Canespace: July 2015

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Melt The Butter

The 2015 spiny lobster season opens with the two-day recreational sport season July 29 and 30, followed by the regular commercial and recreational lobster season, which starts Aug. 6 and runs through March 31.

In addition, this year, divers have an incentive to remove some invasive lionfish while they’re in the water. Divers can take one extra spiny lobster each day during the two-day sport season if they also harvest 10 or more lionfish first, on the same day.

No one wants a small lobster for dinner. Make sure you check the size. Measuring devices are required, and lobsters must be measured while they are in the water. If the carapace length is not larger than 3 inches, it must be left in the water (see image on how to measure spiny lobster).

Spiny Lobster measurement

To protect the next generation and your future chances to have lobster for dinner, harvest of egg-bearing females is prohibited. Lobsters have hundreds of thousands of eggs that are easily visible and attached under the tail. While most lobsters have completed reproduction by the start of the fishing season, finding lobsters with eggs is common in July and August.

Bring a cooler big enough to hold the entire lobster. Spiny lobsters must remain in whole condition until they are brought to shore. Also, do not take spiny lobster with any device that might puncture, penetrate or crush its shell.

Stick to the bag and possession limits so there will be enough lobsters for all your friends and family. During the two-day spiny lobster sport season, recreational divers and snorkelers can take up to six lobsters per person daily in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park waters or seven lobsters if they take at least 10 lionfish first that same day.

In other Florida waters, they can take 12 lobsters per person day or 13 if they first take at least 10 lionfish on that same day. You may possess no more than the daily bag limit of lobsters when you are on the water. When you are off the water, you may possess no more than the daily bag limit on the first day of the sport season and no more than double the daily bag limit on the second day.

Then, melt the butter!

Posted at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (358)

The Pipe + The Dream + The U = The Dynasty

The Miami Touchdown Club is hosting a Tribute Dinner for coaching legend Howard Schnellenberger on Thursday, August 6th, 2015 at the Signature Grand in Davie, FL. Each attendee will receive an autographed copy of Howard’s book, “Passing the Torch” which can be personalized beginning at @ 5:30 pm that evening, and again after dinner.

This event, emceed by Don Bailey, Jr., will pay tribute to Schnellenberger’s coaching journey which began at the University of Kentucky, but will focus on his success as offensive coordinator of the undefeated ’72 Dolphins, his resurrecting and leading UM’s program to its first National Championship in 1983, and being birth-father of FAU football.

Dolphin greats Dick Anderson, Nat Moore, Tony Nathan, Kim Bokamper, Bob Kuechenberg and Ed Newman and Hurricane Hall of Famers Ray Bellamy and Albert Bentley head a list of former professional and collegiate players and coaches who will participate in this tribute.

Special video tributes from Don Shula, Bob Griese, Jim Kelly, Joe Namath & Vinny Testaverde.

Sponsorships and tickets are still available through our website, the Miami Touchdown Club

Contact: Chris Ball, Chairman 305-215-4616
The Miami Touchdown Club, P.O. Box 560981, Miami, FL 33256-0981
www.miamitouchdownclub.com
Miami Touchdown Club hotline: 305-477-1815

Posted at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (331)

Can U Swim?

The University of Miami swimming and diving program will send six strong representatives to Russia for the 16th annual FINA World Championships beginning July 24.

More than 2,500 athletes from 186 countries are slated to compete at the World Championships, including 2015 NCAA national champion diver Sam Dorman (USA), recently graduated swimmer Heather Arseth, incoming Hurricanes diver David Dinsmore (USA) and incoming swimmer Roxanne Yu.

Head swimming coach Andy Kershaw will serve as Team USA head manager for the second time in his career, while diving coach Randy Ableman will serve on the Team USA staff.

“I’m very excited for our representation there as a whole – Randy is one of our diving coaches and one of, if not the, top diving coach in the world, in my point of view. Personally, I’m super excited to be given this opportunity again, now as a Hurricane,” Kershaw said. “I got to serve as head manager for the 2011 World Championships, and the 2012 USA Olympic team, but this is going to be my first opportunity with the ‘U’ on my chest underneath the USA, which will be fun.”

