Meant to post it at the time but unless something completely extraordinary happens in the next two weeks, the best sports headline of the year was this one from April 27 in The Times of London: Portuguese men at war as Ronaldo hits back at Mourinho
That 1-0 Everton-Chelsea game was by far the best game I've seen this year. http://www.premierleague.com/page/Home/0,,12306,00.html
Years worth of good photos of Premiership matches are at WireImage: http://www.wireimage.com/EventListings.aspx?so=4,d&sr=1801&cl=3&ci=403
Earlier that same week, I saw a large truck rig driving thru Hollywood whose cabin roof was painted simply enough: "Gracias a Dios, Maradona, Argentina." (I couldn't help but wonder how many other people who saw that truck got the gist of that.)
I suppose that I should add that the area near where I live in South Florida has a large supply of Argentine emigres, and not just because of The Knife Argentine Steak House restaurant on Hallandale Beach Blvd. and US-1. http://www.thekniferestaurant.com/
The flavorful smoke emanating from there now almost negates the smell of all the horses that have arrived recently for the opening of Gulfstream Park, which opens in 17 days on January 3rd. http://www.gulfstreampark.com/
Tonight at midnight, assuming the Redskins at Giants NBC-TV game is over, I'll be watching the Arsenal at Chelsea match from earlier this afternoon on FSC, and then tape the Premier League Fan Zone version of the game Monday afternoon from 5:30-7:00 p.m. to watch later in the evening.
I'm sure it'll be the usual fierce play between the Gunners and the Blues that's not unlike the Redskin-Eagles games, just without a "Bodybag game."
I've really become quite a fan of the Fan Zone show over the past few months, whose surprisingly simple concept of pairing one knowledgable-but-very-opinionated fan from each team in a small press box at the stadium, while doing a running ad lib commentary of what's going on in the game, as well as the stands and around the EPL, is quite a lot of fun to listen to.
And their criticisms of the refereees and the 'flopping' for fouls is almost always right on target.
The only downside to the show is that, sometimes, they've selected fans whose accents are so thick that they're hard to always understand, and the closed-captioning person back in the States is completely confused as to what's being said.
__________________________________________
From The Times April 27, 2007 Portuguese men at war as Ronaldo hits back at Mourinho
by Matt Hughes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article1712056.ece
http://www.southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Michael Dell of Dell Computers ID'd as new bidder in Dolphins sale acc. to ESPN's Hank Goldberg
Sunday December 16th, 2007
10 a.m.
Within the past hour, on the Miami Dolphins pre-game show on WQAM Radio, Hank Goldberg of ESPN (and soon-to-be departed from WQAM at the end of the month) said his sources have identified computer entrepreneur and mogul Michael Dell of Round Rock, TX-based Dell Computers as the newest bidder for the Miami Dolphins team and stadium facilities.
See: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/biographies/en/msd_index?c=us&l=en&s=corp , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dell
and http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_Michael-Dell_WJOB.html
In September, FORBES magazine listed him as the 8th richest American, with an estimated net worth of $17.2 billion.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_Michael-Dell_WJOB.html
As you all know, starting this fall, the stadium's newest tenant will be the University of Miami football team, who played for 70 years at the City of Miami's Orange Bowl, which is slated to be demolished in the spring.
A place I practically grew-up at for Dolphin and Hurricane games from 1970-78.
Hank further stated that Related Group CEO Jorge Perez, the real estate mogul whose company owns many of the most valuable properties in South Florida -including many whom I regularly blast on my blog- who'd been identified in initial press reports early Friday evening as a possible bidder for the team, is NOT one of the two bidders who are currently in play.
The other bidder still in the action is Stephen Ross, one of Perez's business partners at The Related Group.
In case you forgot or didn't know about it, Dell Computers bought Miami-based Alienware last year, http://www.alienware.com/ , to help it target consumers and businesses seeking the highest-performance computing products, so I expect at least a few enterprising reporters here to try to talk to Alienware's execs and get some first impressions of Michael Dell.
Well, they should, whether they will or not is the question.
http://www.alienware.com/sub_pages/contact_alienware.aspx
For more info on Alienware, see Dell contracts to buy Alienware, March 23, 2006
http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2006/03/20/daily33.html
Personally, I'd love to see Michael Dell buy the Miami Dolphins.
