Our Glorious Athletic Director

[Pentagon Cane]

So you don't think that SunLife needs renovations after 27 years? And the downside for the University of Miami is what exactly? Ross uses his funds to make the renovations and that's bad for Dade County and the University of Miami. Good lord.

That stadium needed to go away. Any move that kept that regulating stadium intact for several more decades was a loss for the community. The fact that the Canes somehow ignored more than 20 years of evidence and attached themselves to that glorified neutral site is more than I can take. I started to respond to multiple posts in this thread but the topic in general is so infuriating I try to stay away.

Any simpleton can rationalize a patch. Sure a patch is technically an improvement. I can patch my 20 year old lawnmower with some new parts. No matter how many hundreds of millions we use to patch Sun Life it's still a bland design in an irrelevant location. It's an awful location for a pro franchise because there's no spice or animosity of a great city in that area. The opponent lands at the airport and then tries to restrain laughter while heading toward the middle of nowhere. Half of them think they are headed for the Calder barns to play the game. In our case it's not only pathetic it's more like a parody. Yeah, let's remove all pretense of a college atmosphere and play somewhere where we need to check our gas level before heading away from campus.

Keep in mind that the patchwork, regardless of cost, is hardly ideal. It's not an optimum roof or optimum seating arrangement. It's merely whatever will attach to an old flawed design that was never intended to include patches of that type. And make no mistake, there will be errors. Nothing can be fully anticipated.

I walked up the ramp last Saturday night in absolute hysterics that Stephen Ross insisted it will be the equivalent of a new stadium. That stadium is rotting and aging at the core. You can't mistake it for a new stadium unless you haven't visited anything built after 1995. It reminded me of Steve Jobs, early in his second tour, when he said that Apple OS 9 would be the equivalent of a new computer. Meanwhile, behind the scenes Apple was already dumping 9 in preparation for the truly exponential leap to OS X. Not that I'm comparing Ross to Jobs. The sad aspect is that Ross truly believes what he is saying. He has nothing behind the curtain. Instead of a visionary we have clods at every level.

I'm into my 50s and can't believe we managed to bungle so many decisions that it turned out this way. Shouldn't be possible. When I was a kid the Dolphins were the sharpest team in the league, grabbing Shula and Warfield for a comparative pittance. As weak as the Canes were, we had the Orange Bowl as a lingering trump card in case we ever became special. Somehow it all dissolved into Miami Gardens. And now I suppose we have rely on a contrived desperate patchwork somehow exchanging a neutral site into rousing home advantage, even though there's no historical example, at least none that I'm aware of.

Somebody in this thread claimed the '80s Canes made the Orange Bowl what it was. Talk about ignorance. The '70s Dolphins still hold the NFL record for longest home winning streak at 31. I attended those games as a kid. My dad got season tickets for the family beginning in 1972. Dad always had great instincts and timing. We occupied a venue that held the longest pro and college winning streaks yet brainstormed to rubble it. At least I did my part in writing letters to Dee and Shalala in 2007, detailing all the devastating specifics.

The best way to evaluate a home venue is relationship of home results to road results. By the time we departed for Sun Life it had established itself as a decisively below average home site for more than 20 years. I've detailed the numbers here and elsewhere. The Dolphins forfeited 2.5 points per game on average compared to their Orange Bowl years. That's a net comparison because it focuses on results in road games. The difference from home to road should be 5.5 points on average. In the Orange Bowl it was considerably higher while in Sun Life it's far lower. Looking at it that way you account for differences in eras so nobody can sloppily assert that the Dolphins were a better team overall in their Orange Bowl years than after they moved to Sun Life.

Here is a recent link from late 2013 that evaluates the same measure beginning in 2002, when the NFL's current franchise layout began once the Texans joined the league. You'll note Seattle and Baltimore at top -- the two most recent Super Bowl champs -- while Sun Life comfortably near the bottom: http://grantland.com/features/bill-barnwell-best-home-field-advantages/

Wrigley Field makes the Chicago Cubs a blast to watch...the field and the team are inextricably linked to themselves and the community....even though they are perennial losers. If they ever destroyed Wrigley Field the Cubs would simply be losers.....losers not worth going out of your way to see or bother with.

