About an hour into ABC’s broadcast of Saturday’s UM-Oklahoma game at Land Shark Stadium, Brent Musburger waxed about the Hurricanes’ former home, the now-demolished Orange Bowl.

ABC aired video showing where the old stadium once stood. On the site, as you know, workers have been constructing columns that will serve as the supports for the Florida Marlins’ $515 million retractable-roof ballpark. The images were something like this one at left, although much closer up. (Many, many thanks to Edward Martinez for posting the video on YouTube -- see below).

Here’s what Musburger said (thanks to a friend with a DVR):

“Well, there’s where the old Orange Bowl stood. All those great years and great games. Now an overpass is being built down there.”

Huh? An overpass? Could someone have clued him in?

Here’s what else he said:

“Many, many memories for a lot of folks here in South Florida and around the country, from Doug Flutie to Kellen Winslow, Joe Namath, you can go on and on. And here, they are in their new digs, Land Shark Stadium, where the Dolphins play their home games.”

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There are clocks around the Marlins offices at Land Shark Stadium that count down the days until April 1, 2012. That's when the team's new ballpark is expected to open.

Saturday was a significant day. Less than 12 hours after the team finished an extra inning game against the Philadelphia Phillies that stretched into Saturday morning after a 78-minute rain delay, team executives and players, and representatives of Major League Baseball, Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami gathered on a sun-scorched spot in Little Havana where the Orange Bowl once stood. They were joined by some 5,000 fans, many decked out in Marlins gear, to celebrate the beginning of construction of the team’s looong sought ballpark.

Work at the site officially started July 1, but when something takes this long to get approved, there’s cause for celebration. In fact, with the sun beating down, the late-ish start to the program, and numerous speeches -- many in both English and Spanish -- there were moments when it felt like it might take as long to hold the ground-breaking as it did to get to this day. But by the end of the event, which started at 10 a.m. and didn’t end for another two and a half hours, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and President David Samson, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, County Commission Chairman Dennis Moss, City Commissioner Joe Sanchez, Gov. Charlie Crist (via video), representatives of the architect (Populous – formerly HOK Sport), and the construction manager (Hunt-Moss), and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig had all waxed about the new ballpark with its roof to prevent rain delays and air conditioning for sweltering days like today.

Marlins inaugural pitcher-catcher battery Charlie Hough and Benito Santiago did first pitch honors, the organist played Take Me Out to the Ballgame, videos showed Marlins highlights, including the two World Series championships, and what the new ballpark is to look like.

The dignitaries then donned hardhats and wielded shovels with handles fashioned like baseball bats and dug the dirt at the spot in the ceremonial diamond where home plate will be. They took dozens and dozens of photographs. And then they finally allowed fans, who waited patiently as they melted in the heat, to get a turn shoveling some dirt at home plate and getting a snapshot.

Among the attendees: eight county commissioners, at least two city commissioners (ballpark opponents city commissioners Marc Sarnoff’s and Tomas Regalado’s names were announced and the crowd booed), Manager Fredi Gonzalez, President of Baseball Operations Larry Beinfest, General Manager Mike Hill, Senior VP of Stadium Development Claude Delorme, former manager Jack McKeon, Special Assistants Tony Perez and Andre Dawson, Mr. Marlin Jeff Conine, and current players including Hanley Ramirez, Ricky Nolasco, Matt Lindstrom, Dan Meyer, Brian Sanchez, Chris Coghlan. University of Miami President Donna Shalala was also in the crowd.

Loria couldn’t have seemed happier, even delighting the crowd with a message in Spanish. He spoke about the future, talking about the ballpark’s clean lines, fan comforts, including “great” food, and the roof that will finally bring certainty that games will be played and won’t be delayed.

(Is it ominous or poetic that Saturday night's game was rained out?)

But Loria also didn’t neglect the past.

He spoke of the University of Miami Hurricanes’ many years at the Orange Bowl, including winning its first of five national championships in 1983. He talked of the Dolphins' 1972 undefeated season.

