Dan Marino

Downtown Eddie Brown

NFL Memorabilia, my favorite autographed football jersey in my collection. It is not a Dan Marino, or Joe Montana, or even Emmitt Smith, no my favorite jersey bears the name “Brown”. Downtown Eddie Brown. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver that led the Bengals to the 1988 Superbowl against the San Francisco 49ers.

Downtown Eddie Brown was a member of the 1983 Miami Hurricanes football team that upset the University of Nebraska in the 1984 Orange Bowl to earn Miami’s first National Championship ever.
The following year, Downtown Eddie Brown was named as a consensus first-team All-American and was the first WR in UM history to amass over 1,000 yards receiving, with 220 of those yards on only 10 catches that came in the famous “Hail Flutie” shootout with Boston College.

Downtown Brown would leave Miami setting school career records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs. Eddie Brown was a first round draft pick in 1985, chosen number 13 over all by those same Cincinnati Bengals. Eddie Brown was taken after Al Toon of the NY Jets and before Jerry Rice, not a bad draft for wide-outs.

Playoff Jersey

About 17 years ago, I was luck enough to have obtained a game used playoff jersey by Downtown Eddie Brown, and have him sign it. Although this is not the most expensive of jerseys, it does have sentimental value, as I attended UM and forever he will be part of the first University of Miami National championship!

In 1985 he won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award, recording 53 catches for 942 yards and 8 touchdowns. In 1988, he recorded 53 receptions for 1,273 yards and 9 touchdowns, assisting the Bengals to a championship appearance in Super Bowl XXIII and earning him his first trip to the Pro Bowl. Downtown Brown continued to play for the Bengals until after the 1991 season. Brown finished his 7 NFL seasons with 363 catches for 6,134 yards and 41 touchdowns, along with 164 rushing yards.

Specialty Cards

1995 Florida Sports Plus The Delay Of The MLB Season

jmaris21 Alex Rodriguez, All-Star Game, Dan Marino, Florida Marlins, Ryan Braun, World Series

It was April 1995 when I was already slated to go to the NY Mets vs. The Florida Marlins opening home season. See the picture to get a glimpse of the opening day ticket that never was. The MLB empire had endured one of the biggest black eye it has ever gotten. But thanks to the enhanced performance scandals that keep on surfacing, with the latest from Miami in which the names of Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez and many more are listed in some form or fashion.

No World Series in 1994

MLB was just fresh off of the first World Series cancellation in over 100 years. The world, sports fans, and baseball players aficionados world-wide were stunned. I don’t think that anything prior to that time was painful to watch in sports. But we have become a nation that endures, and although any tragedy in a sport will never compare to a tragedy in life, being a society that pretty much revolves around sports, it was a shock nonetheless. It’s after shock was felt for a very long time.

As a baseball fan, I was looking towards the start of the 1995 season, but I must admit I can remember an empty feeling, but it was not necessarily pointed towards the players, not like the substance abuse is.

1994 MLB All- Star Game

All we had that year from baseball was a partial season, and an All-Star game, one of which I have little memory from. In fact if it wasn’t for the All-Star numbered bat from that year with the autograph of Alex Rodriguez, which I acquired at an event just before the game, and my 1994 World Series MLB ball, which were sold because they were never used, that whole 1994-1995 sports year would be a blur to me.

Dan Marino – Miami Dolphins

That was also the year that I met Dan Marino, see the picture with the autograph. Thank goodness that for every set back we endure, there is always a seasonal sport to lift us up. Football was the sport that year that made us forget the 1994 MLB debacle and endure the reception, cold reception, that we gave baseball in 95.

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