Apologies in advance for the length
Much of my immediate and extended family moved from SC to Florida in 1960, the same year my older sister was born. My father was in poor health for much of his life. One of the things that he embraced and one of his greatest passions was football; his brother and eventual nephews (and many of my ancestors) played for Clemson. In 1966, he embraced the Miami Dolphins. Passionately. He watched every game. Some he watched from the hospital. He hated Howard Cosell with a passion after Howard ripped them on Monday Night Football against the Saints.
I wasn't just an "oops" nearly a decade after my sister. I was a "okay, medically...that wasn't supposed to be possible." My Dad only lasted a couple years after I was born, and mercifully so; the last voice recording I have of him is a preview by him of the Chiefs/Dolphins playoff game. He passed just weeks after they lost Super Bowl VI.
One of my biggest frustrations is that my Dad never got to see the Super Bowl win that he so badly wanted to see, and that I'm just too young to remember one that I've waited for my whole life. One of the things that makes me smile is that after he passed, they didn't lose again for over a year and a half.
Through the rest of my young childhood, my Uncle took us in as part of his family every weekend. Hurricanes on Saturdays, Dolphins on Sundays. We went to a few games, but watched most in his living room on Sundays. He taught me football. He said until he passed a couple years ago that it should have been Strock at the helm, not Woodley, and that Strock would have won Super Bowl XVII. My Mom, to her credit, kept the Dolphins spirit alive. We moved to Southern NJ in 1980, smack in the middle of the year when all of the Philly teams went to their championship games. All my friends thought I was weird because I didn't jump over to the Eagles, but I didn't. I wore my Fins gear constantly, and so did my Mom, until she passed when I was a teen. I wore the family colors through middle school. Through high school. Through college. While working in Manhattan. I'll wear them the rest of my life.
I told my son a few years ago that he could root for whoever he wanted...as long as it wasn't the Jets or the Patriots. He chose the Dolphins. So did my daughter.
It's awesome right now, listening to the unbridled joy that's going on in Philly. So many of my childhood friends are ecstatic, and they're going to the parade today. The same with many of my kids's friends...and their teachers. But my kids got it; they said, "It's not quite the same as if the Dolphins won." I get a lump in my throat thinking of how happy dozens of my friends are at this moment...that they finally got their championship parade. And I congratulated them...and more than a handful said "I remember you rooting for them like crazy, the one Dolphins fan in a sea of Eagles fans. You'll get yours someday."
And we will. Someday. And I'll be there. And I'll go to Dade Memorial Park and plant a championship flag down for my Dad...and he can rest a little easier.
Fins up.