“We honor both of these teams, we remember their achievements,” Loria said. “We vow the ghosts of glorious past victories will be with us, when we take the field every single night.”

Alvarez echoed Loria: “This spot in little Havana is full of memories. We have watched the Miami Dolphins complete the NFL’s only undefeated season from this land right here in the Orange Bowl. We grew up watching the Miami Hurricanes, win five national titles on this land. As far as I’m concerned this is sacred ground in athletics.

“Now it’s the Miami Marlins’ turf," he said. "I don’t know about all of you. I think I can guess, but I’m ready to see a player such as Hanley Ramirez hit a home run with downtown Miami as a backdrop.”

For some it was part campaign opportunity: Crist, who is running for U.S. Senate, gave a videotaped message. Sanchez, who is running for mayor of Miami, tried to make it look like he wasn’t campaigning. “I am very proud to have played a very small part of this great success,” Sanchez said. “And I speak from the heart, when I tell you when our leaders focus on what’s right for the next generation, and not the next election, that is what makes great cities in America.”

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig told fans that all the controversy that surrounded getting the ballpark deal will disappear once the 37,000-seat, $515 million venue opens, expected in 2012. When he was through, fans shouted “All-Star Game, All-Star Game.”

Selig said the new ballpark would be given “primary consideration,” but he wasn’t ready to commit how soon that might happen. He was also clearly overwhelmed by the heat – “Where I was this morning, it was 55 degrees,” he said.

Samson meanwhile, said the team will be working on new merchandise and branding and even uniforms for the team’s name change to Miami Marlins, when it moves into the new ballpark in 2012.

“New uniforms, we’re relocating,” Samson said. “We’re going to embrace our current fan base and welcome a new fan base, because it’s what we need to have happen.”

Samson also mentioned some of the amenities that will be included in the new ballpark, in part because of fan suggestions, including game radio broadcasts pumped into restrooms during games, a smaller secondary video board down the left field line for fans who don’t have a good view of the main centerfield scoreboard. He said fans also wanted to be able to see into the bullpens during games, so the left field swimming pool area will have views into the home bullpen and there will be a group seating area in right field with a view into the visitor’s bullpen. Yes, that means the dugouts will be switched with the Marlins’ on the third base side, rather than the first base side, as it is now at Land Shark Stadium.

Watch the video, from Populous, that was shown at the ground-breaking, showing details of the ballpark:
 

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It’s too early to say if the name of the Hurricanes’ basketball arena, BankUnited Center, will change in the wake of the government seizure and new ownership of BankUnited.

The bank – the largest headquartered in Florida – signed a 10-year agreement to put its name on the Coral Gables arena in November 2005. So the bank has a contract and a bank spokeswoman said Friday that it’s “business as usual.”

It’s possible the contract will be honored and the name will remain, particularly since the bank is to continue being called BankUnited.

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We’ll learn a lot more at Friday’s press conference that promises Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross, Jimmy Buffett, “high profile sports personalities,” and a live music performance.

But the possibility of a short-term naming deal – perhaps a season – of LandShark Stadium is certainly intriguing and well, unusual. The name comes from LandShark Lager, the Anheuser-Busch-brewed beer that is produced in partnership with Buffett and his Margaritaville restaurant enterprise.

If you’re thinking it’s all about money, think again. Yes, it’s about some money, but not nearly the $10 million to $15 million that Dolphin Stadium officials would love to score for a new corporate name.

So, why change the name even for a short time at the risk of further alienating fans? The venue was Joe Robbie Stadium when it opened in 1987, named for its original owner who put together the private financing plan to build it. In 1996, it became Pro Player Stadium -- and remained that way years after the apparel company’s parent, Fruit of the Loom, filed for bankruptcy in 1999. It became Dolphins Stadium in 2005; the ‘s’ was dropped in 2006. Many fans still call it Joe Robbie; others like Dolphin Stadium for its connection to the team.

