Nitwits and uber-romantics

Sun-Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde explains why da U's decision to move to Dolphin Stadium is the only sane one:

There's no worthy debate here. Only a nitwit or an uber-romantic would embrace the position that an area strapped for public funds, and an athletic department checking the ground for pennies, should sink hundreds of millions into a falling-down stadium for six football games a year.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. But progress and fiscal practicality are better ways to make big decisions.

Besides, if you're willing to spend that much public money, spend it on a baseball stadium with 81 home games a year. In fact, if Major League Baseball had any smarts or sense of timing, it would announce today that the $30 million the Marlins get annually from other teams in revenue sharing would not go in the team's bulging — yes, bulging — coffers but toward a stadium fund on the Orange Bowl site...

Oh, if you want to wax romantic, saunter down yesteryear and remember how great the Orange Bowl has been to South Florida, have at it today. Its scrapbook is full of fun. It's the place where Satchel Paige pitched and Joe Namath won and Flipper flipped and the '72 Dolphins cruised and a Nebraska pass was deflected and Dan Marino was his most magical.

But you know what all those events have in common today as you look back?

None would be held in the Orange Bowl today, even if the Hurricanes had decided to stay there. Let's face it: The game had passed the stadium by years ago.

The Dolphins? Gone. The Super Bowl? Gone. The Orange Bowl game? Gone.

To further emphasize how much of a nitwit you'd have to be to continue to deny the obvious the Sun-Sentinel also published this comparison of the two facilities: