MiamiMan Magazine V2N3

Paddling Light

PADL makes paddling easier for everyone

BY KEN DUNEK

PUBLISHER Ken Dunek

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Ashley Dunek

EDITOR George Brinkerhoff

ART DIRECTOR Steve Iannarelli

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

George Anastasia, George Brinkerhoff, Sam Carchidi, Mark Eckel, Vincent Mantuo, Mike Shute, Kurt Smith

Photographers

Joel Garcia, Natalia Garcia, Miami Lights Studio

Event Coordinator & Administrative Assistant

Alexandra Dunek

Website & Digital Coordinator Jamie Dunek

Editorial gbrinkerhoff@jerseymanmagazine.com

Advertising 856-912-4007

Printing Alcom Printing, Harleysville, Pa.

Controller Rose M. Balcavage

Sales Associates

Ashley Dunek, Jamie Dunek, Terri Dunek, Allison Farcus, JP Lutz

Hot, hot, hot.

I’ve always admired the HOT vibe in Miami and South Florida.

The pastel lighting, great restaurants and clubs, shopping, and some of the most gorgeous people walking the earth.

But with 110 heat index and ocean temperature over 100, the city and surrounding areas are taking HOT to a new level.

Maybe it is global warming ... who really knows for sure?

But the ultra-cool people of Miami make the heat easier to bear.

And now I realize how the Miami NBA franchise got its name.

JOTTINGS

BY GEORGE BRINKERHOFF

Sky splashing

Well, who knew? Among the many firsts that South Florida has attained is one of which I bet you may not have thought so much about. If you your mind immediately went to “Best Vacation Spot for Rooftop Swimming,” you’re a winner (and perhaps just slightly unusual!) According to a comparison by RoofGnome.com, an online service that connects you with roofing professionals in your area, who compared 500 biggest cities in the U.S., Miami Beach, Florida, was rated first in the nation. (And Miami, FL was ranked number 3!)

In their comparison they emphasized three categories, access to accommodations with a rooftop pool, consumer ratings and average sunshine among eight total metrics. Specifically, RoofGnome finds that the “Sunshine State cities Miami Beach (No. 1) and Miami (No. 3) splash to the top with decent weather and excellent rooftop swimming spots. Miami Beach offers the highest number of accommodations with rooftop pools, followed by Miami. Miami Beach also enjoys the most top-rated accommodations, 19, with rooftop pools.” So congratulations South Florida, you’re simply the best, once again.

One of The Last

SURE, SOUTH FLORIDA has many firsts to its credit but, in this instance, it also has one of the last. An endangered species, if you will. For Miami has one of the last K-Marts still open for business in the continental United States. Yes, the K-Mart located at 14091 SW 88th Street in Miami is one of the last three still in operation. (The other two brick and mortar stalwarts still extant are the one in Bridgehampton on Long Island, NY, and the one in Westwood, NJ. And, as of this writing, the Westwood, NJ location is now scheduled to close this year in September or October.) Whatever you might think of their current situation, if you’re of a certain age you may remember that this company was once a major retailer with over 2,000 locations. And the best part? You can still relive those memories and shop all the great deals at K-Mart regardless of where you live, at Kmart.com.

MOB SCENE

BY GEORGE ANASTASIA

The Life We Chose

BACK IN 1994 when John Stanfa was under indictment and headed for a life prison sentence, he asked William “Big Billy” D’Elia to take over as boss of the Philadelphia mob.

Big Billy said no thank you.

“I didn’t want to put a target on my back,” D’Elia said by way of explanation.

It was the smart move. But then D’Elia was nothing if not smart. By that point, he had been schooled for more than 30 years in the ways of the underworld by one of the masters of that universe. It was an apprenticeship like no other and he came away much the wiser.

D’Elia has now put it all on the record in an intriguing and entertaining new book written by journalist Matt Birkbeck.

The Life We Chose comes out this month. It’s the story of D’Elia’s coming of age in an underworld that was coming undone. The situation in Philadelphia in the 1990s was a prime example and it was captured perfectly in one of the most succinct and telling lines written by Birkbeck… D’Elia watched the murder and mayhem that racked the Philadelphia crime family for years and that reached a crescendo during the war between old-world mob boss Stanfa and the young and precocious Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.

D’Elia’s thoughts, according to Birkbeck: “The propensity for violence there reminded him of spoiled children with guns.”

But that’s getting ahead of the story.

The Life We Chose is as much about D’Elia’s mentor, the late Russell Bufalino, as it is about D’Elia. Operating out of the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area, Bufalino was a major, but often underrated, mob boss who traveled in the highest circles of the American Cosa Nostra.

The mob’s foray into Cuba in the 1950s, the infamous Apalachin meeting (Bufalino was one of the organizers), the clash with Fidel Castro, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the CIA and the mob, the disappearance of Jimmy

Hoffa, the making of The Godfather movie (Bufalino coached Marlon Brando and helped smooth away opposition from Joe Colombo’s Italian-American Civil Rights League) all are part of Bufalino’s curriculum vitae.

The book describes Bufalino as “arguably the most powerful and important organized crime figure of the twentieth century” and backs that claim up with back-handed testimonials from some of the period’s top crime busters.

Robert F. Kennedy, while serving as counsel to a U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating organized crime (Bufalino t ook the fifth dozens of times and refused to answer any questions at a committee hearing) would describe Bufalino as “one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States.”

Kennedy called Bufalino a “very important figure” who had “made the arrangements and appointments for the meeting at Apalachin” and had “great contacts throughout the United States and the underworld.”

Big Billy D’Elia maintained many of those contacts as he rose up the underworld ladder. He started out as a “gofer” and driver for the much older Bufalino who eventually began to introduce him as “my boy.” Later it would be “my son.”

Bufalino and his wife were childless. D’Elia was estranged from his own father. The father-son relationship between them solidified D’Elia’s standing in the mob and offered him a chance to be an eyewitness to American underworld history.

And in that respect, The Life We Chose is a one-of-a-kind historical document.

D’Elia’s role as Bufalino’s heir apparent and successor takes up the second half of the book and provides a snapshot of Cosa Nostra’s demise. He was, in many ways, a throwback. An expediter and fixer, he embraced the role of Mafia problem solver, adopting the old school “make money, not headlines” philosophy as he traveled around the country wheeling and

dealing.

Entertainers like Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, pop stars like Fabio and movers and shakers like Donald Trump and Roy Cohn make appearances as the story unfolds. Violence, from D’Elia’s perspective, was a negotiating tool of last resort that often created more problems than it solved.

THE HIT ON JIMMY HOFFA was a prime example. And D’Elia got a clear view of the repercussions that in many ways marked the beginning of the end of the American Mafia. The high-profile elimination of the erstwhile Teamster boss remains one of the great unsolved underworld murders.

But if Hoffa had just listened to Bufalino, it never would have happened.

D’Elia was on hand when Bufalino tried to convince Hoffa to back down, to give up his attempt to reassert himself as boss of the union after a stint in prison. They met at a bar in South Philadelphia along with then mob boss Angelo Bruno.

D’Elia said Bufalino tried to convince Hoffa to walk away.

