9
2012
Adding Miami To My Most Hated List
An article by 
You know, Joe and I briefly discussed this last week and as days go by I think about it more and more.
In my sports fan life, I have the teams I cheer for passionately. We are all Mets fans, but for me, I also cannot stand the Philadelphia Phillies, NY Yankees, Boston Red Sox (went to school surrounded by annoying Sox fans), and the Atlanta Braves. That is in order too.
However, something has been brewing and I think it is finally fermented just right. I hate the Miami Marlins. When I use the word hate with a sports team, I do not mean I wish bad things to happen to them or their families. What I mean is, I hope to see their players crying on a bench, looking dumbfounded trying to figure out what just happened or simply have the roster blown to pieces due to an epic failed attempt to purchase a playoff roster.
Let me count the ways!
The way in which they got their new stadium and how the SEC is investigating the methods in which it was funded.
The way they went out and saturated the free agent market by up’ing the price on every piece of talent there was in hopes to create a dream team atmosphere only to most likely trade everybody within 3 years.
The fact that Jose Reyes acted like he didn’t have a strong interest in being a Miami Marlin and blamed the fact he is there on the Mets not taking him to dinner.
The fact their new uniforms and logo were leaked to the media before some of their own front office staff even saw them, and they are a rip off of Maroon 5 and Christian Aguilera’s logo for Moves Like Jaggar.
The obnoxiously disgusting monument in the outfield that makes me hope Lucas Duda drives a HR through it like The Natural in the stadium lights.
Their new Manager Ozzie Guillen who was never cute in Chicago deciding that hey I’m in Miami, let’s talk about how great Fidel Castro is. Now, he’s got a press conference scheduled tomorrow so he can apologize. Maybe he should have a press conference in which he describes his new role will be Managing a baseball team, and not saying things just to say them while also offending the most prominent Cuban American community in the U.S. Just a thought Ozzie, just a thought.
On Opening Day, a sold out crowd watched as a video showing a local soldier was played as his family watched on the field. If anybody has ever seen this done at other sporting events, USUALLY it ends with that soldier returning home to see his/her family as a surprise. Only in Miami, as everybody watched and waited, nothing happened. What was the point?
Last but not least, bringing out a sports legend like Muhammad Ali who can clearly not walk, and probably cannot even speak to “deliver the first pitch,” was sickening. Not as sickening as owner Jeffrey Loria hanging on to Ali as if to say “Look fans I’m cool, I know The Champ!” Then to have them physically move Ali’s hand over to Hanley Ramirez made it worse.
But the worst part about that entire scene was when the 5-6 Marlins players gathered around Ali to take a photo. The man cannot even turn his head, so the players faced the camera and Ali was facing the other way. You see similar photos taken at the zoo or circus where the animal in the photo has no idea they are even in a photo.
So here it is. In 2012, I will still despise my usual teams, I’ll root against the Phillies first and foremost, but if a playoff series comes down to Philly v. Miami, I cannot be so sure I will root against Philadelphia. After all, Miami has 6 more months of glorious embarrassing moments that will only further my hatred.
I will still enjoy any amount of failure that occurs in the Bronx, Boston or Atlanta but I am taking all of that energy, all of that hatred and focusing it on the Miami Marlins.
I liked Jose Reyes as a Met, but guess what, those days are over. He’s not a NY Met, he’s on a division rival. I have 0 interest in seeing him succeed. Other than his shaved bleached hair, he just looks like a corporate version of the player we grew to love.
I hope they all fail. I hope that 2 years from now, guys like Reyes, Hanley, Johnson, Stanton, Bell and LoMo are all in different uniforms. And not because of the usual Marlins way which is to win and then trade everybody away to ensure you have no loyalty among your fan base.
Instead, I’d like to see this entire plan blow up in their face to the point that the attendance figures in Miami are only high because of the amount of federal investigators in the building.
