I would have to say it’s a matter of era when you began watching football. I was already a die hard Dolphins fan well before Marino as my era of watching football began in the 70’s Now did I become an instant fan of Marino? You bet’cha but I was already in love with my beloved Dolphins
Can’t speak about anyone else, but I first started watching the NFL in 1984 which made me a Dolphins fan.
It's certainly a viable question. There are certainly a whole lot of us here in our 40s and 50s who never lived anywhere near South Florida, and are lifelong diehards in large part to Marino. I didn't necessarily originally become a Dolphins fan due to him. That was more pure coincidence. But I was seven years old when he and the team played in the SB in 1984, and I then grew up watching and idolizing him. Had he not been the team's QB when I grew old enough to really understand the game and get attached to it, and had the Fins not then played a style of offense that was right up my alley, I might not even be a football fan today. Let alone a diehard Dolphins fan.
I believe it, so many Dolphins fans I've talked to here in Jersey cite him as the #1 reason they're fans is Marino.
I'm not sure- interesting hypothesis. We could name any of the greats though- Montana, Manning, Elway, etc. What about Russell Wilson- was anybody outside the NW a Seattle fan before he turned things around? There are so many viable candidates. I'm biased against Marino since I saw/talked to him so many times as a teen...often getting cussed out for asking him for an autograph. I don't remember his game-time moments as much as I remember the laughs with my friends. I see him more as a person than a football player these days- heavy drinker, great dad to a child with special needs, etc.
That's reasonable, given your personal history. Most of us rarely if ever meet players in person though, and mostly think of what happened on the field and in the media. And many fans who aren't from S. Florida probably haven't spent much time watching the Fins play with friends, either. Its been a lifelong solitary experience for me, except for the boards.
Started being a Dolphins fan in about '72/'73'ish...when I was VERY young and Flipper was my favorite TV show. But Marino has a TON of fans around this country, whether they're Dolphins fans or not, as well.
When I was getting into the NFL in 1990/91, I was in the market for a team to throw my weight behind. A couple of years earlier, I'd bought a girlfriend a Miami Dolphins bed shirt and shorts set for a laugh because she was big into whales and dolphins. I remember that I particularly liked the logo. I've always had an interest in numerology and the esoteric and, while people tended to avoid it like the plague, I'd always had 13 as my lucky number. Still do. Once I'd found out that the QB for the team that I liked the logo of wore number 13, I was a Dolphin! It's as simple and as shallow as that!
I've never lived anywhere remotely close to Florida. When I started taking an interest in football as a younger kid (like around 6-7 years old) I was intrigued by the Phins because dolphins were a favorite animal. As I got a bit older and could actually appreciate gameplay, players and stars, I stayed a Phins fan because of Marino. He was just so good and fun to watch, and I loved our cast of WRs who always seemed to be excellent, from the end of the Marks brothers to the Tony Martin/Irving Fryer types, to OJ. Just fun, fast offenses rifling the ball all over the field. Such a travesty he was unable to snag a ring, just an astounding amount of physical talent for the position.
As a point of comparison, I went to Marino's HOF induction. Steve Young was inducted at the same time. They put Marino last. If they hadn't, Steve Young would have been speaking to a mostly empty stadium. It looked how a Dolphins game must have looked in the mid to late 1980's. A sea of Marino jerseys. That should give you an idea of his popularity.
It's hard to think of very many franchises where one singular player rises above all else into the stratosphere like Marino does with the Fins. Barry Sanders with the Lions, certainly. But while Sanders is loved and respected, he and the Lions don't have the fanbase or the national love that Marino does. According to articles that I've read that have done studies and gathered data, the Dolphins have more fans today that many other teams that have had a lot more recent success, like the Colts, Vikings, Chargers, and Chiefs. And that the Dolphins are often in the top ten in number of fans attending road games. That is in large part due to Marino and their yearly success while he was the QB.
Anybody who hasn't seen it should watch "Heart of a Champion". I bought the VHS tape years ago and converted it to a movie file years ago.