It's raining caddies and dogs

One of the comments you’re most likely to hear in a Miami Beach clothing store this week: "Is XXXL the biggest you have?" Football players can’t get everything they want. The store didn’t stock his size.

Guy gets out of a Cadillac Escalade, the SUV the NFL issues players and officials that come to Miami this week. The Cadillac has stopped at the red light on a street that intersects Lincoln Road. When the light turns green, the vehicle doesn’t move. The first guy to get out plays football, and I’ve seen him but can’t remember his name. Then a second guy, bigger than the first guy, gets out.

The second guy takes his time getting out. The car behind him honks. The big guy looks back disdainfully. The light turns red again. Then back to green. The Escalade has yet to move. Now a woman deigns to get out of the back seat, oblivious to the honking behind her.

They held up traffic for two light changes. You’d like to think the folks in that Escalade would feel guilty, if not immediately, then later. You’d like to think that. You’d really like to.

Dogs are revered in Miami Beach. Saw a guy walk six Italian greyhounds simultaneously. They were so small he could have juggled them. Juggling would have been less difficult, but he successfully walked all six.

Two women sit at an outdoor table on Lincoln Road. Their dogs, one a mutt, one a dachshund, sit on the other two chairs. The waitress serves the women while the dogs patiently wait.

Miami Beach dogs are patient. In front of me in line at the coffee shop is a woman. With her is Artie, a boxer who is stoic and loves to be petted. Later I saw a little furball dog walk out of a CVS store.

Where do you find dogs such as these? I couldn’t bring my dog into a coffee shop or drug store, and I sure couldn’t seat it at an outdoor table. But if I found the right bar ...