I’m hoping Jose Reyes hits .270 this year. I hope Hanley Ramirez gets into a physical altercation with at least 2 teammates, preferably Carlos Zambrano. I’m hoping LoMo tweets a photo of his junk to a players wife. I’m hoping Ozzie Guillen doubles up on his Castro praise and says Kony is Kool and MLB finally suspends him. I’m hoping as payback for stealing their logo, the Marlins must agree to let Christian Aguilera sing the National Anthem all season long.
It’s only April 9th, and the Miami Marlins are doing their best to get as much bad PR as the Jets and Mets have done in the past few years combined, and I hope it continues.
There’s a lot of baseball left to play, and if things do not go the Mets way in 2012, I hope that on October 1st the Marlins are within a game of clinching a playoff berth only to get swept by the NY Mets in their own new park.
Who knows, maybe Josh Thole can pick a fight with Jose Reyes to harness his inner Miguel Olivo?
About the Author: Michael J. Branda
My time with MMO began in July of 2009 when I wrote a Fan Post defending Omar Minaya (before it was cool to do that.) I grew up a Mets fan with the mid 1980's teams. My favorite Met of all-time is (and was) Wally Backman. When it comes to sabermetrics versus old school thinking, I like to think I meet in the middle. I believe thinking of new ways to get answers is helpful, especially when the same way has not produced results. However, I think over-thinking certain situations can get you into trouble. I'm excited for the new regime, because I believe they have pieces in place to focus on several aspects of the Mets organization. I've waited this long for a World Series, waiting a few more years for another chance isn't going to kill me.
33 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- Metsie: on Keep Daniel Murphy In The Leadoff Spot: Yes it does...Get stronger my young friend! You...
- Matt Mosher: on Can The Mets Turn This Sinking Ship Around Before It’s Too Late: It's not optimism, its being delusional. Time...
- Ron: on Choo Could Be Impact Outfielder For Mets In 2014, But Would Cost A Pick: Gomez was also signed by the Mets...
- Shea4ever: on Can The Mets Turn This Sinking Ship Around Before It’s Too Late: Haha, I agree... Do I think Wright...
- Jimmy Pernil: on Can The Mets Turn This Sinking Ship Around Before It’s Too Late: The 2013 season was flushed down the...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5372 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Hey JesseP, From MIA right now, and most of miamians are saying F*** You too!!!
also, you hate atlanta?????? Funny how you say this: “I liked Jose Reyes as a Met, but guess what, those days are over. He’s not a NY Met, he’s on a division rival” YET YOU DROOL over craig kimbrell, freeman and jayson heyward!! aren’t they playing for our biggest nemesis the past 20 years???? You’re hate for reyes is pathetic, sooner or later it was gonna come out and little did we know, it took an amazing 3 days for you to SH** on reyes, This is the reason why i called you out when you said he was your favorite player, always knew you were lying about it… Pathetic…
So just so we are all clear, you’re saying that you are a fan of Miami now?
I do not cheer for Kimbrel, Heyward, Freeman etc. I appreciate their talents. I appreciate Jose Reyes’ talent but he is not a NY Met therefore it is in my best interest if he fails, and fails miserably.
Yet when i said FU** kimbrell you went on a rant about it.. Guess who the hypocrite is now huh?? you contradict your self with this article, just admit you hated reyes and wanted him gone so you can have mr #5 be the leader YOU want him to be, you’re such a troll it’s not even funny.. FDB..
I am not a fan, even though i’ve been here to be honest all i hear is the HEAT, dolphins conversation etc, marlins are kinda like an afterthought, Funny how you appreciate kimbrel, freeman and heyward’s talents yet i don’t see where you wish them to fail miserably, i wonder why??? You’re the worst you know that… Seriously you’re a pathetic person…
someone warn alex that Ozzie Guillen has jacked his MMO account.
Yeah I don’t say I am hoping they fail when I say Atlanta is 1 of 4 teams I root against. You got me. Just because YOU have a fascination with taking words like “Kimbrel is the best young closer in NL and I’d prefer him over K-Rod” and turn them into “Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh (chop)” doesn’t make me a Braves fan.
