Very interesting column...it reminded me of the Florida I lived in for a few months when I worked at the Boca Raton News.
I even had to deal with a cranky old guy. He came to the paper, wearing his Pittsburgh Pirates cap, and demanded to know why we didn't cover Pittsburgh.
"We're the Boca Raton News," I said. "We cover the city we're in."
"You should cover Pittsburgh, like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette," he said. "That's a REAL paper.
Then he left, annoyed.
I told my goggling colleague, "Well, he should have stayed in Pittsburgh, then."
It seems that so many Floridians see themselves as individuals who only attend to their own needs. There is very little sense of community or cooperation. That’s why they voted for a guy who told them not to wear masks or get vaccinated.
Visited FL in the late 90's for Spring Training. It was an El Nino year and had just 1 day of nice weather, thank goodness it was the day of the ball game in Vero Beach, Cards vs Dodgers and it was great watching McGuire bash balls out of the park during batting practice. What wasn't great was that my travel agent didn't tell me about the Orlando area toll roads, which required quarters, I'm sure that isn't a "thing" now but let me tell you when you drop your last quarter and it rolls under your rental in the middle of a thunderstorm in a pitch black stretch between strip malls, it is not a place you ever think about going back to...even with days left on Disney park hopper passes...never going back.
All the tolls are automatic now. They bill your license plate double if you don't have a SunPass. The NY, Nj, MA, PA toll passes don't work in FL. The express lanes can be more Thant $10. The free lanes can take an hour longer.
I have a Mark McGuire rookie card. Too bad it's not worth much sincere might never be in the Hall of Fame.
Thank you for the info, the rental companies must get blanket passes and pad the fees accordingly, otherwise they'd get fleeced, right? I think I have a McGuire rookie card too, so skinny, even in a white uniform! I was a Dodger fan and truly loved that era of Piazza, Karros, Butler, Gagne etc and it was Konerko rookie year. 💙
No, I hold a grudge for a long time, it was the Marlins trade that was the deal breaker for me! Ultimately, it worked out well for Mike and the Mets, all's well that ends well.
Man you have described exactly what I think is Florida! Locals are mean and the males are very aggressive to visitors. I am ok if I stay in a rental condo and talk to the "Other" visitors but let me go to a local diner or any other place where locals hang I am on edge and expecting trouble all the while that I am there because that threat hangs in the air along with the stares and mumbling that you hear around you. I will not go back to Florida during this lifetime if I can at all avoid it.
I lived in Florida from late December 1959 to very early April 1961. I hated every minute of it. I lived first in Gainesville, and then in Lakeland. My memories are of damp sheets (due to humidity always above 90%) bugs (including 4 inch long cockroaches called palmetto bugs that flew at your face) snakes, 3 varieties of which were poisonous. There was one pretty (and clean) beach in the whole State. New Smyrna Beach. My then husband loved Florida. He was offered a job (civil engineer) paying almost double what he was making in Florida. I gave him a choice, take the job and move to California or I would leave him, taking our daughter with me. I love California.
Very interesting column...it reminded me of the Florida I lived in for a few months when I worked at the Boca Raton News.
I even had to deal with a cranky old guy. He came to the paper, wearing his Pittsburgh Pirates cap, and demanded to know why we didn't cover Pittsburgh.
"We're the Boca Raton News," I said. "We cover the city we're in."
"You should cover Pittsburgh, like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette," he said. "That's a REAL paper.
Then he left, annoyed.
I told my goggling colleague, "Well, he should have stayed in Pittsburgh, then."
It seems that so many Floridians see themselves as individuals who only attend to their own needs. There is very little sense of community or cooperation. That’s why they voted for a guy who told them not to wear masks or get vaccinated.
The guy's sense of entitlement astonished me at the time.
Since then, I'm more used to seeing it.
Visited FL in the late 90's for Spring Training. It was an El Nino year and had just 1 day of nice weather, thank goodness it was the day of the ball game in Vero Beach, Cards vs Dodgers and it was great watching McGuire bash balls out of the park during batting practice. What wasn't great was that my travel agent didn't tell me about the Orlando area toll roads, which required quarters, I'm sure that isn't a "thing" now but let me tell you when you drop your last quarter and it rolls under your rental in the middle of a thunderstorm in a pitch black stretch between strip malls, it is not a place you ever think about going back to...even with days left on Disney park hopper passes...never going back.
All the tolls are automatic now. They bill your license plate double if you don't have a SunPass. The NY, Nj, MA, PA toll passes don't work in FL. The express lanes can be more Thant $10. The free lanes can take an hour longer.
I have a Mark McGuire rookie card. Too bad it's not worth much sincere might never be in the Hall of Fame.
Thank you for the info, the rental companies must get blanket passes and pad the fees accordingly, otherwise they'd get fleeced, right? I think I have a McGuire rookie card too, so skinny, even in a white uniform! I was a Dodger fan and truly loved that era of Piazza, Karros, Butler, Gagne etc and it was Konerko rookie year. 💙
If you are still a Dodger fan you can thank the Red Sox for letting Mookie Betts go for nothing. It was one of the worst trades since Babe Ruth.
No, I hold a grudge for a long time, it was the Marlins trade that was the deal breaker for me! Ultimately, it worked out well for Mike and the Mets, all's well that ends well.
https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb/reliving-the-mike-piazza-trade-saga-25-years-later/
Man you have described exactly what I think is Florida! Locals are mean and the males are very aggressive to visitors. I am ok if I stay in a rental condo and talk to the "Other" visitors but let me go to a local diner or any other place where locals hang I am on edge and expecting trouble all the while that I am there because that threat hangs in the air along with the stares and mumbling that you hear around you. I will not go back to Florida during this lifetime if I can at all avoid it.
I lived in Florida from late December 1959 to very early April 1961. I hated every minute of it. I lived first in Gainesville, and then in Lakeland. My memories are of damp sheets (due to humidity always above 90%) bugs (including 4 inch long cockroaches called palmetto bugs that flew at your face) snakes, 3 varieties of which were poisonous. There was one pretty (and clean) beach in the whole State. New Smyrna Beach. My then husband loved Florida. He was offered a job (civil engineer) paying almost double what he was making in Florida. I gave him a choice, take the job and move to California or I would leave him, taking our daughter with me. I love California.