HawkFan

I just cant wait to move off campus. That's all. I'll have my 40 inch TV with actual HD abilities, my xbox set up properly, a real sound system, and a home entertainment system. :o Sounds expensive. You could also go to Wackadoos. Back when I was a student, I'd hit them up after classes in BA, and they'd always put the Fish on for me when I asked. .

Well I speak for Brighthouse strictly at UCF, where FSN is blacked out for Marlin games. That's bizzare, I couldn't tell you why that would happen. I live less than 10 miles away, next to Lake Howell HS, and don't have any issues. Perhaps UCF has a special deal w/ Brighthouse as an Institutional customer as oposed to what residential customers get. Perhaps they get a cheaper, cut-back plan to provide to students that didn't include the extra game package. There's always Ale House at Waterford Lakes. Maybe all of us in the area should arrange a meetup one of these nights.

I'm almost positive that Brighthouse decides which FSN Florida feed they want. Plus, they didn't blackout the Marlins, they just showed the Rays instead; that's not the same as blacking out. Rab, trust me on this. The Marlins are in a shared MLB policy blackout due to FSN/SUN for MLB.tv. The Marlins and the Rays also cannot be on at the same time, if I'm not mistaken. FSN chooses to air something else, not Brighthouse. Nope, they'll both be on at the same time provided the game is not scheduled to be broadcast on the same channel and there is no scheduling conflit w/ other sports w/ their own agreements. Though I'm not a Rays fan (they should have been Orlando's team, and as a result of shady back-door dealings from St. Pete, I will never be able to support them), I often flip back and forth between FSN and Sun, esp during Marlins commercial breaks. The real problem here is baseball allows any number of teams to claim a particular territory as their home territory, creating this whole fiasco. Also blame the Marlins, who have all but abandoned the Central Florida market but have yet to remove the home territory tag like they had been rumored to do.

I already beat you to that complaint the other night. Welcome to the club. It's not Brighthouse's fault, it's FSN. They black us out for Marlins because we're in Rays territory. And then MLB.tv can't let us watch Marlins or Rays games because FSN/SUN have an agreement that Central Florida is blacked out for both the Marlins and the Rays. Basically, it's FSN's way of saying "if you live in Orlando, be a Rays fan. kthxbye." That's not technically accurate. Central Florida is claimed by both the Rays and Marlins as a home market when it comes to television broadcasting. Under MLB's arcane broadcasting and territory rules, games are blacked out in the home territory unless they are shown on the regional network (ie Extra Innings, MLB.TV, MLB Network, etc are blacked out). It has nothing to do with FSN/Sun having a particular agreement, it has everything to do with MLB's rules dictating they be blacked out. You think we have it bad, check out the horror stories in Iowa and Arkansas, where those markets are claimed by up to 5 teams. yet aren't able to get any of those regional channels and thus are blacked out for all 5 teams. That's why I'm personally shocked some on here were able to catch the Astros broadcast of the game tonight on the free preview of EI. Personally, I think FSN is savvy enough to realize the value in the Marlins and baseball in general over say Hockey, especially with the purported ratings the fsh have gotten over the years. They were savvy enough to sign a deal and get the over the air broadcast games of the Magic on FSN to force Brighthouse's hand and finally carry FSN after 11 years (and thereby the Marlins). I'm sure baseball advertising is quite profitable, which is why most Marlins games are on FSN while most Rays' are on Sun. If FSN wanted fans in Orlando to be only Rays fans (is there such a thing?!?), both teams games would be shown on the same channel and would be shown purely on a geographic basis. Instead, with a few exceptions throughout the season, both games on any given day will be shown. If you think FSN would rather have shown the Lightening game or an indoor basketball game instead of the fish, you're nuts.

