With the end of the Florida Marlins and the beginning of the Miami Marlins, many, including us here at Fish Stripes of been compiling multiple "Best of ... " lists regarding the Florida Marlins era. They're great, but it's time for something new, a "Worst Of" list. What purpose does this serve? Well, none really, but trust me, it's not traumatizing, like some franchises worst games countdown would be. Consider this a trip down the alternate path of memory lane and be thankful that as bad as some of these losses felt, our franchise still doesn't have a Bucky Dent or Bill Buckner type of game.

July 14th, 1995 at Los Angeles Dodgers, Lost 3-0, Ramon Martinez No-Hitter

Oddly enough, the first couple of seasons for the Fish didn't feature many epic losses. Sure, there were some blowouts, but not to the level you'll see later in this list. The first real highlight-reel loss came in 1995. No one likes getting no-hit. It happens, and it's not something to be too ashamed of, but it still stings. I don't remember too much about this game, because I was nine years old, and it was a 10pm start, so I didn't see it. From the box score we can discern that Martinez shut down a murderers row lineup featuring Chuck Carr and Terry Pendleton(!) batting cleanup. Only a two-out walk in the eighth inning kep Ramon from a perfect game.

October 3rd , 1999, at Atlanta Braves, Lost 18-0

This was the first truly epic beatdown that the Marlins received and it remains today as the largest margin of defeat in franchise history. It was the final day of the season and the club was unsuccessful in avoiding their 98th loss. Tom Glavine took the hill for the Braves. Surprising since this was in the Braves heyday and they had postseason games to come. Amazingly, Glavine was Atlanta's fourth starter in the playoffs, so he pitched this day to stay on normal rest.

He only needed to go five innings to get his 14th win of the year. It was 9-0 after the third inning. The Braves added three more in each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Each of their starters recorded at least one hit, including Glavine and one Ozzie Guillen!

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As well documented, the Florida Marlins are no more. We are now the Miami Marlins. Twenty, thirty, or fifty years from now, the nineteen years we spent as the Florida Marlins will lumped into one all inclusive era. When we look back on the Florida Marlins era, we'll probably be known just for being a bad small market team with an apathetic fan base that somehow popped up to win a random world series, times two. Of course we know there's more to it to that. There are a number of smaller eras that encompass the history of the Florida Marlins. In time, those will be forgotten, but let's take a quick time travel to revisit them.

Expansion

As with pretty much any new sports team, the first few years were pretty rough in terms of results. The roster was assembled with castoffs from other teams, players who should've been playing in Triple-A, and the token several decent players that seemed like stars to us because of the circumstances. Of course fans loved them anyway. Much in the same way you love a new puppy, even though they pee everywhere.

An interesting bit about the Marlins franchise though, they got better every year. As simple and logical as that sounds, other recent expansion franchises did not encounter similar results. Perhaps it was blind luck, but we should give some credit to management those early years for consistent improvement, as slow as it may have seemed.

The question when defining this era, is what do we make of the 1997 World Series champion team? Was it the culmination of this era and building from bottom to top? Or was it simply a year that should stand by itself in the way the team was assembled and the one year wonder the success was? I would lean towards saying the former. As much as revisionist historians say the entire team was built after 1996 and broken up before 1998, that isn't entirely true. It had mainstays like Charles Johnson, Jeff Conine, and Gary Sheffield.

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David Villavicencio, a freelance writer for MLB.com and former beat writer for FoxSportsFlorida.com, supposedly has the inside scoop.

A source close to Gio Gonzalez reports the Miami native could be joining his hometown team soon.

The 26-year-old is coming off the best season of his young career. Gonzalez won 16 games and struck out 197 batters while posting a 3 .12 ERA and representing the Oakland A’s in the All-Star Game. He has won 31 games and struck out 368 over the past two seasons with Oakland.

But adding a player like Gonzalez comes at a price. The lefty is young, performing at a very high level, affordable and under team control through 2015. A’s general manager Billy Beane could expect to get a nice package in return for the left-hander. He is also certain to receive plenty of calls from fellow GMs should word get out that Oakland is actively looking to move him.

The source says three different players have been discussed as potential pieces for the deal. All three players played significant time with the Marlins last season. It is unlikely that all three would be involved in the deal

UPDATE: The Marlins have flatly rejected a Gio Gonzalez deal with Oakland A's when the A's asked for either Logan Morrison or Mike Stanton, this according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (H/T MLB Trade Rumors and FS reader rayrayrayrayray cont.). No surprise, since the Marlins did mention earlier that Morrison was "off-limits." Asking for Mike Stanton was bound to get laughed off the stage. Billy Beane certainly should have known better. This news may squash that rumor.