The Orange Bowl made Cane football fun to watch - including through all those supposedly miserable years in the 70's when we cursed and booed the endless conveyer belt of lousy HC's. It was always fun.

The Miami Hurricanes without the OB are now the Cubs without Wrigley.

Not having a home field is a huge, gigantic, massive hole in the ship.....I'm simply shocked how more don't get it and that every stone isn't being overturned to find a solution.

It has nothing to do with getting it, and I don't disagree with you. For those of us who grew up in the OB, and for me in the mid-60s, it is sorely missed. The so called stone you want turned over is dollars. I've neither hear nor read anybody offer a viable economic plan on how to raise the funds to build a dedicated University of Miami stadium.

Hey, I'm all for a viable long term option. I see nobody leading it within the community.

 

[Miami82]

LOL. You guys are missing the point as usual. Unless someone else will magicaly build us a stadium (the city, the county, Beckham - and before you go there, they aren't interested in building 40k+) which we know isn't happening, there is no money, nor will there ever be money for it, just like there was no money to renovate the crumbling OB. Our fans (US) do not financially support the program, our ticket sales, even when we are producing the best CFB team of all time, are not enough, we do not get state funds, period.

There is a $200M elephant in the room you guys are callously ignoring, to no one's surprise. UM Football received its first $5M+ gift EVER last year from the Schwartz family, and Donna had to go WAY outside the family, outside the UM community to raise that (a miracle). Yet you guys want us to have our own stadium? $200M?

Laff.

But keep ranting, maybe you will successfully scare off a recruit or two.

There is nothing on earth I could do that would cause more damage than what the administration has already self inflicted on us. Unlike you...I care about the program, not the administration. **** u and go root for another team. You're a disgrace

 

[canefanforlife1]

I loved it when he said that tennis is just as important as football.

Did he really say that?

LMAO

I have seats right where they presented it at the fb game, heard him say that. Couldnt believe it.

 

[Cane Dynasty]

So you don't think that SunLife needs renovations after 27 years? And the downside for the University of Miami is what exactly? Ross uses his funds to make the renovations and that's bad for Dade County and the University of Miami. Good lord.

That stadium needed to go away. Any move that kept that regulating stadium intact for several more decades was a loss for the community. The fact that the Canes somehow ignored more than 20 years of evidence and attached themselves to that glorified neutral site is more than I can take. I started to respond to multiple posts in this thread but the topic in general is so infuriating I try to stay away.

Any simpleton can rationalize a patch. Sure a patch is technically an improvement. I can patch my 20 year old lawnmower with some new parts. No matter how many hundreds of millions we use to patch Sun Life it's still a bland design in an irrelevant location. It's an awful location for a pro franchise because there's no spice or animosity of a great city in that area. The opponent lands at the airport and then tries to restrain laughter while heading toward the middle of nowhere. Half of them think they are headed for the Calder barns to play the game. In our case it's not only pathetic it's more like a parody. Yeah, let's remove all pretense of a college atmosphere and play somewhere where we need to check our gas level before heading away from campus.

Keep in mind that the patchwork, regardless of cost, is hardly ideal. It's not an optimum roof or optimum seating arrangement. It's merely whatever will attach to an old flawed design that was never intended to include patches of that type. And make no mistake, there will be errors. Nothing can be fully anticipated.

I walked up the ramp last Saturday night in absolute hysterics that Stephen Ross insisted it will be the equivalent of a new stadium. That stadium is rotting and aging at the core. You can't mistake it for a new stadium unless you haven't visited anything built after 1995. It reminded me of Steve Jobs, early in his second tour, when he said that Apple OS 9 would be the equivalent of a new computer. Meanwhile, behind the scenes Apple was already dumping 9 in preparation for the truly exponential leap to OS X. Not that I'm comparing Ross to Jobs. The sad aspect is that Ross truly believes what he is saying. He has nothing behind the curtain. Instead of a visionary we have clods at every level.