__________________________________________
excerpt from The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/614/story/335616.html
Dolphins losing, but fans are still watching
By Barry Jackson
December 7, 2007
AROUND THE DIAL
WQAM (560) is focusing on out-of-market candidates in its search for a successor for Hank Goldberg, who leaves at the end of December instead of taking a 60 percent pay cut.
Former UM lineman Dan Sileo removed his name from consideration because he said he's getting a lucrative new contract from his Tampa station. WQAM, incidentally, is closing in on a five-year deal to retain UM rights.
____________________________________________
http://www.miamiherald.com/616/v-print/story/278408.html
The Miami Herald
Hank Goldberg leaving WQAM
By Barry Jackson
October 20, 2007
Sports-talk host Hank Goldberg, a South Florida radio presence since the early 1970s, will leave WQAM when his contract expires at the end of December, his agent said Friday.
An official close to the discussions said Goldberg, 67, refused to take a pay cut in the 50 to 60 percent range.
''I can make more elsewhere,'' Goldberg said. ''I don't have that many more years to work.'' Beyond money, Goldberg said, ''I've kind of had enough of this. I've got a lot of ESPN work. I have an idea of something national I want to do.'' Goldberg declined to say what that would be.
Goldberg said he doubts he would work at another South Florida station: ''There's nothing I know of I would be interested in.'' Joel Feinberg, owner of 790 The Ticket, said he won't pursue Goldberg.
WQAM general manager Joe Bell said he and Goldberg are ''at an impasse regarding finances'' but Goldberg can stay if he changes his mind.
Goldberg has been a talk show host on WQAM since November 1992. Two months before that, he was fired from his jobs as a talk-show host and Dolphins color analyst on WIOD because he refused to cancel a guest on his show (novelist/screenwriter Elmore Leonard) when WIOD's program director insisted he talk only about Hurricane Andrew, three weeks after the storm.
Goldberg, who predicts NFL games and does horse racing analysis for ESPN, previously was a sportscaster at NBC 6 when it was WTVJ-Channel 4.
Bell said he will look nationally and locally for a new host to replace Goldberg, who works 4 to 5 p.m. with Jim Mandich and alone from 5 to 7 p.m. Local candidates include WQAM's Kim Bokamper and Orlando Alzugaray and Palm Beach-based sportscaster Evan Cohen, who hosts UM post-game shows for WQAM.
Meanwhile, Bell said he has told Neil Rogers' agent that he will offer the longtime midday host a new contract beyond his current deal that runs through 2008.
____________________________________________
To understand what the alleged incident behind the contretemps below was about, see reader comments at:
http://www.majorwager.com/forums/mess-hall/1059-hank-goldberg-per-herald-2.html
______________________
The Miami Herald
Hank Goldberg back on WQAM
By Barry Jackson
March 10, 2004
Hank Goldberg returned to his WQAM talk show Tuesday after a weeklong absence following an off-air incident involving the station's general sales manager, Luanne Winick.
In an amusing skit, Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt opened Goldberg's show and said, ''We're going to talk about everything except the Dolphins,'' then said he was taking a call -- from Goldberg, who proceeded to interview Wannstedt.
Goldberg said on the air that he was ''glad'' to be back. ''It was lonely without you all,'' he said to his listeners. "I just want to put the whole thing behind me. It was something that just got out of hand and shouldn't have.''
WQAM general manager Greg Reed met with Goldberg on Tuesday morning and said, "Everything was resolved.''
_______________________
The Miami Herald
LOCAL/COLLEGES ROUNDUP
Meeting could decide WQAM fate of Goldberg
Staff and Wire Reports
March 9, 2004
Hank Goldberg's status at WQAM could be determined during a meeting today with general manager Greg Reed. Goldberg has been kept off the air since March 2 following an off-air incident involving Luanne Winick, the station's general sales manager.
If the meeting goes well, Goldberg could be back on the air at 4 p.m. today. But Reed said Monday he has not decided whether to retain Goldberg.
''I don't know what will happen,'' Reed said. "It depends on how the meeting goes.''
Said Goldberg: "I will hear what he has to say. I've talked to Luanne. We're OK. It was a misunderstanding. I'm contrite. I just want to go on.''
On another matter, Reed said he was ''exploring'' the possibility of adding Howard Stern's morning show if Clear Channel's Big-106 does not resume carrying it.
