It's been a long time coming, but I am finally home.
I'm going to be up front with you guys, that way we can all get to know each other well and have some fun. When I was a kid, I LOVED my Dolphins. Dan Marino was my absolute favorite player, I lived and died with him. I'm from New York, and this was before the internet was something that was at your fingertips in your home, so keeping up with the team was tough to do, aside from SportsCenter and National Broadcasts. Regardless, I loved the team. When Dan Marino announced he was retiring, I begged my parents (die hard Jets Fans), to take me to the game. It was Saturday night, and my dad told me he didn't get the tickets. I cried like a baby, not ashamed of it even at the age of 13. My parents walked into my room and said, "Damnit, you couldn't have NOT made us feel awful. This was your surprise tomorrow morning, but you're getting it now. You happy?" Tickets. I was overjoyed. Even though they lost the game, I was thrilled that I was finally able to see Dan, my hero, play.
When Dan retired, my parents said, "Well, you're hero isn't playing anymore. You can give up this Dolphins crap now and root with the rest of the family." The truth of the matter is, I did start to root with the family. My parents had gotten Jets Season Tickets after that season, and we ended up going to the games every week with friends and other family. With no Dan, there was no coverage of the Fins here. The National Broadcasts slowed, and there was no NFL Network. I wasn't old enough to go to a bar to watch the games. After all, I was 14 for God's Sake. It was hard not to be a part of that family tradition. I'm sure many of you raised your kids as fin fans, and many of you younger fans were taught by your parents how to root for em. Like I said, we went to a lot of games, but in the 6 years we had season tickets, I never went to see them play the Dolphins. I never wanted to root against something that was so important to me as a kid.
Well, as a young adult, things are different. We got rid of our tickets after the Jets Organization greedily asked us for $40,000 in PSLs for our seats in the new stadium. My parents have grown disgusted with the drive to New Jersey, and have decided to no longer go to the games. I for myself had gotten tired of the lack of desire in the front office, and it was this year that I decided to go back to my roots. Sometimes when you're a kid, you don't understand what it is to be committed to something like this. I have no regrets. I have wonderful memories with my mother and father, and that can't be traded for anything. I appreciate all they did for me. Now that I am older, I have started to reflect on some of the things that made me so happy in my life, and the Miami Dolphins were one of those things. I suppose with the way the world is today, we're all looking for happiness wherever we can find it. I found it in the Fins as a kid, and I found it in them again this year.
If you're still here, thanks for reading this long winded post. I wanted to be open and honest with all of you, and let you all know where I'm from and what I am about. I'm happy to be home, and I can't wait to get to know you guys! I hope you can forgive me, lol.