PeteU

Why doesn't Norm Braman just take one of his cars, get on the on-ramp for I-95 North, and not stop until he gets back to Philadelphia? He'd be happier then. And so would we.

Orange = Empty orange seats at Dolphin Stadium. Not what I want to be reminded of. I do want to see a return to more teal. Not a teal overload (the all teal hats at the begining of the franchise were a little too much teal), but teal lettering like they had prior to 2003 is good. The black and silver uniforms are pretty boring, if you ask me. Plus having our players wear black in the Florida sun puts us at a disadvantage.

i find it funny that I have barely seen any posts looking to keep Uggla. who frankly has been the most consistent in terms of production, other than Hanley, on the team. I'm one for signing Uggla to a multi-year deal. Worst comes to worst he'll fetch something in a trade should he not be the right fit. I personally think he's more worth investing in than Willingham or Jacobs (although I'm not saying we should rule out long term deals for them, either.)

We might see a subtle increase in attendance, a couple thousand perhaps, but I don't think we'll see sellout crowds, if that's what you are asking. You have the core fanbase, who will always be there for the team, and the casual fans. The casual fans don't come in overnight. I think if the Marlins keep up this record, you will see significantly larger crowds in late August and September. But it will take a while.

Besides the fact that every new ballpark and its mother seems to have dark green as a seat color, green only goes well with red brick. With red brick not being really distinctive architecture in Miami and the likelihood that we will probably see something in white (like the American Airlines Arena), I don't think green will go as well with a new Marlins park.

Speaking as an attorney, I am guessing the hearing today was simply an initial Motion to Dismiss on the pleadings. The bar for getting an action dismissed at this early a stage is incredibly high. Basically all you need to do is plead the basic elements of a case and it will go forward. This does not mean that the case will not get dismissed further down the line. It will just take a little longer to get to that point.

The only problem is that I do not think MLB would allow a ballpark to be named after liquor. Busch Stadium? Coors Field? Miller Park? Okay, none of those are named after hard liquor, but still....

Teal. Not green. Not dark navy blue. Every other ballpark and its mom has green or dark blue seats. The Marlins' color scheme of teal has always been unique. And I know some other people don't like it, but I for one liked the teal scheme at Space Coast Stadium. I'm actually thinking of something similar to what the Jacksonville Jaguars have in their stadium: And, oh yes. Definely anything but orange. Lord knows the Marlins should never be subjected to an empty orange seat ever again.

The Fish Bowl. Makes perfect sense being on the old Orange Bowl site. Or, how about Braman Autos Field? After Norm Braman loses his lawsuit, he is punished by being forced to buy the naming rights to the ballpark.

SoFlaFish-- Enjoyed the pictures. Sorry about the obnoxious Mets fans. I'd say something about Mets/Yankee fans, but I don't want to stereotype, so I'll just keep my mouth shut. I saw the F-16 flyover...while I was standing in line to buy tickets. I kept on waiting for some flyover which would have indicated the end of the national anthem, but even then, they still caught me by surprise. Red, White and Blue? For the Marlins? Yuck! Thankfully it sounds like Loria won't go that route. The plain silver and black is just that, plain. Bring back the teal, Jeff!

I saw this design at another website. Whoever did it did a pretty good job. I like the retention of the dimensions and the Teal Tower. Gives it some continuity from Dolphin Stadium. I'd like to see teal as the primary color of the ballpark (for example, the seats and the fences). It is unique to the Marlins and South Florida and it would be a shame to abandon it. I liked back when the letter on the uniforms was teal as opposed to black. Black looks too much like any other team. My only minor problem with this design is that it doesn't look all that enclosed--it looks like the roof will cover the field but keep the elements opened. And while I really don't care about that personally (and would rather see the new park be open air), the team's whole reason to get a retractable roof ballpark was to have AC on the hot and humid days. I dont' think this design takes this into account. But other than that, good job. I'd like to see a design like this implemented.

