Hyde: South Florida teams take on new luster
For once, none of our teams stink. And maybe, just maybe, they are on the rise.
Some of you will want to clip and save this column to mail back with salt and pepper at some future date in the unlikely event I’ll have to eat my words.
But, ladies and gentlemen, mark the date and take a whiff of the air — we have a climate-changing aroma around South Florida’s four pro sports franchises.
None of our teams stink.
That’s notable. It’s progress too. For too much of two decades (The Dark Ages, as we call this millennium), a common question for every team (except the Miami Heat) and in any season (except the Heat’s) wasn’t if the glass was half full or half empty in some latest “rebuilding.”
The question was if a tortoise could find water in the glass.
Now name a team, any team.
The Marlins? Two years after suffering through 105 losses, and a surprise year after a playoff series win, Marlins manager Don Mattingly talked with mild disappointment on Thursday that a ninth-inning comeback didn’t stick and they only won three of four games in Atlanta.
“You’d like to have polished off the series,’’ he said after the 7-6 loss. “It would’ve got us back to .500. We’re laying a foundation of who we can be — a good mixture of talent. I think you can start to see what kind of club we can be.”
The Panthers? They went through a rough patch lately — and that dropped them from the NHL’s points leader. They went out and bought at the trade deadline rather than the annual move to dump veterans for draft picks.
The Panthers’ big question now? It’s whether their playoff goalie is Sergei Bobrovsky, in whom they invested $72 million but ranks 33rd in goals-against, or Chris Driedger, who they got for a ham sandwich but ranks fourth in goals-against.
The key word there: Playoffs. Everyone’s using it around the Panthers.
“We want to makes sure we
have that playoff mentality,’’ coach Joel Quenneville said before Thursday night’s game against Tampa Bay. “It’s great to be playing meaningful games against the best teams.”
Then there’s the Dolphins. For most of the past two decades their biggest night has been draft night. That hasn’t changed. But that’s because their four picks in the top 50 aren’t just a chance to stock the roster with more young talent.
This draft also signifies the end of their rebuilding. They jumped from five wins in 2019 to 10 wins in 2020 to … a team that gets real-world expectations this year.
Finally, the Heat. They remain the gold standard. They traded at the deadline for guard Victor Oladipo, saw him suffer a knee injury that perhaps will end his season, and no one altered expectations of them doing some damage in the playoffs.
“We have these games where it gets away from us,’’ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Wednesday’s loss in a tough back-to-back game. “We’re trying to eliminate those. That’s what it’s about.”
If it’s all true, if this long walk through the wilderness is over, if there is sunlight ahead for all our teams, there’s no one happier than people typing about them.
The great myth is bad news sells news. It’s the opposite in sports. Winners sell. Champions sell most. Who would you rather read about — the Marlins in another rebuild or the Marlins way back in 2003 winning the World Series?
It’s only April for the Marlins. This successful Atlanta series will be forgotten by June and be irrelevant in September. But it’s something to consider now.
“It shows we can play with anybody,’’ right fielder Garrett Cooper said. “I said that earlier this year, but we truly believe it. There was a lot of talk of, ‘The Marlins’ll finish last.’ You come in here with a chip on your shoulder. We have a great road trip.”
Oh, the familiar smell hasn’t gone completely away. The Marlins bullpen again in that bottom-of-the-ninth collapse? Phew.
Some we’re not Tampa Bay, where championships are minted these days. At least our Dark Age is gone. Our teams don’t stink. After holding your nose for too much of two decades, it’s not an ending. But it’s progress.