Miami Marlins Uniforms Are Here

The Miami Marlins, former Florida Marlins, new uniforms are out.

Drum roll please...







Here's one of the hats up close.





My thoughts exactly.

The Blessed One; Tim Tebow

Good Sunday afternoon to you.

If you missed church this morning and you are in South Florida there is no need to worry, just visit Sun Life Stadium today between 1 and 4 pm.

The blessed one, Tim Tebow, will be in attendance attempting to lead his team to glory.

Just spending this time with Tim Tebow will make you a better person, according to broadcaster, Thom Brennaman.



Seriously, if there were ever a time for Tim Tebow to have a shot to succeed as an NFL quarterback it would be in his home state against one of the worst teams in the league on a day where he and his college team mates are being honored.

Only a situation like this could happen to the blessed, Tim Tebow.

World Series; Arthur Rhodes Sticking it to the Man

Last night’s 2011 World Series opener featured a situation that even the biggest baseball hater would love.

The St. Louis Cardinals sent Arthur Rhodes to the mound with two outs in the eighth inning as the left handed specialist to face the Texas Rangers top hitter, lefty Josh Hamilton.

Rhodes and Hamilton were team mates earlier this season, that is until the Rangers cut Rhodes in early August, essentially deciding they would rather pay Rhodes to hit the road rather than to stay.

The Cardinals swooped in and signed Rhodes and only are paying $100,000 for his services. The team that cut him, the Texas Rangers, are paying another $1,000,000 of his salary.

So, Rhodes came in the game last night in the position any person in the world would love to be in. He had the chance to stick it to his old employer that got rid of him for not doing a good enough job.

And he did. Rhodes got Hamilton to pop out to center field to end the eighth inning.

The Cardinals went on to win game one, 4-3.

Now that’s a win win, and shows one of the thousands of reasons to love baseball.

Gator-Aid

If there were ever a day for Miami fans to root for the Florida Gators it's tonight.

Tonight at 8pm the Gators host Alabama.

Every Miami Dolphins fan knows the Alabama Crimson Tide's head coach. None other than Mr. Two Face him self, Nick Saban. The guy who said he's not leaving the Dolphins for Alabama.

Here's some more incentive to cheer for Florida today. The Gators are the highest ranked team in the state right now, and no other team is really even close to the top after USF's loss Thursday night and FSU's loss last Saturday.

The rivalries between the Florida college football teams are unparalleled, but when a Florida team faces a team from another state it only makes sense to root for the home state's team.

Nearly every Miami Hurricanes fan is also a Miami Dolphins fan.

So Miami fans, put aside the hatorade for one day, pick up a Gatorade, gain some electrolytes, and root for the Gators. Or at least root for Saban to get the ass whoopin' he deserves.

Karma Hits Michael Vick

There’s not many defenders that can catch up to Michael Vick, but karma sure can.

Vick thought he found a comfortable home in Philadelphia before beginning the 2011 season when he received his 6 year, $100 million contract. That comfortable feeling left the moment his head whip-lashed into his own offensive lineman’s chest during the Eagles loss in Vick's old city of Atlanta.

Here’s Vick sounding like an old whimpering poodle after this past Sunday's loss to the Giants.

By the way, his hand is bruised, not broken. He probably hurt his hand worse when he choke slammed a dog to death for losing a fight.

Every dog has his day, but eventually the arrogant careless dog that runs around and dives at every chance he gets can’t take the hits he could in his younger years. This is when even a dumb dog will wise up and realize what he needs to do in the field of play so he won't get hurt.

What’s happening is the more this aging dog (Vick) gets beat up, loses, and whines about taking the beating, the quicker his owner will execute him from the team.

If there’s anyone that knows this it should be the ultimate dog fighting champ himself, Michael Vick.

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has no problem getting rid of a Quaterback that brings the team a ton of success, but in the end can't win the Super Bowl. Just ask Donovan McNabb.

Vick can now either shut up and realize that he needs to get rid of the ball quicker so he doesn't take so many hits, or he can continue to play erratically, blame the refs, and be a hurt whiny loser.

And there isn't anyone that likes a whining loser, especially Philadelphia fanatics.

Doing It for the Sport

It’s been a while. Nearly a year since I stopped in and almost a year and a half since I wrote anything. I never wanted to leave, but the last two years forced my attention in other directions.

Two years and four days ago I didn’t see my father for my birthday. My mother told me he wasn’t feeling well, which was odd because he was very rarely sick, especially sick enough to not see me on my birthday.

A few days later we found out why he wasn’t feeling good. He had bile duct cancer. They gave him 3 to 8 months.

Jim “Mad Dog” Mandich found out he had the same type of cancer at around the same time. It was surreal listening to him on radio going through the same thing I saw my dad go through every day.

At that time I was working in downtown Miami right down the street from the American Airlines Arena, where the Miami Heat play. Working on the 20^th something floor looking over the water of Biscayne Bay was a beautiful view and helped take my mind off what was going on. It’s too bad the Issac Daniels Group didn’t have a good view on anything. They laid me off as they didn’t want to pursue a sports website anymore and wanted to focus on a technology based product, which never panned out.

That caused me to take a break from writing. I still had announcing for the FAU Owls soccer and baseball teams, which I still do, so that kept me in media. I got to spend more time with my father for a month or two which was nice, although I’ll never feel I spent enough time with him.

I ended up getting a job with an inspection company, Don Meyler Inspections, and I’m still there now. Although it’s different work from my field, I make four to five times what I made with the Issac Daniels Group, so it isn’t all bad.

But bad turned to worse for my father. He fought hard and lived past the time the doctor’s gave him (about a year and a half), but about a week before his 56^th birthday it was best for him to be in the care of a local hospice.

The day we found out that my father was being transferred to a hospice my fiance and I found out that she was pregnant. And yes it's my child, right honey? (I have to throw some humor in here.)

When I got to the hospital the night they were transferring my dad to the local hospice he was about passed out. My mom was there (I already told her) along with my uncle and a couple friends. When I told my dad the news he sat up and smiled. I’ll never forget that.

My dad died at that hospice April 4, 2011, on his 56^th birthday.

It’s almost been six months since that day already. It feels like just yesterday he was showing me the correct way to shoot a basketball and how I need to square up with the rim.

I think I speak for everyone that was close with my father when I say, and I’ll use a triple negative here,… Although I may not show it on the outside it isn’t easy not having him around. He was a positive influence on everyone around him every day of his life.

Even though I’m not getting paid for writing at the moment I think my father would want, hell he does want me to keep writing. Like he always taught me, do it for the sport.

So I’m going to write for the sport. This blog got me my last paid writing job, so I’m sure it will happen again. Turning 26 four days ago and being about two months away from fatherhood has jump started my engine.

By the way, if this was too much information for you I could care less. I felt I had to get this off my chest and explain the gap between blogs before I jumped back into writing.

NFL: Roger Goodell's Inconsistencies, 2011 Lockout, &NCAA Sanctions

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