Mike Berardino has an interesting column in the Sun-Sentinel today about the newfound appreciation of long-time Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez is playing this year in a big baseball town, Boston, and is finding out what it's like to be a real major leaguer.
That kind of comparison extends beyond baseball. South Floridians, isolated by sprawl and increasingly bad traffic, don't have much in the way of community, whether it be centered on the baseball team, City Hall, or anything else. Reporters who kick ass on a regular basis know all about the general apathy (though it's not that bad in some cities, like H-Wood, Pompano, Deerfield ... but do you want to hear a giant sucking sound? Try covering Plantation, Coconut Creek, or the greatest beneficiary of sprawl of all, the incredibly unwatched Broward County Commission).
It's a double-edged sword, this flourishing lack of community. In one regard it's frustrating and damaging and, in another, it's liberating. You can be whatever the hell you want to be in South Florida and guess what? Nobody cares.
---AND, for those of you on the Pulp right now, 10 a.m., I'm about to go on Barry Epstein's radio show on WWNN 1470 AM. We're probably gonna talk about Murtha and the Sun-Sentinel.