Normally I would not read a long piece in a Philadelphia paper online about a U.S. senator who switched parties (for the second time) in an attempt to hold a seat he has had for 30 years. But this senator happened to be Arlen Specter. I wanted to see if there was any reference to his work on the Warren Commission’s investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. There was.
The article said Specter was the man who came up with the single-bullet theory, also known as the Magic Bullet, which the Warren Commission concluded went through JFK’s body and then wounded Texas Gov. John Connally. It said, accurately, that Specter has endured ridicule over the years for developing that theory, without which the lone assassin conclusion could not be sustained. Then the writer added, inaccurately, that the theory has never been refuted, and that tests had shown it was theoretically possible.
That is nonsense. The theory was first vigorously refuted way back in 1967, in Philadelphia of all places, when Gaeton Fonzi of Philadelphia magazine interviewed Specter about his work for the Warren Commission. At the time, very few people had even read the Warren Commission report, and Specter was flushed with success when papers such as the New York Times praised the commission’s work, even though nobody at the Times had even read the 26 volumes of evidence. But Fonzi had been prepped by someone who had carefully studied the evidence. Specter did not expect to be questioned in detail about JFK’s wounds. Fonzi liked and respected Specter, but to his amazement, a surprised Specter stumbled all over the place trying to explain the unexplainable – how the holes in Kennedy’s shirt did not match the wounds, and even if they did, how a bullet that appeared to never have been fired left more fragments in Connally’s body than could have been possible from an almost pristine bullet.
Fonzi had expected Specter, normally smooth, to explain away the inconsistencies, and was stunned at his inability to do so. Fonzi reported as much in Philadelphia magazine. That incident later appeared in this magazine in 1980, in a piece that eventually became the 1994 book The Last Investigation. It was re-published in an updated form two years ago. I wrote the foreword for what is now regarded as an iconic work, the first book to link Lee Harvey Oswald to our CIA. That connection occurred right here in South Florida when Fonzi began delving into the CIA’s support for anti-Castro Cubans. Various books have cited Fonzi’s investigative work, and almost all of them have refuted the single-bullet theory.
Now, Arlen Specter is a darn smart man, and was an experienced prosecutor at the time of the Warren Commission. I have long found it hard to believe he believed his own theory, and the only explanation for the theory seems to be that Specter’s charge was not to solve a murder, but to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. We now know that the Warren Commission had an agenda to put the case to rest. It ignored much evidence, especially the eyewitness accounts of many people who said the fatal shots came from the grassy knoll, indicating more than one shooter. There was dissention on the commission, notably from Sen. Richard Brevard Russell Jr. of Georgia, who did not buy the single-bullet idea. That, however was not made public at the time.
Over the years, researchers have built on each other’s books, and almost all rely on Fonzi’s landmark work. It recent years David Talbot in Brothers revealed that Robert Kennedy immediately suspected a government conspiracy. He summoned federal marshals for his own protection and one of his first calls was to the CIA director. He quietly followed events such as the Garrison trial in New Orleans. He felt powerless, even as attorney general, for he knew the widespread animosity toward his brother and him among high government officials, including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who resented Kennedy’s failure to invade Cuba and attempts to end the Cold War. The Hawks thought only nuclear weapons could do that.
Last year, JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass did a brilliant job of packaging all the research of the last 45 years. He had the advantage of information supplied by the release of formerly classified documents, most of them discovered by former Washington Post reporter Jefferson Morley. They point to the long-held suspicion that Lee Harvey Oswald was an intelligence asset, the sinister link that Fonzi first discovered in the 1970s. It has bothered me for years that with rare exceptions such as Morley, the mainstream press has failed in its responsibility to inform the public on the crime of the last century. The Arlen Specter article is just the most recent example.
Ironically, the same year that Specter entered the U.S. Senate (1980), another Pennsylvanian exited it. He was Richard Schweiker, and he’s still around. He was the man who in 1975 recalled Gaeton Fonzi’s Philadelphia magazine article. He had re-opened an investigation into the death of President Kennedy and was convinced Oswald had CIA connections. He hired Fonzi to try to prove it. The rest is history.
