“The great thing about Miami is that it’s so close to the United States”

Cuba is a country that is close to the United States. Miami, Florida has so many people from Latin America that it’s often joked that “Miami is close to the United States.” The joke became popular around Super Bowl XXIII (January 22, 1989)
 
“The best thing about Miami as a Super Bowl site is that it is so close to the United States,” Ed Schyler of The Associated Press said, as reported on January 19, 1989.
   
The Centre Daily Times (State College, PA) reported on January 26, 1989:
 
“If you’ve been to Miami in the last year or so you’ll appreciate this line from Orlando Sentinel columnist Larry Guest, who observed that, ‘The nice thing about Miami is that it’s so close to the United States.’”
 
   
Wikipedia: Miami
Miami (/maɪˈæmi/; Spanish pronunciation: [maiˈami]) is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Florida. As the seat of Miami-Dade County, the municipality is the principal, central, and most populous of its metropolitan area and part of the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami’s metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S., with a population of around 5.5 million.
     
Sun Sentinel
19 January 1989, Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), “Kickoff Party Gets Rave Reviews” by Jim Sarni, pg. 25B:
Line of the Day: “The best thing about Miami as a Super Bowl site is that it is so close to the United States.”—Ed Schyler of The Associated Press.
       
20 January 1989, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, “‘Mr. Potato Head’ Mashes Teammate” by jeff Gordon, pg. D4:
Associated Press writer Ed Schyler didn’t know why everybody was complaining about coming here for the Super Bowl. “The best thing about Miami as a Super Bowl site is that it is so close to the United States.”
 
26 January 1989, Centre Daily Times (State College, PA), Ron Bracken (sports columnist), pg. D-1, col. 1:
If you’ve been to Miami in the last year or so you’ll appreciate this line from Orlando Sentinel columnist Larry Guest, who observed that, “The nice thing about Miami is that it’s so close to the United States.”
 
Google Groups: rec.music.afro-latin
Music to Die For [Miami New Times 3/27/97]
Robert A. Solera
9/13/99
Wonderful posting. I might agree or not but what I did like was: Miami so close to the USA”. Right! This must be the Autonomous Republic of Miami. Nothing new however!
     
Google News Archive
21 March 2003, Merrimack (NH) Journal, “Akers making ‘friends’,” pg 7, col. 5:
It goes something like this: “THe good thing about Miami is that it is so close to the States.”
 
Google Groups: microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcse
Re: On Topic: T-minus 30 hours, 27 minutes
T-Bone
1/25/06
(...)
Our Ft. Lauderdale plant manager has told me the nice thing about Miami is that its “so close to the United States”.
   
Google Books
Everything You Need to Know About Latino History: 2008 Edition
By Himilce Novas
New York, NY: Plume
2007
Pg. ?:
Actually, Miami residents themselves joke that the reason they live in Miami is because it’s so close to the United States.
     
Google Books
The Boys from Dolores:
Fidel Castro and His Generation—from Revolution to Exile
By Patrick Symmes
Robinson
2007
Pg. 27:
Cubans always joked that the great thing about Miami was how close it was to the USA.
 
Twitter
Mike Neumann
‏@mikeneumann
@WickedStepmom Article years ago on Superbowl in Miami: “Great city, and so close to the U.S., too.”
1:01 PM - 3 Jan 2008
   
Referring to…something
March 25, 2015
“The great thing about Miami is that it’s so close to the United States!”
I’ve been parking in faculty parking every day and I still don’t know whether I’m allowed to park there (I do teach a class) or whether I just haven’t been caught yet. No idea.
 
Twitter
GoatsOfDoom
‏@GoatsOfDoom
@maggieserota Respectfully, Miami isn’t Florida. As the old joke goes, “the great thing about Miami is how close it is to the United States”
9:20 PM - 3 Oct 2016