The Miami Marlins Are A Sad, Sad Team

The Arizona Diamondbacks start a series in Miami tomorrow against the Marlins. First of all, if Arizona does not sweep this series, then, well the team needs to seriously be re-evaluated. There are three emotions that go through me when I think about the Miami Marlins: sadness, anger, and embarrassment.

Opening Night 2013.

This organization makes me sad because this is a “professional” baseball team and they are struggling to put 500 people in the stands for a game. It’s sad to see this type of thing happening in baseball. I have been to one Marlins game in my life and it was at the old stadium (whatever it was named that particular week). Barry Bonds was chasing the home run record and you could hardly get a ticket to see the Giants that year. I remember there was probably about 7,000 people at the game in Miami against San Francisco. I thought it was so weird that nobody came to this game to see Barry try to chase the record. Also, it was 70’s night at the ballpark, so a lot of people missed out on an enjoyable night. The Marlins have pretty much given up, in all aspects of the word. It is sad that professional athletes are playing in front of nobody. As a baseball fan, it hurts to see this occurring. All jokes aside, I really feel bad for these players. Even if they are a bunch of AAA guys, this is probably not how they envisioned their major league careers.

This organization makes me mad for a lot of reasons. First of all, if I lived even remotely close to South Florida, I would be at most of the Marlins games. I’m such a baseball nerd that I don’t care if a team is bad or the owner has forgotten he owns the team, I just love watching baseball. It makes me mad that people in Miami don’t even want to watch the sport anymore. I’ve spent 20 years of my life in Colorado, so I know a thing or two about horrible baseball teams. The organization is actually giving away tickets now. The most recent deal at Marlins Ballpark is “4 free tickets for all FAU students.” Seriously? All you have to do is be in college and you get four tickets to a major league baseball game. I’m sold! The team has also been forced to close the upper deck of the stadium during weekday games. I can’t even think of a time when an entire upper deck was empty at a professional sporting event. It just makes me angry that this extravagant ballpark is going to waste because nobody, not even the owners want to buy into this organization.

Let’s be honest, the Marlins are probably one of the most embarrassing organizations in sports. I think Miami is actually worse than their 11-29 record says. We had a joke at the radio station I work at in Alabama and if anyone could name the Marlins starting lineup, you’d win a prize. Needless to say, nobody won the prize…I feel like Morris Buttermaker should be the manager of this team because everything just kind of seems like a joke. From the goofy fish statue in center, to the off-putting neon green surrounding the ballpark, nothing “works.” Also, the stadium is just too damn big. If the team wanted to get a couple more people in the seats, they should have made the fence 300 feet all the way around so the 48 people in attendance would at least get to see a high-scoring game. But instead, the fences are high and very far away, which doesn’t really appeal to the casual baseball fan.

Pick a seat, any seat.

Players, fans, and the front office have all seemingly given up. The next to go is the PR staff at the ballpark, and they are all hanging by a thread. I’m not really sure what steps can be taken to make this organization realize what they are doing to themselves, and the game of baseball. All I know is that if nothing changes, the fish will continue to be the punching bag of the league.

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