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Category: Miami Hurricanes (2)

March 5, 2008

Hurricanes promote tonight’s men’s basketball game

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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January 9, 2008

Orange Bowl items up for sale

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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About the Author

SARAH TALALAY
After a decade as a news reporter in New Jersey, Southern California, Chicago and South Broward, Talalay decided to trade in covering meetings about city government and schools for meetings about sports deals and stadium finance...

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