I know I sound unoriginal, but I'd like to see the new ballpark retain both the dimensions (with Bermuda Triangle) and fence height with the Teal Tower. Dolphin Stadium has some interesting quirks to it that are unique. For example, I loved how A-Gon's homerun in Game 4 against the Yanks just inched over the left field fence, and had it been 10 feet to the right, it would have been against the wall, but ten feet to the left and it would have been foul. And please, please, please, NO ORANGE. I think Marlins fans have had enough torture with orange seats over the years. Teal is a great color, and pretty unique to the Marlins. No need to change what is already good.

I'll be going. Quick question: How much is Wayne screwing us for parking this year?

The problem is, with the new ballpark having a retractable roof, there's always going to inevitably be an ugly, awkward looking roof stuck off to the side that's going to detract a lot from the park. Such is the price we pay for not having any rainouts. Take Safeco Field, which is probably the most attractive of all the retractable roof stadiums. The areas down the first and third base lines look like a normal open air ballpark, as does the area behind left field. But behind the right field stands, where the roof "collects", you have this huge, looming structure of the retracted roof, which looks like one of those spaceships from Independence Day. As for the downtown skyline, hopefully they will have panels that retract from behind the outfield fence which would give a clear view of the skyline on days where the roof is open. However, during days when the roof is closed, everything will be lost. The bottom line is, unfortunately I don't think we'll have the best looking ballpark in the league due to the roof. You look at the best parks built in the past two decades--Oriole Park at Camden Yards, PNC Park, Giants Park--they're all open-air. The Marlins will have to trade of asthetics for practicality in getting the roof. However, it will still be a baseball-only park and even more imporantly, it will be the Marlins and the reason they stay in South Florida, so I'll be more than happy to see the place open.

This guy doesn't want a Marlins ballpark? Fine, I don't want one of his crappy overpriced cars. So we are even in my book.

Here's a comp block for all you folk. This is just an example of a font block. It's what creative agencies use as a starting point. View it as you will. How about that bottom row? Then we can have "Back to the 70s" night, every night! Seriously though, I don't want to see too many changes to the current uniform, except bring back the teal lettering! It will go great with the teal seats in our new ballpark!

1) Very bad sightlines (look at the weird angles behind home) 2) The OB structure is almost 80 years old 3) It looks like a football stadium in ballpark drag Well, I'm not a professional architect, just a guy with a computer and some editing tools. As for the sightlines, seats can always be angled at certain ways to make them more baseball friendly--they actually did this at Oriole Park at Camden Yards after a couple of seasons when the seats down the third base lines faced the outfield instead of home plate. As for the age of the Orange Bowl, only the lower deck would be saved. The upper and club decks would both be brand new, as would be the "casing" around the park. Plus the sections that would be saved would be gutted and updated to modern standards. The point is moot, anyways. I doubt they'll save any part of the Orange Bowl. Although it would be cool if they did, and a great nod to Miami sports history. The Boston University football stadium contains a part of the Boston Braves Field old grandstand, and several other modern stadiums have incorporated old parts of prior stadiums into the current stadium. Again, I'm no professional by any means.

I posted my proposal for transforming part of the Orange Bowl grandstand into a new ballpark on another thread, but in the likely event they tear down the OB to the ground, here are a couple of my requirements. 1. Teal seats. Teal for any other major league team would be tacky. But for the Marlins, it makes perfect sense, it being a team color (albiet minimized as of late). Plus it reminds people of the color of the Atlantic down here. (Bringing back the teal lettering on the uniforms would be cool, as well. The black and silver looks too generic and boring.) 2. The Bermuda Triangle. I'd like for them to at least keep the Bermuda Triangle in Left Center. Actually, ideally I'd love for them to keep the exact same dimensions as Dolphin Stadium. It would go against the majority of the new ballparks being built as bandboxes these days. 3. The Alex Gonzalez Honorary Left Field Corner. Named after A-Gon's 12th inning shot in Game 4 of the 2003 series, not a monster moon shot, but a searing line drive which hugged the left field line and inched over the 8 foot fence in left. Had it been 10 feet to the left, it would have been foul. Had it been 10 feet to the right, it would have bounced off the Teal Tower for a double. But it found its perfect little spot to win the game and shift the momentum to the Fish.

