Only unpleasantness in Iraq was obnoxious Yankee fan--Marlins exec

Miami: "Aside from an encounter with a boastful Yankees fan, the Florida Marlins enjoyed their tour of Iraq and Kuwait.

• The team's goodwill group visited U.S. troops, saw the Iran border and met Kuwaiti Little Leaguers. The Marlins traveled by
• military helicopter and by boat in the Persian Gulf.

"It's the real deal over there with real bullets," Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said Tuesday. "I wasn't totally prepared for it."

Beinfest said he never felt like the group was in danger.

• He joked that the only unpleasant episode was the encounter
• with the Yankees fan.

"We're doing a meet-and-greet. They set up a table and we're signing," Beinfest said. "This guy comes up with a '27 championships' T-shirt. He's a nice guy, so we gave him a Marlins T-shirt.

• He said, 'I'm not putting it on. Everything's right with the world, the Yankees are on top.'

• "This guy is in the middle of Iraq, and everything's right with the world? But he was a nice guy."

Also making the trip late last month were manager Fredi Gonzalez, NL Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan, catcher John Baker and several members of the team's Mermaids dance crew. The Marlins said the weeklong trip, sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment, was the first of its kind for a major league club since the Iraq war began."...

• AP report, Canadian Press, "Marlins Exec: No sense of danger in goodwill trip to Mideast," 2/9/10

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