Dolphin Stadium officials weren’t commenting Friday, but what it seems LandShark is meant to do is aid in Ross’ plan to create an entertaining South Florida feel to the stadium. While we don’t know the financial terms of the deal, it’s expected Buffett will perform concerts at the venue with proceeds going to the stadium. A Margaritaville section or area of the stadium has also been contemplated.

There are reports Buffett has been approached about becoming a limited partner in the team, but this sounds more like a business deal. Perhaps Buffett will be called a limited partner as part of this arrangement, but it seems unlikely Buffett would spend the cash Ross has been seeking from potential investors. Ross is believed to have been asking $25 million for a 2.5 percent stake in the team.

Surely UM, which also wasn’t commenting Friday, must have paused when hearing about Ross’ plans for LandShark Stadium. After all, the school, which has tried to shed it’s Suntan U. image, was named the nation’s No. 1 party school by Playboy last month. Playing football in a stadium named for a beer couldn’t be high on the school’s things to do list, but apparently school officials have accepted it.

It’s likely this is a short-term deal so that Ross can infuse some South Florida lifestyle into the stadium experience while he waits for the economy to recover. Then, stadium officials can try peddling the name again.

Don’t be surprised if Buffett is song writing, perhaps a new version of Fins that honors the football team, rather than those hungry women-stalking male “landsharks”:

And just for kicks and since I’ve been receiving messages about that other “landshark,” enjoy this piece of SNL history:

via videosift.com

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Even before Isiah Thomas was introduced as Florida International University’s new basketball coach this morning, Justin Forer saw another merchandising opportunity –- and outlet for fans, who might not think too highly of the controversial Thomas.

With the ink barely dry on Thomas’ contract on Tuesday, Forer had already posted “Fire Isiah University” (FIU, get it?) T-shirts for $20 apiece on his FireThatGuy.com Web site. They’re in Golden Panthers colors, too: blue and white and blue and gold.

Forer, 31, a Miami native, who recently moved back to the Magic City after a decade in New York, including Thomas’ rocky tenure with the New York Knicks, actually launched the business in 2005 with shirts calling for the firing of former University of Miami football coach Larry Coker. The shirt was so popular that Forer’s side business was born.

“At the time there was a big move to have Larry Coker fired,” Forer said. “FireThatGuy is not necessarily to hate coaches, but to give fans a chance to voice how they really feel.”

Although not an alum, Forer knows a thing or two about Miami football, having, as he says, “grown up in the endzone of the old Orange Bowl.” And about South Florida sports: his first foray into the sports souvenir business was in 1996 during the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup run when he bought cases of plastic rats and he and some friends sold them out of boxes on street corners in Miami.

For his second sports business, other coaches and general managers followed Coker. There were Isiah Thomas shirts from his time with the Knicks. And hats and baby bibs, too.

“I don’t know that we sold any baby bibs, but they were out there,” Forer said. “After Larry Coker, Isiah became the No. 1 seller.”

Forer said he thought about starting a blog, but decided the merchandise was a more proactive way to get fans involved. His other victims have included former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph and former Detroit Lions President Matt Millen. Current ones include Miami football coach Randy Shannon and Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis. Forer insists that only two targeted coaches – Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics and Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants -- “not only did not get fired … but went on to win championships.”

“I hope that Isiah is not walking around with a 'Fire Justin' T-shirt,” he said. “And to be honest, the shirts are all in good fun. Fans deserve a chance to voice their opinion, too.”

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Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field is scheduled to get its official dedication at the Hurricane Club’s “Dinner on the Diamond” this Friday, in the wake of the Sports Illustrated story indicating Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003.

And as of right now, Rodriguez is still expected to be the guest of honor, a UM spokesman said.

The event starts at 6 p.m. with a tour of the renovated Hurricanes' ballpark and silent auction, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets to the banquet are sold out. The Hurricanes open the 2009 baseball season on Feb. 20 against Rutgers at Alex Rodriguez Park.