I’m telling you right here, I hate the Miami Marlins. I want the season to end with them sitting on their dugout steps watching as the Mets sweep them out of playoff contention. I want Jose Reyes to fail with his new deal, I want the Marlins roster to get blown into pieces because their plan to buy a playoff spot and buy fans did not work.
If you feel differently, that is fine. To me, that just means you have a crush on the Marlins.
RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT, this is why?? Reyes is only 28 years old, he’s the best leadoff hitter in the game, the most dynamic player in the game, the best SS in the game but i don’t hear sh** from you about him the way you were having orgasms about kimbrell and freeman, i wish maniac and bayonne were here so they can prove to everyone how you were praising the braves last year and were raving about them making the playoffs and winning 95 games and yada yada before they had the MASSIVE CHOKE JOB including kimbrell blowing up 2 out of the last 3 games for them.. You hate the marlins why?? because they acquire the player YOU HATE the most JOSE REYES and have the other guy you hate the most, HAN-RAM… Ironic that both are latinos isn’t??
Got it. “but i don’t hear sh** from you about him the way you were having orgasms about kimbrell and freeman”
I never ever wrote anything good about Jose Rey…http://metsmerizedonline.com/2009/09/let-jose-be-jose.html Oh my whats what? How did that get in here?
I don’t know why you keep harping on the Braves choking in regards to me. I wasn’t around much of late September and I have no idea why I didn’t run to the sandbox to talk about the Braves losing… probably because I didn’t care much because I was watching the Sox and Rays games back and forth? Probably because I’m not a Braves fan so I don’t run to a Mets blog to discuss their games?
I hate the Marlins, I told you why. If you want to create other reasons why to make you feel better then so be it. If you want to cheer for the Marlins on the side, go ahead. I think its pathetic and I think you’re using me thinking Kimbrel is good as a cover so you don’t feel bad giving up on the Mets because of your new love affair with the Marlins.
JesseP=MMO Ratings. Look at why the first poster was. Just like clockwork. In the time your posts hits to the time Alex posts a comment could be a internet record. Maybe this should be a new measurement of time.
Man I was driving so fast, it only took me an “Alex” to get home.
You are MMO gold!
haha Salty!
Reyes is a paraplegic that is lucky the Mets didn’t send off to the glue factory.
I’ll always love follow and root for Jose except against us but Loria is really a whack job. That stadium is sickening on the inside (from a TV view) and the opening of it just reeks like gorganzola cheese. Lime green, Aquariums no one can even see, that multi colored monstrsosity in front of the batters eye. This thing looks like it was designed by Dr.Timothy Leery.
There is very little class in ownership. Samson’s comments, the SEC, Ozzie, although maybe he was just being honest as his Country has close ties with Fidel, who knows.
Bell and Zambranno can’t be expected to be anywhere near as good as they were. Bhuerle may be OK for an extra year, Hansley could go off anytime, Stanton’s power could be blunted and other than Reyes their weak up the middle.
Personally I think Reyes traded chaos for more chaos and that makes me feel bad for him. As far as I’m concerned he’s been the best all around, most dedicated, hardest working talent we’ve ever developed.
“although maybe he was just being honest as his Country has close ties with Fidel, who knows”
Chavez hates the Venezuelan league. He wants to ban all professional sports, just like Castro did. And most people associated with the league feel the same about him.
The only prominent baseball figure from Venezuela I’ve ever heard of supporting Hugo Chavez is Miguel Cabrera. And that is because Miggy owns a construction company that has a bunch of fat government contracts.
The guys that do the podcast for Baseball Prospectus actually went into this a few times over the winter with the kidnappings and such. They interviewed reporters, league officials and players to discuss it.
Maglio Ordonez got hosed down by the Venezulean people during the WBC for his support of Chavez and every public figure from there has to walk a fine line so there is really very little anyone can say in the way of criticism against Chavez because they all have family there if not business interests.
