Need some feel-good during tough times, fans? Look to the rally and rise of Miami sports | Opinion
Outside of my window today: Only bright skies, a cool breeze and three little birds telling me don’t worry ‘bout a thing ‘cause every little thing gonna be all right. The heart sings with optimism!
I am trying to see if I can pull this off, folks. I have my doubts.
For reasons nearly medicinal I need to write a column seeing nothing but the bright side and the glass half full ... of Moet & Chandon!
Call this exercise my armor against the relentless gauntlet that has been life in America the past four months.
A deadly coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic that is only growing again because far too many in our country are too selfish or stupid to wear a mask and avoid crowds.
Racial tension amid national protests demanding social justice in the wake of George Floyd and too many other unwarranted killings by police.
It is a challenge to our national conscience, mettle and resolve such as I have not seen in my lifetime.
Sports to the rescue as a diversion from the headlines? Not so much. Sports have been shut down by the virus since March. Now they attempt to inch back this month, but amid the pitfalls of players opting out and testing positive — reminders of the mess we’re in as we wonder if the games will soon shut down again just like the restaurants in Miami-Dade County have.
Against everything bleak and depressing, I am here to offer a big fat slice of sunshine. I am Gene bleepin’ Kelly not only singin’ in the rain, but dancing in it, too.
Brighter days are here or ahead in Miami professional sports. A corner is turned. A landscape barren too long begins to bloom. Winning looms. For all five of our major pro teams, optimism fits like one of Pat Riley’s Armani suits.
Reasons for shades of hopefulness to excitement, one team at a time:
▪ Miami Heat: Coach Erik Spoelstra’s relentlessly competitive guys (scheduled for an August 1 restart to an eight-game regular season leading to the playoffs) have a legit chance to reach the Eastern finals. The only conference team clearly better is Milwaukee, and Miami was 2-0 vs. the Bucks before the season paused, Bam Adebayo able to neutralize Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Heat’s disciplined, all-in, we-are-family culture lends itself to Miami being better suited than most for a couple of month of life the Orlando bubble.
Beyond this fractured season, the Heat is positioned salary cap-wise to be a major player in free agency in the summer of 2021 — even in the running to entice Antetokounmpo, perhaps? Other ‘21 prizes available could include Anthony Davis, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Victor Oladipo and some guy named LeBron.
Somebody is taking his talents here. Miami has too much to offer. South Beach. Spo. Riley. Great ownership. No state income tax. Two all-stars in Jimmy Butler and Adebayo. Young, ascending support from Kendrick Nunn, Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro.
A shot at a fourth championship parade is coming.
▪ Florida Panthers: No NHL team lucked out more from the upheaval. The Cats seemed bound to miss the playoffs when the season stopped. Now they are one of 24 teams alive in the straight-to-playoffs restart set to begin in late July. Florida will open with a five-game play-in series vs. the Islanders in one of two Canadian hub cities.
The Panthers have an elite skater in Alekander Barkov, an all-star from this season in Jonathan Huberdeau, a top goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, a Hall of Fame coach in Joel Quenneville and five 20-goal scorers.
They might be a piece away from Stanley Cup contention, but the Cats (like the Heat) have avoided a fire sale and carefully built a foundation that bodes well for the foreseeable future.
▪ Inter Miami: Miami finally has a Major League Soccer team. That’s enough to feel good about for now. And this will be the first of our teams to start back up — with a scheduled Wednesday game in the Orlando bubble vs. Orlando SC to kick off the MLS Is Back tournament.
No matter that Miami started 0-2 with two road losses before its inaugural season stopped. Rookie-year woes are to be expected. But after David Beckham’s five year fight to make it a reality, the team is real, and a buoyant fan base is waiting for crowds to be let into stadiums again.
Miami is stout in the back led by veteran goalkeeper Luis Robles and has an exciting attacker from midfield in Mexican national Rodolfo Pizarro, recently voted the 13th-best player in all of MLS.
The cache of Beckham, the financial strength of ownership and the lure of playing in South Florida will make this a ripe destination for international talent. The stature of the Dolphins and Heat is entrenched and unassailable here, but it will be fun to see if our new fifth pro team can challenge the vulnerable Marlins and Panthers on the pecking order.
▪ Miami Marlins: The tear-down and talent-selling was rough as the Derek Jeter regime dug in, but the reasons for it and the results have begun to show.
Sandy Alcantara, a 2019 all-star and likely Opening Day starter when the season is scheduled to begin July 23 or 24, tops an impressive young rotation — and the Fish targeted pitching hard again in the recent draft.
MLB.com ranked the Marlins No. 5 among all 2020 farm systems, after the cupboard had grown bare under the Jeffrey Loria ownership. There is a plan now, at least. Top 30 prospects are led by pitcher Sixto Sanchez and outfielder JJ Bleday, and others such as highly regarded include shortstop Jazz Chisholm, outfielder Jesus Sanchez and pitcher Edward Cabrera.
The Marlins are positioned to blossom gradually into something impressive in two or three years. And something built to last.
▪ Miami Dolphins: Tua. Tua! TUA! TuaTuaTuaTuaTuaTua.
Anticipation is half the fun, isn’t it? Letting the imagination run? Having no ceiling on hope?
Bob Griese, 1967. That was the last quarterback drafted higher by the Dolphins than Tua Tagovailoa in April.
Like the Marlins, the Fins are all in on a major, ground-up rebuild, a talent sell-off that brought three first-round picks and an NFL-leading 13 overall this year and will bring another bounty next year. And beefing up the roster with college talent is augmented by an opening of the corporate wallet in free agency such as we also saw this past spring, including an expenditure that made Byron Jones the league’s top-paid cornerback.
The rebuild’s talent payoff, and the sense that coach Brian Flores is finally just the right guy as coach, makes the optimism surrounding this club palpable (and a long time coming).
Now all Tagovailoa has to do is be as great as Dolfans dream he will be.
We cannot say with great confidence whether these seasons about to restart will be allowed to reach their conclusion.
Can’t say when fans will be allowed back in stadiums and arenas, either.
However all of this plays out, though, Miami’s pro teams all seem headed right, all at once.
