Monthly Archives: July 2017
Flashback Friday: Florida’s first US boom-town
Ever hear of St Joseph Florida? Likely not. Long before Miami in the roaring 1920’s and Key West in the 1890’s or even Arcadia as a frontier town in the 1900’s, what is currently Gulf County produced the first real boom-town with Florida as a part of the United States. As a US territory, Florida […]
Tampa-based USL is certainly rising despite challenges ahead
USL is a Tampa-based soccer league that fills all areas of the pyramid below first-tier Major League Soccer (MLS). USL has adopted the catchphrase “rising” to describe the emergence of the league. At the Division 2 level USL competes with the NASL (full disclosure- NASL is my former employer for almost four years), at the […]
Hollywood Florida street renaming – rewriting history selectively
As most of you by now know, Hollywood, Florida has decided to change the name of three streets named after historical figures. I personally don’t agree with this type of thinking as it in my opinion whitewashes history and holds figures of yesteryear to a contemporary standard which few if any could pass. But if […]
Could Trump’s wrong track budget regarding Amtrak be an opportunity from a Florida perspective?
A lot of consternation has been thrown out there about President Trump’s new budget proposals – one of the most damaging portions of the budget included the proposal to cut funding for most long-distance and money-losing routes of Amtrak. To this point Florida politicians have mostly been silent about the proposal which would cut all […]
Orlando Pride to Test Spirit in Washington
The past five matches for the Orlando Pride has shown improvement in their form, with the exception of dropping points last week, and against the Houston Dash when they visited Orlando three weeks ago. That result was disappointing with the Pride being shutout at home resulting a 2-0 victory for Houston; the week before, Orlando […]
Flashback Friday: British St Augustine and the growth of the city
St Augustine was under British rule for a grand total of 20 years in its 460 year history. But the British left an indelible mark on the city that remains today. The Seven Years War/French and Indian War ended formally on this day in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. With this treaty Florida changed […]
Florida ties dominate CONCACAF Gold Cup which kicks off this weekend
This weekend the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, the men’s soccer championship for North America, the Caribbean and Central America takes place this month at venues across the United States. CONCACAF, the governing body for football(soccer) in North America, Caribbean and Central America is based in Miami. The tournament has throughout its history had matches in […]
British Airways begins Fort Lauderdale service
After years of rumors and seeming near misses, British Airways (BA) has finally commenced service to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). BA Flight 2169 left London’s Gatwick Airport about five minutes late this morning but is en route to FLL at this writing. Scheduled landing time is 2:11 pm. British Airways was first rumored to […]
Tampa Bay Rowdies make historic ESPN TV network debut Thursday night
This incarnation of the Tampa Bay Rowdies will make their debut on an ESPN TV network (not to be confused with ESPN 3 live streaming of NASL and USL games) on Thursday night with an ESPNU national telecast of a home game versus FC Cincinnati. The Rowdies are currently on a seven game winless streak […]
Budgets cuts, politics and tropical weather
Watching the tropics for potential storm threats is an active part of being a Floridian. But that might become harder according to forecasters. The AP has an excellent story today about budget cuts and how it is potentially impacting our ability to track and forecast storms. But in this partisan climate in Washington, few if […]
The Florida Squeeze 