fauowls44

So a guy doesn't hit well for a few games and it's not just being in a slump but he's not trying hard enough??? Sounds reasonable...

i hate the stupid dolphins. :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown You do know that this is a good thing, right? A 2nd and 6th is good value for a 34 year old DE. Randy Moss only brought back a 4th rounder. That being said, it's still a sad day for the Fins. What a waste of a great career. Thanks for the memories JT! Good luck in DC.

Got nothing bad to say about FAU's team... they did well against USF last year and are a growing program. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. I wouldn't put Smith at better than Grothe or Tebow though haha. I'll give you Tebow, but I don't think Rusty takes a backseat to any other QB in the state. Smith and Grothe are two completely different type of QB's. Grothe is a good QB in his offense, but as far as pro potential, Rusty is the better prospect. Anyway, I can't wait until 2009 to go up to Tampa for the USF rematch. Last year was a blast.

Who cares about anything other than Tebow. The only reason anyone beats tha Gators is because the NCAA didn't think it was fair if he played defense too. I think most people on this board care about everything but Tebow. wrong again! Tebow is a super hero! Superman may wear Tebow PJ's, but Tebow wears Grothe PJ's Grothe > Tebow Rusty Smith > Grothe Can't wait for college football. FAU is loaded again on offense this season and the defense is healthy again and should be much improved. Go Owls!!

even while in contention the A's are still rebuilding I wish we did this We already do. Do you not remember the Cabrera/Willis trade? We made that move and are still contending.

Dang it! It was only for a 2nd round pick, why wasnt Riley all over this!?!? Camby woulda rounded out our lineup. Is the salary cap really that hard to understand? The Heat didn't have room under the salary cap for this type of move. They would have had to trade a player or players whose salary equaled Camby's to make a trade. The Clippers were $14 mil under the cap after Brand left, so they could absorb Camby's salary without having to give anything up in return. The Nuggets made the trade to cut payroll and try to get under the luxary tax limit. we could have signed and trade Ricky Davis and some body else. Chalmers Wade Marion Beasley Camby wow... That would mean someone (a.)wants Ricky Davis and (b.) is willing to pay him more than the mid-level exception...and nobody is that crazy. He's an unrestricted free agent. Any team that wants him can just sign him to the mid-level($5.8 million I believe) or part of it without having to give up something to get him.

Dang it! It was only for a 2nd round pick, why wasnt Riley all over this!?!? Camby woulda rounded out our lineup. Is the salary cap really that hard to understand? The Heat didn't have room under the salary cap for this type of move. They would have had to trade a player or players whose salary equaled Camby's to make a trade. The Clippers were $14 mil under the cap after Brand left, so they could absorb Camby's salary without having to give anything up in return. The Nuggets made the trade to cut payroll and try to get under the luxary tax limit.

Camby has been traded to the LA Clippers. Saves face a little for the team and a Camby-Davis duo isn't that bad. Add a few more key players they should be pretty good. If the Clips somehow also get Josh Smith I think the Clips will be a force in the West. Again the key word is somehow, because it would be in the Hawks best interest to keep Smith. Davis/Camby/Smith >>> Davis/Brand/Magette Smith has been vocal about leaving I wonder if this helps his chances or the Hawks play a Lakers deal and just not move the kid. The Clips don't have the cap room to get Smith after the Camby trade.

None of this matters.....do you remember anything about last year's All-Star Game? I don't. I'm sure we'll remember this one because of Uggla being a Marlin, but no one else will after real games are played.

Update from the live blog: 3:10 PM: Coming up after the break, a sports economist that someone close to the Braman team told me could be their key witness during the trial. And Tom Scott, City attorney is making a proposal now....prob trying to get out. A sports economist is their key witness??? Why are they wasting time and money on this case? For every sports economist that says stadiums aren't economic stimulants you can find 2 that say that they are. All you have to do is look at how stadiums have impacted downtown Baltimore and Denver. You cannot tell me that those places have not benefitted greatly from new ballparks.

source miamherald The county said it acted properly. County Finance Director Rachel Baum testified how the county's complex financial structure came together. Yet the presiding judge, Jeri Beth Cohen, asked: ``If I follow your logic, you would never have to have a referendum.'' Braman is suing Miami-Dade, Miami and the Florida Marlins for what he contends is the misuse of public funds. This concerns me So what? Using Braman's logic everything would have to have a referendum. Anyway, I wouldn't get too overly concerned from one quote from the judge taken out of context and put in an article. They don't even tell you how Baum responded to that assertion.

