Another Miami Open

You know the Miami Open (www.miamiopen.com) is in town when traffic on Key Biscayne gets a little more hectic than usual.   This year is no exception – with shuttles shuttling people back and forth from the general parking lots, crowds crossing from parking lots to the entrance through a single intersection, and fans scouring restaurants on the Key to get a glimpse of their favorite players.   But it’s all a lot of fun and worth every minute of traffic mayhem for one of the great tennis tournaments in the country.

Over the years the tournament has been known under different names depending on that years’ sponsors.   It looks like it will be known as the Miami Open from here on out, though the future of the tournament beyond the next couple of years is in doubt due to disagreements on facility upgrades.  Though I've read in the last week that this issue may be working itself out.

I really thought that the 2017 was going to be the best ever with Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal committing early on to play.   Alas, Murray and Djokovic withdrew about a week before the start due to injuries.    But with Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, Federer andNadal as the top five seed on the Men’s side, it’s still going to be a great tournament.   The Women’s side is equally strong with Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and Dominika Cibulkova in the top spots.   Venus Williams is in this year but sister Serena is not.  That’s a shame because Serena is such fun to watch.

I went last week to watch some of the early round matches.  I saw Pliskova dominate Madison Brengle (61 63),  Damir Dzumhur defeat Hyeon Chung (36 62 76) and Borna Coric best Marcel Granollers (76 46 63).    All great matches.   I think some of the early round matched are the best to watch.   You get to see some young playing their hearts out to advance to the next round.   

The tournament ends the first weekend in April with the Women’s final on Saturday afternoon and the Men’s final on Sunday.    Come on out for a great event before it’s gone for good.

Ballpark of the Palm Beaches

The Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros share a brand new spring training facility, the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches (www.ballparkpalmbeaches.com) in West Palm Beach, just west of I-95 on 45th Street.   It’s in the style of newer major league ballparks with food and drinks available in a loggia-style area behind the seats from where you can watch the game while you’re in line grabbing a beer.   The ballpark holds about 6500 people, so you are close to the game and I don’t think there are any bad seats.   Each team has six practice fields and other areas for batting practice with walkways and bleachers easily accessible to fans.  There are suites and restaurants with large patios above the general seating area for fans that want a dining experience other than stadium hot dogs and burgers.

As a Miami Marlins fan, I missed the coziness of Roger Dean Stadium, but the newness and access around the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches is pretty impressive.   Being a brand new facility, in an area dominated by strip malls and warehouses, the neighborhood around ballpark needs to develop additional restaurants and bars, similar to the area to the southeast side of Roger Dean Stadium.  These will come with time, I hope.  The park is only about a half mile off of I-95 with easy access to parking. Parking is available on either side of the complex and the days I was there police moving traffic out of the park helped make exiting efficient and easy.

Roger Dean Stadium is only about 12 miles north and just east of I-95 in Jupiter, FL.   If one were a Miami Marlins fan and a former resident of Washington, DC, one could easily spend the month of March shuttling between the two parks for a month of good baseball. 

There are still about two weeks left before the regular season starts.  So a great way to spend a day in the beautiful Miami sunshine could be a visit to the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

The Passing of Jose Fernandez

I was not a huge baseball fan as a kid.   I didn’t play little league ball, or collect and trade baseball cards with my friends, or memorize stats of baseball heroes and other more obscure players. 

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