SoFlaFish

WHO CARES!?!? Last I checked, Street & Smiths, or all those other fantasy geek prognosticators, don't pick the champs, they're decided on the field!

does anybody know how i can get some transportation from gainesville to marlins spring training in jupiter some how? i have the amtrack rail thing for a year (ty capefish) and a i was gonna go to west palm in amtrack and take tri rail to jupiter then bus but theres no tri rail in jupiter? how can i do it? Ain't no Tri-Rail to Jupiter. The Tri-Rail line ends in Mangonia Park (northern West Palm Beach/Riviera Beach -- and not a place you want to be stuck in after dark!). You're either going to have to take a bus to Jupiter from WPB (see PalmTran schedules) or get a taxi. It's a good 15 to 20 miles from WPB to Jupiter.

The facility is very open. I was there on Saturday morning with my daughter and we had a great time. The highlight of her trip (she's 3 years old!) was getting to say "Hi" to Josh Beckett as he was going between practice fields. We were the only ones around him. She said "Hi." He then stopped, put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey sweetheart, how are you doing?" She was in Seventh Heaven giggling. I didn't ask for an autograph because you can't do that while they're in the middle of workouts. But it was very nice of him to just do that little gesture, that's all I would've expected. My daughter did manage to get a ton of autographs, though. We got Carl Pavano, AJ Burnett, Alex Gonzalez, Chad Fox, Jack McKeon, Jeff Conine, and Lenny Harris. I have a baseball with all of last year's team on it (including Jeffrey Loria, Admin Beinfest, and David Samson). I only need three more guys to finish off the WHOLE TEAM (40 man roster): Dontrelle Willis, Juan Pierre, and Miguel Cabrera.

Or the money that the state and Palm Beach County is giving Scripts. How come nobody is making a big deal about this? Yes stadiums and arenas are not money making propositions but they allow a community to provide all different forms of entertainment to all of its taxpayers, both baseball and non baeball fans. I am not an opera fan but have no problem expending tax money to build one because in the long run it is in the best interest of the entire community. Thanks, First of all, it's Scripps, not Scripts. Second, Scripps will not only bring around 40,000 high-paying, high-tech jobs to Palm Beach County. These are full-time jobs, unlike the part-time, minimum wage jobs that a stadium generates. Third, Scripps will also attract peripheral jobs to the area that are dependent upon the Scripps laboratory, mainly pharmaceutical companies that benefit from the research which is undertaken at Scripps. Fourth, the new jobs at Scripps will mean a housing boom for Northern Palm Beach and Southern Martin Counties. More people means more houses means more property taxes. Therefore, the initial investment made by Palm Beach County in the way of floating a $200,000,000.00 bond would pay off in the long term more than any stadium. What will a new stadium bring? More revenue for the tenant. Discretionary income that may have gone elsewhere gets transferred to the stadium, but the net increase in tax revenue would be indistinguishable at best. Perhaps there is a little development increase in the area around the stadium, but with land sparse and highly expensive, independent development around the stadium would be minimal. Basically, you're comparing apples to oranges.

I thought baseball had a rule that if you do not re-sign your player by the certain date you can't sign them until May..? I am wrong about this? The rule is if both parties agree to waive arbitration, then you have until the tender date to work out a contract (meaning when you have exclusive rights to negotiate a contract). If you do not, you relinquish your right to negotiate with the player until May 1. Urbina did not have an arbitration waiver clause in his contract (remember, it was the Ranger contract), therefore, once he was not tendered, he became a free agent. There is no May 1 prohibition, Urbina was non-tendered.

It's official, the dirty war is on! *puts on working overalls* This was posted about John Kerry in the "Drudge Report". The Republican dirty war has begun! Oh oh, here we go! Don't believe everything (or at least 80% of what Matt Drudge writes. Most of times he is dead wrong or making s**t up. See this article, and visit this blog LINK. The publisher is a friend of mine (we met at the Florida Democratic Party Convention) and he is really on top of things.

howard dean is a family medicine doctor. in other words, he's one of the few candidates who can say he had a 5-figure salary before entering politics. john edwards earned $50 million as a personal injury/medical malpractice attorney for cryin out loud. Look, I'm one of the Dean-iacs out there. I was a Dean delegate at the Florida Democratic Party Convention this past December. I also worked as Assistant Counsel to the Vermont House of Representatives Transportation Committee in 1997 during the Dean administration, so I speak with experience when I talk about him (he used to eat lunch with us in the Vermont State House cafeteria). For you to say that Dean is a middle class person because he had a "five figure" salary is wrong. Dean is frugal, but he isn't one of the proletariat. Dean comes from a monied family from Manhattan. His father was a Wall Street investor/banker and Dean was a product of boarding schools and Yale. He is as much of a monied person as Edwards, but not as "blue blood" as Kerry. With that said, Dean has been portrayed as a leftist "crazy" by the media, but knowing him as Vermont governor (MY governor from 1994 - 1997), that can't be farther from the truth. He governed Vermont from the middle and was quite conservative on some grounds. As a matter of fact, he championed the cause of "executive privilege" for Vermont governors when he made all the papers and information on his deal with HydroQuebec "classified" and "exempt from public review" shortly after he became governor after Governor Snelling's death. Just thought I'd bring some FACTS into this debate.

depends on the time of the day, plus she would be going against traffic :cool for afternoon/night games. I-595 is ugly going East from 7-9:30 AM I use I-595 to go to PPS on night games and it is a freeze There is no reason to loop around to get there. Remember, I-75 goes WEST from Hialeah. Then you go north to get to I-595. Then, I-595 goes SOUTHEAST from I-75 to I-95. There is NO point in doing such a major loop and probably adding a good 10 to 15 miles to your drive. Geez, why not just stay on I-75, get on the Sawgrass Expwy, and then get off at Commercial Blvd. Take the direct route, you save gas and mileage!