(I posted this on an another forum related to ballparks, but I figured with the recent news it would be especially relevant to this board. I doubt this will happen--they will probably certainly tear down the OB and start from scratch, but I think it's somewhat interesting to think what if they incorporated some of the design into the new ballpark.) (Ignore the yellow lines, those were added by somebody else later) I utilized a seating diagram of the Orange Bowl and transformed it into a baseball-only stadium. And I decided one of the best ideas is to incorporate part of the Orange Bowl grandstand into the new ballpark itself, instead of just leveling the place and starting from scratch. The purpose of this would be two-fold: First, it would preserve a famous and historic sports venue which holds a lot of sentimentality in Miamians hearts. Second, it would cut down on construction costs in that not all of the ballpark would need to be built from the ground. So what I did was take the lower deck of the South sideline seats, as well as the West endzone, and transformed it into the first and third baselines. The entire current upper deck and north sideline seats would all be demolished. I then added a new second club level deck with luxury boxes, and a third upper deck which stretches down the first and third base lines. I added some field box seats and dugouts, and a new section of lower deck seats in the left field corner and stretching from the left field foul pole to deep left center field. The portion of the grandstand preserved from the Orange Bowl would still need some significant renovations under this plan. It would require new seats (all Marlins teal, by the way), some needing to be angled a little bit to be more baseball than football oriented. New concession areas behind the stands would be needed, as well as new plumbing and probably a few more bathrooms. The player's clubhouses would also likely need to be rehabbed. I decided to keep the original field dimensions from Dolphin Stadium. I like how it plays as a pitcher's park and it doesn't feel like an easy bandbox. The famed Bermuda Triangle in deep left center would be retained. I also decided to keep the 25 foot high Teal Tower in left field, which would again serve as the out of town scoreboard. Additionally, I decided to keep what I call the "Alex Gonzalez Corner" at the left field foul pole. (I call it the "Alex Gonzalez Corner" after former Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who hit a home run in the 12th inning of Game 4 of the 2003 World Series. The homerun was not a high arching shot, but rather a sharp line drive that hugged the third base line and eeked over the fence at the left field corner). The Gonzalez Corner features an eight foot high wall starting from the left field line and going out approximately 30-35 feet until it hits the Teal Tower and goes up to 25 feet. This allows for a couple of sneak home runs to be hit, much like Gonzalez's 2003 shot. I put the bullpens behind the right field wall. I deliberated with putting them along the foul lines like at Dolphin Stadium, but I personally like the idea of having bullpens in the outfield. The orange area surrounding the bullpens is the picnic area, which would have picnic tables and planted palm trees for scenery. The blue circle is a hot-tub area. I know, sort of gimmicky, but the Dolphin Stadium picnic area features a hot tub area, so I might as well keep up with the tradition. The gray area behind the center field fence serves two purposes. First, it is the batter's eye for vision of the pitches. Secondly, it would be a batter's eye restaraunt, much like what is found at Tropicana Field, U.S. Cellular Field, Wrigley Field, and the New Yankee Stadium. You gotta keep the big-wigs happy, I guess. I kept the plans very linear at as much 90 degree angle intersections as possible. I did this for the retractable roof. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the retractable roof, but it's been said to be a necessity for a new Marlins ballpark, so if it has to be there, it has to be there. I don't know if the roof would "collect" behind either the third base line or the first base line grandstands. The only thing I wanted to make sure of was that the area behind the right field fence can be made open when the roof is open--I did this because that area (the current East endzone of the Orange Bowl) features a great view of the skyscrapers of Downtown Miami. My only criticisms of my own proposal are that there seems to be a lot of foul space along the first base line. I considered putting the bullpens there, but in the end I put them behind the right field fence. But a lot of foul space would be consistent with making it a pitcher's park, so it's not that bad an idea. Another problem I came across is that due to the curvature of the old football grandstand, the seats along the first base line are inevitably further away from the action than those along the third base line. I considered ommitting the South sideline seats entirely from the plan, but I wanted to save as much of the old stadium as possible. Anyways, that's my plan. Feel free to offer any criticism or critque you see fit. This is all a work in progress, and I'll be happy to incorporate input anyone might want to offer and revise my plan. Who knows, I might just submit this to Marlins ownership....Anyways, enjoy!