Miami Gringos

Living in our international city, it's easy to forget that there are still here good, old fashioned gringos. And by that, I mean Christian ones, not my people, the Jews, who are NOT easy to forget. The Latins call all non black, non Latin people gringos, but to me we Jews are at least still a LITTLE exotic, and don't meet the true gringo criteria... You can find many of the gringos, at least the ones in South Miami Dade, at sports bars, the type of establishment I tend to favor. I don't like the chain sports bars, which are just TGI Fridays, or Bennigans, with different decor. I like the real ones -- with dated looks, even when they aren't too old. I tend to go to Hole in the Wall, a local, place with great wings, and always good sports on, but the Hole, as we call it, has a deficiency: no full bar, just beer and wine. I love a good pitcher of cold beer once in awhile, but I'm more of a vodka guy...So the Hole falls short. A few weeks ago, three gringo friends, who I'll call John, Pat, and Mike, since those are their names, decided to get together to watch the NCAA Final game. Two of us are Canes, and two are Gators, so we had no intense rooting interest, but I was pulling for North Carolina, to help D2's bracket contest (she finished out of the prize, which was days off from her company), and Pat HATED the NC coach since he always disrespected Billy Donovan, the beloved Gators coach. In any case, John suggested we go to one of his client's places, the Sports Grill at the Palmetto Golf Club. Palmetto is a public course, and used to have a great place called Bogey's Barn -- a huge barn with a restaurant and disco. It was a favorite college hangout, since you could have dinner like a fancy burger, and drinks, for about $8 per person (this was the early 80s), and then you got free entrance into the disco, which had great live bands on the weekends. It was the perfect college date place, but blew down in Hurricane Andrew. They rebuilt a clubhouse in its place, and a few years ago, Sports grill took over. It was terrific -- wonderful wings, and a FULL BAR. Our foursome had a great time. On Wednesday, there came a gift from Sunrise, via the Atlantic: the Panthers emailed me saying my friend Norman had gifted me two playoff tickets. Norman is on a repositioning cruise, from Miami to Tenerife, and I guess found it a bit too daunting to make the Panthers game from the middle of the Atlantic. I accepted, of course, and now had a more intense interest in the Panthers. Pat called and asked to watch the game with me -- we returned to the Sports Grill. The Panthers lost a tough one. The place was packed -- a fellow was at a table behind me, and we waved, but I couldn't place him, except to see he was a typical Miami gringo -- sandy haired, wearing a visor, fishing shirt featuring some type of gamefish, and shorts. Yesterday Wifey and I had lunch at Bagel Emporium in the Gables, and then I walked to the train and commuted Downtown. I love that ride -- seeing all the 'hoods from above. I was one of the original MetroRail riders in the early 80s, and I still get a kick out of the ride. I exited at Brickell, and walked sweatily to my office, opened a bit of mail, greeted Stuart, and left. Stuart asked why, and I told him there was a bad vibe there...truth was, I needed to get to Mike's office. I met Mike, and showed his secretary a picture on my phone of Mike, me, and our third law school stooge Jeff, at law school graduation. Thirty years had passed. She remarked Mike and I still looked the same. He needs to bonus that young Cubana... We tooled up to Sunrise in Mike's souped up Dodge Challenger -- he said he'd had it to 130 on Alligator Alley -- and entered the arena. I told Mike it might be racist even being there -- hockey is not a sport watched by too many people of color. We ran into our host's boy +Benji, who KNOWS his hockey, and his buddy Ramon, Jr, who we tailgate with at Canes games. We ate, and drank, and watched the Cats win a great one. Of course, we texted Norman our selfie, so he could be there in spirit. We flew back to Miami -- the expressways are finally, nearly finished, and the traffic was mercifully light. Wifey was watching movies with three dogs (actual dogs, not movie dogs) as D1 is visiting her sister in NYC and left the spoiled Spaniel with us. This am I took a walk. The huge, gold, SUV was rounding our block, and I waved to the driver -- a Miami gringo, at least half. I think his Mom is Japanese. I always see him leaving with a boat on a trailer, or working on the boat. It's a BIG boat. I figure either there's family money, as he seems to fish a LOT. He stopped, and asked if I watched the PAnthers win. Yes, I told him, due to the generosity of my buddy, I was there. I asked how he knew I followed the Cats. He said he had seen me at the Sports Gill the night before, and told his buddies I was his neighbor. So THAT was the mystery white man... Miami gringos are still around, and pop up -- sometimes in expected places.