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We're now over 36 hours after the long anticipated unveiling of the new Miami Marlins logos and uniform set. That amount of time elapsed now allows one to take an objective look at the set and give some opinions. Let's get right to it.

So I don't have to link everything, please check out this post on the Colorwerx blog that has the graphical version of all the logos, wordmarks, and jersey name/number styling. I'll try to add some links throughout the post with photos of the real jerseys.

Logo/Cap Insignia

These leaked a while back and despite Samson and Co. saying they weren't entirely accurate, they pretty much were. As with much of the set, it was a good idea, just not executed very well. The 'M' with the minimalistic marlin is pretty nice. When in a no color format, as you can see in this t-shirt in the team shop, it looks very nice..

There are two ways in which things went awry . First are the color choices for the Marlin. The top half of the fish with the fin is orange, while the bottom half is blue. It should be the other way around. That's actually how a real Marlin looks, and it would have been cool for it to be pretty accurate despite having a minimalistic look. The other miscalculation is the splotch of yellow. There either needs to be more of it, or none at all. It's like they just added it in because they forgot it was one of their colors. If they had put a splash in the Marlin it would probably look better

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Each year is a different and unique story for a professional sports team, especially Major League Baseball with its marathon 162-game campaign. Some years remain engraved in our memory while others ebb away over time. Marlins fans would list 1997 and 2003 as the most memorable years for obvious reasons. Beyond that, each year has its moments and stories that will be remembered.

Without a doubt, 2011 will be remembered primarily as Joe Robbie Pro Player Dolphins Landshark Sun Life Stadium's swan song. The team closed the place in a very Marlins fashion with an underachieving finish on the field and a celebration to remember the quirky and unique aspects of that being our home for nineteen years. It felt oddly appropriate. As for the rest, there are several bits on and off that field that will probably be remembered five and ten years from now, depending on how it all shakes out. Below are the four that have my attention.

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• Golden covets and visited St. Thomas Aquinas quarterback and Iowa commitment Jake Rudock on Tuesday. Rudock's father, Bob, said his son ``was very impressed. He has given Jake lots to mull over. Al Golden is Dennis Erickson, Jimmy Johnson, Howard Schnellenberger and Butch Davis combined in one guy. He pulled up in a Cadillac Escalade, looking like Pat Riley in a great suit. His presence and vision stand out. Kids will buy in and win championships.'' UM wants to sign two quarterbacks, with Palm Beach Dwyer's Jacoby Brissett and Hargrave's Marcus McDade among other targets.

More recruiting notes from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald

Hey everyone, before you all say this is stupid and that we have no chance at the playoffs, let me say it. This is pretty useless, but as long as we are mathematically alive, we should take a look. I went through the NFL Playoffs Machine on ESPN.com and checked. Here's what needs to happen.

1. We must win our final three games. We'll be favored in the first two (Buf, Det) and while the last game is against the Patriots, it's very possible they could have the AFC #1 seed wrapped up, so they may rest some players for parts or all of that game.
2. The Jets must lose week 17 to the Bills and at least one other game. Because of the tiebreaker scenarios, even if they lost the next two weeks (Pit, Chi) but beat the Bills, they'd finish ahead of us.
3. The Chargers must lose one game. They are also 7-6 and if they win out, they would win a tiebreaker against us via conference record. If they don't lsoe, we would need the Chiefs to lose one, maybe two games. Basically, we don't want the Chiefs AND Chargers to win out.

There might be another scenario based on if Baltimore loses tonight but for now, the above is pretty much what needs to happen.

This was a delicious basketball game. Of course the Miami Heat and their fans will savor the taste more than their counterparts, but if you look at the game from a neutral point of view, it was an exciting NBA encounter.

The first quarter went back and forth with neither team able to sustain a run and build a big lead. The Heat usually remained a few points ahead, but the Jazz would string together one solid possession after another and match Miami bucket for bucket. In the second, Miami was able to extend to a ten point lead before a late run by Utah cut the lead to 56-50 at the break.

The third quarter got off to a great start for Miami, who extended their lead to twelve points, but then the game turned. In a matter of moments the Jazz answered Miami's run and the building came alive. The Heat looked frustrated on offense and started turning the ball over. It looked a lot like that November 9th game, in which Utah overcame a 22-point deficit to win. By the end of the third, the Jazz had taken a one point lead. Coming into this game they were 10-0 in games they took a lead to the fourth quarter.

Thankfully for the Heat, they owned tonight's final period. A James Jones three, then two more by Dwyane Wade highlighted a 15-5 run to take a 94-83 lead. The Jazz would cut into that lead but from then on, every question that was asked, was answered by Miami. Lebron James puncuated the night with an alley-oop dunk with just over three minutes remaining. Then he tipped in a Wade miss. Several free throws later the game was over. Miami outscored Utah 34-20 in the fourth.

