Adios, Orange Bowl.

During the "High Flying 80`s the greatest place to be on a Saturday afternoon was inside the Orange Bowl watching the Miami Hurricanes play football. Vinny,Bernie, Tony, Jim Kelly, Irvin,Jimmy Johnson, James,Erickson, Howard, were some of the Hall of Famers who graced the Orange Bowl!

I`d meet my friends at Casola`s Pizza on SW 17th Ave and head to the game! The OB was unique,it was located in the middle of Little Havana,where the majority of people spoke no english,where parking was normally in someone`s home. The OB had character,that`s for damn sure.

It was like entering Yankee Stadium, or the Boston Garden. You felt the rush as soon as you walked in. It was the place to be and be seen!

The OB has meant so much to so many in South Florida and beyond. In the 70`s my Dad and I went to 5 games during the Miami Dolphins' perfect season. Going to a Fins game inside the OB was like having the 13th man playing alongside. Many believe the Fins should have never left the OB and moved up the road to Joe Robbie Stadium, they lost something when they moved,it was never the same.

The Canes fielded five national championship teams.Miami was Miami! I miss those days. The swaying palm trees behind the eastern end zone probably made more frigid football fans wish they could visit/live/move here than a hundred Visitors Bureau commercials.

I can`t remember how many times I was in the OB, but watching Micheal Jackson perform "Thriller" will always stand out in my mind as one of the greatest concerts we ever witnessed, so was the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead,where my girlfriend and I wandered around for what seemed like hours after the Dead show to locate our car.We weren`t the only one`s wandering that night! I swear someone spiked the Coke Cola with Owsley acid.

The OB is no more and so is part of history.The Bowl will be missed. Too bad it`s time has come.Somethings are better left alone.