“He says, ‘Jimmy, you have to stop this. There are some people who don’t want you to do nothin’. You have to watch your back,’” D’Elia explained in the book. “Jimmy isn’t having any of it, so Russell says, ‘We’ll give you a lo-

cal, you’ll make three hundred thousand a year, you have your pension. Go relax and play with your grandkids.’”

It was an offer Hoffa refused.

And that led to his “disappearance.”

D’Elia, like many other underworld figures, puts the lie to the notion that Frank Sheeran, a long-time Hoffa ally and Bufalino associate, was the one who shot and killed Hoffa. He calls Sheeran’s account of the Hoffa murder “fiction” and relates a story of how he and Bufalino were with Sheeran at a meeting at Vesuvio’s in New York shortly after Hoffa went missing.

Sheeran, D’Elia said, was brought to meet with Fat Tony Salerno and Tony Provenzano, two Genovese crime family leaders who were behind the Hoffa hit.

“They wanted to meet with Frank to make sure that he doesn’t come after them for Hoffa,” D’Elia said. “They knew Frank was very close to Hoffa and was very angry, and that he knew that they were behind it and was going to kill them.”

Under pressure from Bufalino, D’Elia said, Sheeran agreed not to seek revenge. Later, D’Elia would note, Sheeran began to fabricate stories about the Hoffa hit while trying to promote a book. D’Elia said he read four or five

different versions of the ending, including one in which Sheeran blamed CIA-backed Vietnamese hitmen and another in which he said the Nixon administration was behind Hoffa’s disappearance. Sheeran would eventually settle on a version in which he, himself, was the hitman, a version that D’Elia dismissed as “bulls---.”

But then it seems there was a lot of “BS” whenever D’Elia dealt with Philadelphia.

During the bloody Stanfa-Merlino war, D’Elia said he was able to maintain relationships with both factions. He called Stanfa “tough and sincere” and said the Sicilian-born mob boss blamed the media in general (and me in particular) for fomenting the animosity between him and Merlino. (Hundreds of secretly recorded FBI tapes would seem to indicate otherwise.)

D’Elia also had kind words for Merlino.

“I liked his style and the way he acted,” he said. “But his eyes would f---ing burn a hole in you like the devil.”

D’Elia portrayed himself as an intermediary and expediter who would pop in and out of Philadelphia during that turbulent period. He solidified his standing with Stanfa by shaking down a record industry bigwig and sharing

the $250,000 take with the Sicilian mob boss, he said.

But violence, not money, seemed to be the driving force in Philadelphia.

“It was like the f---ing wild, wild west,” he said. “Every week I was asked to solve a problem there and I met some sick people.”

One of his biggest problems might have been a contract on his own life that the FBI told him had been put out by Ralph Natale and Merlino after they had taken over the crime family.

D’Elia said he was told the plan was to shoot him as he left The Saloon, a popular South Philadelphia eatery that he frequented.

When he confronted Natale, D’Elia said, Natale denied the allegation.

“Are you crazy?” he said Natale told him “You’re my guy. I love you.”

Love, in Philadelphia, can be fickle.

Natale was soon to become a government witness.

D’Elia eventually became the target of federal and state investigators but like the threats of violence and the wheeling and dealing, being targeted by law enforcement came with the territory.

It was all, he readily acknowledges, part of the life he chose. l

MiamiMan Legacy Club event at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila – Ft. Lauderdale.

Photos by Miami Lights Studio

BY MIKE SHUTE

tickled pink

the team there owned in part by another soccer legend, David Beckham.

play (about nine minutes into the second half for the casual soccer fan).

The release of the movie, Barbie has had the worlds of fashion and interior design abuzz and has led everyone from celebrities to social media influencers, to don pink outfits, accessories and more.

Do a Google search for Barbie and your browser window turns pink.

According to an article in Architectural Digest, the set designers of the movie used so much of one particular shade of fluorescent pink paint, it contributed to a global shortage.

The world of sports has not been immune to the pink takeover, specifically with the arrival of the GOAT of soccer, Lionel Messi, at Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer.

From one well-known singular name to another, Barbie’s got nothin’ on Messi.

The seven-time winner of international soccer’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball), who just this past winter led his native Argentina to a World Cup championship, Messi has decided to make like LeBron James in 2010 and take his talents to Miami and play for

In fact, 16 years to the day after Beckham made his MLS debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy (for which he played from 2007 through 2012), Messi made his MLS debut for the team owned by Beckham. Clad in their pale pink home kits, Inter Miami CF earned a last-minute victory over visiting side Cruz Azul, 2-1, at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, July 21.

And although Messi did not start in that first game with his new team, in his new city, in his new league, in his new country, he made a seismic impact on the outcome. The fans were on the edge of their seats awaiting the moment he’d step on the field. In fact, chants of “Mess-EE, Mess-EE,” could be heard throughout the stadium, the first one during game action occurring just eight minutes into the match and could be heard clearly through the Apple TV+ streaming coverage as Messi sat on the sideline.

Early in the second half, he stood up off the bench to an electric roar from the sold-out crowd of 20,512 fans, most of whom were wearing either his baby blue and white stripe Argentina jersey, his navy blue and red FC Barcelona jersey, or the blue and white of his last team, Paris Saint-Germain. He checked into the match in the 54th minute of

When he stepped on the field, he was immediately handed the black captain’s armband, slid it up his left arm and proceeded to thrill the fans every time he touched the ball – no touch greater than his last of the game, nearly 40 minutes after he stepped on the pitch, with the score tied at 1-1.

Messi was fouled by two players about 25 yards away from the Cruz Azul goal. Everyone in the stadium – and watching around the world – knew it would be the 36-year-old midfielder’s kick to take as stoppage time had nearly expired. He bent at the waist, adjusting the ball in the grass to his liking, backed four steps away from the ball, awaited the referee’s whistle, took three quick strides and struck the ball with his left foot, lifting it around and over the wall of opposing players 10 yards away, curling a shot into the top left corner of the goal out of the reach of Cruz Azul’s helplessly sprawling goalkeeper.

Fans in the stadium who witnessed Messi’s magic exploded into cheers, some were even moved to tears witnessing one of the game’s all-time greats pull off such an amazing gamewinning shot.

The video clip of the game-winning shot, found on Major League Soccer’s YouTube channel, had

There’s no question that the color of Summer, 2023, has been pink.

collected more than 4.1 million views in the first nine days it was posted. At that time, the MLS channel had just over 1 million subscribers.

The next time out, Tuesday, July 25, against Atlanta United in Miami’s second group stage game of the inaugural Leagues Cup 2023, Messi scored twice in a 4-0 win, ensuring the team would advance to the knockout round of the tournament. Messi’s magic continued in the knockout round as he added four more goals (two in each game) in wins over Orlando City SC and FC Dallas pushing Miami into the quarterfinals back home against FC Charlotte in a match scheduled for Aug. 11. The match vs. Dallas the first away match for Messi since he arrived in MLS and despite tripledigit temperatures at the opening tap, a sold-out crowd of 19,096 crammed into Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX. And they were not disappointed. Leagues Cup 2023 culminates with a championship game August 19 at the home field of the highest-seeded remaining team.

It had been a tough start to the season for Miami, which is slated to resume the MLS portion of their schedule at home on August 20 against visiting Charlotte. Inter Miami will do so while in last place in the 15-team Eastern Conference of MLS. Three days later, Miami visits FC Cincinnati in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals in a match streamed on Paramount+.

