Aventura, Hollywood and Hallandale Beach.

IF you lived in this part of South Florida, you'd ALREADY be in stultifying traffic, be paying higher-than-necessary taxes, and be continually musing about the chronic lack of any real accountability or transparency among not only elected govt. officials, but also of City, County and State employees as well. Collectively, with a few rare exceptions, they couldn't be farther from the sort of strong results-oriented, work-ethic mentality that citizens here deserve and are paying for.

This is particularly true in the town I live in, the City of Hallandale Beach, just north of Aventura and south of Hollywood. There, the Perfect Storm of years of apathy, incompetency and cronyism are all too readily apparent.
Sadly for its residents, Hallandale Beach is where even the easily-solved or entirely predictable quality-of-life problems are left to fester for YEARS on end, because of myopia, lack of common sense and the unsatisfactory management and coordination of resources and personnel.

It's a city with tremendous potential because of its terrific location and weather, yet its citizens have become numb to its outrages and screw-ups after years of the worst kind of chronic mismanagement and lack of foresight. On a daily basis, they wake up and see the same old problems again that have never being adequately resolved by the city in a logical and responsible fashion. Instead the city government either closes their eyes and hopes you'll forget the problem, or kicks them -once again- further down the road.

I used to ask myself, and not at all rhetorically, "Where are all the enterprising young reporters who want to show through their own hard work and enterprise, what REAL investigative reporting can produce?"

Hearing no response, I decided to start a blog that could do some of these things, taking the p.o.v. of a reasonable-but-skeptical person seeing the situation for the first time.
Someone who wanted questions answered in a honest and forthright fashion that citizens have the right to expect.

Hallandale Beach Blog intends to be a catalyst for positive change. http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach's iconic beachball-colored Water Tower, between beach and A1A/South Ocean Drive

Hallandale Beach's iconic beachball-colored Water Tower, between beach and A1A/South Ocean Drive
Hallandale Beach, FL; February 16, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker
"Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that as of today we are closing down our Washington news bureau and moving the entire operation to L.A."

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker
"O.K., so I dig a hole and put the bone in the hole. But what's my motivation for burying it?"

Hollywood in cartoons, 10-21-06 Non-Sequitur by Wiley, www-NON-SEQUITUR.COM

Hollywood in cartoons, 10-21-06 Non-Sequitur by Wiley, www-NON-SEQUITUR.COM
The Magic of Hollywood: A motion has been put forth that we should seek to create rather than imitate. All in favor of killing this silly notion, nod in mindless agreement...

Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins
South Beach Hoosier's first Dolphin game at the Orange Bowl came in Dec. 1970, aged 9, a 45-3 win over Buffalo that propelled them into their first ever playoff appearance.

