The Orange Bowl is Almost Gone!

Saturday, November 10 2007 will go down as one of the most glorious days in recent sports memory. The shittiest stadium ever constructed will hold it's last major athletic event.

I am talking about the infamous Orange Bowl, or OB, in Miami. It opened for play way back in 1937 and I have to imagine it was a terrible stadium even then. I mean, have you ever been there? It's the worst. So cramped that it's impossible to enjoy a game. So small a powerful high school program, like St. Thomas Aquinas, would feel disrespected to be asked to play there. It played home to the Dolphins until the opening of Joe Robbie Stadium (later re named Pro Player, then Dolphin Stadium) in 1987


It has hosted many memorable events such as:

Jan. 14, 1968 -- Vince Lombardi's final game as coach of the Green Bay Packers. They beat the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II, 33-14

Jan. 1, 1965 -- Joe Namath is stopped shy of the goal line on fourth down, and his Alabama Crimson Tide failed in their quest to deliver Paul "Bear" Bryant's fourth national championship, losing to Texas 21-17.

Jan. 12, 1969 -- Back at the Orange Bowl as a pro, Joe Namath delivers on his guarantee, as the New York Jets pull off a stunning 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

Jan. 1, 1984 -- Miami wins its first national championship, beating Nebraska 31-30 after the Cornhuskers fail on a two-point conversion in the final minute.

Nov. 23, 1984 -- Hail Flutie. Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie finds Gerard Phelan with a desperation pass on the final play of the game, giving the Eagles a stunning 47-45 win over Miami.

Oct. 14, 2006 -- Marring the first-ever meeting between Miami and Florida International, the teams brawl during the third quarter. In all, 31 players from the schools are sanctioned, including 18 from FIU. Miami won 35-0.





Despite all these great memories, the only ones I take away are the fans. That's not a good thing. Anyone who's ever been to a Miami game, and is not a Miami fan, knows that I'm talking about. It's as if you murdered every single one of their mothers. Don't walk by where the students wait to get in the game, if you're tailgating, even while wearing neutral colors. Anything not Orange and Green might as well be Garnet and Gold or Orange and Blue. Everyone is the enemy. You will be spit on, cursed at, have beer bottles thrown at you, some broken, some still containing beer. You will start to re evaluate the price you paid to go to the game. Was this even worth the trip down to Miami at all?


The memory that brings it together for me the most, is FSU at Miami in 2004. I got the tickets for free, so I can't complain about the cost. I went with a couple of my buddies who were students at FSU, and were there, obviously, to support the 'Noles. We had tickets near the Alumni section, so it was all mostly friendly shit talking through out the whole game. Towards the end, when it looked like FSU had the game under wraps, a guy who proclaimed himself to be off duty Miami-Dade PD came up to us and said "Hey guys, I just want to thank you for keeping it civil. I'm a cop and a lot of times people get rowdy, and out of control. You guys got us this year, but you know how it goes. Fuck Florida State," and headed back to his seat. He was obviously drunk out of his skull, but we thought 'hey, finally, a decent drunk Miami fan. We better not hold our breath for another one.'

Then, with 30 seconds left, Sinorice Moss caught a 30 TD from Brock Berlin, and the game was headed for OT.

Then, in OT Chris Rix fumbled on the Seminoles first possession. Frank Gore ran in for a TD and the game was over.

The same cop who thanked us for being civil then decided to show his face again. This time, it wasn't so pretty. A shirt that was being sold at FSU before the game read Muck Fiami, which one of my boys was wearing. It being Florida in September it was at least 400 degrees outside, so the shirt was off and over the shoulder at this point. Well, this guy comes down in typical Cane fan fashion and starts yelling and being retarded. He grabs the shirt off my boy's shoulder, wipes his ass with it (not really, but made the motion) and then threw it. Then, he snatched the hat off the same kid's head, and threw that. This almost turned in to a brawl, because my boy was on some 'I'm no bitch. Fuck him, he owes me money for that shirt and that hat, and I'm takin it out of his ass' type shit.

We quickly reminded him that while we had his back, the odds were impossible, and we should just chalk it up as an L and keep it moving.

That said. Fuck the Orange Bowl. There's no parking, it's in the middle of the one of the most dirty neighborhoods, Little Havana (sorry, but it is fuckin dirty) in all of Miami. The seating is terrible, the stadium was outdated 40 years ago, and I can't wait to watch them blow it up.