If his first four performances are any indication (seven goals and one assist), the recent addition of Messi – and other international standouts such as midfielders Sergio Busquets, Diego Gomez, and Facundo Farías and defender Jordi Alba – has suddenly put Miami in a position to contend for any trophy it plays for over the next three seasons. Can the team come from its current last place spot in the Eastern Conference and grab a playoff spot in 2023? Don’t bet against it. In fact according to sports betting odds, Miami went from being +15000 on June 1 +1200 to win MLS Cup in 2023 – tied for the sixthbest odds in the entire 29-team league.

Messi’s contract runs through the 2025 season with an option for 2026. And Inter Miami CF has a new stadium on the horizon, Freedom Park, ideally set for completion at the start of that option season of 2026. Coincidentally that’s also the same year the U.S., in conjunction with Canada and Mexico, will host the men’s FIFA World Cup.

the messi effect

Paint is not the only pink item that is in high demand nationwide. Messi is everywhere.

Official Inter Miami CF Messi jerseys with Messi’s pink No. 10 – and even licensed replicas – have been hard to come by. Try and place an order on MLSstore.com or even Fantatics.com and you’ll be met with a “Pre-Order Now!” button along with a notice stating that you are purchasing a “pre-order

item… which will be shipped no later than Tuesday, October 17, 2023.” The authentic jerseys are as much as $179.99 each and the replicas are going for $124.99.

Adidas is the official MLS jersey provider and its corporate communication department released a statement to MiamiMan which said, “The demand for Messi’s Miami jersey has been truly unprecedented. We’re working as quickly as possible to ensure that every fan who wants a jersey can get one online or at one of our stores.”

Visit the MLS website and you’re greeted with the opportunity to sign up for The Messi Insider, an MLS newsletter that you can have mailed to you covering everything Messi. Just provide your email address and you can keep up with Messi in Miami.

Tickets for Inter Miami CF matches have also been hard to come by as the team sold out Messi’s debut at DRV PNK Stadium – a match in Leagues Cup 2023, a new in-season tournament this year pitting the 29 MLS and 18 Liga MX teams against one another. And the prices for tickets to his Miami debut jumped 1,000% on the secondary market. The highest price for a ticket on StubHub was $8,280, and Ticketmaster was at $5,000. According to Vivid Seats, the average price for a seat was $423 and fans were traveling, on average, 588 miles to see the match. The game, which culminated with that storybook-ending goal, was well attended by celebrities too, including the likes of Serena Williams, Gloria Estefan, Kim Kardashian and the aforementioned LeBron James, who shared a long hug with Messi before the game. Ahead of Messi’s arrival, the team even expanded the amount of seating available at DRV PNK Stadium, going from 18,000 seats to more than 20,000. Overall, in Messi’s first three home games, the team has averaged 20,150 fans. Prior to Messi’s arrival, the team was averaging 16,483 fans per game at home.

Inter Miami CF’s Instagram account went from having about a million followers in early June to more than 12.8 million followers on July 31. That total far and away outdistances the New England Patriots’ 4.9 million followers, the Dallas Cowboys’ 4.5 million and the New York Yankees’ 3.2 million. In fact, it’s more than all three teams combined. And Messi’s personal following on the ‘Gram is outrageous. He has 480 million followers which is second amongst all individual accounts (noncorporate) to fellow footballer Cristiano Ronaldo’s 597 million.

The size of the media corps covering Inter Miami has increased drastically going from about 10 at most on a big night to more than 100 media members showing up for the 15 minutes’ worth of media

access at one of Messi’s early training sessions.

According to Jay Kington, the founder and host of the Inter Miami Podcast, Messi has helped him and his co-host, Than Harrington, increase their reach.

“The Messi Effect is real (in many ways),” said Kington, who also has a full-time day job but has built the podcast and its corresponding website (www.intermiamipodcast.com) into a true go-to source for Inter Miami CF news. “In just about one week, we’re getting closer to increasing our following on Twitter 10-fold and our following on Instagram has doubled. Just the reach we now have… a good post say might get 5,000 views on Instagram and now we have posts hitting 100, 150 or even 200,000.”

Said Harrington: “I work third shift, so the day (Messi officially signed with Miami), I was asleep and I woke up to an absolute high-pitch squeal from downstairs. My eight-year-old son is screaming “Messi’s here, Messi’s here.” And all of a sudden, my phone is just lighting up. It is goosebumps, it is excitement, it is pure joy.

“Yes, Beckham coming to MLS was a big deal but Messi…” Harrington pauses to contemplate, “This is if Michael Jordan and Pelé and Tom Brady all united under one sport, this is that same level of wow factor,” Harrington added. “Messi just won the World Cup and achieved greatness that will solidify him as the best to ever do it. He could’ve chosen anywhere to go in the world and play but he chose Miami and he chose MLS. It’s mindblowing and hard to put into words. There are still some days when I wake up and say, ‘Oh man, this isn’t a dream, he’s with us, he’s on the team.’ I’ve got goosebumps right now talking about it.”

Inter Miami CF held a Messi introduction night on Sunday, July 16, and although a wild severe storm dampened the night and wind-swept rain soaked the fans, it didn’t hurt anyone’s enthusiasm to see the GOAT.

“It was a big party, South Florida style,” Kington said. “I love Ozuna, he’s a singer/rapper and was going to headline and it was going to be like a music festival followed by the unveilings of Messi and Sergio Busquets (Messi’s former FC Barcelona teammate who also joined Inter Miami). South Florida weather had other ideas, the rain was coming down sideways and the show got moved too, after the unveiling. Everyone in that stadium had to be soaked from head to toe. There were hurricane-like winds. You get to a certain point of saturation and you don’t care anymore but you were there to witness a piece of soccer history and American sports history.”” l

FANS IN THE STADIUM WHO WITNESSED MESSI’S MAGIC EXPLODED INTO CHEERS, SOME WERE EVEN MOVED TO TEARS WITNESSING ONE OF THE GAME’S ALL-TIME GREATS PULL OFF SUCH AN AMAZING GAME-WINNING SHOT.

C

Coming off their first playoff appearance since 2016 and only their second playoff appearance since 2008, the Miami Dolphins are looking for more in 2023. A lot more.

“This year is going to be a special year,” Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard said on the Fish Tank podcast this spring. “You can see from everything (we’ve done) we are going to win now.”

How special is defined won’t be determined until sometime in January. As the Dolphins prepare this summer for the 2023 season, which opens Sept. 10 against the Chargers in Los Ange-

LOOKING FOR MORE

BY MARK ECKEL

les, it’s safe to say that just making the playoffs won’t be enough.

Not since the turn of the century have the Dolphins actually won a playoff game. That was in 2000 when head coach Dave Wannstedt’s team, with Jay Fiedler at quarterback, beat the Colts in overtime, 23-17. They were blown out by the Raiders the following week, 27-0.

The Dolphins last AFC Championship Game appearance came in 1992 and their last Super Bowl appearance was in 1984 when current head coach Mike McDaniel was one year old. They

haven’t won a Super Bowl since they went backto-back in 1972 and 1973.