Mass transit from Fort Lauderdale to PPS requires you take Tri-Rail to MetroRail, transfer, then take the Metro to MLK and transfer to Route 27. Or take the Tri-Rail to the Golden Glades Station and get on the Miami-Dade Transit shuttle bus to the stadium. Call ahead to see if the County will be offering that service for the games.

So basically I don't have to go all the way to 12ave. I live by 16th ave and the 103rd street exit from the Palmetto. So I guess I can just get on the Palmetto to 826 E, right? Like if I was going to PPS? And get off on the Golden Glades interchange and so on? Remember I am pretty lost. I just started driving up north on the expressway on my own. The Palmetto is S.R. 826. At the W. 49 St/Palmetto interchange, the expressway goes North/South. In Miami Lakes it curves east ("The Big Curve") and then goes East/West. So you could get on the Palmetto at W 49 Street and go on 826 North (which turns into 826 East).

i got mine at fan fest and iwas woundering wheni should be getting them. if anyone can help please let me know. thanks much I was told they will be sending out Season Tickets in March.

I am pretty close to I-75. So that can work. Don't do that, no need to add miles to the drive and if you go up on a weekday, I-595 is a parking lot! Take it from me, I work in downtown Ft. Lauderdale (and I used to live in Hialeah). Take NW 67 Ave (or W. 12 Ave) or NW 57 Ave (W. 4 Ave/Red Road) to the Palmetto Expy. Go EAST to the Golden Glades interchange. Go to North I-95. Go north on I-95 to Commercial Blvd. exit. Take Commercial Blvd. WEST to NW 12 Avenue/Oriole Blvd. Go North (right turn) on to NW 12 AVE and the stadium will be on the right hand side.

I would like to try and see them, the day they report for practice. It would be neat watching them gettin ready for the season. It was pretty cool last year. I was literally standing less than four feet behind Mike Redmond as he was catching Dontrelle Willis. Plus, Josh Beckett was messing around with a young kid standing next to me (and there was NOBODY else around). The players usually sign, but only AFTER they've finished their workouts. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try to get autographs as they walk from one practice field to another while they are switching drills! Again, I assume more people will show up this year than last year. Last year it was on a Monday (President's Day). Afterwards, many players would sign as they left the clubhouse. I plan on going, but then again I live in western Lake Worth, about twenty minutes from RDS.

Do most marlins sign by the birm area of Roger Dean? NO! If you want to get Marlins players to sign, you have to stand by the bullpen down the left field line. The Marlins clubhouse is beyond the LF fence, the Cardinals clubhouse is beyond the RF fence. The berm is in RF and the Marlins don't enter or leave the field there. Because it is a shared facility, the Marlins ALWAYS use the 3B/LF dugout/bullpen, whether they're the home or visiting team. If you stand by the bullpen, most players usually just mill about and sign for folks standing along the bullpen wall (which is about 2 1/2 feet high!). Last year Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett took pictures with my then 2 year old daughter.

You gotta be a fool to pay $5.00 for parking at Roger Dean Stadium. If you get there early enough you can park in the garage across the street for free! Plus, for $7.00 you're sitting right by the field. Also, food is much cheaper at Roger Dean Stadium, than at JRS. A berm seat is just that, you sit on a berm. Do you know what a berm is? You're basically sitting on the side of a "hill" in right field (which is the visitor side when the Marlins play). Remember that whether the Marlins are the home or road team at RDS, they will always be on the third base/LF side.

February 22 (next Saturday) for pitchers and February 24 for catchers. Position players must report by February 25, and the first Full Squad Workout is February 27.

From Miami International Airport... Take Route 112 east to I-95. Take I-95 north to Ives Dairy Road. Turn left and proceed west for five miles. The stadium will be on the right. Disabled entrance at Gate 4. It would be faster and more direct to take the Turnpike Extension north from I-95 at the Golden Glades interchange. Not only is it longer, but there are many traffic lights on Ives Dairy. It's actually the Turnpike, not the Turnpike Extension, and you get off at NW 199 Street or Dan Marino Blvd.

yeh I am going to a couple of games and I am gonna go like two hours before the game. Maybe three. Don't bother, because they won't let you into the stadium until the gates open at, I think, 11:30 a.m. for 1:05 game starts. Usually the Marlins are wrapping up BP when the open the gates to the stadium. Plus the players parking lot is gated off and the entrance to the clubhouse is within the gated complex. You can either wait for them by the entrance to the parking lot if they walk by, or just sit in the LF bleachers by the bullpen and see them there as they start to walk out prior to game time. That's where I got all my autographs last year (and I got all but 4 guys on a baseball last year!)

Last year's was better only because the crowds were smaller and the players were much more accessible (I talked with A.J. Burnett last year by the clubhouse!). Those lines were insane and I was not going to stand there with my three year old daughter to try to get autographs, especially when I can go to Jupiter (only 15 minutes from my house) next Saturday when pitchers and catchers report. The highlight, for me at least, was taking batting practice in the Marlins cages with Lenny Harris giving me hitting pointers. Then we was very gracious posing for a picture with me and my daughter. The highlight for my daughter was going to see "her" seats (Sec. 129, Row 4, Seat 5). My 20-game package is in Sec. 129, Row 4, Seats 4-6.