The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 60

4D THE MIAMI HERALD THURSDAY MAY 23 1991 Robbie does late lobbying for 1995 Super Bowl Miami'c tntal ic turir-e that nf Hniiston and Tampa put together Houston has hosted the event once in 1974 when Bob Griese threw only seven By SCOTT FOWLER Herald Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams a Texas-sized obstacle to a 1995 Super Bowl in Miami worked the crowd hard Wednesday as he tried to quell last-minute passes (completing six) as Miami ran over' Minnesota 24-7 Tampa is here too but is regarded almost as an afterthought Having hosted the 1991 Super Bowl it is thought to have a better chance for the 1997 game New doubts about the Astro- dome's seating capacity I before today vote Ostrich leather brief dome The official NFL minimum for a Super Bowl is 70000 The Astrodome seats 60502 Joe Robbie 73000 Astrodome officials say they can find 10000 seats among the aisles and bleachers including 2940 on the Astrodome floor between the 30-yard line and the end zone Some NFL owners may be doubtful Minneapolis (the '92 host) made the same claim a couple of years ago saying it could increase from 63000 to 73000 What the city didn't tell the NFL was that it planned to tear out chairback seating between the goal lines and put in bleachers squeezing in people who paid $150 a seat The NFL said no to that it was too late to yank the game from Minneapolis but the issue has prompted a greater sensitivity to seating concerns Miami in the four-minute video it will show and 11 minutes of talks preceding it will press its one certain advantage and point out that the 73000 seats in JRS are all lobbying as well even going to the Stanley Cup hockey game here Tuesday night to grab some owners one-on-one but he hasn't been quite as visible as Adams "I think I've talked to virtually everyone though" Robbie said Wednesday "I'm telling them all we have the best financial package Houston disputes that I think the vote will be very close But Houston hasn't had it for so long there's a lot of sentiment in their favor and we recognize that" The Oilers' owner since the franchise's inception as an AFL club in 1959 Adams is counting on league nostalgia to assure him the '95 game He back-slapped all afternoon and into the evening in the sumptuous Rad-isson Plaza hotel where Mikhail Gorbachev held a meeting a couple of years ago during a swing through the United States But Miami remains in this race for one reason NFL owners are concerned that Houston can't deliver on its promise to add about 10000 temporary seats to the Astro "theater-style" There will be three presenters for Miami Broward developer Bernie Budd (to show consolidation between Dade and Broward counties) Greater Miami Convention Visitors Bureau president Merrett Stierheim (to talk about the monetary specifics of the bid) and stadium manager Glenn Mon (to brag about the $115 million structure he supervises) Miami goes first at 1 pm Houston second at 1:15 and Tampa last at 1:30 A first-ballot victory would require a three-quarters majority or 21 votes among the 28 owners who vote secretly If there isn't one the city with the fewest votes gets eliminated and there is another vote with the majority ruling Miami is the most experienced Super party-giver of the three cities competing The Super Bowl has come to Miami six times most recently in 1991 Only New Orleans (seven Super Bowls) boasts more case clasped in one hand a handkerchief to wipe his brow in the Orleans isn't here at all The city decided its shortage of hotel rooms around the time of the Jan 29 1995 game due to conventions would cause too much trouble to bother with the game Robbie emphasized that the Miami bid is the strongest in terms of tangibles a $5 other Adams talked to every one of the 25 NFL owners not involved in a '95 Super Bowl bid His Ml I Tl It message: We re over million pacKage nousion says ii is tompdid-ble but will not release specific figures I 1- due for this thing We haven't hosted since Adams iniangiuiy me auvaiuage icaia wmi Houston and Adams "It's going to be 1974 We deserve the Super Bowl" Dolphin president Tim Robbie has been Bold new Braves renew fans' hope Roby wants to become NFL's top -paid punter Reggie Roby the No 8 punter on the NFL's all-time list has asked the Dolphins to renegotiate and extend his contract which ends after this season "The reasons? How long do you have'' said Roby Wednesday "Look at my stats the past five years I'm eighth all-time among NFL punters The only active guy ahead of me is India- Associated Press average last season His career average of 432 yards is the highest in Dolphin history But said his agent Scott Salomon he will make $230000 in 1991 16th among current punters Stark will make $440000 this season Salomon said he is seeking for Roby this year plus an extension for '92 that will make him "the highest-paid punter in the NFL" Salomon said Wednesday that a contract proposal was in the mail to the Dolphins Charley