-- BARRY JACKSON
________________________________________
The Miami Herald
WQAM's Goldberg waits for station's decision
By Barry Jackson
March 7, 2004
Hank Goldberg said Saturday he would like to return to his WQAM talk show, but station general manager Greg Reed said he has not decided if or when Goldberg will return to the air.
Goldberg has been off the air since Tuesday after an off-air incident involving the station's general sales manager, Luanne Winick.
''I want to get this over with,'' said Goldberg, who's in the last year of his contract.
"I cursed out a fellow [employee]. I thought I was provoked. I went too far with it. I've apologized for it. It could have been resolved in five minutes if [Reed] had called me in the office, and I would have agreed I was out of line.
"When I was sent home, I was in limbo. He didn't communicate to me directly, so I went to my attorney. I have to protect myself. . . . I haven't been told anything, whether I'm suspended, whether I'm suspended with or without pay. . . . If they want to fine me, OK. Things like this happen all the time in the workplace. I said it won't happen again.''
Reed was noncommittal about Goldberg's future with WQAM.
''I want to take some time and talk to my corporate people,'' Reed said.
"This could have been resolved in a day or two but because of the actions of the attorneys, it has forced us to look at the totality of Hank's contribution to the radio station and his performance.''
10 a.m.
Within the past hour, on the Miami Dolphins pre-game show on WQAM Radio, Hank Goldberg of ESPN (and soon-to-be departed from WQAM at the end of the month) said his sources have identified computer entrepreneur and mogul Michael Dell of Round Rock, TX-based Dell Computers as the newest bidder for the Miami Dolphins team and stadium facilities.
See: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/biographies/en/msd_index?c=us&l=en&s=corp , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dell
and http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_Michael-Dell_WJOB.html
In September, FORBES magazine listed him as the 8th richest American, with an estimated net worth of $17.2 billion.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_Michael-Dell_WJOB.html
As you all know, starting this fall, the stadium's newest tenant will be the University of Miami football team, who played for 70 years at the City of Miami's Orange Bowl, which is slated to be demolished in the spring.
A place I practically grew-up at for Dolphin and Hurricane games from 1970-78.
Hank further stated that Related Group CEO Jorge Perez, the real estate mogul whose company owns many of the most valuable properties in South Florida -including many whom I regularly blast on my blog- who'd been identified in initial press reports early Friday evening as a possible bidder for the team, is NOT one of the two bidders who are currently in play.
The other bidder still in the action is Stephen Ross, one of Perez's business partners at The Related Group.
In case you forgot or didn't know about it, Dell Computers bought Miami-based Alienware last year, http://www.alienware.com/ , to help it target consumers and businesses seeking the highest-performance computing products, so I expect at least a few enterprising reporters here to try to talk to Alienware's execs and get some first impressions of Michael Dell.
Well, they should, whether they will or not is the question.
http://www.alienware.com/sub_pages/contact_alienware.aspx
For more info on Alienware, see Dell contracts to buy Alienware, March 23, 2006
http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2006/03/20/daily33.html
Personally, I'd love to see Michael Dell buy the Miami Dolphins.
__________________________________________
excerpt from The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/614/story/335616.html
Dolphins losing, but fans are still watching
By Barry Jackson
December 7, 2007
AROUND THE DIAL
WQAM (560) is focusing on out-of-market candidates in its search for a successor for Hank Goldberg, who leaves at the end of December instead of taking a 60 percent pay cut.
Former UM lineman Dan Sileo removed his name from consideration because he said he's getting a lucrative new contract from his Tampa station. WQAM, incidentally, is closing in on a five-year deal to retain UM rights.
____________________________________________
http://www.miamiherald.com/616/v-print/story/278408.html
The Miami Herald
Hank Goldberg leaving WQAM
By Barry Jackson
October 20, 2007
Sports-talk host Hank Goldberg, a South Florida radio presence since the early 1970s, will leave WQAM when his contract expires at the end of December, his agent said Friday.
An official close to the discussions said Goldberg, 67, refused to take a pay cut in the 50 to 60 percent range.
''I can make more elsewhere,'' Goldberg said. ''I don't have that many more years to work.'' Beyond money, Goldberg said, ''I've kind of had enough of this. I've got a lot of ESPN work. I have an idea of something national I want to do.'' Goldberg declined to say what that would be.