The braces on her teeth. Her picture was in the paper. I think that’s what got to me, the story of the young girl killed when a BSO car hit the car she was in so hard it was broken in half. Such a pretty girl, braces on her teeth, on the verge of the real world. Wham. Dead. So much gone, so fast.
“Can’t stop everybody,” he said. I think he picked me out because of the Porsche. He thought I was a rich kid. I paid $2,600 for the used Porsche, at a time when a new VW cost $1,400.
One ticket in Florida was in Lawtey, the notorious speed trap many University of Florida alum experience when driving out of Gainesville, where signs went from 55 m.p.h., which I was doing, to about 25 m.p.h. within a few hundred yards. It was more than 10 years ago, and I am still angry about that one. I don’t know if they still do that, but if they do, it is organized crime, run by the wonderful government in a redneck town. The braces on the teeth brought that bad day back, and I am angry.
Back on topic. It amazes me how fast people drive in Fort Lauderdale, and seem to get away with it. Yesterday, a car passed me in a 35 m.p.h. zone on Broward Boulevard. It had to be going 55 m.p.h. and accelerating. Later in the day, I stopped for a red light at Broward and Andrews. I had plenty of time to stop, and in the rear view mirror I saw a car, coming up fast, swing out behind me and bust that light, big time. Had another driver, going perpendicular and anticipating the change of light, made a mistake, we might have had a fatality right in front of me. It happens all the time. Why are people in such a hurry? And with tinted windows, you can’t even see who is not in control. It must have something to do with sex.
And there is a lawsuit in Pembroke Pines over those automatic tickets at traffic lights at major intersections. The complaint is based on invasion of privacy, or some such B.S. A number of people are behind that suit. I would like to follow every one and see how often they bust lights. I would wage they do it all the time. They don’t like to stop.
This is a rant. Venting. Blame it on the braces on a pretty14-year-old girl who is not around to read this.
In past blogs we've remembered important people who have died. Kaye Pearson, Jack Cooney, most recently Tom Oxley. Today, in Boise, Idaho, there is a memorial service for Ruth Gullstrom. She was 98. More importantly, she was our neighbor for 16 years.
When we came to Florida in 1970, we found a pretty house in Colee Hammock. What we did not know was that our neighbors were watching with interest to see who bought the house. They were up to here with the wild parties held by the previous owners. But Ruth and Al immediately befriended us, and that is an understatement if there is any way to understate or exaggerate the word friend. Al, whose real first name was Carl, arrived in Florida in 1918. He was 2 years old, the son of a Finnish immigrant to Massachusetts. They came down because a sister was ill and the doctors suggested a warmer climate. She died anyway. Al recalled the 1926 hurricane when their house on Ravenswood Road blew away and he helped men mount the house on logs and roll it back in place. It stayed there until airport expansion took it away in the 1980s.
Ruth was 30 years older than my wife Peggy, but they became best friends. Ruth was warm, funny and loving. She used to give our kids cookies and milk. Years later, when our son Mark arrived with a spring break gang from Notre Dame, Ruth and Al put them up in a spare room. They were surrogate grandparents.
In 1982 we had a bad break. We were broke and planned to take the kids out of private school. Our youngest, Julie, was at Happyland, the First Presbyterian Church pre-school. Ruth and Al picked up the tuition. We never asked them. They just did it. Neighbors.
Al, a carpenter by trade, was a longtime employee of Causeway Lumber. He could do anything, always in a slow, drawling way. One New Year’s Day we awoke to a water spout in our front yard. A pipe had broken. Al had heart trouble, and I did not want to trouble him, but he was the only guy I knew who could save Florida from drowning. He went into his shop and hammered a piece of pipe so that it fit over the key leading from the main. The man literally made a tool in about five minutes. That shut off the water.
“Thanks Al,” I said. “We’ll get a plumber Monday.”
“It’s New Year’s,” Al said. “You gotta have water.”
Conscious of his bad heart, I protested. But he went back to his work room and produced a spade, a bit of hose and a hacksaw. He dug up the ground, cut the rusted part of the pipe and fitted the hose over the gap. All I did was stand by with a two-by-four and pressed a little when Al said to. It took about 30 minutes. That fix lasted for several years, and we had water on New Year’s Day.