Started at 9 am. The updates link from yesterday is the same one for today! From the live blog: 9:40 AM: We are up and running in the second inning of Braman vs. Miami-Dade County. Just to recap where we are, both sides classified Monday?s proceedings as very effective, even though the County/City/Marlins seemed to gain the upper-hand, thanks to most of Norman Braman?s witness testimony tossed out by Judge Cohen. Going forward, the plantiff?s side will need to prove that the 3-billion megaplan was consummated with an illegal switching of funds, and they need to do that without even touching on the Marlins fragile economic situation, since none of that will be admissible. I?ve been told that Braman?s team will focus on trying to prove that a new stadium doesn?t necessarily mean a better economic situation for the community. Can someone with a legal background please explain to me why they are even hearing this case if this is what the Braman team is focusing on? That isn't a legal arguement.

As much as I like the Marlins, I have to ask: Is it justified for the county to pay $315+ million for a stadium, when there is a $284 million dollar deficit in the school system? It is not a matter of justification. If you were going to put up the value of our children, our elderly, our health care system, our police protection etc-then what would be more important than these things. Would a museum be more important than our kids? How about money spent to maintain roads- define necessary maintenance? How about maintaining all those median strips with plants and flowers-tell me the thousands of upon thousands spent to keep carnations growing is more important than our childrens education. I ranted, but the answer is that none of the money-regardless of the stadium-can be used for the schools. The balance of life in a community, and especially in a major city has many needs and other things that make it part of a growing and modern city. Many of those things are asthetic, but without attractions, clean and beautified streets, buildings and yes, arena's and stadiums and professional sports teams, then sooner or later people have other places to go and the people who live here would start complaining about how this is a dump of a city. They would compare other cities and point out how great it was to visit and see the sights of other cities. How they went to a ball game, saw a show etc etc and how they wish our city could have those things. No, the exploitation of our children, the politicising of these issues is part of the way opponents use these things to seem like they care about them and to drum up support-regardless how misleading and deceptive it is. Braman knows damn well that your kids and mine would not see a dime more if the stadium is not built. Well put. This is why I hate this arguement against spending money on things like stadiums, museums, and other projects...of course schools, police, etc. are all more important. BUT this is not an either or situation. Great cities need world class facilities and amenities. If you have a world class city, you increase tourism, attract new residents, property values rise, and the citizens benefit.

Well I guess this doesn't bode well for a settlement.... http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/602791.html About 70 protest city-county megaplan Posted on Sat, Jul. 12, 2008reprint print email Yahoo! BuzzFacebook Digg del.icio.us AIM By EVAN S. BENN ebenn@MiamiHerald.com Standing between two old voting booths on the west side of Watson Island, car magnate Norman Braman said Saturday only a vote on the megaplan between the city of Miami, Miami-Dade County and the Florida Marlins would make him settle his lawsuit against it. ''There will be no settlement without giving people the right to vote,'' Braman said to a crowd of about 70 supporters. ``If they will allow people to vote on this, I will drop my litigation first thing.'' Braman sued to stop the progress of a $3 billion so-called megaplan, which county commissioners approved last year to build a new Marlins stadium in Little Havana and a port tunnel, among a slew of other projects. The case is scheduled to go to trial Monday, after a Miami-Dade circuit court judge last week ordered attorneys for Braman, the governments and the Marlins to try to mediate the case outside of the courtroom. Braman, 75, stood in front of homemade signs that read ''Go Braman Go!'' ''Megaplan or Megascam?'' and ''Let the People Vote!'' He was the last of several speakers, including Miami City Commissioner Tom?s Regalado, Morningside activist Elvis Cruz and county commission candidate Val Screen. People in the crowd kept asking for Braman to talk louder -- his words soft-spoken even through a bullhorn. He closed with a mention of support for Screen, who is running against incumbent Audrey Edmonson, partly on an anti-megaplan platform. ''It's our fault because we voted these people into office,'' Braman said. Regalado, who is looking to be elected Miami mayor in 2009, praised Braman for fighting for ``the people's agenda.'' ''Thank God for Norman Braman,'' Regalado said. ``We're ready to fight. And we will win.'' Cruz and others organized Saturday's event outside the Miami Children's Museum on Watson Island because, under the megaplan terms, Waton Island and Bicentennial Park right across Biscayne Bay would be considered ''slum and blight'' areas. That designation would allow officials to include the areas in an expanded city Community Redevelopment Agency. But Cruz and others said CRA money should be spent on needy areas, not Watson Island and Bicentennial Park. ''You are standing on land that is slum and blight,'' Cruz said with more than a hint of sarcasm. ``Gosh, why is waterfront land considered slum and blight?'' I don't know much about the law, but when the judge in the case orders mediation to continue until Monday, shouldn't you actually do that and not hold a public rally? ''There will be no settlement without giving people the right to vote'' certainly doesn't sound like someone making a good faith effort to negotiate a settlement. I was holding out hope that they'd settle and this crochety old man would go away, but that doesn't appear likely. So I guess we'll be back where we started Monday morning with the trial getting underway. In retrospect, they probably should have just started hearing the case last week so it'd be that much closer to finishing. As for this "rally", I always find it funny when people hold a rally and very few people show up. About 70 people, most of whom are there only because they have some sort of political agenda or are planning on running for office...you are really speaking for the people there Norman.