The stadium has been renamed for Rodriguez, who in 2002 gave the university $3.9 million – the largest donation ever to the school’s baseball program. Of that donation, $3.4 million was to kick off upgrades of the stadium and $500,000 to endow an annual UM scholarship for a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Miami.

Construction began in October 2005 and was conducted in three phases. Phase one modified seating, added new restrooms, dugouts and lights. Phase two renovated the area under the grandstand and added new concession areas, clubhouse, weight room, meeting and video rooms, academic area and pressbox with VIP suites on either side. The final phase, which is being completed, is the renovation of the Ron Fraser Building housing the team’s baseball operations. Check out photos here.

Whether the New York Yankees third baseman actually attends the event remains to be seen.

Back in 2002, when Rodriguez, was still shortstop for the Texas Rangers, his donation to UM’s baseball program was announced on a sunny October day to much fanfare. Rodriguez, MLB’s No. 1 draft pick in 1993, had been accepted to UM, but signed with the Seattle Mariners instead. Rodriguez spoke at the time about taking a bus from his Kendall home to Mark Light, jumping over the outfield fence and watching the Hurricanes for free. Here’s an excerpt from the piece I wrote about the donation in 2002:

He would practice baseball, serve as batboy and just relish watching the Hurricanes, growing sad each Sunday afternoon as the weekend series came to a close and he had to wait another week to watch more baseball. …
"For me, this was my Yankee Stadium, my Candlestick Park, my Dodger Stadium," the graduate of Miami Westminster Christian said from a spot near home plate. "This is a very dear special place to me." …
"Although I didn't have the privilege to be a college student here," he said, "I've always been a Hurricane at heart."

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Just in time for Super Bowl XLIII, the University of Miami is offering women’s basketball fans a chance to win a 42-inch plasma television, complete with mounting hardware and installation.

Two TVs will be awarded at halftime of the UM women’s basketball game against Wake Forest at 2 p.m. Sunday at BankUnited Center. All fans will have a chance to fill out an entry form when they arrive at the arena.

Meanwhile, WQAM (560-AM) is offering a “Lucky Charms promotion” that includes the best 100 remaining seats at BankUnited Center for Wednesday’s men’s game against Wake Forest for $56 instead of the usual $75. The promotion gets better if the ‘Canes beat the Demon Deacons. If that happens, you’ll receive a free ticket to the Canes game against Boston College on Feb. 21. Then, if the ‘Canes beat Boston College, that scores you a free ticket to the team’s final home game against NC State on March 7. And there’s more: if the Canes win their final four home games, you’ll get a free season ticket next year. For more information, call 1-800-GO-CANES and mention the “Lucky Charms promotion” or email: canestix@miami.edu.

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This time it was a call from Hurricanes guard Jack McClinton.

McClinton called my cell phone yesterday with a message about the men’s basketball team’s upcoming ACC games, including tonight’s against the University of Maryland at BankUnited Center.

Of course, it wasn’t really McClinton – just one of those automated calls players and Coach Frank Haith make to season ticket holders to remind them to attend games and to individual ticket buyers to urge them to buy tickets to particular games the school is promoting.

UM places the calls periodically and has been using them for all their sports. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I share basketball season tickets and just happen to be attending tonight’s game. I got messages from voice of the Hurricanes Joe Zagacki last year.)

These calls tend to get my attention. What about you?

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While Orange Bowl Committee members are pulling double duty, serving as ambassadors for tonight’s 75th annual FedEx Orange Bowl and next Thursday’s BCS National Championship Game, some people – and places -- are doing triple duty.

The Dolphin Stadium grounds crew, for example, is preparing for three big games – now that the Dolphins have made the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 season – two bowl games with an NFL playoff game in the middle. That hasn't happened since the BCS added a fifth game to the rotation three years ago.