Arseth is no stranger to the international scene, having competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London for Mauritius. A freestyle specialist, Heather served as one of Miami’s top point-getters during her two seasons with the Hurricanes.

“Heather will be traveling to Kazan on the second day, and then flies to Réunion Island right from Worlds to compete in the Indian Ocean Island Games,” Kershaw said. “I’m excited to get to watch her perform.”

Dorman, an Olympic hopeful who capped a stellar undergraduate career with a national championship in the 3-meter, will be making his second appearance in the Worlds; he finished fourth in synchro 3-meter and 10^th in 1-meter at the 2013 World University Games, also held in Kazan.

He will team with Kristian Ipsen of Stanford in the synchro 3-meter.

"I'm changing to adapt to his style," Dorman told The Arizona Republic. "We keep chipping away at everything we need to do."

Dinsmore, a promising freshman with international experience who will help replace Dorman, will be making his Worlds debut in Kazan.

“For him to be competing at Worlds this summer means he’s one of the top two Americans in the platform at this point,” Ableman said. “He’s already accomplished quite a bit, and he has a lot of development ahead of him, as far as his springboard goes.

“He should be one of the best in college diving in the 10-meter as a freshman.”

Posted at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (250)

Love Miami

The University of Miami women’s tennis team was announced Thursday as a 2015 ITA All-Academic Team honoree, a recognition given to teams with a cumulative GPA above 3.20.

Additionally, six Hurricanes were named ITA Scholar-Athletes, an award given to varsity letter winners with a GPA of at least 3.50 in 2014-15 and at least two semesters completed at their current school.

Monique Albuquerque, Judith Bohnenkamp, Silvia Fuentes, Lina Lileikite, Stephanie Wagner, and Wendy Zhang all garnered the ITA Scholar-Athlete distinction.

The Hurricanes were one of just 36 teams in NCAA Division I with at least a half dozen players named an ITA Scholar-Athlete. Miami was one of two from the ACC, along with Clemson.

This is the second time in the last three years six Hurricanes garnered the award, with Albuquerque, Lileikite and Wagner all among the group in 2013 as well.

Albuquerque, Lileikite, Wagner, and Zhang were also named the 2015 All-ACC Academic Team, with Wagner winning ACC Women’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

To learn more about the University of Miami women’s tennis program, follow @HurricaneTennis.

Posted at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (269)

By The Numbers: U Must Have Balance

If you ever saw the movie Karate Kid, then you probably will remember Mr. Miagi emphatically telling Daniel early on during his karate training that:

"U must have balance Danielson!"

People, and by "people" I mean Hurricane fans, wonder why the University of Miami football team has not won more games in the past few season under UM head coach Al Golden. Well, in this article blogger TonyCane does his best to explain at least one reason that Miami has yet to right its losing ways.

U see my orange and green friends, according to TonyCane, it is mainly about recruiting failures over many years that resulted in serious roster in-balance. The in-balance he sees he describes like this...

The numbers show a lot of the factors in the irrelevancy.

If you look at the overall classes, Coker recruited well and had a very talented team. But Coker failed to recruit wide receivers and quarterbacks, and after 2004 this failure caught up with him. It doesn't matter how good the rest of your team is - if you are running a pro-style offense and you have to convert a punter (Monroe) to just have bare numbers at wide receiver, your team is set up for disaster.

The numbers tell part of the story for Shannon as well. He had one good recruiting class (2008) that was ladden with a large number of 3 star players. He followed it up with a decent 2009 class and a mediocre 2010 class that was only ranked as high as it was due to the sheer volume of players taken.

Golden's tale is the easiest to tell with numbers. His initial roster was imbalanced due to the withered 2010 class (third gone within a year) and a depleted 2011 class.

His 2012 class, while strong, saw an inordinate amount of players transfer, fail to qualify, or get eliminated from the roster. This speaks to the NCAA mess, where Miami could not be choosy and had to take what they could get.

The large number of departures from the 2012 class, coupled with the 2010 and 2011 classes led to roster imbalances that persisted until last season. This year is the first in a decade where the team is actually balanced.

Bottom line, no coach could have brought Miami back to sustained, Canes-like prominence for the entire last decade. Presume that Butch Davis or Bob Stoops had been given the job in 2006. They still would have had to contend with the Nevin Shapiro disaster that was in the making.