Sebastian the Ibis, the Spirited Mascot of the University of Miami Hurricanes

Sebastian the Ibis, the Spirited Mascot of the University of Miami Hurricanes
Before going to my first U-M game at the Orange Bowl in 1972, a friend's father often would bring me home an extra 'Canes game program. That's how I came to have the Alabama at U-M game program from Nov. 16, 1968, which was the first nationally-televised college football night game in color. (A 14-6 loss to the Crimson Tide.) After that first ballgame against Tulane, as l often did for Dolphin games if my father wasn't going, I'd get dropped off at the Levitz parking lot near the 836 & I-95 Cloverleaf in NMB, and catch a Dade County Park & Ride bus, going straight to the Orange Bowl. Onboard, I'd get next to the window and listen to WIOD's pre-game show on my Radio Shack transistor radio. A few times, I was just about the only person onboard besides the bus driver, which was alright by me. Once at the Orange Bowl, if I didn't already have a ticket, I'd buy a game program for myself and one or two for friends or teachers before heading to the ticket window, since you usually couldn't find a program vendor once inside. I probaly had a friend or my father with me for just under 40% of the U-M games I ever went to, but you have to remember that the team, though blessed with several talented players, like Chuck Foreman and Burgess Owens, was just so-so to average at best, and the games were usually played on Friday nights, so it wasn't exactly high on everyone's list of things to do. Depending upon the opponent, if I was alone, I'd often have entire areas of the Orange Bowl to myself. (Wish I had photos of that now!) For instance, I had a good portion of the East (open) End Zone to myself against Oklahoma in the mid-70's, when the Boomer Schooner and the Schooner Crew went out on the field after an Oklahoma TD, and the Schooner received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the refs, as would happen years later in an Orangle Bowl Classic game. (Against FSU?) I was there for the wins and losses under Pete Elliott, Carl Selmer & Lou Saban, and the huge on-field fight in '73 when under eventual national champion Notre Dame (under Ara Parseghian), they called a time-out with less than a minute to go, and already up 37-0. Their rationale? To score another TD and impress the AP football writers; final score 44-0. Well, they got their wish and beat Alabama 24-23 for the title at the Sugar Bowl. A year later, thanks to my Mom's boss, she and I saw Ara's last game as head coach of the Irish in the Orange Bowl Game from the East End Zone -in front of the Alabama cheerleaders!!!- in an exciting 13-11 Notre Dame win over Alabama and Bear Bryant, a rematch of the '73 national title game. I was also present for the U-M's huge 20-15 win under Pete Elliott against Darrel Royal's Texas Longhorns, the week Sports Illustrated's College Football preview issue came out with Texas on the cover, below. I was also present for lots of wins against schools called College of the Pacific, UNLV and Cal-Poly San Luis Obsispo, which I'd then never heard of before.

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, April 28, 2007

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, April 28, 2007
Photo by Mario J. Bermudez. April 28, 2007 at Dolphins NFL Draft Party at Dolphin HQ, Davie, FL

Of cheerleaders past and present

Given South Florida's unique version of the melting pot -con salsa- demographics and mindset, these women in the photo above are surely what most South Floridians would consider attractive women. But for this observer, who's spent hours & hours at IU cheerleader tryouts and who has known dozens of cheerleaders -and wannabes- in North Miami Beach, Bloomington, Evanston and Washington, D.C., the whole time I was watching these members of the Dolphins' squad perform, I couldn't help but compare them and their routines to those of some IU friends of mine who ALWAYS showed true Hoosier spirit & enthusiasm. Sitting at my table right near the stage and still later, while watching the long lines of Dolphin fans of all ages waiting to snap photos of themselves with the cheerleaders, I couldn't help but think about those friends who always left me and other Hoosier fans feeling positive & optimistic. Was there anyone I saw in Davie who possessed these valuable intangibles: the dancing precision of IU Red Stepper -and Captain- Gail Amster, my talented and spirited Phi Beta Kappa pal from Deerfield (IL), who always sat next to me in our Telecom. classes as we took turns entertaining the other; the ebullient spirit & energy of two Hoosier cheerleaders -and captains- from Bloomington, Wendy (Mulholland) Moyle & Sara Cox; the hypnotic, Midwestern, girl-next-door sexiness of Hoosier cheerleader Julie Bymaster, from Brownsburg; or, the adorable Southern girl-next-door appeal of former Hoosier Pom squader Jennifer Grimes, of Louisville, always such a clear distraction while sitting underneath the basket? Nope, not that I could see. But then they were VERY tough acts to follow!!! And that's not to mention my talented & spirited friends like Denise Andrews of Portage, Jody Kosanovich of Hammond & Linda Ahlbrand of Chesterton, all of whom were dynamic cheerleaders -and captains- at very large Hoosier high schools that were always in the championship mix, with Denise's team winning the Ind. football championship her senior year when she was captain -just like in a movie. That Denise, Jody & Linda all lived on the same dorm floor, just three stories above me at Briscoe Quad our freshman year, was one of the greatest coincidences -and strokes of luck for me!- that I could've ever hoped for. You could hardly ask for better ambassadors of IU than THESE very smart, sweet and talented women. In a future SBH post, I'll tell the story of one of the greatest Hoosiers I ever met, the aforementioned Wendy Mulholland, the Bloomington-born captain and emotional heart of the great early '80's IU cheerleading squads, and the daughter of Jack Mulholland, IU's former longtime Treasurer. The acorn doesn't fall far from a tree built on a foundation of integrity & community service! (After he retired, Mr. Mulholland was the first executive director of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. I used to joke with Wendy that her dad's name was the one that was permanently affixed to the bottom of my work-study checks for years, while I worked at the Dept. of Political Science's Library, first, at the Student Building in the old part of campus, and then later, after it was refurbished, in magnificent Woodburn Hall, my favorite building on campus.) In that future post, I'll share some reflections on Wendy's great strength of character and personality; my intentions of returning to Bloomington a few weeks before Fall '82 classes started, so I could help Wendy train and work-out to rehab her knee, so she'd feel confident in trying-out for the squad again, following a bad knee injury that'd left her physically-unable to try-out for the squad the previous spring, a big disappointment to those of us who cared about both Wendy and the team; my incredulity at, quite literally, running into Wendy while walking down a sidewalk one afternoon a few years later in Evanston, IL, when we were astonished to discover we were both living there, with me trying to hook on with a Windy City advertising agency, and Wendy then-attending Kellogg (KGSM) at Northwestern, right when the WSJ had named Kellogg the #1 Business School in the country. I'll also share a story about Wendy performing a true act of kindness towards me in 1982, when I was having a real emergency, and she went above-and-beyond what I had any logical reason to expect. Yet, Wendy, along with her very helpful dad, Jack, came through for me when I was in a very bad time crunch. I've never forgotten Wendy's kindness towards me, and her true Hoosier spirit. There's NOTHING I wouldn't do for Wendy Mulholland.