I'm into my 50s and can't believe we managed to bungle so many decisions that it turned out this way. Shouldn't be possible. When I was a kid the Dolphins were the sharpest team in the league, grabbing Shula and Warfield for a comparative pittance. As weak as the Canes were, we had the Orange Bowl as a lingering trump card in case we ever became special. Somehow it all dissolved into Miami Gardens. And now I suppose we have rely on a contrived desperate patchwork somehow exchanging a neutral site into rousing home advantage, even though there's no historical example, at least none that I'm aware of.

Somebody in this thread claimed the '80s Canes made the Orange Bowl what it was. Talk about ignorance. The '70s Dolphins still hold the NFL record for longest home winning streak at 31. I attended those games as a kid. My dad got season tickets for the family beginning in 1972. Dad always had great instincts and timing. We occupied a venue that held the longest pro and college winning streaks yet brainstormed to rubble it. At least I did my part in writing letters to Dee and Shalala in 2007, detailing all the devastating specifics.

The best way to evaluate a home venue is relationship of home results to road results. By the time we departed for Sun Life it had established itself as a decisively below average home site for more than 20 years. I've detailed the numbers here and elsewhere. The Dolphins forfeited 2.5 points per game on average compared to their Orange Bowl years. That's a net comparison because it focuses on results in road games. The difference from home to road should be 5.5 points on average. In the Orange Bowl it was considerably higher while in Sun Life it's far lower. Looking at it that way you account for differences in eras so nobody can sloppily assert that the Dolphins were a better team overall in their Orange Bowl years than after they moved to Sun Life.

Here is a recent link from late 2013 that evaluates the same measure beginning in 2002, when the NFL's current franchise layout began once the Texans joined the league. You'll note Seattle and Baltimore at top -- the two most recent Super Bowl champs -- while Sun Life comfortably near the bottom: http://grantland.com/features/bill-barnwell-best-home-field-advantages/

You should have flown a banner instead of sending those letters.

 

[Jedi Master Cane]

LOL. You guys are missing the point as usual. Unless someone else will magicaly build us a stadium (the city, the county, Beckham - and before you go there, they aren't interested in building 40k+) which we know isn't happening, there is no money, nor will there ever be money for it, just like there was no money to renovate the crumbling OB. Our fans (US) do not financially support the program, our ticket sales, even when we are producing the best CFB team of all time, are not enough, we do not get state funds, period.

There is a $200M elephant in the room you guys are callously ignoring, to no one's surprise. UM Football received its first $5M+ gift EVER last year from the Schwartz family, and Donna had to go WAY outside the family, outside the UM community to raise that (a miracle). Yet you guys want us to have our own stadium? $200M?

Laff.

But keep ranting, maybe you will successfully scare off a recruit or two.

There is nothing on earth I could do that would cause more damage than what the administration has already self inflicted on us. Unlike you...I care about the program, not the administration. **** u and go root for another team. You're a disgrace

He's the worst poster on this board....and whoever is second is trailing by a decent margin. Guy did nothing but defend Shannon and Coker back in the day (which he now conveniently denies even though many of us have been around long enough to know better).

I double up on the go **** yourself bomb. You'd make a great admin (read - secretary) for Don Bailey.

 

[tokengator]

**** gov, you're better than that brother.

 

[GhostofVenice01]

You guys are right, I take back what I said.


I just got caught up in the moment and took it to far, especially not even realizing it was 9/11



Im a man, I admit I ****ed up.

 

[tokengator]

It's still in quoted posts

 

[GhostofVenice01]

It's still in quoted posts

Mods deleted it, but not the QP, go figure.

 

[JackOAT]

Its been stated that we would need 100 acres and that parking garages would eliminate tailgating.

I am a GT alum. We have a stadium (not a very nice one but it works) and indoor practice facility in the middle of jam packed midtown Atlanta. I don't have exact figures but I doubt the land the stadium sits on is anywhere near 100 acres. For games, I parked in the garages and a lot people tailgated there, as well as the limited open space that is available in that area. It works. Every Saturday, it works.

I have a hard time believing that it can be done at GT, but not at Miami

 

[dookie blaylock]

Its been stated that we would need 100 acres and that parking garages would eliminate tailgating.

