I think it trancsends what I will or will not accept, to be honest. I have been a Phins fan since I was 6. Im 42 now. The Miami Dolphins are a very large part of my life. Every year I believe the Phins will have a chance. Do I want more seasons of 8-8? Of course not. Will I be a Dolphins fan until I draw my last breath. Oh hell yes. I honestly do not feel like my time is wasted. I do believe Ryan Tannehill is our franchise QB. I do not believe Joe Philbin is our Bill B. I have some hope in Lazor to be honest...I feel like he will be a huge reason why make the playoffs this season. I see Philbin as a coach who puts good coaches around him..but hes never going to out coach like Billichick can. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
This is the only thread that has no arguments or name calling. And it was a pleasure to read. Thank you guys for making it so. And I always love the Dolphins win, lose or draw.
All the losing, bad drafts, NEVER even considering drafting Marino's replacement, having an offense and no defense, having a defense and no offense, poor coaching choices, watching the division and conference pass us by, it's understandable why the fan base is either upset or "meh." And you can't compare it to NE's fan base. That's silly. I live up here. Those fans suck. S-U-C-K suck. Ask half those people who QB's that team before Brady and you'll get blank stares. In the 90's I used to drive to the stadium, MORNING OF THE GAME, buy great seats and watch the Dolphins. Those fans suck as bad as the team did. Don't let the Bill and Brady crowd fool you. They're like all fans. Think Dallas fans were all gung ho when Landry was losing before Aikman, Jimmy and the Walker trade? Everything is a cycle. Would it be great if we were all super homers and were happy with them just walking onto the field on Sunday? Maybe. But I'd like to think as a fan, I'd want the best for the team I cheer for. And I don't buy into the "Super Bowl or Bust" nonsense. This team is building as it goes. If you were disappointed that this team didn't win the SB last year, that's slightly delusional. This team had no shot at winning the SB last year and to think otherwise screams of homerism. I think most of us are realistic here. We know what we're looking at, sure we'd like it to be better, but we all know this is a process.
Speaking for myself, I find I now care less. I used to always believe they had a chance. I used to believe it was a classy organization. I still believe they have a chance, but that's almost entirely based on Tannehill and hope that Lazor can bring some of that Kelly/Philly offense. I don't believe it is a classy organization. I'm not one of those that wants to bring in any player/FO regardless of criminal records/general *ssholeness, etc. as long as they help the team win. I believe it matters how you treat people. In fact, I believe it may be the most important thing. The Wanny years were disappointing for the general stupidity and lack of adaptation to how the league was changing, but that wasn't enough to sour things for me. For me things started to go down when Saban was brought in. He brought a culture of treating people (players/media/fans) badly, almost as if they were the enemy. There was this culture of secrecy compounded by heavy-handed and penny pinching negotiations. I was a huge fan of the Saban hire, but I had no idea what a piece of crap person he was. Parcells continued that and in some areas exacerbated things. I actually found Ireland to be a good judge of talent. I just found most everything else about him distasteful. The coaches since Saban (including most of the OCs) have appeared ill-equipped to make adjustments or using the talent they had. Sherman was an upgrade to average, but that was only b/c Henning had been such a dinosaur. Bullygate didn't bother me as much as most b/c I saw it as overblown and not really bullying. The part about it that did bother me was how out of touch Philbin seemed to be with everything. I was okay with Ireland leaving b/c he was so bad at dealing with people, but I don't think he was intentionally a bad person. But they brought in Hickey who I don't see as likely to be any better at talent evaluation (and possibly worse) and who I believe may be a bad person. For years he was known for treating prospects or anyone below him (in his opinion) like crap. He does appear to be much better at sucking up to and putting on a good face for the media and bosses though. The upshot for me is that while I have players on the team I like and want to see do well, I care much less for the organization than I have at any point during my 40 years or so as a rabid fan. I guess that compared to most, I would still be considered a fan, but I'm not sure whether I still consider myself a fan at least compared to how much I used to care.
While I am sure I will always root for the Dolphins. Like you, I find that my overall interest in the team has decreased over the past decade as they have continued in their decline as an organization. I went to games in Miami and even traveled to several away games over the last decade, but I certainly didn't take the losses as bad as I did when they were actually a quality football team. Going into each season in recent years with expectations that the Dolphins were likely to struggle to even get to 500 has taken a toll on my patience with the entire organization. It used to be that my wife knew that once the Dolphin regular season began, travel to anywhere other than Dolphin games was out of the question. Our vacations were limited to the months when the Dolphins were not playing games that counted or to the location the Dolphins were playing the following week, outside South Florida. I never would have imagined 10 years ago that I would consider moving from South Florida because I loved being at the games so much. In fact if I still had the love for the Dolphins now that I had during the Shula years, I have no doubt my wife and I would still be living in South Florida and not here in Hawaii. Once my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons moved to Seattle, it made me realize that my desire to stay in South Florida so I could continue to attend games was no longer there. I will now get up early and watch the game on television at 7:00am in the morning and go about my business for the remainder of the day once the game is over. Yes, I will cheer the Dolphins on and I hope that one day they get back to the type organization they were for so many years. Unfortunately, Ross has just taken the joy out of being a Dolphin fan for me. I believe he wants to bring a winner to South Florida but I just have no confidence in his ability as an NFL owner.