There is optimism and plenty of it. McDaniel begins his second season as head coach of the Dolphins. Here are some of the key factors for the team in 2023.

Tua

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the fifth overall pick of the 2020 NFL draft, is without question the key to the team’s success. You can say that about most every team and its quarterback, but

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa

there’s proof with the former Alabama star.

Tagovailoa has started 34 games for the Dolphins over his first three seasons in the league and the team has a 21-13 record, a .618 winning percentage. In the 16 regular-season games he has missed with injury, the Dolphins are 7-9, a .437 winning percentage. Last year the Dolphins were 8-5 with Tagovailoa and 1-3 without him. They also lost their only playoff game a year ago with Tua on the sidelines.

So the key for the Dolphins is keeping their quarterback on the field where he can live up to his draft status. To that extent, the team has an offensive line with a first-round pick (right tackle Austin Jackson), two second-round picks (guards Liam Eichenberg and Robert Hunt) and two free agent signings in left tackle Terron Armstead and center Connor Williams.

Raheem Mostert and rookie third-round draft pick De’Von Achane lead the running game, although the team was in talks with free agent running back Dalvin Cook this summer. The strength of the team’s offense, however, lies with . . .

The Wide Receivers

Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle form the best duo of wide receivers in the league. The Eagles may have an argument with A.J. Brown and Devonte Smith, but the numbers say Hill, the former Kansas City Chief, and Waddle, Miami’s first-round

pick in 2021, are the best.

Hill, in his first season as a Dolphin in 2022, caught 119 passes for 1,710 yards and seven touchdowns. The catches and yards were both

career highs, while the touchdowns were the least since his rookie season. Waddle caught 75 passes for 1,356 yards and eight touchdowns His 18.1 yards per catch average led the NFL. In his

Photos courtesy Miami Dolphins

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill

two years with Miami after leaving Alabama, Waddle has caught 179 passes for 2,371 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Last season’s 3,066 yards between the two receivers rank as the third-best of all time behind the 1995 Detroit Lions tandem of Herman Moore and Brett Perriman (3,176) and the 2000 St. Louis Rams duo of Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce (3,106). And remember Hill and Waddle didn’t have their QB1 for four games.

Hill wants more. Setting Dolphins records wasn’t enough. He wants to become the first NFL receiver to break the 2,000-yard barrier. Detroit’s Calvin Johnson came the closest with 1,964 yards in 2012.

“I do want to break the record,’’ Hill said this offseason. “So I feel like this is one of those years that I can achieve it. For me going into Year 2, it’s all about learning the playbook more, understanding where Tua wants me to be at on the field and how just everything operates Last year for me was like a blur. I had to come, I had to learn the playbook, I had to get to know my teammates. And this year everything has slowed down, so I’m just really trying to understand playbook, formations and routes and route depths and stuff like that. So it’s going pretty well.”

Vic Fangio

One of the biggest moves of the offseason was the Dolphins hiring the long-time defensive coordinator to take over for John Boyer. Last year the defense ranked 18th in total yards, 26th against the pass and 25th in the most important category — points allowed. The hope is that Fangio, who

has been with six different teams in his 22 years as a coordinator and three not-so-great years as a head coach in Denver, will fix all of that.

There is certainly some talent at the most important positions namely edge rusher and cornerback. Bradley Chubb, acquired during the 2022 season from Denver, will be reunited with his old head coach and could improve on his eight-sack season of a year ago. On the other side is 2021 first-round pick Julian Phillips, who is coming off a seven-sack season.

Cornerback could be the team’s strength where Howard teams up with perennial Pro Bowl player Jalen Ramsey, acquired in a trade with the Rams and rookie Cam Smith, of South Carolina, who could be a second-round steal.

“We have some really good talent at some places,’’ Fangio said during the team’s OTA [organized team activities]. “In other places, we’ve got to find the talent. I think it’s a good mix right now. Our good players have got to play really good for us to be good, and we’ve got to find the other guys to fill in that play good in spite of their lack of playing time and experience.’’

The Division

Among the Dolphins’ AFC East foes are the defending three-time champion, who have won 37 games in that span; one of the best quarterbacks of this generation and the best head coach of this generation. So it’s not going to be an easy task for them to win the division for the first time since 2008.

Buffalo, which won its third straight division title in 2022, isn’t going away. The Bills are still one of the best teams in the NFL, led by quarterback Josh Allen. The Jets, who have the longest playoff drought of any NFL team, traded for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to end their postseason misery. And the Patriots still have sixtime Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick at the controls.

Oddsmakers have made Buffalo the favorite to win its fourth straight division title at odds of +125. New York is the second choice at +250, while the Dolphins are third at +300. New England is the long shot at +750.

The Dolphins might be the best bet of the quartet.

City Success

It has not gone unnoticed by the Dolphins regime the success of the other professional teams in the city. The Heat shocked both the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics and made it to the NBA Finals. The Panthers did the same to the Boston Bruins and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. And as of early July, the Marlins were in the running for a playoff spot as one of the top National League wild-card teams.

“How cool is that for South Florida sports just in general,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said. “Just riding the 2023 but specifically the Heat and the Panthers doing a lot of things that people said they couldn’t do. Which I very much appreciate. We are definitely taking note.” l

Photos courtesy Miami Dolphins

Head Coach Mike McDaniel

Vic Fangio

Paddling Light

The folks at PADL have come up with an ingenious business idea…unmanned paddleboard rental stations, where there aren’t paddleboard rental locations. MiamiMan caught up with Parker Lake, a paddleboarding instructor with PADL, to talk about the company’s origins, growth and future.

BY KURT SMITH

PADL MAY NOT RISE to the level of Airbnb or GoFundMe as far as astronomical success in the sharing economy, but their sheer growth potential does seem almost limitless.

Put it this way: they can establish themselves wherever paddle-able water is, and where shops selling or renting paddleboards aren’t. And as PADL’s paddleboarding instructor points out, there’s a lot of water around.

“When you go into space,” he says, “you look down and you see a blue planet, and you realize that we’re more water than anything else, right?”

Well, most of us have only seen photos from space. But he makes a great point.

Parker Lake has been with PADL since its first station fired up in Key Biscayne. He was kind enough to tell MiamiMan about how it works, and he’s developed an effective elevator pitch.

“It is a paddleboard-sharing app. We have paddleboards that are placed at various locations. People can use the app to unlock the boards, and now

kayaks as well, and paddle out onto the waterway or the beach, wherever it is. They pay by the hour or they have a membership, and we also offer tours and lessons from the location.”

It’s simple enough in theory, but it’s improving lives for a lot of people…not just PADL’s founders and employees, but also municipalities and new paddleboarding enthusiasts.

PADL solves a big problem that residents of beach resort towns are no doubt familiar with…all the equipment for body of water enjoyment that a beachgoer must carry. A paddleboard or kayak especially can be cumbersome.

Lugging one’s own board or loading the kayak on top of the car, or digging it out from wherever it’s stored, can hamper the enjoyment of a day on the lake or the river. It might persuade someone to think twice about it.

PADL simply puts the paddleboard there for you, and that hassle is no longer a problem. Just find your favorite spot with a station, pull out your phone, unlock a board through your app and you’re off.