This could go on. One Christmas Ruth asked me to get a picture of Foy Fleming, who lived in that classic walled house on our street. I did not know it, but Peggy thought he was the best-looking man who ever lived. She was not alone. Ruth wanted to play a joke on Peg but was too shy to ask Foy for a picture of himself so she could have fun with it. She asked me to call Foy. I told him the story.
“Bunny,” he said, in his southern way, “I probably shouldn’t do this, but I will.”
The picture was a Christmas gift. It read: “To Peggy, with all my love, Foy.”
Ruth and Al moved to Ocala in 1986, and we often visited. They bought land next to large horse farms and it was great fun to walk the dirt roads and get to know the horses. Al died and Ruth moved to Boise to be near their son, Chuck. Peggy kept in touch by phone and we always enjoyed the amusing cards Ruth sent for birthdays, etc. We knew she was failing and we talked about taking the time to visit her.
My wife is sad today, for the reasons here mentioned and the countless other kindnesses that came from wonderful people and the blessing of living next door to them. Peggy wishes we could do something. I told her I would think of something.
On the surface it would seem quite a distance between the Scott Rothstein saga and the case of former Broward County Judge Larry Seidlin, being sued for allegedly exploiting an elderly sick neighbor, Barbara Kasner. In reality, the distance between the two cases is no more than the distance between the former offices of Rothstein and his partner, Russell Adler. And that could create great complications in the legal process.
Adler, you see, is representing Seidlin in the case brought by attorney William Scherer. Scherer himself is heavily involved with the Rothstein case. He has been all over the media as representative for $100 million worth of investors who claim Rothstein’s scheme victimized them.
In an odd twist this story found its way to an obscure blog, www.EstateofDenial.com, which deals with probate matters. In considerable detail, writer Lou Ann Anderson described the events leading up to the present situation, including the fact that Seidlin was the judge in the Anna Nicole Smith case. It was a long post, describing a story that dates back to 2007 with a series of legal events involving a fight over guardianship and efforts to negate a will that was changed by an ailing woman.
Anderson, who appears to be in Texas (most of the posts on the blog relate to that state), points out that Scherer’s attempt to speed the case to trial, because of Barbara Kasner’s ill health, may be stymied if Adler is indicted or disbarred in the Rothstein matter, and Seidlin seeks new representation. The piece is also sarcastically critical of Broward Chief Judge Victor Tobin, who requested the case be moved from Broward Judge Tom Lynch to a Palm Beach County court, likely resulting in another delay. She smirks at Tobin’s reason – to avoid the appearance of impropriety – in a case which began with impropriety and has been marked by a series of strange events.
Anderson details them all, including recent efforts, so far defeated by Scherer, to have a guardian appointed for Kasler. She observes that a guardian could have considerable powers over legal events, including the lawsuit against Seidlin.
Scherer’s urgency in moving the case forward is not unfounded. Barbara Kasner, 83, is very ill, confined mostly to bed, breathing with the assistance of oxygen tubes and barely able to talk. Considering that Scherer’s suit against Seidlin alleges about $1 million in transferred assets so far, and including her will, the damage to Kasner’s estate may be as much as $6 million, there is ample reason for speed.
Some of the information in this column has been published locally. Anderson cites both the Miami Herald and the Daily Business Review. But we have not seen it packaged so neatly anywhere else. Unless you count New Times’ blog, Daily Pulp, where the entire Anderson piece was posted earlier last month.
Journalism has taken some strange twists in the last few years as newspapers have lost clout and the Internet has supplied increasing coverage and opinion on important stories.
But this sequence is bizarre, by any measure. A story on local affairs comes out of Texas, quoting South Florida sources, strange enough in itself, and winds up in a highly read local blog. And www.EstateofDenial.com seems determined to follow events here. Just a few days after the aforementioned post, there was a follow up reporting on the Miami Herald’s big Sunday feature on the background and causes of so much South Florida corruption. The Sun-Sentinel ran a similar story the same day, but maybe Texas never heard of the Sun-Sentinel.
