Miami, this crazy multicultural South Florida world, is loaded with professional sports teams: NFL football, Major League baseball, NBA basketball, NHL hockey. So you might think that people who live in Miami would be equally enthusiastic and supportive of all of these groups.

No, amigo. That's not the way it works here. Now fans of the Chicago Cubs are saints for their persistence, loyalty, cheer-for-the-team-even-when-it's-losing support of those baseball players.

In Miami, it's a case of what have you done for me lately? Win games and end-of-the-season championships and I will love you. Lose games and get knocked out of the playoffs and I'll ignore you.

Football: Miami has had its glory days. Dan Marino, the Hall of Fame quarterback for the Miami Dolphins and Don Shula, his coach back then, are treated with love and respect in Miami. They're active in the community and when they promote various commercial products, everybody takes those ads seriously. Their place in Miami's sports history is unquestioned. Miami football fans have been looking for Marino's replacement for years. Quarterbacks come and go. The search continues.

The nightmare season the Dolphins had a few years ago, when they won only one or two games (I'm trying to blot it out of my memory) sent Miami fans into clinical depression. They made calls to the radio talk shows with a weekly stream of complaints. This year we have new owners (even Jimmy Buffett is in the mix, along with Jennifer Lopez and her husband) and a (chuckle, chuckle) "catchy" new name for Dolphin Stadium: Landshark Stadium. There is hope because a new coaching team that came in about three years ago is making changes. (Does the word "Parcells" bring anything to mind?)

Sidenote on Football: Miami Dolphins fans can't stand the New York Jets, considering the Jets fans to be among the most obnoxious on the planet. The New England Patriots, a team with several former Dolphins, and a quarterback who can do no wrong, are not high on the Miami "favorites" list, as well.

Baseball: Our team in Major League Baseball is the Florida Marlins. The players are nice guys but the owners operate like this (this is my take on it): Keep the budget low; Bring in new players at cheap prices. Keep those players until they get really good, then sell them to another team for a profit. To me, it's like a puppy farm. The fans are never given long to develop an attachment and loyalty to a player because just about the time they do, the player gets traded.

Does it surprise you that local attendance at Marlins games is disturbingly low? A new domed stadium is scheduled to be built in Miami, after years of controversy and people screaming about tax money being used to help finance it. But not many people are optimistic that crowds will suddenly swell to epic figures.

Basketball: A few years ago, Miami basketball fans went nuts with ecstasy when the Miami Heat won the national championship.Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade were favorite phrases all over town. But the NBA team followed up the championship with a year in the pits. Generally, the team's local attendance is better, percentage-wise, than that for the Marlins, but local fans don't exempt them from "What have you done for me lately?"

Hockey: Miami also has a hockey team: the Florida Panthers. In terms of popularity, attendance and public caring, they're bottom on the totem pole. They get covered on radio and in the newspapers, but the Miami public doesn't cluster around them like they do the Dolphins.

Soccer: The Spanish-speaking sports fans in Miami have high enthusiasm for international soccer. The gringos in Miami respond with "What kind of a game is it when you play an entire game and end up with a score of 1-0?" TV and newspaper coverage in Miami are intense when an international soccer tournament is going on because of the passions of the Spanish-speaking sports fans. They know the players on the various foreign teams, whereas gringos would have trouble telling you just the names of the teams.

College Football: Any discussion of Miami sports has to include the University of Miami Hurricanes. They too had their glory days in the past, when they had the reputation of a NCAA powerhouse. They went into a slump and now, under new coach Randy Shannon, are making their way back in the Atlantic Coast League. Beating Florida State Seminoles recently was a tonic for Hurricanes fans. University of Florida Gators are the "villains" in college football for many Miami fans.

Miami is an emotional city, with highs and lows, so it's no surprise that sports passions follow such a pattern. Cities like Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis have long established traditions and loyalties to their home teams. Miami can love a team today and not return its calls tomorrow.