It’s not that the joy of standing on a board, paddling through peaceful waters, and enjoying nature isn’t worth the trouble. But three clever fellows thought it was worth making easier.

The founders of PADL, Andres Avello, Felipe Jauregui and Khalil Khouri, are Key Biscayne natives and paddleboarding enthusiasts who found a hole to fill with their hobby.

Lake, who signed on with them at the beginning in 2017, knows their story well.

“What they were thinking about doing was coming up with a way for locations that are some of the most serene, and in amazing looking places, but don’t have a lot of footfall to make it feasible for that place to have paddleboards waiting, rentable for people to use. Some of the best spots don’t have a lot of footfall, because they don’t have a rental place there.

“So after thinking through a little bit, they realized that the easiest way to do that would be to have an unmanned power board station that costs nothing while no one’s using it, and to revenue share with the local municipality.”

The unmanned station aspect of it turned out to be more than just a money saver.

Everyone remembers the economic damage caused by pandemic lockdowns. Many long-established businesses did not survive, and many others are still recovering.

But some entities suddenly found themselves in the right place at the right time, and were able to demonstrate a new worth that the public hadn’t fully appreciated before we suddenly had to stay six feet apart. Doordash is

Photos courtesy Parker Lake/PADL

The PADL app

Photo PADL.co

Learning How To Paddleboard

Parker Lake loves paddleboarding enough that as soon as he heard of the PADL founders’ idea for the app, he reached out to them and told them he wanted to be part of it.

Today Lake is PADL’s lead paddleboarding instructor, and he heads a team of nine instructors in teaching the basics of paddleboarding. If you’ve never tried it and are interested, you can reach out to them through PADL’s website.

Lake describes the learning process as actually being pretty simple, and helping newbies understand that so long as they do things properly and wear a life jacket, paddleboarding is safe. The trick for some is to overcome their initial trepidation, which Lake is a big help with.

“The most important thing”, he explains, “and it sounds a little cliche, but it actually is very important. It’s safety, right? When someone feels safe, that’s when they start to have the option of having fun. First and foremost, we want to make sure that people feel safe.

“They’re in a safe environment, they have a leash for the paddle board, they have a life vest that we always have for our students. Any rider that’s on a lesson or a tour wears their vest.

“Then we head out from a lagoon. It’s enclosed, so it has less wind than the bay or the beach, but at the same time, you can leave the lagoon and make a left to go into the bay and make a right to go onto the beach. So we can quickly move someone up from beginner to intermediate, and even, if you’re already in intermediate, start doing advanced skills out off the beach, which includes surfing and paddling over waves, those types of things.

Surfing? No, it’s not quite like surfing, as you might think seeing the pictures on the PADL site.

“A surfboard is made to wipe out after the wave stops,” Lake says. “These are more like boats. They’re flat, but they displace water like a boat does. So you can wobble it from side to side, and it’s very stable.

“A lot of people, when they realize how stable it is, they immediately start to loosen up a little bit and they take two basic skills, how to go straight forward, how to turn right, left break, and then we just hit the water.”

After Lake’s two-hour session with new riders, he says, it isn’t long before they’re hooked…and confident enough to do it on their own.

PADL even hosts corporate tours with the rest of its guides, in case your company is looking for one of those tax-man friendly “team building” exercises.

an obvious example, as restaurants especially did whatever they could to survive.

Paddleboarding has had its enthusiasts for hundreds of years. But until the pandemic, not as many had realized the benefits of being able to find peace outdoors, get needed exercise, and enjoy an activity that doesn’t require close contact with others, in the midst of a trying time for everyone.

Lake says that while the startup was already showing great promise, the pandemic kickstarted some real momentum for PADL.

“Paddleboarding was already big down here,” he remembers. “It started to really pick up about ten years ago. But the pandemic really drove a lot of people to try to go out and buy paddleboards, to the point that paddleboards and kayaks became hard to buy, because there was way more demand than there was supply.

“And it was right at that time that we started to expand.”

This was especially fortuitous, given that it wasn’t a great time for new entrepreneurs to have invested in a startup along with some outside help, as PADL did.

“There was a lot of personal equity thrown into it originally,” Lake explains, “because we are first and foremost a hardware company, right? Manufacturing the station, getting the boards made, and now we have kayaks being made. Then we have to ship them to every location and place in town. So there’s a lot of expense from that standpoint.

“The first few years were as self-funded as we could, and then it moved on to crowdfunding and eventually a round of funding from angels. We now have reached a point where we are profitable, and we’re very proud to say that, because we know that a lot of funded companies take a while to get to this point.”

Not bad to be turning a profit considering that the idea raised over $400,000 on SeedInvest.

“For us, it was really important to make sure that there was profitability in the model, built-in from day one, so that we were always aiming to be where we

Lake

Photo courtesy Parker Lake/PADL

Try PADL For Yourself

THERE ARE FIVE EASY STEPS to renting a paddleboard at one of PADL’s stations, as they clearly state on their website: download the PADL app, unlock a paddleboard, and ride with the included life vest. When you’re done, put the paddleboard back on the rack, and end your rental time on the app. If you’re using it for exercise, they include your stats for you, with a GPS installed in the paddleboard.

The rental cost as of this writing is $25 per hour, or you can get a membership for $30 a month or $100 for six months, and ride for two hours a day anytime and anywhere there’s a station.

Great…so where to go to try it? PADL also includes a list of “Adventures” stories on their website, some of which include details about destinations you can try out for yourself (and incidentally, many of their stations include kayaks as well):

Camp Chowenwaw – PADL describes this natural habitat area in Clay County to be full

of wildlife, including bats, owls and foxes. Their paddleboard station’s launch area is surrounded by lily pads, with Black Creek around the corner for more exploration. As the post says, there’s plenty more to do at Camp Chowenwaw, including hiking, fishing, volleyball, picnicking and more. And now there’s a PADL rental station.

Key Biscayne – PADL originated here, and in one post they share how Parker Lake led a group of new riders on a tour from Key Biscayne Ocean Park. The riders even got to see a rainbow over the western sky. They did have to learn the necessary skills to paddleboard on the ocean though, with the wind, currents, and “ocean swell” presenting a larger challenge than a typical lake.

Jupiter – One of PADL’s enthusiasts, Sara, told her story of enjoying the paddling in Burt Reynolds Park in Jupiter. According to Sara, in the waterways around the park, there’s a strong enough current to give paddleboarders

are now. We hope to continue to be, to maintain our profitability as we expand.”

Lake didn’t have the exact numbers for MiamiMan…they’re growing fairly quickly…but he confidently estimated that PADL has had over 30,000 unique riders on their boards. PADL’s growth in just six years of existence, he says, is “mind-blowing”.

“We went from one location in Key Biscayne to nearly 50 locations now,” he says. But it shouldn’t be surprising, especially given the opportunities our state especially offers.

“We have locations up in the Jacksonville area, Flagler County, between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. We have conversations [about] St. Augustine right now; we don’t have a station area, but we do hope to soon. We have twelve in Miami and two in Broward County, which is just north of us. Tampa has a fair amount now, about eight stations. We have stations in the Keys, so we’ve pretty much surrounded the state.

“We just have to drill down and some of the areas that have great paddling don’t have stations yet, but everyone’s working hard to, both units on our side to get it approved and all out.”