mk and ctina sum up what I fell most Marlins fans think: teal is not common in baseball and sports, is an actual color on a Marlin and is tied to the history of the club. What I can't understand is why, if Loria and co are such excellent businessmen, why they would want to eliminate almost 20 years worth of brand identity and awareness in favor of somethign new? Is it not enough the Marlins are changing their name w/ the move to the stadium? We're such a relatively young club, trying to build traditions and gain credibility around MLB, this is essentially starting from scratch. Are we going to completely ignore everything that happened before? Are we going to forsake the fans that have come before and supported the team in the lean years in favor of new fans w/ "trendy colors?" I also find it irnoic that Mr. Loria is an art dealer and parades his "teal is a color of the 90's" comment around. Obviously, his art expertise doesn't translate to fashion as teal and aqua is an extremely common clothing color, especially in the spring and summer. Teal is all over south florida. In addition, the Mariners are returning their all-teal jersey's this year, something their fans have been begging for for years. Their ownership group obviously isn't concerned about teal being a dated color, they are concerned w/ making the fans happy and selling some merchandise. Personally, the #1 reason I think we should keep teal is because it's far better than the rumored alternatives, either orange and black or the rainbow colors from the stadium logo. Either would be horrendous and would make us a laughing stock. I mean, sure slap Miami on any Marlins merchandise and people are going to gobble it up initially, but long-term I do not see these colors promoting purchased quite like the teal has over the years. They could go blue as their major color which in of itself isn't bad and is at least relevant to our mascott/logo. However, 2 teams in our division use this as a primary color, and two others use it to a lesser extent. Heck, the other team in the state uses blue as well, so how are we differentiating ourselves? In the end, blue is so similar to teal it begs the question, why change at all?

I went w/ Cogs bc he is depended upon to get on base and score runs at the top of the order, and didn't do much of that this weekend. Javy of course stunk up JRS yesterday afternoon, but the offense only scored 2 runs, and that begins w/ the man batting #1. Hard to bail out your starter in his Marlins debut when you can't send men accross the plate.

That sucks, it's a pretty painful injury, happened to me 12 years ago catering. Had immediate surgery, two screws to hold everything together. I was back to work 8 weeks later and to this day can't go to a batting cage bc of the vibrations going through the bat. Really hoping it's not that bad for him.

So, I take a halfday at work and drive down like a maniac from Orlando for my first (and the last at JRS) Opening Day. Bought our tickets ahead of time, the seats we always get next to the tunnel in RF. Get there late bc of the traffic, park a long way away, don't get to our seats until the 2nd inning. Well, the Marlins or the stadium were playing an April Fool's joke: our seats were gone. I mean physically gone. Seats 23 & 24 were there for rows 13 and 15, but we're completely missing for row 14!!! Long story short, we ended up in what must have been the business offices (where both WS trophies reside), and one of the senior sales reps asked us if we'd like his personal tickets and if it was ok to upgrade to Club Seats. Hmm, let me think. Yeah, those'll have to do! We had a great time, and they made the situation right, but man was that wacky! Here's to hoping all of the seats will be installed for 2012.

Go to Ale House, they always will put on the Fish when I ask.

I thought the Rays were on SUNSports instead of FOX ? They are, but from what the Brighthouse Networks representative I spoke to over the phone told me, both of those networks are joined into one partnership, which is why the blackouts occur. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me since they show Rays broadcasts in South Florida. Hmm... is the Brighthouse in Lake Mary different than the one here in Orlando? I would think they would both be Brighthouse Central Florida. If that's the case, I see no reason why they should be blacked out for you as I get my Fish on FSN. If there's a conflict with the Magic, the Magic win, however if you get FSN and SunSports both, you should get both with no programming blackouts. Perhaps the Customer Service Rep is confusing FSN requiring a digital box as a blackout. When BH ended my 10 year Marlin-less exile on TV by finally carrying FSN (thank you, Magic), they went on the "basic" tier on Ch 50, but they required a digital box and service in order to get it. Suffice it to say, I know how frustrating being a Marlins fan in Central Florida can be. Hope you can get it straightened out.

We try to make it down from Orlando for 2 to 3 series a year, and pretty much everytime we go, we stay at the Holiday Inn Express on 1701 N. University Drive in Plantation. It's about a 30 minute drive from the stadium, but it's a straight shot up University to JRS. The area is close to quite a bit of residential, and is also across the street from a Motorolla office, so I would describe it as family/business traveler-friendly. There are two malls in the immediate vicinity, grocery stores and the like. Plenty of dining. Hotel is clean, safe and one of the most affordable in the area. Plus free hot breakfast. In addition, there's a memorabilia store on the way (though it's never been open when I've tried going, so I can't vouch for how it is). We've also stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in E. Ft. Lauderdale close to the airport. It's only about 4 years old, super clean and nice. good value for the price. Every once in a while, it has a cheaper rate than the University Dr. hotel, which is when we stay there. Access to turnpike is easy, or you can take i-95. Close to Lauderdale Beaches. As far as "what to do there" we generally go specifically for the games and don't do much "other stuff" than go shopping, catch a movie or hang out at the pool. However, we've gone to the Science museum a few times, Seaquarium and such.