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                                                   Speaking of Space Jam....I believe I can flyyyy

In a very important game with lots of Eastern Conference playoff seeding implications, The Miami Heat outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks and won 87-74.

The game started out with both teams executing on the offensive end. For Miami, Dwyane Wade was attacking the rim and finishing or getting to the line. The Heat also went to Jermaine O'Neal as they customary do and he chipped in with six points before exiting with an injury. For Milwaukee, John Salmons made a couple of quick buckets before they got contributions elsewhere. After the first media timeout with the score tied at 14, The Heat were able to build a small lead with more of Wade and also getting to the line and making all 12 of their first quarter free throws. The Bucks were doing their damage with second chance points coming after offensive rebounds. The first quarter ended 28-20 in favor of the Heat.

In the second quarter, the Heat defense tightened up and the lead grew. Milwaukee went to a 2-3 zone defense, which stifled the Heat for a little bit. Eventually though, Miami broke it down and was able to get some good looks and finish. Unlike last night's game in Chicago, Wade was the go-to scorer and he finished with 19 in the half to go along with 4 assists. After Kurt Thomas went to the bench with his third foul, Dan Gadzuric gave the Bucks some good minutes as he drew a charge and followed it up with an offensive rebound and putback. Halftime score, Heat lead 48-35

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                                           Hey Chuck...how 'bout you say some of that to my face?

On the night the NCAA tournament started the Sweet Sixteen round, this game had the feel of a first round #1 vs #16 game. The Miami Heat played the role of powerhouse, while the Chicago Bulls were the directional-never heard of this-state university.

The first quarter opened with both teams looking a bit sloppy. The Bulls had a few turnovers while Miami's "Titos" were missing some good looks. Also, Michael Beasley picked up two quick fouls in the first three minutes and went to the bench. Jermaine O'Neal however, did make four early buckets and guide the Heat to a 12-10 lead at the first media timeout.

The Heat extended the lead throughout the rest of the quarter as several players got buckets in the paint, including some post-work from Quentin Richardson, which I don't think we've seen since November. The Bulls were struggling in the half court and were only bailed out by a couple of Kirk Hinrich threes and some nice attacking to the rim by Taj GIbson. But it was Miami who closed the quarter with a 23-9 run, which gave them a 31-19 lead.

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Last week, Luis Scola made 20 field goals in one game for the Rockets. Tonight the Charlotte Bobcats team made just 21 field goals. Yes, it was that kind of game. It was beautifully ugly, but the Miami Heat got a crucial 77-71 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats and have moved into sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The game opened up pretty nicely for Miami. They raced to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter thanks to four 3-pointers by Quentin Richardson. Then, predictably the Heat failed to close the quarter nicely, or even decently. They were held without a field goal for the final 5:43 and Charlotte took a 21-20 lead. Michael Beasley stopped the run at the beginning of the second quarter but the Bobcats just slowly built a lead.

The only thing that kept Miami in it was a couple more 3-pointer from Q-Rich. They were quite timely. The Heat's perimeter defense was lacking and Charlotte was getting to the line quite frequently. On the offensive end, they looked lost without Dwyane Wade. Miami was able to clamp down on defense though and even took a 47-45 lead into the half. It was one of those "How are we leading this game?" feelings.

In the third quarter, the home of the Heat became ice cold. Charlotte could not buy a bucket and the Heat weren't exactly lighting it up either. Even with Wade back on the court, the offense lacked initiative and looked out of sorts. A lot of possessions were ending with 3-point attempts, and not the good ones. Seemingly any time they entered the lane, Tyson Chandler was blocking or altering shots. The quarter somehow ended up in Miami's favor 14-11, which game the Heat a 61-56 lead entering the 4th.

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Thanks to a contact I have with Playmaker Mobile (http://playmakermobile.com), I was able to get out to the Pro Bowl practice today and get a bit of a behind the scenes look at the whole operation. Boy if you thought the Pro Bowl Game was pretty relaxed, you should see a practice. Obviously it's for good reason, but it's pretty amusing to see these guys waltzing around the field and trying to make it look somewhat official.

Check out after the jump an exclusive video interview with Dolphins' Yeremiah Bell and some photos.

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Nine (9) teams finished with worse record than Dolphins (7-9)

Three teams are tied with a 7-9 record (Mia, Chi, Jax)

The tiebreaker for the draft standings is strength of schedule. I'm pretty sure we played the toughest schedule which means we are last of those three. That means are 1st round pick is 12th overall.

Each round, in ties, the team that picked first in the previous round, moves to back of line and other teams move up one slot. This means in round two we slide up to 11th. That pick is 43rd overall

In round three we move up to 10th, which is the 74th overall pick.