They’re also well aware of the importance of keeping up with the growing demand…which PADL also does very well.

“We found that on a Saturday afternoon in certain locations, like where we may have four boards or something like that, they get used up quite quickly, especially on the beach. But what we do in that case is we place a second station, a second unit, so that one station would have eight boards. Or like we do in Margaret Pace, which is downtown Miami, a park that faces the bay, we have a 12-board station.

“We’re constantly thinking of ways to do well by the three people we serve, right? We have our membership, the local people who haven’t used us yet, and we also have our municipality partners who we revenue share with. We want to make sure that everyone’s well served. So if we notice that an area is being used up and the boards aren’t available, we put down another station.”

a healthy workout. She recommends going out early in the morning at the first high tide, for a peaceful sunrise experience.

Pine Tree Park (Miami Beach) – One of PADL’s Miami Beach stations is located close to the Fontainebleau luxury hotel at Pine Tree Park. The park itself offers plenty of walking trails and scenery, and the PADL station makes paddling in the nearby canal simple. Paddling on the canal offers stellar views of the high-rise resorts along Collins Avenue.

There are other great stories on the site where PADL people share their palpable enthusiasm for the activity. Check it out at www.padl.co. (That’s .co, not .com)

It’s an idea strong enough that even a pandemic that crippled an economy couldn’t stop it. PADL keeps growing, even beyond South Florida, as it should. There are plenty of beaches, rivers and lakes in the Sunshine State, and only a small fraction of them have people nearby renting paddleboards.

PADL also offers the opportunity to have a station placed on your property, if you’re, say, a hotel owner looking to expand your guests’ activities. Lake adds that “a lot of people out of state and out of the country have reached out to us, and we’re in conversations with people in many different parts of the world about potentially setting up over there.”

About 250 years ago, a group of guys met in Philadelphia and declared that humans had the right to pursue happiness. They even thought that was worth founding a new country. The PADL folks embody that in a way we all dream of…earning a living doing something you love.

“I love working with the guys,” Lake reflects. “Now we have a bigger team, there’s a great vibe. We all love the water. We all love what we do.” l

Photo

A Dream Collection

Miami’s New Ocean Cadillac Car Museum

Ocean Cadillac’s beautiful new dealership facility has an in-house car museum. It showcases 40 collectible Cadillacs, Corvettes and other rare and fascinating marques, along with 100 scale models on display and so much more. Mario Murgado, the President & CEO of the Murgado Automotive Group was kind enough to recount the beginnings of his lifelong passion for everything automotive leading to his amazingly successful auto business and the creation of his new car museum. The Museum resides at Ocean Cadillac, 17800 Ipco Road, Miami, FL. MurgadoAutomotiveGroup.com

Photographs: Natalia Garcia / Miami Lights Studio

Iwanted to take a moment to share with you why the museum holds such a special place in my heart. Within me resides an inner child, and from a very young age, I have nurtured an immense love and passion for cars. It all started with my very first toy, and even though circumstances changed when I left Cuba, losing my beloved 1959 Cadillac toy ambulance, my fascination for cars only grew stronger.

Life took me on a journey, and I found myself working in a job that doesn’t feel like work at all. Each day, I wake up with excitement because I get to immerse myself in something I’m truly passionate about. My father’s words echoed in my mind, encouraging me to study hard and become a professional so that one day I could own a Buick or an Oldsmobile. But he also ignited a spark, telling me that if I achieved greatness, I might even own a Cadillac - the epitome of excellence and status, as it was known as the ‘Standard of the World.’

The dream that began with visiting Barrington Cadillac in 1975 has now become a reality. Today, I am the proud owner of not just the Cadillac dealership but also Motorwerks, which includes prestigious brands like

Mercedes Benz, Porsche, BMW, Honda, and Infiniti. This museum is a labor of love for me, a place that brings nostalgia and joy from yesteryears. It allows visitors to revisit their youth, reliving the glory of famous Cadillacs and the era of grand fins to performance and innovation like no other.

Inside this museum, you can experience the marvels of engineering, from the powerful Cadillac V8 to the rare 12 and 16-cylinder models. You’ll get a glimpse of Buick’s rumble seat, feel the rush of the GT championship, and admire the timeless designs that have shaped the automotive industry. With over 45 vehicles

from a 1913 Cadillac to every decade thereafter, the history of the Corvette since 1953, and a few surprises along the way, the museum offers a breathtaking journey through automotive evolution.

I wholeheartedly invite you to come and immerse yourself in the beauty of these legendary cars. It’s not just a museum, but a place to relax, learn, and connect with your inner child as you marvel at the history and heritage of these great vehicles.

Looking forward to welcoming you to the museum soon!

– Mario Murgado

Photographs: Natalia Garcia / Miami Lights Studio

Photographs: Natalia Garcia / Miami Lights Studio

Photographs: Natalia Garcia / Miami Lights Studio

Marlins at the Draft Pitching, Pitching, and More Pitching

BY SAM CARCHIDI

MEYER & MEYER SOUNDS LIKE A LAW FIRM.

To Miami Marlins fans, however, it has a different meaning.

Maybe, just maybe, it could one day refer to two pitchers near the top of the Marlins’ rotation.

Meet Max Meyer and Noble Meyer. Both are hard-throwing right-handers with ultra-promising futures.

In June, the Marlins made Noble Meyer – yes, headline writers will have fun getting creative with his colorful name – their first pick. They selected him No. 10 overall in the Major League Baseball draft.

The 6-foot-5, 190-pound Jesuit High (OR) pitcher has outstanding credentials: a fastball clocked in the high 90s, a nasty slider that is considered his best pitch, a “plus” changeup, and

Mgreat command.

In his senior prep season, he had a 0.33 ERA, 128 strikeouts and just 19 walks in 63 innings at the time of the draft.

“He was clearly the best high school pitcher in the country,” DJ Svihlik, Miami’s senior director of amateur scouting, said after Meyer was drafted. “We didn’t expect him to fall all the way to us.”

Marlins general manager Kim Ng said she believed Meyer will be a “top-of-the-rotation” pitcher for the Fish down the road.

Svihlik had planned to draft a hitter in the first round, but he changed his mind when the long and lean Meyer, 18, became available.

“When you have the opportunity to select someone that you’re very confident in … it’s very hard to pass up,” he said. “It’s a very exciting pick for us.”

Photo courtesy Miami Marlins

Max Meyer

In its scouting report, MLB Pipeline said Meyer, who committed to the University of Oregon, “has all the ingredients to be a future frontline starter.”

The same can be said for Max Meyer (no relation), who had Tommy John surgery a year ago but is a candidate to be in Miami’s rotation in 2024.

Max Meyer, 24, was drafted by the Marlins with the No. 3 overall pick in 2020. He starred for three seasons at the University of Minnesota and signed for a Marlins-record $6.7 million.

In 2021, he was named the Double-A South’s pitcher of the year, and he had the fifth-lowest ERA (2.27) in the minors. The next year, his elbow blew out in his second major-league start, forcing reconstructive surgery that sidelined him for this season.

It hasn’t been a smooth ride for Meyer since he was drafted, but he and Noble have the potential to be feared pitchers around the league in the future.