As soon as tonight’s game between Cincinnati and Virginia Tech is completed, workers will begin cutting out the logos at the center of the field and the endzones for new pieces of sod that will then be painted with Dolphins and NFL playoffs logos in advance of Sunday’s 1 p.m. Dolphins-Baltimore Ravens game. After Sunday’s game, the same process – which takes up to 12 hours – will occur again in advance of the BCS game featuring Florida and Oklahoma.

Stadium President Bruce Schulze calls hosting the three games “pleasant challenges.” After all, the stadium had some practice this fall hosting the UM Hurricanes for their first season since moving from the Orange Bowl.

“We got so good at doing it during the Dolphins and UM seasons,” Schulze said.

Meanwhile, the Marriott Harbor Beach in Fort Lauderdale is the host hotel for the Orange Bowl and BCS games and it will also play host to the Ravens.

Tourism officials are hoping Ravens fans will join the visitors here this week for the bowl games.

“Baltimore has a great reputation for traveling with their teams,” Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau President Nicki Grossman said.

The CVB has been promoting the region in Cincinnati, Virginia and Oklahoma, she said.

The three games have also provided an active secondary market for tickets. Tickets to the Orange Bowl are still listed for re-sale, although not for as little as $6 as some were selling for last month.

“There’s definitely a lot of activity down there,” said Scott Roback, vice president of business development for RazorGator, which serves as the official ticket exchange site for the OB and BCS games. But Roback said, the Dolphins game “is not the highest demand playoff ticket. That being said, there’s still a secondary market for tickets.”

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No surprise here, but the Marlins are finally publicly acknowledging that a new ballpark won’t be ready in time for the 2011 season. Marlins President David Samson insisted on Tuesday that a 2012 opening is a certainty.

“It’s disappointing,” Samson said of the delay, which he blamed on auto dealer Norman Braman’s unsuccessful lawsuit targeting the ballpark financing. “The important thing is it’s going to open and it’s going to be a stadium that will last forever and help define Miami.”

Last forever? Define Miami? Perhaps Samson can be forgiven since he thinks he is finally seeing the light at the end of that long stadium financing/construction tunnel.

Samson said it became clear in talks with the team’s construction manager, Hunt/Moss, that a 2011 opening was too optimistic for construction and to keep the venue’s cost at $515 million. Samson said the cost to build a 37,000-seat, retractable roof ballpark at the site of the former Orange Bowl is expected to remain $515 million, despite the delay.

He said construction will need to begin by May to ensure a 2012 opening.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, including completing definitive agreements spelling out the stadium’s construction and financing details and then presenting them to Miami-Dade County and Miami city commissioners, expected next month, and putting them to a vote of commissioners, expected in January.

Even with approval, the team will still need to secure financing. Samson is optimistic that can happen even with Braman expected to appeal and tight credit markets in a difficult economy.
“We’re confident the markets will improve and the liquidity will return to the marketplace,” Samson said.

He and other stadium advocates believe now is precisely the time for governments to support large public works projects to create jobs and stimulate the economy. We’ll see about political support in the coming weeks.

And then there’s the thorny question of where the Marlins will play in 2011. The team’s lease expires after the 2010 baseball season, but Samson is hopeful the team will be allowed to play at Dolphin Stadium another season.

He said preliminary discussions with Dolphins and stadium co-owner Stephen Ross have occurred and Ross confirmed that he has spoken with Samson. Samson said that he’s also contacted University of Miami President Donna Shalala since the Hurricanes also share Dolphin Stadium.

Under the agreement to move from the Orange Bowl to Dolphin Stadium, UM’s needs are considered third behind the Dolphins and Marlins until after the 2010 baseball season when UM moves to second place. The baseball diamond was also supposed to be removed after 2010.

“I would hope that an agreement can be ironed out, it would be difficult to believe we would not be able to extend the lease by one year. It will not be an infinite extension,” Samson said. “Anybody can get along for a year.”

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The University of Miami Hurricanes will begin a new era Thursday when they open their first season at Dolphin Stadium against Charleston Southern. But unless you have a ticket, your only option for viewing the game will be on ESPN360.com. And that’s only if your Internet Service Provider carries the broadband sports network.

