Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Fan Fest Part 3

When I went back inside the Club section, I started to hear applause down the hall. To cut to the chase, I ended up at one the 'town-hall meetings' that the Marlins were holding.

Rich Waltz presided over the affair. This was the one that the Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Post, and MLB quoted from extensively - David Samson and Michael Hill were flanked on one side of the table by Scott Olsen and Jason Vargas and on the other by Wes Helms and Dontrelle Willis.

Much of what was said then was noted by the reporters, and I did miss hear the exchange about the new FAU stadium which the reporters mentioned. As I gather my foggy memory together (I didn't take any notes during, but scribbled some down after), here's some other things that happened...

- In explaining Jeffrey's travails Samson let out a number I hadn't heard before - he said that Loria had spent $62 million 'in cash' on the team in the last 3 years.

- Waltz spent some time trying to get the other panelists involved by asking them questions. Vargas and Olsen were asked about building up their stamina to deal with Florida heat, and Vargas said that he just stepped up on the light weights and long tossing. Waltz got a few kids to ask questions, and one asked Dontrelle for his autograph, which Dontrelle provided.

- Some one asked about a possible IPO of Marlins stock, and Samson responded with a list of problems that other teams in that situation had experienced, and mentioned that there would be 'disclosure issues' with the Marlins. (Surprise!)

- To me 2 strains of the conversation seemed to smack into one another - the promotion by Samson of the new domed park providing "72 degrees" and dry conditions for the fans and players, against the almost-pride in what the natural Miami climate does to opposing teams playing here. Wes Helms recounted that the Miami effect definitely puts a drag on teams coming from less hostile enviroments, and that players would normally lose about 4-5 pounds of water weight after playing a series here.

- Then came my big chance when I asked a question of them. Actually I asked 2. When a situation plops in my lap that is unexpected sometimes I do things that later on I may decide I probably wanted to do differently.

Most of the audience's questions were directed to Samson concerning the franchise's future, so much so that Dontrelle joked about the forum becoming 'the David Samson show' and started to take off his jersey to much laughter. So I wanted to make sure to ask something to get Willis to respond.

But first, at that moment, I wanted to pin down Samson on the date of when the team will finally announce whether they'll stay or go, since he had been reported as saying that decison must be made wthin a few months. Either he didn't want to answer that or I asked it wrong because to me he just recounted the terms of the Huizenga lease, that it ends in 2007 and that after 2010 they have to be somewhere else.

My 2nd question concerned something no one I had heard had asked up to that time, and I asked both Samson and Willis to expound on the hopes, possibilities and maybe concerns over the upcoming World Baseball Classic. This got a rise out of both of them. Samson went into a spirited defense of the concept, saying that baseball, just under soccer, is one of the most-played games around the world, that it would be a great way to promote the game in other markets, and that he wouldn't want players from his team to play anything less than full-out in these games.

Dontrelle was even more persuasive, saying that it was a huge honor to be playing for his country, and that he would be trying as hard as he can to help win these games for the USA. His response brought a round of applause from the crowd.

After the meeting was over I hung around to see what else would happen. Something did...

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