It’s not a good time in Miami sports. The Dolphins are currently 1-6 (second to last in their division), have lost three straight and have given up more points than any team in the AFC except the hapless Cincinnati Bengals.
When the Marlins season ended recently, they were 27th of 30 teams in batting, had Major League Baseball’s worst attendance and missed the postseason.
The Heat, ranked 20th in the power rankings, lost its first game against the Orlando Magic just before point guard Terry Rozier was arrested due to a sports betting scandal.
Panthers, Hurricanes. It just goes on and on. So how are Miami sports fans taking it all?
Most are negative, but there is a dash of positivity.
David Ambrosini, 32, has been a Miami fan all his life. He coaches youth basketball in Aventura has seen the success Miami brings and he can attest to the difficulties that are currently being experienced in Miami sports.
“Being a sports fan in Miami is very difficult right now, especially with our culture,” he says. “There’s been so many ups and downs, and with us being the city of Miami, there’s always been a lot of expectations.”
Jarred Maloney, 41, believes it is unlikely things will turn around soon. He’s an assistant general manager at a bar in Wynwood.
“You look at the Dolphins, bottom-three team in the NFL right now,” he says. “The Heat are coming off some bad seasons, and it doesn’t look like there’s any hope for this season. I would say from a scale of one to ten, the entire state of Miami sports right now is probably close to like a three and a half.”
Without Rozier or top scorer Tyler Herro, the Heat lost its first game to the Orlando Magic 125 to 121 last night
Jose Cedeno, 35, was playing pick-up basketball in Brickell recently. After the game finished, he offered this on the Heat. He has been a life-long fan of all Miami sports but does not have any high hopes for the Heat.
“I mean, the Heat are struggling,” he said. “It’s Pat Riley, they’re saying he’s too old. They might be right. We haven’t had a superstar in a while.”
But it’s today’s arrest of Rozier for gambling while he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets a few years ago that has really threw some fans for a loop. Christian Ortega, a career advisor at Miami Dade College, is concerned about the future of professional sports with the world of gambling slowly mixing in.
“As a Heat and NBA fan you don’t want these things to be true,” Ortega said. “You want to believe everything is legit and honest in these games,” But when something like this happens, it lets us know that with sports and gambling, we are in a whole new world. And lastly, one wonders who’s next.”