Anyway, it even reported the Herald’s conclusion. The lack of serious reporters has greatly reduced the usefulness of local media in being a watchdog for political misconduct. It isn’t about politics. It’s all about money. Really?
Scott Rothstein posed for a lot of pictures, especially with people he thought were important. This was especially true for political leaders, law enforcement officers and celebrities of any kind. If you had the good luck to pose with the alleged Ponzi schemer, then you must head to straight to jail.
At least that is the impression one gets from reading the blogs and comments which have become such an important part of our information system in the 21st century. Names are being thrown around with deplorable lack of taste, even common sense. People who knew Rothstein, from Gov. Charlie Crist to football legend Dan Marino, have been accused of guilt (or gilt) by association. If Rothstein made a contribution to a political campaign, or a charity, that makes the recipient a bad person. Especially if you were seen having a cocktail with him. Or had the misfortune to be a mayor, sheriff or police chief – the kind of people Rothstein sucked up to, or as Churchill might correct, up to which he sucked.
There ought to be a law against such nonsense. In fact there is. It’s called defamation of character, but the Internet tends to ignore the rules which have long governed media conduct. Crist is getting tarred more than most because he is so visible and running for high office. He did go to Rothstein’s wedding. A lot of politicians would, if they had received major contributions. He made the mistake of posing with him. But if he was such a good friend, why was Rothstein not invited to the swearing in ceremony of Sen. George LeMieux in Washington? Certainly Crist would have made sure a good buddy got invited to a function for someone who really is a good buddy. LeMieux’s office confirmed that Rothstein was not invited, although he showed up anyway.
It is interesting that in retrospect people seem to think Rothstein’s illegal (allegedly, of course) conduct was obvious to the world. But keep in mind when several years ago we published our list of most powerful people, nobody even mentioned Rothstein. Yet last year in the same survey, his name came up repeatedly, but usually with a caveat that there was mystery to his sudden wealth. But that’s the point. It was sudden. Certainly in the political world and the legal community, his reputation was questioned. Said a prominent lawyer: “I suspected him a couple years ago. Our firm does pretty well, but there was no way we could have generated the kind of money he was throwing around.”
But the people the money was thrown at did not necessarily know how widespread his largess was. Nor would a politician necessarily know that a suddenly wealthy man was running a Ponzi scheme, especially one based on non-existent lawsuits. There are many people around here who got rich fast. Dot-com millionaires showed up early in the last decade buying huge houses just to have a place to park their yachts. All kinds of legitimately wealthy people arrive in Florida as unknowns. Many prefer to stay that way; others crave the limelight.
Obviously lawyers in his firm, especially those who knew his background, had to know something was wrong. They must have known the business they weren’t doing could not provide such income. But I doubt if many of them thought he was crazy enough to come up with such a scam, and expect to get away with it.
Finally, as posted here before, I don’t recall hearing the name Scott Rothstein until we compiled our powerful list in the spring of 2009. To put that in perspective, I am told I met Wayne Huizenga in the 1970s, when he was quietly building his first fortune in Waste Management. But the name meant nothing to me until Blockbuster and the sports franchises almost 15 years later. And I think I am more typical than not.
Had I known Scott Rothstein was contributing to everything that moved in the last few years, I would have approached him about something for my foundation. I don’t have a foundation, but that would be a good way to start.
Scott Rothstein has compiled a body of literature that would make John O’Hara envious. O’Hara published about 400 stories, as well as a number of novels. Even he was not sure of the total. Judging by the number of references to Rothstein’s literary style on the popular blogs, many people have preserved written souvenirs of his brief but glorious rise to fame. They show an erratic nature, varying from effusively affectionate to hostile and threatening. Here’s one from Byron Calhoun, the likeable broker associate specializing in commercial property for Stiles.
The background: Calhoun had gotten friendly with Rabbi Schneur Kaplan when he was looking for a downtown location for his services. For several years the Chabad was held at the Riverside Hotel. However, the rabbi was told last year (2008) that pending construction of the hotel would not permit the Rosh Hashanah services in September. Asked to help with the matter, Calhoun asked Stiles’ Jeff Lis if he could get a construction delay for a week to permit the congregation’s use of hotel facilities. Rothstein, ever the opportunist when it came to schmoozing, was delighted to jump in when Lis reported success. However, the Riverside began pre-construction midstream in the holy week.