If we get Milledge instead of Jake and Petit, we would not have had the awesome experience known as the Jorge Julio Era.

The Marlins and the City and County should not settle anything with this idiot. Beat him in court so he will shut the heck up for good! Agreed. I think the only reason this idiot is going to court is to recieve a settlement. It is unlikely that this old fragile man would win in Floridas Supreme court. The county should keep bringing him to court so that he can keep paying court and lawyer fees. You do realize that the Marlins, city, and county also pay lawyer and court fees. Can the Marlins win the case? Absolutely, but the best case scenerio is a settlement. It puts this to rest quickly, and that is the most important thing right now.

He's back in the lineup tonight! http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_baseb...la-returns.html

The Marlins and the City and County should not settle anything with this idiot. Beat him in court so he will shut the heck up for good! Regardless if they could win or not, settlement is always preferable to a court case. Hopefully something can be worked out.

Nice...Tommy Murphy, FAU Alum. He's been hitting well since joining the Topes. Hopefully he can make it back to the Bigs at some point with the Fish.

Here is the latest AP article. Perhaps i'm reading too much into the quotes, but it seems as though Braman has softened his stance and seems to be looking for a settlement so he can save face. http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories...D91R63701.shtml Thursday, July 10, 2008 Story last updated at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, 2008 Trial delayed for talks in Marlins stadium lawsuit By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer MIAMI - A judge ordered surprise settlement talks Thursday in a lawsuit challenging a $3 billion public works financing plan that includes money for a new Florida Marlins ballpark. Before a packed courtroom expecting opening statements, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Cohen said city, county and Marlins officials should try to work something out in mediation with auto dealer and opponent Norman Braman. She asked for a progress report Monday morning. "I was as surprised as all of you here," Braman told reporters after Cohen's announcement. "I have no problem with that. I think she's giving positive advice,and we'll follow it." George Burgess, the Miami-Dade County manager and a key architect of the so-called Miami "mega-plan," declined to get into details of the talks but said the goal is to avoid an expensive court fight. Attorneys involved in the talks also refused to discuss them. "Any time you can settle something without going through a long, protracted trial, that's a good thing," Burgess said. The cost-concious Marlins have tried in vain for years to win approval of a new stadium without paying for it entirely themselves. The team is currently in second place in the National League East despite having the lowest payroll in baseball, playing homes games before sparse crowds at Dolphin Stadium. Under the plan, the Marlins would begin play in 2011 in a 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium on the site of the just-demolished Orange Bowl in Little Havana. Total cost is $515 million, plus a $94 million adjacent parking garage. Braman, a wealthy philanthropist, art collector, auto magnate and former Philadelphia Eagles owner, claims in his lawsuit that the financing plan illegally takes money intended to cure urban blight and help the poor. In addition to the Marlins ballpark, the proposal would build a new truck tunnel to the Port of Miami, build a new museum park, begin a downtown trolley line and pay down debt for a just-opened performing arts center. All well and good, Braman says, but use of this type of redevelopment money should first be approved by voters in a referendum. City and county officials say use of the money is legitimate because each project will contribute to Miami's revitalization and create new jobs. Braman would not say Thursday if he still insists on a referendum to drop the lawsuit. "If we can resolve this in the best interests of the city, I can live with it," he said.