FISHING FOR PITCHERS

Noble Meyer was one of 21 selections the Marlins made in the 2023 draft. Fifteen of their picks

were pitchers. Eighteen of their final 19 selections were used on college players.

Bleacher Report gave the Marlins an A-minus for their draft picks. Only nine major-league teams had higher grades, topped by Pittsburgh, Washington, and San Francisco, teams that received an A-plus.

Besides Noble Meyer, here were the Marlins’ other notable choices: Pick No. 35 overall (Competitive Balance section, Round A): Thomas White, LHP, Phillips (Mass.) Academy.

The Marlins also went for a high school pitcher with their second selection, and the hardthrowing 6-5 White is loaded with potential The Vanderbilt signee, regarded as the second-best high school pitcher in the draft, had a combined 165 strikeouts in 75 innings over his junior and senior seasons. His fastball has been clocked as high as 97 m.p.h.

PICK NO. 47 OVERALL (second round): Kemp Alderman, OF, Mississippi.

He has great raw power (19 homers as a junior) and hits to all fields. Alderman will probably play

a corner-outfield spot, but he also has been used as a catcher in high school and college.

As a hitter, Alderman’s stock rose at the MLB Draft Combine, registering the highest exit velocity (111.4 mph) of any of the prospects.

PICK NO. 78 OVERALL (third round): Brock Vradenburg, IB, Michigan State.

If size means anything, Vrandenburg will be a slugger. The 6-7, 230-pounder had 13 homers, 22 doubles and 69 RBIs in 55 games as a junior. He also displayed patience, collecting more walks (36) than strikeouts (34).

PICK NO. 110 OVERALL (fourth round): Emmett Olson, LHP, Nebraska.

The 6-4 junior compiled a 3.83 ERA with 161 strikeouts and 52 walks in 160 innings during his collegiate career, which started at Wichita State.  A second-team all-Big Ten selection in 2022, he went 6-3 with a 4.50 ERA this season.

PICK NO. 146 OVERALL (fifth round): Andrew Lindsey, P, Tennessee.

Used mostly out of the bullpen this season,

Photo courtesy Miami Marlins

2023 first-round pick Noble Meyer (center) poses with current Marlins players Jorge Soler (left) and Luis Arraez.

Lindsey throws in the mid-90s and put together a 3-3 record with a 2.90 ERA. In 71 1/3 innings, he struck out 73 and walked just 19.  Twelve of his 21 appearances were in relief.

PICK NO. 173 OVERALL (sixth round):

Jake DeLeo, OF, Georgia Tech.

One of Tech’s top hitters (.365, 14 HRs, 53 RBIs), the speedy DeLeo (6-2, 201) had a .426 on-base percentage for the Yellow Jackets. The Connecticut native was ranked as the No. 8 high school outfielder in the nation before going to Tech.

PICK NO. 203 OVERALL (seventh round):

Justin Storm, P, Southern Mississippi.

The 6-7 lefthanded reliever is an imposing figure on the mound and has an electric fastball. At SMU, he had a 2.36 ERA and averaged 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings in 2023.

PICK NO. 233 OVERALL (eighth round):

Nick Maldonado, RHP, Vanderbilt.

The 6-1, 207-pound Vanderbilt reliever, a New

Jersey native, had eight saves as a closer this season and compiled an impressive 1.45 ERA. In 31 innings, he allowed just 14 hits, struck out 40 and walked seven.

PICK NO. 263 OVERALL (ninth round):

Colby Shade, OF, Oregon.

Shade’s third season at Oregon was the best of his career. The slick-fielding centerfielder batted .336 with six homers, 31 RBIs and 55 runs scored. He broke a bone in his arm during the NCAA Regionals and missed most of the five post-season games, though he was used as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner in the Super Regional.

PICK NO. 293 OVERALL (10th round):

Xavier Meachem, RHP, North Carolina A&T.

Meacham became the highest-selected A&T player in the draft since lefthander Al Holland (fourth round, 81st overall) in 1975. His numbers didn’t exactly overwhelm anybody as he had a 5.59 ERA in 48 1/3 innings this season. But the Marlins like his 97 m.p.h. fastball and

the impressive spin rate on his slider.

SLEEPERS

After drafting high school pitchers with their first two picks, the Marlins dipped back into the prep pool in Round 18, selecting lanky lefty  Tristan Dietrich out of Owen J. Roberts High in Pottsville, Pa.

They got him with the 553rd overall pick. The Athletic had rated him at No. 98. The 6-4 Dietrich has a fastball in the low 90s and an impressive slider. In his senior season, he had a 2.04 ERA and a staggering 55 strikeouts in 24 innings.

The Fish took a chance on  Ryan Ignoffo, a 22-year-old lefty from Eastern Illinois University, in the 20th round.

Svihlik is high on him, and intrigued by the fact he can pitch – he has a 94 m.p.h. fastball – or play right field or first base. His collegiate numbers last season suggest he is more fit as a hitter (.335 average, 15 homers, 61 RBIs, 29 steals in 59 games) than a pitcher (4.91 ERA, 49 strikeouts, 24 walks in 44 innings). l

WHAT WE WEAR

A Timeless Garment

AWELL-TAILORED SUIT is a timeless garment that, no matter the trends in fashion, will never go out of style. Being located in Miami, FL, our custom clothing team specializes in creating one-of-a-kind garments tailored to fit your unique lifestyle and adapt to the Miami weather. Below our custom clothiers put together this fantastic guide on some of the best fabrics and styles for a suit here in Miami.

WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT A CUSTOM SUIT?

A custom suit is a one-of-a-kind garment that is tailor-made for you as an individual. When you begin your appointment, a custom clothier will typically start by asking you questions about what you do for work, the occasion for the outfit, lifestyle preference, how often you travel, and more. This is the best way for your custom clothiers to determine what fabric options and design choices make the most sense for you and your garments. Think of it as a doctor writing out a prescription for you.

When individuals hear the word “custom suits” or see it at a retail store, oftentimes, they are referring to made-to-measure or MTM. MTM is the entry-level to the custom clothing space.

It is a very cookie-cutter approach to custom and often has very limited features, and design capabilities and can only solve some minor fit considerations. In comparison, a “Full custom clothing experience means that your pattern is cut by hand by a master cutter and is individualized to you.

Being a custom clothier, Full custom is what we do at Jaxson Maximus. Every one of our patterns is cut by hand by a master cutter. The most important details of your custom-made suit are sewn by hand or machine, such as the armhole and interior canvas to the functioning buttonholes.

WHY IS FABRIC SO IMPORTANT FOR A CUSTOM SUIT IN MIAMI?

There is a plethora of fabric options from all over the world available at a tailor’s disposal. While they all might seem very similar on the surface, they are all unique in their own ways. A custom clothier will have books of fabric swatches available from hand-selected mills. Though wools and specialized fabrics are sourced worldwide, most well-respected mills like Scabal and Dormeuil are located in the UK and Italy.

Not only are the fabrics from these mills made from very luxurious hard-to-find fibers, but they only make a certain amount of that fabric in the

entire world.

When you get a custom suit, you are not only getting a one-of-a-kind garment but a garment made out of exclusive fabric due to the amount produced and sold to the marketplace.