The coach in 2011 would potentially have inherited a stronger team and been able to recruit a bit more on recent success (USC), but the 2.5 year investigation with the death penalty being freely bandied about would still have brought the program several steps back.

As a program, Miami is coming back. It's just taking a heck of a lot longer than I or anyone else here expected or wanted.

Posted at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (315)

Vote For Vogel

University of Miami football punter Justin Vogel was selected to the preseason watch list for the 2015 Ray Guy Award on Thursday. The award was created in 2000 and honors the nation’s top collegiate punter.

Vogel was named to the preseason watch list after he posted a breakout sophomore season in 2014. Joining the team as a walk-on, Vogel made his presence felt by dropping an incredible 42.9 percent of his punts inside the 20-yard line, which ranked among the nation’s best.

The Tampa, Fla. native also averaged 42.8 yards per punt and 62.1 yards on kickoff duty. Following his sophomore season, Vogel was selected as All-ACC Third Team honoree and was tabbed as a Ray Guy Award Semifinalist.

The number of eligible candidates for this season will grow when the award opens for nominations in September. The complete list of candidates will be released on October 30. In early November, the Ray Guy Award committee will meet to select the ten semi-finalists, who will be announced on November 13.

A national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, coaches, media representatives, and previous Ray Guy Award winners will then vote for the top three finalists, to be announced on November 23. After the finalists are named, the voting body will cast ballots again to select the nation’s top punter. The winner will be announced live during The Home Depot College Football Awards airing on ESPN on Thursday, December 10, 2015.

Posted at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (107)

King Kaaya

University of Miami sophomore quarterback Brad Kaaya was named to the watch list for the 79th annual Maxwell Award on Tuesday by the Maxwell Football Club, proving that young Kaaya has quickly become the king of his domain.

The Maxwell Award, named in honor of Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell, has been given to America's College Player of the Year since 1937. Maxwell's contributions to the game of football were extensive, including time as a player, a sportswriter and an official.

Kaaya received the preseason honor after he authored one of the finest first-year campaign’s in school history, while guiding the Hurricanes to their second-consecutive bowl appearance.

During his rookie campaign, Kaaya was the only true freshman quarterback in the country to throw for over 3,000 yards, 26-or-more touchdowns and 12-or-fewer interceptions.

In addition, Kaaya rewrote the Hurricanes’ freshman record book as he set the single season freshman standard for passing yards and touchdowns. He finished the year with 3,198 passing yards and 26 touchdown passes. His 26 touchdown passes from a year ago tied him with Heisman Trophy winning signal-caller Vinny Testaverde for third all-time.

This is the third preseason honor Kaaya has received this summer. In the month of June, he was named to both the Phil Steele and Athlon Sports Preseason All-Conference Team.

Kaaya is one of 20 sophomores that were named to the Maxwell Watch List and was one of just eight sophomore quarterbacks that were recognized nationally.

Posted at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (160)

UM Minor League Player Has Some Major Achievements

Reno Aces (@Aces) outfielder Peter O'Brien was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star Team as starters, the PCL announced today.

The Aces have had at least one All-Star starter since 2009 and it is the fourth time in the last five years the Aces have had multiple starters.

The 28th annual Triple-A All-Star Game will be played Wednesday, July 15, at Werner Park in Omaha, Nebraska at 5:00 p.m. PST. The PCL All-Stars, made up of 30 players from the 16 PCL teams, will compete against the International League All-Stars.

O'Brien, 24, is hitting .281 with 60 RBI, 43 runs scored, 20 doubles and 15 home runs in 74 games in 2015. He is among PCL league leaders in total bases (149 - 3rd), RBI (T-3rd), home runs (T-3rd), hits (80 - T-7th), slugging percentage (.523 - 9th) and doubles (T-10th).

The Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) honored O'Brien with its Organizational Player of the Month Award in April when he hit .383 with 20 RBI, 17 runs scored, 7 home runs and 7 doubles. It's the third mid-season honor for O'Brien who was named a South Atlantic League mid-season All-Star in 2013 and an Eastern League mid-season All-Star in 2014.

Posted at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Happy Birthday To U!