So this was supposed to start at 1pm right? Does anyone know what's going on? A suprise: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/600482.html Judge halts megaplan trial, orders settlement talks Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2008reprint print email Facebook Digg del.icio.us AIM BY CHARLES RABIN crabin@MiamiHerald.com The judge presiding over a lawsuit aiming to derail a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins opened the trial Thursday with a surprise: Ordering the parties to try to work out their dispute in mediation, and saying court won't resume until Monday. ''At this time I am ordering all the parties back in mediation,'' Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen told a packed courtroom at just before 1:30 Thursday. Her order may indicate that the parties -- which had scrambled Tuesday and Wednesday to broker an agreement -- may in reality be close to reaching such an accord. Auto dealer Norman Braman's lawsuit attempts to undo a new ballpark for the Marlins and a massive public works project in Miami. Representatives of Miami, Miami-Dade and Braman's legal team worked late into the night Tuesday and Wednesday with arbiter Bruce Greer to try and stave off what would likely be a spirited court battle. Those familiar with the proceedings said the last minute negotiations centered around an offer to build a community center next to the stadium and more public use of what will be a county-owned ballpark. But no closure was reached -- at least not yet. Braman is suing over what he perceives as the misuse of public funds in the building of a $515 million ballpark in Little Havana -- along with a host of projects that include a port tunnel, a park, a streetcar system and a $484 million construction debt payoff at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts that uses Community Redevelopment Agency money. City and county leaders back the plan as a needed investment in the urban core, and they have won several preliminary court battles with the wealthy businessman. Yet those same leaders are concerned Braman could drag the court proceedings on, perhaps to the point that one of the plan's architects, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, will no longer be in office after his term runs out in 2009. Braman has threatened to take the case to the state's Supreme Court if he fails at the lower levels. This could be very good news. Avioding a drawn out trial would be ideal. The fact they are negotiating indicates to me, that Braman knows he has no case and this will give him a way to save face. Any lawyers on here have a take on this?