Winner Miami's director of player personnel said he had heard from Salomon but declined to talk about the matter publicly "This is the second agent Reggie has had since April" Winner said "I think Reggie leads the league in agents The most recent agent said he was going to send his proposals "But I judge agents by the way they negotiate in the newspapers I've heard from two papers today and that does not sit favorably with the Miami Dolphins We don't negotiate through the press It's a private matter" SHORT GAME: Terry Pendleton who was thrown out in the first inning May 1 1 vs the Pirates for arguing a called third strike has provided added spark for the new-look Braves in '90 which left the Braves a dreary last in the National League It's this combination that has given rise to all this hope among Atlantans maybe just maybe this is no fluke The great inspirational cliche heard all through the stands on the radio talk shows above the din in the sports bars is "Speed and defense never slump" Of course pitching helps And the Braves have gotten a stunning start from Steve Avery (5-2 after taking a 7-2 loss Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres) and Tom Glavine (6-2) Except of course for Terry Pendleton who hit 611 last week Pendleton hits for everybody even Smoltz "It's not only that we haven't had a great baseball team in Atlanta since the early '80s" said Morris Smith huddled under an umbrella with his wife Betty "In Atlanta we haven't had anything in professional sports for so long" The Falcons have habitually been among the worst teams in professional football and these last few year the NBA Hawks only flirted with greatness before adding to the city's collective despair This is a city that must look back to the old Atlanta Chiefs who won the North American Soccer League title back in 1968 for its only national professional sports title The awfulness of the Braves and the Falcons seemed to give credence to a long enduring legend that some wrinkled old woman angry that her house had been demolished to make way for the Atlanta-Fulton BRAVES FROM 1D game than last year Butler dismissed any notion that this interest in the Braves was based op some winning fluke a temporary aberration "It's not just that we're winning but we're actually playing real baseball" said Butler though he said it with a few colorful Alabama-style expletives to emphasize "real" "It doesn't hurt my pride to pull for this team" he said This new team has a mix of newly acquired free agents and young players up from the Atlanta farm system and a style in sharp contrast with the Braves of old This is a team given to footspeed and defensive skills forsaking the stand-and-swat home-run oriented Braves led by longtime hero Dale Murphy The immortal Murph was traded away last year The 1991 Braves for example have already stolen 45 bases Last year's waves lid not steal their 46th base until July 22 stole only 92 the whole year And there's this ageless Otis Nixon in by trade from Montreal whose speed simply defies his 32 years Here is a leadoff man at last who can score from first base on a double The Braves are 11-4 in games Nixon starts The infield now has the often wonderful Rafael Belliard at shortstop Sid Bream at first Terry Pendleton at third all defensive wizards compared to the '90 Braves all acquired through free agency The team's fielding percentage is now a respectable 983 compared to 974 a 1 i Rohn Stark Robv and he's getting almost double what I am And Stark has the great fortune of punting indoors eight games every year It's no secret I'm very underpaid for the type of player I am It comes down to paying me what I'm worth or letting another team have that choice" Roby an eight-year veteran punted 72 times for a 42-yard sional sports towns Rosenberg said that even in the early 1980s when the Braves were contenders there wasn't this euphoria he senses out there lately this break from a long dismal time of hopelessness Anthony Gross said he walked to the stadium on an unseasonably cold rainy night from his home two miles away "No I'd never bothered to come last year Last year it would have seemed a lot colder and a lot wetter than it does tonight" County Stadium 30 years ago laid a curse of losing on the stadium teams "Maybe that old lady got tired of losing teams too" said Butler "Maybe she lifted the curse" The mood of the crowd certainly seems to be post-curse voodoo-free and happy "Last year fans just seemed angry most of the time" said Grady Ware a security supervisor and an employee of the stadium for 15 years "I tell you winning makes my job easier I'd rather deal with a full house now that we're winning than 5000 fans last year when we were losing Even Atlanta sports writers confess difficulty in maintaining their usual cynicism "For Atlanta this is like a pennant race" said LJ Rosenberg who covers the Braves for The Atlanta Constitution and who grew up in this bleakest of profes GUARANTEED! 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