BEST FABRICS FOR A SUIT IN MIAMI & HUMID CLIMATES

BAMBOO

One of our most sought-after fabrics comes from Gladson’s bamboo fabric collection. Made in Italy of pure Bamboo, this unique fabric exhibits a silky luster, luxurious tailor ability, and an extensive color spectrum. It is ideal for all-year-round wear, especially for those who are traveling between warm and cold climates.

We create a ton of custom short-sleeve, sport and long-sleeve dress shirts as well as bamboo jacketing. With bamboo’s natural comfortability and moisture-wicking properties, it is one of the materials we highly recommend to our clients in humid climates, such as in Miami, where Jaxson Maximus stores are based.

SUMMER WORSTED WOOL

Summer Worsted Wools make you not only feel great in warm weather, but they look

amazing on. The word “worsted” refers to the industrial combing of the raw goods as part of their milling process.

Because worsted wool is a finer type of wool than regular wool it is better at keeping out the elements such as wind and rain. The natural fuzziness of the wool helps trap air circulating throughout your body, making it more resilient and cooler in the summer.

A great example of a summer-weight wool would be Vitale Barberis Canonico’s Blassone by Gladson. They make excellent custom suits here in Miami.

SILK

Silk is a natural fiber spun from the cocoon of the silkworm. Silk is often regarded as one of the most lustrous fabrics in the world and an excellent choice for those looking to get a custommade suit here in Miami.

It is featherlight and has the inherent characteristic of giving a beautiful luster to the garments. Most silk jackets made with silk are blended with other summer fabrics, such as lightweight wool or linens.

A great example of a summer silk and wool

blend is this 100% silk jacket made with cloth from famed English mill Scabal’s Nobility collection.

SEERSUCKER & COTTON

Seersucker is when cotton is woven with a crinkled vertical line in the goods. They are super lightweight and comfortable in tropical climates

or the dog days of summer in northern climates.

The best kinds of cotton are long staple cottons which produce the finest feel and best performance when spinning the yarns into cloth. With advancements in technology, mills have discovered that blending high-quality long-staple cotton with a bit of lycra provides a cloth with stretch, which makes it extremely comfortable.

LINEN

Linen is made from the flax plant and has incredible natural wicking properties, which draws moisture away from the body resulting in a light and breezy garment.

Linen can be super soft or even stiffer depending on how they weave the cloth. The one characteristic of linen that may deter some people from buying linen is that it is guaranteed to wrinkle. It’s OK, though as the look of a linen suit, pant or jacket is one that is supposed to be soft and sporty casual.

Don’t let the arm whiskers bug you; everyone knows you are wearing linen.

A great example of summer linen and wool blend jackets is made with cloth from Italian mill Kerry Knoll. l

GET FIT

BY VINCENT MANTUO Licensed Massage Therapist MA75512, Structural Energetic Therapist

Take in the Beauty of Nature!

OFTEN, WE FORGET to look outside and realize we have a world full of exciting things to do and see. A great way to get some exercise and view nature is to go on a hike. Understandably so, working out is not for everyone, but hiking is another way to get some exercise without going to a gym. Hiking is beneficial to the body because it helps strengthen muscles and bones, improves balance, reduces heart disease (by improving heart health), increases respiratory capacity (which decreases the risk of some respiratory problems), helps fight stress and depression, and helps individuals lose weight.

There are many different types of hiking, making it amenable to a number of people ranging from beginners to experts. The three most popular types of hiking are day hikes, long-distance hikes, and peak bagging. Day hikes are the easiest and suit beginners best, long-distance hikes are more for the moderates because it requires more training and endurance to last the lengthy hike,

and last is peak bagging which is suited more for the experts because it requires a lot of training, both physical and mental. For example, day hikes would be for that day, long-distance hikes are for days or weeks, and peak bagging would be for weeks or months. Not only does time play a part, but also, the difficulty of the hike plays a major role in choosing the right hiking style for yourself. There are also more hiking styles that you can look up to see if those suit you better. Since this is the MiamiMan Magazine, I figured I would give a list of some places to go hiking in the South Florida area.

1) Virginia Key Trail

Virginia Key Park – Miami, FL

2) Shark Valley Tram Trail

Everglades National Park – Miami, FL

3) Amelia Earhart Park Mountain Biking Trail

Amelia Earhart Park – Hialeah, FL

4) Oleta River State Park Trail

Oleta River State Park – North Miami Beach, FL

5) Markham Park: Warmup, Fishing Hole, Bermuda Triangle Loop

Markham Park – Sunrise, FL

6) Quiet Waters Mountain Bike Trail

Quiet Waters Park – Deerfield Beach, FL

Going for a hike is a great alternative to a traditional workout at a gym, plus you get to relax and take in the beauty nature has to offer. Not only is it beneficial physically for you but also mentally since it allows you to take some time away from your daily routine and de-stress a little. Remember that hiking is a great form of physical and mental health, so next time you are bored, stressed, or want to try a new and healthy hobby look up the nearest hiking trails and go. Get fit by going on a hike! Have fun and enjoy the moment. l

Mike Adada Black Steel Group

Irina Agurok eMed

Keith Asplundh Asplundh Tree Expert Company

Amie Balchunas Lamacchia Realty

Fred Bean HotelPORT Inc.

Mayra Barragan Launch Ventures, LLC

Stephen Bellosi Apex Consulting

Josh Blum IVOLVE Performance and Development by JB and The Doctor

Alex Bort MedPro Healthcare Staffing

Louis Bucelli Bucelli & Company LLC

Garren Burton iTrip Vacations

Tim Campbell 1/ST + Gulfstream Park

Ethan Capri Capri Bookkeeping Solutions, LLC*

Dr. Andre Caruso IVOLVE Performance and Development by JB and The Doctor

Ann Conlin Philly’s Original Milan

Ronald Coursey eMed

Kristoffer Doura 1847Financial

Natalia Garcia Miami Lights Studio

Jimmy Gibson Alcom Printing

Fernando Gomez TD Bank

Jason Gonzalez DGA Security

Gary Grazioso eMed

Jim Jacobs Focus Insite

Mikayla James PeopleGuru

Andrea Klaus Capri Bookkeeping Solutions, LLC

Louis Mamo Louis Mamo & Co.

Vincent Mantuo Copesetic Therapeutic Bodywork

Robert Marovic Mechanical Piping Solutions

Isabelle Martinez Paramount Residential Mortgage Group

Mario Murgado Murgado Automotive Group, Inc.*

Dean Parsons Epic Cigars

Kristi Price KP Matchmaking

Rich Rogers 6 Degrees Golf

Robin Rosenbaum Albacorps

Jason Ross Bauer Gutierrez & Borbon, PLLC

Frank Sisto The Insurance Doctor

Steve Solomon CBMC South Florida

Brian Spector Elite Leads

Joy Strempack Sol Inspire LLC

Dianna Vasturo Lazy Days Restaurant

Mark Vasturo Ziggie & Mad Dogs

Josh Waxman PHP Agency

Taryn Williams Resy Clicks

Howard Wolfson Mack Ventures Realty LLC

*Chairman’s Club Members

For information on how to become a member, contact Ashley at adunek@jerseymanmagazine.com

www.MiamiManMagazine.com