Baseball
Marlins fans start gearing for Series
Bars and restaurants explode in celebration and fans start lining up for World Series tickets.
By Associated Press
Published October 16, 2003
MIAMI - Hundreds of people huddled around small portable televisions, watching the game while standing in a rapidly growing line for World Series tickets. Screams from those packing the bars could be heard many blocks away. And someone actually brought a live white goat as the ultimate good-luck charm.
A world championship is four wins away, and Marlins fans couldn't be more thrilled.
Florida won the NL Championship Series Wednesday night, beating the Cubs 9-6 in the deciding Game 7 and completing an improbable comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the series.
Next for the Marlins is New York or Boston in the World Series, which begins Saturday.
"This is unbelievable. It was destiny," said Dominic Sparacino, 36, a real estate broker from Miami surrounded by hundreds of delirious fans celebrating inside a bar. "Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I never had any doubt. They never, ever, gave up."
Melinda Ramon, 28, who owns her own catering company, wasted no time in making a bold prediction: Marlins over Yankees in the World Series.
"Our luck doesn't run out and it hasn't run out and it won't run out," Ramon said.
Outside the Marlins' downtown Miami souvenir store, people had been lining up since Tuesday night for the chance to buy World Series tickets, which go on sale 10 a.m. today.
Eduardo Blanco was the first on line, arriving around 11 p.m. Tuesday. His spot in line was held by a relative for about seven hours Wednesday morning, but Blanco returned by 2 p.m., vowing to stay until he had tickets.
"When I first got here, I thought I might be crazy. I got here and didn't see anyone else," Blanco said. "But another 20 people showed up in the next half hour."
They kept coming throughout the day, the line growing into the hundreds by late afternoon. Cuban coffee cups were at their feet, sweat shirts were balled into makeshift pillows for weary heads.
Rita Dominguez, 44, a Miami housewife, said she took a major gamble in hopes the Marlins would reach the World Series.
"It's all about the Marlins," said Dominguez, who began her ticket vigil at noon Wednesday. "I sold my Dolphins tickets for this weekend (against New England) to get the money to buy World Series tickets."
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and his family were among the 400 people jammed into a Miami Lakes restaurant for a Marlins viewing party Wednesday night. He said the team was making his job a bit easier.
"Coming in today, I didn't hear any complaints," said Penelas, dressed in a button-down shirt embroidered with the Marlins logo. "No one complains about potholes when your team is winning."
Also at the party - besides the goat, brought as a symbol of the curse a Chicago bar owner placed on the Cubs when he and his goat were denied admission to the 1945 World Series - were two Marlins from the 1997 world champion team, pitcher Alex Fernandez and infielder Alex Arias.
"These fans were down for a while," Arias said. "This year they came back. ... I think these guys know they're lucky to be in this situation, but they've played some great baseball."
Bars and restaurants across South Florida were packed for the game. At the popular Sports Grille Restaurant and Bar in the Miami suburb of Kendall, every table was surrounded by fans, most of whom ate chicken wings, drank beer and wore Marlins colors.
John Rodriguez, 28, said his mother was among the throng camping out for tickets. He said victory was sweeter because it happened at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs were heavy favorites.
"The best thing about it is we did it at their house in front of their fans," Rodriguez said.
Alex Delgado, 25, was with a few friends watching the game in the standing-room-only bar area.
"There's nowhere to sit. This is incredible," Delgado said.
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