Goldberg said he doubts he would work at another South Florida station: ''There's nothing I know of I would be interested in.'' Joel Feinberg, owner of 790 The Ticket, said he won't pursue Goldberg.
WQAM general manager Joe Bell said he and Goldberg are ''at an impasse regarding finances'' but Goldberg can stay if he changes his mind.
Goldberg has been a talk show host on WQAM since November 1992. Two months before that, he was fired from his jobs as a talk-show host and Dolphins color analyst on WIOD because he refused to cancel a guest on his show (novelist/screenwriter Elmore Leonard) when WIOD's program director insisted he talk only about Hurricane Andrew, three weeks after the storm.
Goldberg, who predicts NFL games and does horse racing analysis for ESPN, previously was a sportscaster at NBC 6 when it was WTVJ-Channel 4.
Bell said he will look nationally and locally for a new host to replace Goldberg, who works 4 to 5 p.m. with Jim Mandich and alone from 5 to 7 p.m. Local candidates include WQAM's Kim Bokamper and Orlando Alzugaray and Palm Beach-based sportscaster Evan Cohen, who hosts UM post-game shows for WQAM.
Meanwhile, Bell said he has told Neil Rogers' agent that he will offer the longtime midday host a new contract beyond his current deal that runs through 2008.
____________________________________________
To understand what the alleged incident behind the contretemps below was about, see reader comments at:
http://www.majorwager.com/forums/mess-hall/1059-hank-goldberg-per-herald-2.html
______________________
The Miami Herald
Hank Goldberg back on WQAM
By Barry Jackson
March 10, 2004
Hank Goldberg returned to his WQAM talk show Tuesday after a weeklong absence following an off-air incident involving the station's general sales manager, Luanne Winick.
In an amusing skit, Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt opened Goldberg's show and said, ''We're going to talk about everything except the Dolphins,'' then said he was taking a call -- from Goldberg, who proceeded to interview Wannstedt.
Goldberg said on the air that he was ''glad'' to be back. ''It was lonely without you all,'' he said to his listeners. "I just want to put the whole thing behind me. It was something that just got out of hand and shouldn't have.''
WQAM general manager Greg Reed met with Goldberg on Tuesday morning and said, "Everything was resolved.''
_______________________
The Miami Herald
LOCAL/COLLEGES ROUNDUP
Meeting could decide WQAM fate of Goldberg
Staff and Wire Reports
March 9, 2004
Hank Goldberg's status at WQAM could be determined during a meeting today with general manager Greg Reed. Goldberg has been kept off the air since March 2 following an off-air incident involving Luanne Winick, the station's general sales manager.
If the meeting goes well, Goldberg could be back on the air at 4 p.m. today. But Reed said Monday he has not decided whether to retain Goldberg.
''I don't know what will happen,'' Reed said. "It depends on how the meeting goes.''
Said Goldberg: "I will hear what he has to say. I've talked to Luanne. We're OK. It was a misunderstanding. I'm contrite. I just want to go on.''
On another matter, Reed said he was ''exploring'' the possibility of adding Howard Stern's morning show if Clear Channel's Big-106 does not resume carrying it.
-- BARRY JACKSON
________________________________________
The Miami Herald
WQAM's Goldberg waits for station's decision
By Barry Jackson
March 7, 2004
Hank Goldberg said Saturday he would like to return to his WQAM talk show, but station general manager Greg Reed said he has not decided if or when Goldberg will return to the air.
Goldberg has been off the air since Tuesday after an off-air incident involving the station's general sales manager, Luanne Winick.
''I want to get this over with,'' said Goldberg, who's in the last year of his contract.
"I cursed out a fellow [employee]. I thought I was provoked. I went too far with it. I've apologized for it. It could have been resolved in five minutes if [Reed] had called me in the office, and I would have agreed I was out of line.
"When I was sent home, I was in limbo. He didn't communicate to me directly, so I went to my attorney. I have to protect myself. . . . I haven't been told anything, whether I'm suspended, whether I'm suspended with or without pay. . . . If they want to fine me, OK. Things like this happen all the time in the workplace. I said it won't happen again.''
Reed was noncommittal about Goldberg's future with WQAM.
''I want to take some time and talk to my corporate people,'' Reed said.
"This could have been resolved in a day or two but because of the actions of the attorneys, it has forced us to look at the totality of Hank's contribution to the radio station and his performance.''