The broadband network, which has operated at ESPN360.com for about a year, but has actually been around in some form since 2002, is streaming more than 300 college football games this year, some of them – like Thursday’s UM game – exclusively. The college games are just a small portion of the more than 3,000 events a year the service is broadcasting. It’s just another way ESPN is seeking to broaden the broadcast offerings for sports fans.

“ESPN’s mission is to serve sports fans, whenever and wherever they are,” said Damon Phillips, vice president of ESPN360.com. “ESPN360.com is a critical part of the strategy. We want sports fans to be able to access sports at home on ESPN, ESPN2, in the car on ESPN Radio, at a party, they can access ESPN mobile or at work or at home on ESPN360.com.”

ESPN360.com chooses its college games after the networks make their selections.

“When we saw the University of Miami game was still available, we thought it would be an amazing opportunity to take such a storied program,” Phillips said. “It’s Coach [Randy] Shannon’s second season, one of the first times in a long time Miami is not nationally ranked.”

UM has been on ESPN360 exclusively in the past, including the games against North Carolina State last year and Duke in 2006.

The broadband network is available for free to users with high-speed Internet connections through providers including AT&T and Verizon. Log in and the site will tell you whether your provider carries the network. It’s available in about 24 million homes across the country and to more than 18 million users on college campuses and military bases. The net’s goal is to be available to all 60 million to 65 million broadband users.

ESPN360.com has a range of offerings including major U.S. sports properties such as the NBA, NASCAR, college football and basketball; international sports including soccer, Euroleague basketball, and cricket; and other niche sports including open wheel racing, international raquetball and polo from Argentina. It also archives the games.

The other college games being broadcast Thursday are Jacksonville State v. Georgia Tech (exclusively); North Carolina State v. South Carolina (also on ESPN); and Oregon State v. Stanford (also on ESPN2).

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The fourth class of nominees for the Mascot Hall of Fame includes Billy the Marlin among five pro candidates and Sebastian the Ibis among six collegiate candidates.

Who knew the Mascot Hall of Fame was already in its fourth year? The members include such storied pro sports team characters as the Phillie Phanatic, San Diego’s Famous Chicken, Mr. Met, and college characters Brutus Buckeye and Bucky the Badger. The University of Nebraska’s Lil Red became the Hall’s first inflatable inductee.

The public plays a small, but crucial role in the voting. The public's votes cast online are an important measure of which mascots are installed each year, according to Christopher Bruce, vice chairman of the Hall’s executive committee.

“It’s used as a gauge of support these characters have in their communities,” Bruce said of the public vote, which only accounts for about 5 percent of the overall vote.

The majority of the voting is based on the ballots by the executive committee and nominees must receive at least 75 percent of that vote. That means it won’t be clear how many mascots will be inducted this year, until the votes are cast.

The Hurricanes’ Sebastian actually was passed over last year, but he had enough support to be returned to the ballot this year, Bruce said.

You can see why some of us think Billy the Marlin deserves a shot at the Hall in our Two-Minute Drill in the Sun Sentinel's sports section today, including that he overcame adversity when he lost his head on Opening Day in 1997. Online voting runs through Sept. 12 here.

This year’s nominees hold a special place in the heart of Miami resident John Routh, for he has been the embodiment of three of them: the University of South Carolina’s Cocky, Sebastian and he was the original Billy the Marlin.

“It makes me feel good,” said Routh, who serves on the hall’s executive committee. “It’s kind of weird to go back to South Carolina and people still remember me and say ‘You’re Cocky’.”

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As you no doubt know, the Orange Bowl is no longer. It’s been flattened and workers are clearing the site to make way for a new ballpark for the Marlins. At least that’s the current plan. All bets are off as to whether the Marlins actually meet their anticipated April 2011 opening.

