In recent years, one of the side effects of the Marlins' poor attendance has been that the team has increasingly gone to minor-league-esque lengths to attract fans to the park. They had no shame, and were willing to do whatever it took to bring in more fans....even if that meant being the first major league team with cheerleaders (the Mermaids) and with a dancing troupe of obese men (the aptly named Manatees). Bill Veeck would be so proud.
But now that the Marlins have rebranded themselves and are opening their new stadium, they have reportedly cut ties with both the Mermaids and Manatees. Shocking? Well, once you watch a video of their performance, not so much.
I'll give the Manatees credit: the concept is humorous, and their name was punny enough to make me chuckle. But I'm sorry, this doesn't belong in a major league stadium:
The Manatees would be perfect for the family-friendly atmosphere of a minor league game, but major league games try to retain some semblance of professionalism. Maybe that's a stupid policy and teams should loosen up more -- and one could argue that this is far from professional -- but I know I'd certainly feel odd to see these guys perform at a game.
As far as the Mermaids go...maybe I'm just not in the know, but I don't think I've ever seen NFL cheerleaders dance like this. They seem just a tad risque.