It's All About "The U"

It's All About "The U"
South Beach Hoosier's first U-M football game at the Orange Bowl was in 1972, age 11, against Tulane in the infamous "Fifth Down" game. In order to drum up support and attendance for the U-M at the Orange Bowl, that game had a promotion whereby South Florida kids who were school safety patrols could get in for free IF they wore their sash. I did. Clearly they knew that it was better to let kids in for free, knowing their parents would give them money to buy food and souvenirs, perhaps become a fan and want to return for future games. The ballgame made an interesting impression on The New York Times, resulting in this gem from the "View of Sport" column of Oct, 14, 1990, labeled 'Fifth Down or Not, It's Over When It's Over.' -"In 1972, aided by a fifth-down officiating gift in the last moments of the game, Miami of Florida defeated Tulane, 24-21. The country and the world was a much different place that fall because The New York Times took time and space to editorialize on the subject. ''Is it right for sportsmen, particularly young athletes, to be penalized or deprived of the goals for which they earnestly competed because responsible officials make mistakes? The ideal of true sportsmanship would be better served if Miami forfeited last week's game.' South Beach Hoosier hardly needs to tell you that this was YET another New York Times editoral that was completely ignored!

The issue I took with me the night of U-M's 20-15 upset of #1 Texas at the Orange Bowl

The issue I took with me the night of U-M's 20-15 upset of #1 Texas at the Orange Bowl
College Football, Texas No. 1, Hook 'em Horns, Sept. 10, 1973. Living in North Miami Beach in the '70's, my Sports Illustrated usually showed up in my mailbox on the Thursday or Friday before the Monday cover date. And was read cover-to-cover by Sunday morning.

The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm
U-M QB Ken Dorsey, Miami Hurricanes Undefeated National Champions 2001, Jan. 2002

Miami's Romp in the Rose

Miami's Romp in the Rose
Miami running back Clinton Portis, Jan. 7, 2002

Why the University of Miami should drop football

Why the University of Miami should drop football
June 12, 1995

REVENGE!

REVENGE!
Steve McGuire and Miami Overpower No.1 Notre Dame, Dec. 4, 1989

How Sweet It Is!

How Sweet It Is!
Miami Whips Oklahoma For The National Championship, Pictured: Dennis Kelleher, Jan. 11, 1988

My, Oh My, Miami!