I am a GT alum. We have a stadium (not a very nice one but it works) and indoor practice facility in the middle of jam packed midtown Atlanta. I don't have exact figures but I doubt the land the stadium sits on is anywhere near 100 acres. For games, I parked in the garages and a lot people tailgated there, as well as the limited open space that is available in that area. It works. Every Saturday, it works.

I have a hard time believing that it can be done at GT, but not at Miami

that's a pretty disingenuous statement considering that the stadium is on campus and game day parking isn't limited to the parking garage. by design, georgia tech eliminated a significant amount of parking issues since on-campus students don't need to go anywhere and tailgates aren't limited to the space around the stadium. bobby dodd has an 11-12 acre footprint, depending on who you ask, and i already covered that stadium structure footprints are generally between 12 and 25 acres (i went with 17 in our scenario). could we build a combination of parking garages and ground parking? yes. however, our situation isn't the same as gt because our stadium would be isolated from the university, and we don't have the luxury of having the space to disperse across campus to park and tailgate.

 

[String911]

You guys are right, I take back what I said.


I just got caught up in the moment and took it to far, especially not even realizing it was 9/11



Im a man, I admit I ****ed up.

Dude. Don't half-*** an apology. Of course you knew it was 9/11. It's specifically what your comment was based on.

 

[Miami82]

Its been stated that we would need 100 acres and that parking garages would eliminate tailgating.

I am a GT alum. We have a stadium (not a very nice one but it works) and indoor practice facility in the middle of jam packed midtown Atlanta. I don't have exact figures but I doubt the land the stadium sits on is anywhere near 100 acres. For games, I parked in the garages and a lot people tailgated there, as well as the limited open space that is available in that area. It works. Every Saturday, it works.

I have a hard time believing that it can be done at GT, but not at Miami

that's a pretty disingenuous statement considering that the stadium is on campus and game day parking isn't limited to the parking garage. by design, georgia tech eliminated a significant amount of parking issues since on-campus students don't need to go anywhere and tailgates aren't limited to the space around the stadium. bobby dodd has an 11-12 acre footprint, depending on who you ask, and i already covered that stadium structure footprints are generally between 12 and 25 acres (i went with 17 in our scenario). could we build a combination of parking garages and ground parking? yes. however, our situation isn't the same as gt because our stadium would be isolated from the university, and we don't have the luxury of having the space to disperse across campus to park and tailgate.

I believe his point was although not ideal, they make it work and we could as well. IMO anything similar to GT's setup would be a far better situation than what we have now.

 

[dookie blaylock]

Its been stated that we would need 100 acres and that parking garages would eliminate tailgating.

I am a GT alum. We have a stadium (not a very nice one but it works) and indoor practice facility in the middle of jam packed midtown Atlanta. I don't have exact figures but I doubt the land the stadium sits on is anywhere near 100 acres. For games, I parked in the garages and a lot people tailgated there, as well as the limited open space that is available in that area. It works. Every Saturday, it works.

I have a hard time believing that it can be done at GT, but not at Miami

that's a pretty disingenuous statement considering that the stadium is on campus and game day parking isn't limited to the parking garage. by design, georgia tech eliminated a significant amount of parking issues since on-campus students don't need to go anywhere and tailgates aren't limited to the space around the stadium. bobby dodd has an 11-12 acre footprint, depending on who you ask, and i already covered that stadium structure footprints are generally between 12 and 25 acres (i went with 17 in our scenario). could we build a combination of parking garages and ground parking? yes. however, our situation isn't the same as gt because our stadium would be isolated from the university, and we don't have the luxury of having the space to disperse across campus to park and tailgate.

I believe his point was although not ideal, they make it work and we could as well. IMO anything similar to GT's setup would be a far better situation than what we have now.

bobby dodd stadium is the oldest stadium in division 1. they didn't have to "make it work" because there was nothing to "make work." it was literally a field on the edge of georgia tech's campus that they turned into a stadium over 100 years ago. they have 380+ other acres of campus attached to the stadium grounds to park, tailgate, or whatnot, so our situations are apples and oranges. i'd love something like theirs, but it's not like they built it in downtown atlanta as it is today.