The e-mail exchange shows the Jekyll and Hyde sides of Rothstein. Gracious and pious at one point, and friendly to Calhoun after the disappointment, he suddenly turned threatening, not to Stiles organization, but rather to the hotel. Here’s the exchange. Grammatical errors and stylistic quirks are as written. The e-mails were sent within a few days of each other in late September-early October, 2008.
Rothstein to Calhoun
Sept. 29. 2008
Byron,
Rabbi Kaplan just forwarded me your e-mail regarding the space at the Riverside.
I can not thank you enough for the beautiful thing you have done for our congregation. We are still a month or so away from completing our Shul on Broward Blvd. and if you had not stepped in we would have been without a place to worship on one of the holiest days of the year for the Jewish people.
We are forever in your debt.
You are a true gem and the Stiles Corporation should be proud to have you on their team. (Tell Terry and Doug I said so ….and tell them I said you deserve a raise….)
Wishing you all the best of everything always,
Scott
Calhoun to Rothstein
Sept. 30, 2008
Scott…thanks. I consider it a great privilege being asked to help. Jeff Lis, our Senior Vice President, who is heading up the effort to redevelop the Riverside Hotel is the real agent of action here. Without hesitation, Jeff took immediate remedial steps as soon as I informed him of your congregation’s plight. By the way, he wants you to know that he is part of the “Gator Nation” and that his son is attending “law School” at the U of Fl at this very time.
May you and your family and friends have a Blessed Holy Season.
Byron
Rothstein to Calhoun
Oct. 3, 2008
Byron,
Thanks again for your kindness. And please extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Jeff Lis.
Unfortunately, the Riverside took it upon themselves to dismantle the electrical running to the room as soon as our services were over so we are no longer able to have services there next week despite your hard work and amazing efforts on our behalf.
I just wanted to let you know that despite the Riversides actions which were clearly motivated by something other than wanting to move the project forward (when the time is right I will deal with them…they really have no idea who they have angered), we remain in debt to you and Jeff for your sincerity, and kindness.
If there is ever anything I can do to help you or Jeff at any time please feel free to call on me.
Wishing you all the best,
Tell jeff I said….GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Side Car: The rabbi’s story had a happy ending, we hope. The shul on Broward Boulevard opened, aided by a generous gift from Rothstein. It even put his name on the building. That was before the great fall. Now the name is gone.
Bob Griese was able to announce a Rose Bowl game in which his son Brian starred without mentioning any connection to the young quarterback. But that was not Tom Oxley’s style. When working the public address at Royal Palm Polo in Boca Raton it wasn’t unusual for him to blurt out things such as “Look at my brother Jack ride!” or spot somebody in the crowd and shout “There’s my friend from Gold Coast Magazine, folks, give him a hand.”
Oxley, who died last week, had a style of his own and for years he was a highly entertaining voice of polo at Royal Palm. His bubbling, sometimes inarticulate enthusiasm added to the excitement of the sport. He was also manager of the polo club. Later he became a great supporter of Florida Atlantic University. The Oxley Center at FAU bears his name after he made a major contribution to build it.
Tom Oxley came from a wealthy Oklahoma oil family. His whole family played polo and at one time he was one of the top young players in the country. That was before a fall with a horse almost killed him the late 1960s. He was in a coma for a month. His recovery was considered a near miracle. He was an early recipient of patterning, in which paralyzed people are neurologically retrained.
He never played polo again, although he did get back on a horse. Doctors considered it too risky for a man who spent the rest of his life with a slight limp and somewhat slurred speech. It never stopped him from enjoying sports and life in general. A few years ago this magazine wanted to photograph him for a story on FAU. A regular at Fort Lauderdale’s Mai-Kai, Oxley insisted on posing between two Mai-Kai beauties. He and his family will be remembered for sustaining polo in South Florida for decades, and for his generous support of a local university.
Recently the Miami City Commission passed an ordinance to authorize a class in ethics training for people entering public life. It passed unanimously, 3-0. There are five members on the commission but two did not vote because of conflicts of interest. They have been indicted.