My, Oh My, Miami!
Steve Walsh and the Canes Stun FSU, Oct. 12, 1987

Why Is Miami No. 1?

Why Is Miami No. 1?
QB Vinny Testaverde, Nov. 24, 1986

Miracle In Miami

Miracle In Miami
The Hurricanes Storm Past Nebraska, Halfback Keith Griffin, Jan. 9, 1984

Special Issue: College Football

Special Issue: College Football
The Best Passer, George Mira of Miami, Sept. 23, 1963

1984 College & Pro Spectatcular

1984 College & Pro Spectatcular
A Pair Of Aces: U-M QB Bernie Kosar & Miami Dolphin QB Dan Marino, Sept. 5, 1984

Pro Football Hall of Fame Special Issue

Pro Football Hall of Fame Special Issue
Dan Marino, Class of 2005, Aug. 2005

FACES OF THE NFL

FACES OF THE NFL
A Portfolio by Walter Iooss Jr., Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins, Dec. 9, 2002

Coming Back

Coming Back
Jay Fiedler rallies Miami to a last-second win over Oakland, Oct. 1, 2001

Dan's Last Stand

Dan's Last Stand
At 38 and under siege, Dan Marino refuses to go down without a fight, Dec. 13, 1999

The War Zone

The War Zone
In the NFL's toughest division, the surprising Dolphins are on top, Lamar Smith, Dec. 11, 2000

Down and Dirty

Down and Dirty
Jimmy Johnson's Dolphins Bury The Patriots, Steve Emtman, Sept. 9, 1996

The Sunshine Boys

The Sunshine Boys
Now Playing in Miami: The Dan Marino and Jimmy Johnson Show, May 11, 1996

HOT & NOT

HOT & NOT
Miami loves Pat Riley but wants to give Don Shula the boot, Dec. 11, 1995

NFL PREVIEW 1995

NFL PREVIEW 1995
Which of today's stars are locks for the Hall of Fame? Dan Marino for sure. But who else? To find out, we polled the men who do the voting. Sept. 14, 1995

Sportsman Of The Year

Sportsman Of The Year
Don Shula, Dec. 20, 1993

Dan The Man

Dan The Man
Dan Marino Saves The Day For The Dolphins, Jan. 14, 1991

Dangerous Dan

Dangerous Dan
Dan Marino Passes Miami Into The Super Bowl, Jan. 14, 1985

Super Duper!

Super Duper!
Wide Receiver Mark Duper Of The Undefeated Dolphins, Nov. 19, 1984

Air Raid! Miami Bombs Washington

Air Raid! Miami Bombs Washington
Mark Clayton (burning Darryl Green) Sept. 10, 1984

Rookies On The Rise

Rookies On The Rise
Dan Marino: Miami's Hot Quarterback, Nov. 14, 1983

New Life In The WFL

New Life In The WFL
Warfield, Csonka and Kiick of Memphis, July 28, 1975

Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota

Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota
Larry Csonka, Jan. 21, 1974

Pro Football, Miami Is Rough And Ready

Pro Football, Miami Is Rough And Ready
Larry Csonka & Bob Griese, Sept. 17, 1973

Miami All The Way

Miami All The Way
Bob Griese, Jan. 22, 1973

It's Miami and Washington

It's Miami and Washington
Mercury Morris Speeds Past The Steelers, Jan. 8, 1973

Kiick and Csonka, Miami's Dynamic Duo

Kiick and Csonka, Miami's Dynamic Duo
Larry Csonka & Jim Kiick, Aug. 7, 1972

Sudden Death at Kansas City

Sudden Death at Kansas City
Miami's Garo Yepremian Ends the Longest Game; (kneeling) placekick holder Karl Noonan, Jan. 3, 1972

New Pro in a New Town

New Pro in a New Town
Miami's Frank Emanuel, Aug. 8, 1966

Old-style "Obie" the Orange Bowl Committee mascot

Old-style "Obie" the Orange Bowl Committee mascot
The iconic image I grew-up with in Miami, before FedEx got into the picture