I’m sure Hugo would like nothing better than to shut down professional baseball in his Country mostly to keep everyone impovrished and under his thumb but it could also be true that Ozzie genuinely feels Chavez and by extension Castro are or have been going about things the right way. Who knows, one thing we’ll never hear is anything but the most tepid criticism of Chavez by Venezuelans simply because of the ramifications.
Wait a minute! This is coming from the same guy who relentlessly shits on David Wright every chance he gets? and you actually have the nerve to try to get at someone else saying their hate for Reyes is pathetic? You’re funny.
The Marlins are a strange subject for me. I was born a Mets fan and I’ll always be a Mets fan first, but my family moved to South Florida in April of 1993 when I was 5 years old. I grew up watching the Florida Marlins play at Joe Robbie Stadium (all the while still loving the Mets).
Since the end of last season, something weird has happened. For the first time in 15 years, the Marlins actually spent money on players. They built a roster to try to be competitive. Regardless of the tactics, they tried to make themselves competitive. I had a friend tell me when Jose Reyes signed with Miami that ‘Hey, at least he signed with another team you cheer for, right?’ It’s a good point, but there was more.
The owner threw the black Florida Marlins cap away like it was trash while introducing the new Miami Marlins logo. The name change in itself to “Miami” drops the two counties that I grew up in and around from the fanbase. The new logo and color scheme pays no tribute to the Florida Marlins that I rooted for – they even made sure to change teal to light blue in the new logo to ensure that no remnant of the Florida Marlins carried over. The new stadium is located so far south that – if I still lived in South Florida – I would not have been able to attend any (or at least very many) games even if I wanted to. The home run sculpture makes me smack my head in shame. Then there was the Opening Day fiascos discussed in this article.
I happened to be off of work for the Marlins opener, and, strangely, I found myself laughing as the Marlins could not muster a hit or as St. Louis started scoring or when what looked to be the first homerun at Marlins Park died on the warning track into the glove of a Cardinals outfielder. That’s not something I’ve ever done with a team I pull for.
With all that the franchise has done to distance itself from the team that won the 1997 and 2003 World Series championships, I’ve become more and more detached from the franchise that I’ve watched since Day 1. I don’t want to become detached – most of my great baseball memories came at Marlins games – but I’m slowly getting down to having only one team that I pull for.
Thanks for that point of view Drew!
I still cannot fathom what the hell Ozzie was thinking with those comments. Everyone is entitled to their opinion – no matter how far out that opinion might be. But this was one opinion that he definitely should have kept to himself. Talk about being out of touch. Jeeze, he’s managing the MIAMI Marlins, for crying out loud.
Well I agree with your view on Reyes. I was a big fan of his on the Mets, even own a #7 jersey, but now that he’s a Marlin I could care less about him. I still recognize him for his amazing tablets but I’ll be selling the jersey for sure. I’m not mad at him for leaving because money talks these days Also I’m not mad at the Mets for not resigning him because the Marlins way over paid for him.
thanks Vegas! If Reyes signed with NYY, I’d bet most who still support him would change their view. To me, the Marlins have turned into an embarrassment of a franchise and I refuse to give them any support.
Had Reyes signed with the Phillies or Yankess though I would have puked. I view the Marlins the way I have always viewed them, as a joke of a franchise. Now you add in Ozzie, Zambrano and those uniforms right out of the pride parade, they are just laughable. I also agree thy will dump the entire team as soon as they win something
Oh, thi is great. Apparently, someone is squatting on the rights to MiamiMarlins.com
http://miamimarlins.com/
You’d think they would have secured that a while ago.
haha yea.
MIA is now #3 on my list (Yankees, Philthies, Marlins); mostly because of Jose. It disgusts me that he tries to say Mets didn’t want him because Loria met him at a bar at 12:01 wearing a Reyes shirt under his buttoned up rain coat. The Met organization and the fans were very good to a guy that really never did anything when it counted.
