Heat Harangue
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Homesick and hassled: It is sad Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria effectively ripped off the community in building a stadium for the Marlins ("Miami Heat Owner Pays No Rent for His Arena," Gus Garcia-Roberts, December 24). I guess the Heat are going the same route. When political figures make backroom deals, you have to keep an eye on them. No surprise there.
It's just that at a time like this, when unemployment is so high, the NBA and NFL are locking out players next season because they aren't making enough money. Some NBA owners would even have people believe they are losing money, because they don't want to consider concessions and souvenirs as part of the profits. It's the result of greed, bad owners, and high ticket costs. Hell, look at all the problems and hypocrisy in the NCAA. Any one of these leagues is easy to deal with, but I'm really getting sick of the whole thing. I have to find something else to do with my time. Screw David Stern and Roger Goodell. They have ruined what used to be my top two favorite sports.
I'm a native of Miami — I moved, but I have great memories of my hometown. Just because corporate America rips off every dollar it can, it doesn't mean you need to dig up a dated slur. One of the City of Miami's best qualities is its eclectic cross section of citizenry. Now I'm getting homesick — I gotta go back for a visit.
Rich
Broward beware: Miami should refinance the loan, then make the Heat pay its due share of rent. Hope Broward County is watching this, so they don't make the same dumb mistake.
Gary R. Patterson
Suck on this, boychicks: Miami taxpayers deserve to get screwed by the people they elect. A stupid electorate deserves this.
Marc Cooper
Luke Lambasted
Make plaintiffs pay: I, too, have had to pay the expense of defending myself from a ridiculous lawsuit ("Luke's Gospel," Luther Campbell, December 24)! If you had lost, you would've had to pay the plaintiff's costs. Because you won, you should've had your expenses paid by the plaintiff as a matter of law, no questions asked. If such a law existed, it would prevent these BS lawsuits. Make them pay when they can't prove their case!
Rahalt
Government too!:The same thing happened to me, Luke, though it regarded false accusations by the government. I went through a year of psychological torture at the hands of the Miami-Dade Public Corruption Unit, but they found nothing with which to incriminate me; they only found that I had the balls to not back down. I just stared at their eyes until they blinked. I hope Mayor Carlos Alvarez is removed soon!
Ricardo Ortega
And those two-timin' arbiters of justice: These are the same judges who smoke pot in public parks, then send you to jail for pot possession. They are hypocrites.
Wilfredo Vargas
Luke has it out for us: I sat next to Luther Campbell for three years in the Ida M. Fisher Junior High School band drum section, and spent three more years as his classmate at Miami Beach High School. All I ever heard out of his mouth was "crackers" when referring to whites and "oyes" when referring to Cubans.
Though I became friends with my many of my new classmates from Liberty City, all attempts at friendship with Luther Campbell were rebuffed because I was a cracker. When Muhammad Ali beat Richard Dunn in 1976, I asked him if he saw the fight, and he replied, "Yeah, that's how we do the white boys," and then launched into a black superiority rant. I laugh out loud every time I read his columns claiming racism. Your readers should know racism can also involve black against white, not just white against black, and Mr. Campbell is the last person on earth who should be calling anyone a racist.
Todd Preston
More Luke Laceration
The fact is...: Luther Campbell's December 16 column about retiring Florida football coach Urban Meyer got it all wrong. Cam Newton got in trouble when he was at Florida because of himself. Don't try to excuse his theft by blaming it on the coach.
One of Meyer's daughters is already in college and the other one, who plays volleyball, should be graduating this year. That leaves one other who is in middle school, I believe.
Please get your facts straight.
Also, Urban Meyer never tolerated bad behavior from a Gator. If caught, his players were either suspended, or, depending on the severity of the wrongdoing, expelled or benched.
He isn't Bobby Bowden.
Ann C Vassiliou
Ethical uh uh: A TV news show anchor says, "You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts." Mr. Campbell has done both. Meyer does have health issues, and some players (such as Frankie Hammond) even commented on it. He first retired on December 26, 2009, not before the SEC championship. Prior to this past season, his team was 13-1 three out of four years and won two national championships; that is hardly the record of a down program. His oldest daughter has been in college two years, and the other is attending next fall. Neither Meyer nor the University of Florida have been implicated or charged in the Cam Newton controversy. To imply so shows a clear lack of ethical reporting on Mr. Campbell's part. Let's get him some better fact checkers for the new year.
Jeff
