Miami Sports Hit the Lotto: Come One, Come All, You Bandwagon Fans

The city of Miami is a great party city but it is not the greatest sports town.

For years the Florida Marlins have struggled to put people in the seats. Last year the Miami Heat ranked 15th out of 30 NBA teams in attendance, even with six-time All-Star Dwyane Wade leading the way to a 47-35 season and a fifth seed amongst Eastern Conference teams. Ahead of Miami in attendance were teams that didn’t make the playoffs such as the 27-55 Detroit Pistons and 26-56 Golden State Warriors.

To make it even worse, the Heat averaged 18,040 people a game at away games and only 17,730 at home games.

 

So what will it take for Miamians to come out to the ballparks, stadiums and arenas? Perhaps the next decade will go along way in determining just that, as the city that loves to party it looks like it could possibly have more celebrating ahead.

 

We will start with the obvious.

 

The Miami Heat, under President Pat Riley, just made possibly the biggest free agent acquisitions  in NBA history with the news of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade all set to play in Miami.

 

Surround those three with the likes of one of the best sharp shooters in the league, Mike Miller, and other key pieces such as Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mario Chalmers and Udonis Haslem and to many the Miami Heat are instant title favorites for the next four to five years.

 

Third year Head Coach Erik Spoelstra has posted a 90-74 record in his two previous seasons with Dwayne Wade and, well, a bunch of other guys. Lebron James alone has posted a 127-37 record the last two years with the Cleveland Cavaliers and if he wants to win “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven …” it means he will be in Miami for a long, long time.

 

The city’s beloved Miami Dolphins are a much improved team.

 

Chad Henne is set to take the reins as the starting QB and in his third year in the league he is drawing much attention such as Tedy Bruschi nominating Henne as having the biggest breakthrough year in 2010. Henne has big play ability and with the trade of Brandon Marshall from the Denver Broncos he has the weapons available to be the most successful quarterback since the Dan Marino era ended in 1999.

 

The defense also seems to have improved on paper, at least, drafting two cornerbacks in the first two rounds of the 2009 NFL Draft and drafting defense on seven out of eight picks in the 2010 NFL Draft (it’s also worth mentioning the signing of LB Karlos Dansby). Bill Parcells’ track record would indicate that he will soon be on his way to leaving the franchise in the hands of Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano. With the tutelage of the "Big Tuna", and owner Stephen Ross and his spend-happy ways, the Miami Dolphins seem poised to take a run at a Super Bowl title sooner rather than later.

 

The Florida Marlins have gone to the postseason two times since their inception into the league in 1993 and both times won the World Series. So all they have to do is get to the playoffs right?

 

An often unmentioned oddity is that the Marlins have two World Series trophies but no division titles. That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this franchise. Team owner Jeffrey Loria has repeatedly claimed that he expects the 2010 Florida Marlins to make the postseason, even though no one else outside the organization shares this enthusiasm towards the team.

 

While this year the front office has mishandled organizational decisions such as the abrupt firing of Fredi Gonzalez without a replacement, the future of the Florida Marlins looks promising.

 

I said promising, not an absolute slam dunk to be a success.

 

In order to keep up with the Joneses (the Heat and Dolphins) the Marlins must spend more money than they have been. So far they have locked up Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson through the 2012 season, when their new stadium in Little Havana is set to open.

 

A slew of young talent in the Marlins minor leagues is about to make its way to the show almost in the form of the 2006 Marlins team when the payroll was less than $20 million. Gaby Sanchez, Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison are just a few of the names likely to be in a Marlins uniform in 2012 along with the aforementioned Ramirez and Johnson. If the front office starts to actually spend money as promised when the new ballpark opens, it just may be that the Marlins could win their first division title in franchise history.

 

I know a lot of people don’t want me to go here but I will.

 

The Florida Panthers have a lot more upside than the city of Miami has seen in years out of it's hockey team. Dale Tallon was named General Manager of the Panthers back in May 2010. He served as GM to the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks from 2005 to 2009 and was responsible for drafting or acquiring many of the Blackhawks’ top players who have contributed to their back-to-backWestern Conference Final appearances including Jonathon Toews, Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane who scored the game winning goal in Game Six of the Finals to give the Blackhawks their first Stanley Cup since the 1960-1961 season when they were the Chicago Black Hawks .

 

Tallon has already worked some of his magic, trading away big contracts and players who have turned out to be disappointments and in his first Draft with the Panthers he had three picks in the first round and three picks in the second round among his 13 overall picks in the draft. For a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since the 1999-2000 season expect big things to follow in the upcoming years including a playoff appearance by the 2011 season.

 

Lastly, and to some most importantly, the University of Miami football program is no doubt, back on the rise. Head Coach Randy Shannon is 21-17 in his three years but has improved his record by two wins each year.

 

If that trend follows in 2010, it would be the program’s first 11 win season since 2003.

 

Shannon also recently signed a four year contract extension to remain with the team. His upcoming expiring contract had been often used as a recruiting tool against the UM football program, and still Shannon was able to attain top 25 recruiting classes each year he has been Head Coach. UM begins the 2010 college football season  ranked as the # 15 team in the country, the highest preseason ranking for the team since 2006.

 

In the last decade of South Florida sports, only three Championships were won: The 2001 Miami Hurricanes Football team, the 2003 Florida Marlins and the 2006 Miami Heat.

 

Yes, I said only three.

 

Three may be good enough for the City of Cleveland which hasn’t won a professional championship since the year 1964, but not in Miami. A bandwagon town indeed, should not have a problem filling the ballparks, stadiums and arenas for the next few years.