The venue is also important and a big part of what has happened to the DolFAN. For me though I am in ATL. Venue I don't know a whole lot about. If I tried to it would be obvious. I been there several times. Wasn't impressed. It's the Fan experience, I made the statement like I did because I hoped to get two sides. Not only what has been done to us (stadium deterioration), ticket prices up, But what has happened to us. Hmmm...I think that makes sense.
I too like the past couple posts was/are a diehard fan of the Dolphins. I couldn't wait for game day and had a dish only for the NFL ticket. I lived breathed and knew everything Dolphins. I have so many Dolphins things that I could fill up several large rooms. From Marino Rookie Cards to dolphins chairs and table lamps. Everyone knew at Christmas or any other gift giving event - anything Dolphins and you were safe. My decline has been a long decline. Really since the late 90's. Since Marino this Franchise has never been the same. There still is a element of hope during the games, but the maybe next year or the year after, "we are rebuilding" stuff has gotten old. I just don't care any more. I care, just not with passion. I have probably dropped $50,000+ on memorabilia and tickets, airfare over the years. My brain just can't take the disappointment any more. The excitement is gone. I keep hoping that maybe one day I'll wake up and it will be different. Go Dolphins!
Back when JT and Zach Thomas were in their prime our defense would bust people up. We would beat the heck out out a team and whether we won or lost they lost the next week. They were too banged up. One of the big reasons for low expectations has been a lack of talent. In recent years the Dolphins have been very poor at drafting and developing talent. There is no one to root for. Especially on offense. We haven't developed any offensive superstars. Hartline is the closest and he does not look like a HOF player right now. Charles Clays is good as well. All of our other offensive stars like Brandon Marshall, Reggie Bush and Mike Wallace we either traded for or got in free agency. Ireland never spent a high draft pick on receivers or running backs. And the ones we did draft for the most part haven't developed. If Tannehill, Hartline, Clay and Landry do well this year somehow make it to 10 wins or more then you will see the fans jumping back on the wagon. Because they will have hope for the future. To me it is a simple concept draft well and coach up your young players right and you will have a strong franchise. And the Dolphins for the most part have not been doing that.
I wasn't a Fins fan when the Fins won their Super Bowls. I became one when I moved to Miami from North Jersey in 1974. Before that, I was a Jets fan, and saw the Dolphins as hated division rivals who everyone in the stadium knew what they were going to do, but they did it anyway. The way they played was unfair. They were not only overpowering; they executed perfectly. I always root for the team from the city where I live. When I moved here, it was very easy to transition to being a fan of Shula's Dolphins. I became rabid with the white hankies and Dolfan Denny and the stupid fight song. Then Marino arrived after ten years and I became an addict. Things now look a lot less exciting, but it's just time to re-read the Book of Job. I am still rabid as I was in the mid-70s. Ranting and raving and complaining and frustration are just the other side of being a fan. I have seen perfect and I have seen great, good, not so good, average, poor and embarrassing. It's the total Dolphins experience. Think of an 80-year-old lifelong Yankees fan. They've had their ups and downs, but they're still the Yankees. The Dolphins are the same.
Correct. Rooting is a group activity. It helps a lot to be a fan (as in fanatic) if you go to the stadium, at least once in a while, to root with 50 or so thousand people, rather than sitting in front of your home theater in the room next to your fridge all the time. That's why it's more enjoyable to root for the team in the city where you live, and why it will be a shame if the team moves.
Do you really think the team would move? Wow. I couldn't imagine it. But then again it is Stephen Ross. Drive the team into the ground and then act as if you have no option. Moving the team from 1 city to another and maintaining status quo is not the way to go about building a winning franchise. However, It wouldn't surprise me if Ross bought into the idea.
you guys made some great posting but one thing that I feel has made me a pessimist is that we have had some good receivers and good Runingbacks but we haven't had a qb in most of those years. I cant remember when was the last time we we had a good offensive line . do any of you feel like we let good players go while hanging onto marginal players.. if we had kept fullback Polite and RB Ronnie Brown and added Reggie Bush then add Wallace and Gibson then we would be closer to being a contender. think about this if we had Tony Paige and Woody Bennett and RICKY Williams and then had Wallace , Gibson, Welker Hartline , Landry and another good receiver we would be winning more. bottom line is the quality of wins is lacking , the lack of good character players is marginal and the fan base seems like has lowered the expectations.