But pieces of the OB live on. In homes and offices. In backyards. You’ve snapped up light fixtures, lockers, orange seats, wooden seats, photos, pieces of the stadium’s concrete.

Under its salvage contract with the city of Miami, Mounted Memories, a division of Plantation-based Dreams Inc., held a January celebration, to honor the old stadium and then agreed to share 15 percent of all sales of items from the stadium and 10 percent from those sold at auction.

So far, the city has received $235,884.78 from the sale of items, city records show.

Records also show there are still plenty of items available, including signs, seats, framed photos, and T-shirts. Still looking for something? Check out the online store here.

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Joe Zagacki called my cell phone yesterday. Twice. OK… it wasn’t just me, nor was it actually Zagacki.

But the voice of the Hurricanes had recorded one of those promotional phone messages that get blasted to a particular phone list, to encourage University of Miami fans to pack tonight’s UM-Boston College men’s basketball game at BankUnited Center. The calls went out to season ticket holders and individual ticket buyers. Full disclosure: I share general admission season tickets with some co-workers and have purchased single game tickets this season.

The team is hoping to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2001-02 season and could be in with one more win in the next two games. Tonight’s game is the last home game for the Hurricanes this season and Zagacki wants to make sure there’s a full house – he left the Web site address and the phone number for tickets.

We know this isn't a hotbed for college basketball, but given the losing going on among South Florida's pro teams, are you supporting the Hurricanes? Have you gotten these kinds of promotional calls from UM or the pro teams? (I hear Dolphins coach Tony Sparano recorded a message just in time for Dolphins season ticket renewals). Do they convince you to buy tickets?

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OK, so not everything’s up for sale. The city of Miami, which owns the 70-year-old Orange Bowl, is keeping the turf, which it plans to put in a park. It’s also hanging onto one set of goalposts, the murals, the giant Miami Orange Bowl letters on the outside of the stadium and the Welcome to the Orange Bowl sign inside the venue.

Gary Fabrikant, the assistant director of Miami's Department of Capital Improvements, says the city is also keeping the scoreboard.

But virtually everything else is up for grabs: seats, light fixtures, trees, urinals, two sets of goalposts, turnstiles, ticket booths, the tunnel Hurricanes players ran through to get to the field. You can order a specific seat on a first-come, first-served basis until Jan. 20, but those will cost you extra. There are a limited number of chairs with backs, including those two rows of white ones that sat closest to the field on the sidelines, the ones that bear an LA Dodgers logo. The thought is that those seats, referred to as the “Dodgers seats,” were installed in the early 1960s when Dodger Stadium was being built.

Sunrise-based Mounted Memories, a division of Dreams Inc. of Plantation, was awarded the salvage contract by the city last month in part because of its track record for producing uniquely packaged products. Orange seats will bear autographs and can be framed or installed in a display case; panoramic photos are paired with a piece of concrete.

Seats uncovered in the west endzone that were installed in 1966 and bear an orange and a seat number are being included in a shadow box frame with a copy of a black and white photo that shows those seats being installed for a price of $199. A set of four of those seats is being fashioned into small benches for $495 each. The company is also going to receive a piece or two of the lattice work from the outside of the stadium that it plans to package with other souvenirs.

On Jan. 26, Mounted Memories is hosting a Farewell to the Orange Bowl from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a flag football game between Dolphins and Hurricanes greats, a small auction and an opportunity to get autographs. Tickets are $20 at Field of Dreams stores and at tickemaster.com. An auction will be held at 11 a.m. Feb. 9 at the Orange Bowl for the larger, one-of-a-kind items: the urinals, goalposts, trees, light fixtures. For more information, visit: orangebowlstadium.com

Ross Tannenbaum, president and CEO of Dreams Inc., and Fabrikant said they hope to raise about $1 million for the city to help pay for the stadium's demolition. Fabrikant said the stadium will be turned over Jan. 28 to DEMCO, a New York firm, that will spend the next five months pulling down the stadium for a cost of $1.9 million.

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