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald has a really good editorial on the Braman lawsuit: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_n...ory/599483.html Braman lawsuit threatens more than Marlins stadium Posted on Wed, Jul. 09, 2008 BY GREG COTE gcote@MiamiHerald.com We are an overly litigious society whose nuisance suits and frivolous suits keep lawyers in expensive suits. Sometimes the plaintiff is a person who scalds himself with hot coffee but decides suing McDonald's for millions is nobler than cursing his own carelessness. And sometimes the plaintiff is a 75-year-old Miami multimillionaire who got rich selling cars but now wants to slam the brakes on progress. Norman Braman does a lot of good around here. Let's admit that first. He is a philanthropist whose generosity has touched education and breast-cancer research. He was instrumental in realizing a Holocaust Museum in Miami Beach. It doesn't mean he always is right, though. And it doesn't look like he is right in Braman v. Miami-Dade County, his lawsuit that goes to trial Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Braman's effort, if successful, would derail the county's $3 billion redevelopment ''megaplan'' for Miami -- the area's long-needed and most ambitious public-works initiative in decades, one that includes a new Marlins baseball stadium. Here is local government, for all of its history of scandal and inefficiency, trying at last to think big and be big, and finally haul Miami into the 21st Century in terms of urban revitalization and renewal. And here are the Marlins, after 11 years of trying, through three ownership groups and several evolutions of county and city commissions, finally on the cusp of breaking ground on a ballpark all its own. Only to have the whole grand package jeopardized by one guy's nuisance suit. This continues Braman's dubious track record of suing over how local government spends money. In 1982, he led a campaign to defeat a city sales tax that would have renovated the Orange Bowl for the Dolphins. It was what led Joe Robbie to soon after announce he would build a stadium and move the team north. It was a harbinger of years of OB neglect that would lead to the Hurricanes also moving out and the old stadium being demolished. With that, Braman had drawn his line against public dollars for stadiums. Yet barely a decade later, in 1993, he owned the Philadelphia Eagles and offered to build a stadium only if the city would donate the land. Evidently, Braman had by then developed a moral distinction between getting public money and getting public land. In 1999, Braman helped defeat a one-cent sales tax earmarked for a $1 billion mass transit plan for Miami. Hmm. Imagine that. A car dealer fighting mass transit! No vested interest there, right? Now Braman is aiming his slingshot at big government again, but unlike the Biblical David, the little guy is no hero. He is just a rich little guy with a slingshot and a team of lawyers, slinging a lawsuit because, well -- because he can. (And perhaps because part of the Miami megaplan includes streetcars. Imagine! The car dealer is against mass transit again! What a coincidence!) This trial's judge will rule against Braman (it says here) because so much of the suit's premise is on shaky legal footing. For example, he claims the megaplan should have been subject to a public vote, and yet the courts already have ruled the county/city vote was legal and not requiring a public referendum. He also claims it is unconstitutional to pledge public credit to a private enterprise (such as a baseball team), and yet the Florida Supreme Court ruled otherwise in the 1990s, allowing $318 million in public money to build a stadium for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and explaining the expenditure would be ``substantially beneficial to the public.'' ''Beneficial to the public'' is fundamental here. This is about our civic responsibility to see the larger picture and put the public good over individual wants. A Marlins fan should support a new, 37,000-seat retractable dome stadium (even if not thrilled about the OB site in Little Havana), but even nonfans should appreciate the benefit of how a thriving big-league sports team can knit a community. Similarly, you do not need to be a connoisseur of opera or ballet to see that a performing arts center improves our overall quality of life, just as you do not need to be a parent to support better schools. This $3 billion initiative, now on trial, would rejuvenate Overtown and transform Bicentennial Park into a waterfront jewel, among many other projects. As for the new Marlins ballpark, the club would pay roughly $155 million of the $515 million cost, and the rest would come from tourists' hotel bed-tax dollars. That is a pretty painless deal for us locals, wallet-wise. So let's get out of the courtroom and into the future, shall we? Let's swat this silly trial that sits on our ambition like a mosquito. Let's get to building a better Miami.

James Jones is officially a member of the HEAT. Good signing. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketb...0,3539304.story ORLANDO - Former University of Miami 3-point specialist James Jones has agreed to become a member of the Miami Heat. Jones, a Miami native who attended American High, is signing a contract that, a source said, would guarantee at least two seasons with the Heat at a starting salary of about $4 million. The contract also has three additional years, but allows the Heat maneuverability for the 2010 free-agency period, when its own Dwyane Wade, as well as LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant and Amare Stoudemire could hit the open market. Jones, who has been working out in recent weeks in Weston, arrived at AmericanAirlines Arena to sign the contract. Jones played last season for the Portland Trail Blazers, after previous stints with the Indiana Pacers and the Phoenix Suns in his five-year career. The 6-foot-8 forward closed this past season ranked third in the league in 3-point percentage at .444. The only Heat player in the Top 25 was forward Ricky Davis, who finished 25th in the league at .405. The Heat has been searching for a 3-point specialist after losing Jason Kapono, James Posey and Damon Jones in free agency in recent years. With the offer to Jones almost certainly means the Heat would now have to turn to the trade market to fill its voids at center and point guard. With Portland loaded in its perimeter rotation, Jones last month opted out of the $3.2 million on the final year of his Blazers contract to become a free agent July 1. His Heat contract will guarantee more than $8 million over the next two seasons, and considerably more over the following three. The addition of Jones seemingly would signal the end of the second Heat stint for Davis and also potentially require some thinning out of a rotation at shooting guard, small forward and power forward that otherwise would feature Jones, Michael Beasley, Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem, Dwyane Wade, Daequan Cook and Dorell Wright.

Read the Denver post article, rotoworld summerized it poorly. It says that the Marlins interest in getting a catcher has increased with Treanor's injury, but the talks about Torreabla have cooled because the Rockies don't want to pick up any of his salary.

Interesting stuff. The 76ers just got a lot better. In other news, the Warriors signed Maggette. Good move for them. Definately takes some of the sting out of losing Davis. Personally, I think thngs worked out pretty good for Golden State. Davis is great, but he's going to be 30 years old with a history of injuries. If Ellis re-signs and can play the point on a consistent basis, they'll be fine.