One of the commissioners who voted for the resolution also has a mild conflict. He is regarded as ethical, and therefore has a built-in conflict of interest. Marc Sarnoff, you may recall, sort of blew the whistle on a fellow commissioner a few years back when he reported the commissioner was all but advertising a willingness to make some extra money on the job. Sarnoff, of course, had no choice but to vote for ethics training, although he observed that any 8-year-old who doesn’t understand what ethics means probably never will.
Although we generally confine our comments to events in the
- True or false: Conflict of interest means if a developer, who needs your vote on a controversial project, asks your advice on a $50,000 community outreach job to explain to folks how great his controversial development is. You then discover that another commissioner has been offered the same deal. True or false: Is this a conflict?
2. Select one: In order to get the best possible person for the $50,000 outreach job, you recommend:
(a) your brother-in-law
(b) your spouse
(c) your pastor
(d) all of these
- Select one: As a legislator, you get a lot of money for your local college from the state. You are then offered a $50,000 job teaching a course at the college, which takes three hours a week. To make sure everything is above board, you should seek a legal opinion from:
(a) your brother-in-law
(b) your spouse
(c) your pastor
(d) all of these
- You are an elected official angling for a contract to do some sludge. Although you abstained from voting because of a possible conflict of interest, you find yourself under suspicion. You should:
(a) delete all your e-mails
(b) tell your computer company your computer ate your stuff
(c) set your computer on fire
(d) tell you law partner’s mother to delete her e-mails
(e) all of these
- You are a public official invited on a boat ride to introduce a contractor to important people. After about 20 drinks you realize everybody but you, including the contractor, is with the FBI. You should:
(a) call your lawyer to arrange a plea bargain
(b) burst into tears
(c) dive into the river
(d) all of these
6. You are a lawyer making $40,000 a year. You are offered $200,000 by a new firm, providing you gave back half of it in campaign contributions. Ethically, you should:
(a) accept the job, and refuse to make contributions
(b) accept the job, and call your lawyer to plea bargain
(c) accept the job, and open a bank account in
(d) accept the job, do what you are told, and when the feds arrive announce you are resigning to spend more time with your family
- Which of these doesn’t belong?
a. Rothstein
b. Rosenfeldt
c. Adler
d. Gillie and Norman, P.A.
- You bill Medicare for $23 million for non-existent patients. Is this unethical?
(a) Only if the IRS catches you
(b) Only if it violates the nine commandments
(c) Not if you split it with the patients
(d) None of these
- You are asked for advice on an ethics class you have just approved. You propose a $50,000 contract for a consultant to run the program. Your choice is:
(a) your brother-in-law
(b) your spouse
(c) your pastor
(d) all of these
- After giving your brother-in-law the contract for the ethics program, media question your impartiality. You then vote for a contract to hire an independent contractor to monitor the ethics czar. You award that contract to:
(a) your brother-in-law’s wife
(b) your spouse
(c) your pastor
(d) your brother-in-law’s 8-year-old son
Of course, there is no way to evaluate your answers to these questions, so no grades are issued. That is because ethics are a personal matter, and there are privacy issues involved. To invade your privacy when it comes to stealing would, of course, be unethical. So grade yourself. Consider it an honor system.
Last year's New Year's resolution was to avoid writing anything on uniforms, which many, including my wife, regard as a stupid subject compared to Scott Rothstein, employee unions taking over governments and the breeding habits of animals in captivity.
We made it almost all the way through football season. The college game is about over, the pros are winding down. And yet, in just the last few weeks, there have been so many occasions when McCormick's theory of uniforms has been validated, that we have to get in a shot in the hope that it will make the next decade a better place for all who watch football on television.
Take the Dolphins. We had the pleasure of covering the undefeated team before it was the undefeated team. The year was 1971, and Don Shula led his men onto the field on a cold December Sunday in Foxboro, Mass. They looked like champs. Actually, they lost that game to the Patriots, but that's not the point. At no time during that season, or the next great year, or for a number of years, did the Dolphins ever wear those stupid green pants. At home they usually came out in their white uniforms and won, and won and won.