:headscratch http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/NLC-CHC-Wrigley.PNG http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/NLE-ATL-Turner.PNG http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Petco_Park.svg/250px-Petco_Park.svg.pnghttp://www.bigleaguebaseballs.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Minn-Twins-Target-Inaug-Logo-300x273.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/50/Yankee_Stadium_%282009_logo%29.svg/250px-Yankee_Stadium_%282009_logo%29.svg.png Maybe Ishould re-phrase my post to say many of the stadium logos mirror the team's logos instead of most. Note that most of the logos here are for the newer stadiums in MLB. Like I said, it's all about branding and synergy.

This was made for a reason Yeah. It was made to reflect the different colors the areas of the stadium are going to be. Those are not the team colors. Not a chance. Exactly. The "reason" doesnt have anything to do with the team colors Actually, I agree w/ both contentions, 1) That there's "something to this" AND "the colors just represent the different areas of the ballpark." When you look at just about every single Ballpark logo, they reflect the team's colors in someway. I think what's important here is to focus not on the "rays" at the top (I agree, these correspond more to the seating sections than anything else), but the stripe in the middle. What color is it? What colors are around the redish/orange stripe? Black, White and Grey/silver. The team's Marketers haven't been weening us off teal and pushing orange for 8 years now only to settle on Blue, Black, White and Silver. That's too similar to the color scheme and current identity today. Every idiotic statement that comes out of Loria and Samson's mouth concerning our identity, colors and logo revolve around "total change" and "Completely new identity." If they just swap out the teal for the blue, I think many fans are going to say "what's the point?," continue wearing the old teal stuff and not buy the new blue stuff. No, Marlins owenrship are going to want us to run out and buy the new Miami Marlins stuff, and in order to do so, the brand has to be significantly different for many fans to "bite." I know enough about marketing and brand awareness to be dangerous, so you can "book" that: 1) One or more of the Marlins new color scheme is contained in the ballpark logo and 2) the new color scheme will be completely different from the current. Also, I'm completely expecting the orange swish to be the new "tail" under the new Marlins script on the jerseys. It's roughly the right angle and graidation to make a futuristic, stylized update to the classic script tail. Once again, it's about synergizing brand recognition.

Also, I'd rather listen to an eternity of Pitbull than 5 seconds of Train. I'm glad I'm not a Rays fan. Actually, the Train concert last year at the Trop was quite enjoyable. We went bc "Soul Sister" is my 6 year old's favorite song. It was family friendly (something Pitbull or OAR can't say) and I was actually surprised how many of their songs I knew. I'd also like to point out the Trop was sold out for that game, soemthing the Marlins can't say they've done for any of their Saturday concerts even w/ the popularity of the Latin Groups they bring in. Not a Rays fan at all, but they at least understand they need to bring in a more diverse fanbase to the games than target a specific socio-economic profile to be successful.

I generally agree with el penguino, here, the Marlins book the acts they think will be the biggest draws. If the Rock groups were packing the stands more than the Latin groups, you better believe we wouldn’t see as much Salsa. The whole purpose of Super Saturdays is marketing, plain and simple. The Marlins ownership and management aren’t concert promoters, they’re in the business of running a successful baseball team. They know their season ticketholders and core fans (such as us) will come out to support them no matter what, but there aren’t enough of us to fill the stadium on any given night. By offering the concerts, they attract people out to the ballpark that wouldn’t have normally done so, and it is the Marlins’ hope in turn those people have such a good time that they return for another game. And another. And so on. That being said, it would appear that w/ the majority of the concerts being Latin groups, the team is still desperately trying to court the Hispanic population of South Florida. I would think after almost 20 years it would be clear the baseball-loving Latinos aren’t going to come out to the games en masse like they were expected to. If the Marlins are to be successful long-term in the new stadium, they’re going to have to go after a fanbase that reflects just how truly multicultural South Florida is. Targeting primarily a single socio-economic profile has (and will continue to) failed. Fishfan is right, the Rays do much better in this regard with the variety of their concerts. In addition, the Rays concerts tend to more timely- last season they had Brett Michaels (straight off his successful appearance on the Apprentice), Adam Lambert (American Idol) and Train (right in the middle of the “Soul Sister� craze). I love Freestyle as much as the next child of the 80’s, but the youth of today really don’t know who Stevie B is. Let’s see more rock, more pop, more hip hop, heck even some jazz or electronic/dance.

