SOUTH FLORIDA-BASED BROADCASTER MIKEY MIKE, HONORED FOR HIS OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOCAL SPORTS!

By Wayde Brown —

With Hurricane Dorian curtailing activities on the field of play the Jamaica High School Alumni Sports Network was business off the field over the weekend as Florida braced for Dorian.

After a hurricane stress relief party on Friday night for footballers who converged on Fort Lauderdale for the tournament the Association Saturday night honored well known Jamaican born local radio personality Mikey Mike for his 11 years of service to the tournament.

Michael Downer aka Mikey Mike, who now operates two local radio stations in Florida was celebrating his 31^st year in the entertainment industry and was honored by the Jamaica High School Alumni Sports network for providing the annual entertainment component to the tournament which sees old boys and girls from Jamaican high school meeting at the Lauderhill Sports Complex to renew rivalry in both football and netball.

Among those present at Lobster House off Oakland Boulevard for the honouring were Mayor Hazellle Rogers of the City of Lauderdale Lakes, Commissioner Denise Gran from the City of Lauderhil, Jamaican Consul General to Miami Oliver Mair as well as former IRIE FM’s DJ Suzie Q who did MC duties mentioning her time starting out with Reggae Radio IRIE FM’s late Mighty Mike before hooking up with the honoree Mikey Mike.

Meanwhile, several alumni who traveled from Jamaica and across the US for the tournament are crying foul that the tournament could have been played but the city pulled the plugs too early as reasonable football weather was still prevailing in the region of Lauderhill on Monday.

Several teams reportedly spend extensively for the tournament flying in players from Jamaica and were looking forward to the new format where Manning Cup schools would have competed in one group and Da Costa Cup schools in another before meeting Oliver Shield style to determine the champion.

In the meantime stakeholders especially the teams continue to express concerns about the date for the tournament requesting an earlier date preferably in May for the Memorial Day weekend.

Bad weather have consistently affected the tournament annually with 2017 version called off without a winner after lightening in the area forced the players off the field as per state regulations.

It is believed that the tournament would be for all concerned if it were outside of the hurricane and rainy season.

The organizers in the meanwhile are actively looking into that possibility working out the logistics with the city as well as other Jamaican and Caribbean people organized activities already scheduled for that weekend.