We interrupt our normal blogging and all things orange and green on this 4th of July 2015 to offer a very sincere THANK U to the red, white and blue and all of the men and women who serve their Country and defend our freedom.

Today we would like to say...Happy Birthday To the USA!

For all of those incredibly brave men and women who have served in the U.S armed forces and who have literally put their lives on the line to protect and defend the United States of America this blog is for U.

For all of the courageous men and women who recognized that freedom isn't free and found it necessary to put themselves in harms way we thank U.

For all of those Army soldiers who have fearlessly risked their lives to defend our Country in World Wars, regional conflicts and in other military battles against terrorists we honor U.

For all of those Navy sailors, who save the free world on the open seas, without concern for their own safety to defend the world's oceans we recognize U.

For all of those highly skilled Air Force pilots and their support crews who defend our airspace with their incredible talent and ability we salute U.

And for all of those who served as a Marine like my father who fought in Korea and served as a Staff Sargent in Camp LeJune, NC may God bless you and keep you safe and well. It's not easy being first in and last out.

We wish all American defense personnel and all U.S. citizens across our great Nation the peace, freedom and security that all sovereign Nations deserve.

We would like to take this opporuntity to wish all of our armed forces and all of our Canespace Nation family and friends a safe, happy and fun 4th of July.

Miami Hurricane fans salute U and ask that God Bless America!

Posted at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (130)

Canes Know How To Fish For A Cause

For the fifth consecutive year, the Habitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys / University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame (UMSHoF) Celebrity Dolphin Tournament, hosted by Randal Hill and Andre Johnson, was one of the largest fishing event in the Florida Keys. With nearly 600 people attending the events, along with 55 former Hurricanes greats - including 25 UMSHoF members - the event has blossomed into a must-see on the fishing event calendar. The event raises funds for Habitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys, the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, the Coastal Conservation Association and the UMSHoF.

The Friday night Captains Meeting was a mix of former Canes getting reacquainted, meeting new friends from the Florida Keys and the anticipation of the next day’s excursion to the open seas. A paella dinner was provided by Segovia Catering and live music by the popular Coconut Grove band “Live Bait” led to a festive evening. Former Miami coach, and Islamorada resident, Jimmy Johnson, along with all the celebrities, spent the evening talking to fans, signing autographs, taking photos and checking out the Vendor Village in the laid back Florida Keys weather.

Fishing began at 8 a.m. on Saturday and 75 boats went out in search of the biggest dolphin. The “Weigh In” began at 3:30 p.m. with food provided by former Canes quarterback Craig Erickson and the good folks at Hole in the Wall Pub. A DJ played island music to accompany the weighing of the many dolphins caught by the anglers. A total of 70 dolphins were weighed. A total of 362 anglers participated in the event.

After all the fish were weighed, the awards dinner began with a Caribbean pork roast provided by Mangrove Mike’s Café of Islamorada and the awarding of trophies and cash prizes to the winners. The first prize with the largest dolphin belonged to Ely Hernandez of the boat “Kaya”, with a catch of 39 pounds. He collected $3,000 and a trophy designed by Reel Tuff Graphix. Second place winner of $2,000 was Dave Resch, Sr., from “Team Johnstone” with a catch of 37.3 pounds. Winner of $1,000 for third place was Randy Weinstein on “Stage Two”.

Winning Top Female Angler was Jamie Slattery of “Can’t Quit” with a 23.2 pound catch. The boat “Kaya” claimed the $3,633 Bucket of Bucks prize with a three-fish dolphin aggregate of 77.9 pounds. The Master of the Ocean, largest combined weight of three fish in the dolphin, wahoo, tuna and kingfish species was won by “Hang Loose” with an aggregate of 93.9 pounds of fish, winning the highest total prize of $7,905.

Though not officially weighed for the tournament, Miami’s Deputy Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator, Jenn Strawley, on “Phoebe II”, caught and released what was described as a rather large blue marlin.

As the evening wore down and anglers said their goodbyes, many of the group headed over to UMSHoF member Gary Dunn’s Ocean View Inn in Islamorada for a nightcap and a few more laughs. All in all, a great time was had by all and needed funds were raised for four outstanding charities. Make your plans for the 6th annual Habitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys / University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame Celebrity Dolphin Tournament next year.