If by talking about all sports you mean anything played in New York City, your are correct. Typical obnoxious New Yorker. You took the words right out of my mouth. I used to listen to 790 the Ticket streaming while I was at work (that is, before they blocked my access), and all he seemed to talk about was the Yankees, Mets and Jets (and politics). Glad they canned him. LeBetard's show might be zany in go in different directions, but he does seem to be committed to the Marlins. Too bad loMo isn't going to be on his show, that would be so winning.

It's like the classic World series Baseball on the Sega Genesis all over agian, where I had 70 hrs from Gary Sheffield at the All-Star break, and where most of the HR's were upperdeckers.

129. Early years, which is when I watched them most, I nearly aced (for some reason, I kept putting in henry cotto and darrel whitmore for our inagural RF'er), mid-years didn't do so hot (this is when I lost televised games and started college and workign full-time at the theme parks, thus I lost the ability to see the team in S.T.), pretty good again since 2006. Surprised I missed some easy names (willis, a. fernandez, floyd, hermida, encarnacion), but got some of the obscure ones (colbrunn, dunwoody, arias). Fun exercise and trip down memory road.

Of course, if Matt AND Chris fail, what do they do? I would think Chris to 2nd?

My most memorable game was one I attended in 2009 where Ricky, Meyer and Nunez combined to throw a no-hitter against the Tigers. Others include watching Josh Beckett throwing his first professional pitch against the Royals in 2000 and watching Livan pitch against the Indians in 1996, a little over a year later he beats them in the World Series. Was that Livan game in Winter Haven and his first game right after defecting? If so, I was there too!!!! I was so jazzed bc I got his signature on the ticket stub right before he got on the team bus, I think I was probably one of the first Americans to get it (aside from Marlins officials on his contract) bc he didn't sign before the game. I remember he pitched that game w/ a toothpick. The Ricky/Meyer/Nunez was an awesome game, partly bc I was w/ my dad, part the atmosphere (Lakeland is one of the last remaining enjoyable ST venues) and also the BP bomb Mikey hit out of the stadium into the parking lot. My favorite all-time game though was the first ST game after the strike in 95, Marlins vs Dodgers in Dodgertown. My dad is a lifetime Dodgers fan, but never had been to camp there. We get there and Tommy Lasorda is sitting in his golf cart and waves at us as we drove by. We park right next to the gate (I think I counted a grand total of 100 people at the game), and Mike Piazza and Eric Karros walk right past the driver's side, w/ Piazza nodding at my dad. Get inside, my dad got everyone of the Dodgers we had cards for (including Raul Mondesi fresh off his ROY). I got to the Marlins bench (only Marlin fan there), ask Niner for his signature. He obliged and I thanked him. He looks me dead in the eye and says "No, thank you for coming out and supporting us." Got everyone else that was there I had cards for (Sheff, Colby, CJ, Arias, Alejandro Pena, Robby Nenn and others). Shot the breeze w/ Dustin Hermanson and Matt Mantei by the bullpen for about an hour during the game. Saw Hideo Nomo's first US appearance. Most surreal experience ever. Are you going to ESPN The Weekend this year? Cal Ripken's comign again (I've never been able to get him), and Frank Thomas will be making an appearance (would love to get the Big hurt's auto). Should be fun, I'll be there every day like normal. Hope to see you there.

