Checking Out Once and Future Haunts

Yesterday was one of those days that happen this time of year in South Florida, when there are so many events and shows and festivals happening at one time that it's impossible to see all the ones you want to see.

Just concerning events connected with the Marlins, I've mentioned the Fan Fest in Jupiter and the Mermaid Finals in Miami. I forgot to mention the Legends Game, where Orestes and Cookie and other legends played at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium for the Joe DiMaggio Childrens' Hospital.

But the event I ended up going to was the goodbye party at the Orange Bowl, where old Dolphin and Hurricane players played for one last time at the soon-to-be-demolished stadium.

I'm not going to say how long it has been since the last time I've been at the Orange Bowl. Let's say my going there was an attempt to mix the return and flooding of past memories with a scoping-out of the area with an eye to what the potential Marlins stadium will be facing.

First off, there was a Marlins presence at the event. A table was set up with a spinning wheel for fans to spin to win trinket-type prizes, and you could sign up for a drawing to win tickets to the exhibition Yankee games at the end of March. (Just if anyone's curious, I didn't perceive any anger directed towards the Marlins about the end of the Orange Bowl. It seems everyone realizes it's not the Marlins' doing.)

Next, just walking around the outside of the stadium made me say to myself, 'They're going to try and fit both a ballpark and a soccer stadium Here?' With the stadium as it is now there is minimal parking area - the times when my family went to games was the time when we had a friend living nearby who let us park in his driveway for free. The selling of parking spaces in residents' yards is an industry here. Now with Two stadiums being planned, the parking garage would be an absolute necessity, if someone can find a place to put it.

When they talk about the neighborhood around the stadium, they mean what they say. Three of the four sides of the surrounding stadium area borders non-luxurious apartments and houses; only the north side faces a commercial street. I'm hoping this isn't a bad thing. The best ballparks I've been to (Fenway, Wrigley) seem a part of the neighborhoods they're in. There's really no reason why, with time, this neighborhood ultimately should be any different.

Saying that, the traffic situation needs work. Coming from the north on the expressways, with minimal signs, it's a guessing game for newbies to figure out how to get to the stadium. Probably, during rush hour, with those stoplights and thin streets, you'll need luck trying to get to a game on time. Some major pondering will be needed on this.