I’m surprised to hear Boston is on your list, they are my 2nd favorite team… tied with whoever else plays the Yankees.
I love the fact that Jose is making less these next 2 or 3 years than he did with the Mets… I just hope he continues to lose more than he did with the Mets as well.
Loria is going to pump and dump the Marlins; he got his new ballpark, he has a bunch of back loaded contracts, he’s just hoping they make the playoffs and that he can ride the wave of Dodgers’ $2billion sale and sell the team for a hefty profit.
I hope they implode; with Hanley, Ozzie and Loria, they likely will at some point.
One other side note: I’m waiting to see someone superimpose something over all of the “green screen”-color walls with gameplay video. Maybe the Marlins are banking on having sponsors pay to have ads EVERYWHERE during TV broadcasts, so they just made the whole park into a giant green screen!
Nice idea there Drew. In my opinion that would be an improvement over that loud Astro-turf green they are currently rocking.
add me to the list of fans to whom Reyes is “dead to me”. As soon as he took the money and bolted (And I firmly believe that was in the works well before the season ended, and his goal all along), he was part of a direct competitor, and therefore teh enemy. So like Jessep, I have no interest in seeing him succeed.
Now, if he had signed with Seattle say, I would not care if he had a big year, since it would be irrelevant to the Mets. And I still root for the laundry more than any player (well, maybe not Duda…
). So Miami can implode from the top down, and I will think it is glorious.
I actually hate The Marlins WAY more than The PedoPhillies or The Cowards right now. Other than rooting for my Mets to be a fun, competitive team this year, all the rest of my energy will be focused on hating The Yankees and The Marlins. A Marlins/Yankees WS is unacceptable. I feel that The Marlins are the best argument for a salary cap, far more so than The Skanks. At least the Yankees buy the shiny toys EVERY year. The Marlins just buy themselves a championship every few years and then sell off the pieces. There are NO real baseball fans in Miami, and that city doesn’t deserve a baseball team, and no amount of free agent hoarding is going to change that. Only frontrunners are wearing those hideous caps this year, and I wish them nothing but failure.
It hurts me to root against Jose, but that’s how it goes.
The Marlins have suspended Guillen for 5 games.
What am embarrassment. You bring a manager into your franchise because he has had success but he can identify with your diverse culture in Miami, and within a week he tells that culture to GFY.
I hope sponsors pull their $ out of Miami. Fans are boycotting the stadium. You thought Citi Field had problems when they opened?
Nothing would make me happier than to see this entire ploy blow up in their face.
He can’t identify because he is probably not sympathetic to that side of the issue. Frankly I don’t think he is sympathetic to any issue. Growing up across the sea from Cuba in Venezuela and having the current president Hugo Chavez, I would imagine most Venezuelan’s have some awareness to the history of Cuba, Socialism and it’s effect on the citizens. I by no means am overly educated on the issues, but I would know enough jsut to stay out of it and focus on baseball.
This. Freedom of speech aside, if you’re the manager of a MLB team you probably should avoid any and all public political opinions no matter what side of the argument you support.
Its not even a free speech issue. He’s a public spokesman for the Marlins. When he says something stupid that can offend a segment of your intended fanbase, he failed at his job.
Cookie Rojas I believe I saw yesterday somewhere does the Marlins games and had this to say,
“He let down Miami,” Rojas said. “Sometimes Ozzie goes and says what is on his mind. He should’ve given it a little more thought.
“You can’t go and say something like that. People are living here who (otherwise) would still be living in Cuba if not for that regime.’
There is a Daily News article from 1999 where Rojas talks a bit more in depth on his thoughts about Castro.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999-03-10/sports/18107419_1_rojas-cuban-people-fidel-castro
DAMN Jessep. Tell us how you REALLY feel about the Marlins. It’s like someone previously mentioned, the Marlins are nothing more than the Philadephia Eagles of baseball. WS Champs my ass…