My most memorable game was one I attended in 2009 where Ricky, Meyer and Nunez combined to throw a no-hitter against the Tigers. Others include watching Josh Beckett throwing his first professional pitch against the Royals in 2000 and watching Livan pitch against the Indians in 1996, a little over a year later he beats them in the World Series. Was that Livan game in Winter Haven and his first game right after defecting? If so, I was there too!!!! I was so jazzed bc I got his signature on the ticket stub right before he got on the team bus, I think I was probably one of the first Americans to get it (aside from Marlins officials on his contract) bc he didn't sign before the game. I remember he pitched that game w/ a toothpick. The Ricky/Meyer/Nunez was an awesome game, partly bc I was w/ my dad, part the atmosphere (Lakeland is one of the last remaining enjoyable ST venues) and also the BP bomb Mikey hit out of the stadium into the parking lot. My favorite all-time game though was the first ST game after the strike in 95, Marlins vs Dodgers in Dodgertown. My dad is a lifetime Dodgers fan, but never had been to camp there. We get there and Tommy Lasorda is sitting in his golf cart and waves at us as we drove by. We park right next to the gate (I think I counted a grand total of 100 people at the game), and Mike Piazza and Eric Karros walk right past the driver's side, w/ Piazza nodding at my dad. Get inside, my dad got everyone of the Dodgers we had cards for (including Raul Mondesi fresh off his ROY). I got to the Marlins bench (only Marlin fan there), ask Niner for his signature. He obliged and I thanked him. He looks me dead in the eye and says "No, thank you for coming out and supporting us." Got everyone else that was there I had cards for (Sheff, Colby, CJ, Arias, Alejandro Pena, Robby Nenn and others). Shot the breeze w/ Dustin Hermanson and Matt Mantei by the bullpen for about an hour during the game. Saw Hideo Nomo's first US appearance. Most surreal experience ever. Are you going to ESPN The Weekend this year? Cal Ripken's comign again (I've never been able to get him), and Frank Thomas will be making an appearance (would love to get the Big hurt's auto). Should be fun, I'll be there every day like normal. Hope to see you there.

Personally, I think the saddest All Star moment was when the 2000 game, which had been awarded to the Marlins in the mid 90's, was stolen away and awarded to Atlanta bc of Turner Field.

Personally, I think the saddest All Star moment was when the 2000 game, which had been awarded to the Marlins in the mid 90's, was stolen away and awarded to Atlanta bc of Turner Field.

I read a great comment over on Yahoo about this. Someone mentioned how it didn't make sense to not play at the Trop or even Wide World of Sports at Disney (like the Rays did for a series two years in a row). Someone else pointed out the schedule- the Mariners were scheduled to come home after this series and the Marlins were scheduled to begin their west coast road trip in Oakland after this series. When you look at it that way, it makes sense; both teams are coming to the west coast from the East early, which is never a bad thing. Curious, have any of you season ticket holders heard from your sales rep about a refund, yet? Also, I hate to be "that guy" but can we keep the discussion about the Marlins and the the series move, please? Around half the posts on this thread are about how awesome (or un-awesome) U2 is. Thanks!

The Marlins have set their Minor League coaching staffs, one of which includes a new manager at the Double-A level, the club announced Friday. Andy Barkett, who managed the past four seasons in the Tigers' system, has been named manager of the Jacksonville Suns, taking over for Tim Leiper, who led the Suns to a Southern League championship in 2010 and will remain with the Marlins as a roving infield coordinator. At Triple-A New Orleans, Greg Norton -- who took over for Edwin Rodriguez after Rodriguez became the Marlins' manager upon Fredi Gonzalez's dismissal -- will return for his first full season as the Zephyrs' skipper. He'll be joined by pitching coach Charlie Corbell, and hitting coach Damon Minor. Minus a new manager, the Double-A coaching staff will remain the same, with pitching coach John Duffy and hitting coach Corey Hart. At the Class A Jupiter level, Ron Hassey will be back for his second year as the Hammerheads' manager, along with pitching coach Terry Abbott and hitting coach Frank Moore. At Class A Greensboro, Andy Haines will return for his second season as manager, and his on-field staff will include pitching coach Willie Glen, hitting coach Kevin Randel. Dave Berg will manage short-season Class A Jamestown for the second year, and Jorge Hernandez will return for his third season as manager of the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Marlins. In addition to Leiper, the Marlins' Minor League coordinators will be as follows: John Pierson (field), Wayne Rosenthal (pitching), Jack Howell (hitting), Tarrick Brock (outfield/baserunning), Tim Cossins (catching) and Gene Basham (rehab and training coordinator). I had no idea Dave Berg was the manager at Jamestown, that's awesome! He's still on my top 10 list of favorite, all-time Marlins.