More recently the Dolphins have lost their identity by often wearing the green pants, with often disastrous results. They had that game two weeks ago won against Buffalo until the green pants caused a last quarter blow up. However, this past weekend they came out dressed for success, wearing uniforms virtually unchanged from the picture here displayed, and they pulled off that miracle comeback against the Patriots. The Patriots, by the way, were wearing throwback suits, not bad looking really, but not the uniforms which have brought them success in recent years. Late season is not the time for throwbacks, nostalgia be damned. They should fire their equipment manager. It is not that Dolphins in green pants look bad; rather, it is that in all white they look great, like the legendary teams that first wore those uniforms.
Uniforms count. Look at Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame (well, not this year) USC, Oklahoma, Michigan - to name just the most tradition rich schools with the most traditional looks. They may not be flashy uniforms, but they have won in the past and the players, fans, everybody takes pride in their look. Howard Schnellenberger knows this. He personally designed Florida Atlantic's uniforms.
We might also mention Alabama, and here's the heart of the matter. Alabama beat Florida last weekend wearing the same uniforms Joe Namath wore in the 1960s. Same numbers on the helmets, rather than a logo. None of those slash-and-burn stripes so popular with classless schools. Florida, in contrast, virtually threw the game when they came out with a look none had seen before.
Now, it must be noted that Florida has achieved great success mixing up its look. They have worn all blue, except for the orange helmet, they have worn blue pants with white jerseys, sometimes orange pants, and the only combination that looks good - blue jerseys with white pants and orange helmets. That they achieved such success is virtually without precedent. So for the biggest game of the year they come out in all white, with a big "F" on their helmets instead of "Gators," which they have worn for years. And if the way they played did not look like the Florida team of the last two years - exactly. Aestehetically the uniforms were pleasing, almost Dolphinsesque, compared to Alabama's mundane outfits. But Alabama knew it was Alabama, and played like champions. If Florida players looked in the mirror, they would not have recognized themselves as the team they were supposed to be, and they played like it.
The tragedy of it all is that they did all this on purpose. Check UF's Web site. Nike is promoting that white helmet with the big "F" as part of a new look. It suggests it is all about money. Those who design uniforms need change, in order to sell stuff to high schools and kids leagues who imitate the colleges and the pros. They also sell thousands more shirts to all the silly fans who must buy every baseball hat, football or hockey shirt, and even those stupid green pants, that they see on their favorite teams. New Year's resolution for all sports franchises. Dress for success, not for cash.
For weeks there have been rumors of a connection between jailed lawyer Scott Rothstein and the Las Olas Company’s problems with its ambitious Riverside Hotel expansion. Thursday the story broke in Dan Christensen’s new blog, Broward Bulldog. Christensen last week broke the story of a lawsuit by the Wells family, owners of the
Christensen reports Bowen was fired in July, months after arranging a one-year loan at 14 percent. That, at a time of record low interest rates. His blog also said Bowen mortgaged the hotel, a mortgage since paid off, and borrowed additional money from other sources active on Las Olas Boulevard.
The report adds one more bizarre element to the Rothstein saga and leaves many questions unanswered. Foremost, was the loan legit in the first place, or just one of Rothstein’s fake investments to lure money into his Ponzi network? Christensen says Barbara Wells, heiress to the Wells family fortune, may have taken a huge hit. Christensen previously reported that the failed expansion, involving knocking down a half block of popular restaurants and night spots, deprived the Las Olas Company of substantial rental revenue. It also resulted in many people losing their jobs and deprived Las Olas Boulevard of one of its best traffic draws, affecting the ambiance of one of
It is a depressing turn in the history of the charming hotel, which goes back to 1935 when the Wells family opened it as the Champ Carr. The family, notably low key over many years, literally built Las Olas. They owned most of the surrounding property and stores. They expanded the hotel in recent years and seemed poised to add even more vitality with the expansion to the east.
It seems as if there should be another side to this story. We tried to reach Irv Bown but were advised that his lawyers won’t let him comment at this time.
For Christensen, it accelerates the fast start to his investigative blog (browardbulldog.org). The highly respected former Miami Herald reporter organized Broward Bulldog as a non-profit enterprise.
