Comparing Miami's last repeat champs: '72-'73 Dolphins and Heat | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Comparing Miami's last repeat champs: '72-'73 Dolphins and Heat

number1fin

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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20130624/miami-repeat-champions/

They are the only two repeat major league sports champions in Miami history, their rosters featured some of the best-known athletes in the country and each team built a winning streak of near-record length.

Yet the 1972 and ’73 Miami Dolphins and the 2012 and ’13 Miami Heat climbed to the highest level of their respective sports in athletic environments that couldn’t have been more different.

The Miami where the Heat reigns includes teams in all four major team sports plus the University of Miami, whose basketball program is on the rise and whose football team seems to alternate between winning national championships and wallowing in scandal depending on the decade.

The Heat have won three NBA titles, the Miami Marlins are a two-time World Series winner and the Florida Panthers have played in a Stanley Cup final.

When the Dolphins won back-to-back titles there were no other major league franchises in town and the Hurricanes were a middle-of-the pack program. The University of Miami didn’t even field a basketball team between 1970-71 and 1984-85.

“Same accomplishment with the two straight championships but there’s no similarity,” said Hank Goldberg, a longtime radio voice in Miami who currently covers horse racing and the NFL for ESPN. “The Dolphins at the time were the first and only pro team in town. The Heat’s accomplishment is far more of a bandwagon thing.

“The basketball customer is far different from what the Dolphins customer was. Now they buy [Heat] tickets as a social event. With the Dolphins it was all football.”
 
Both were/are incredible accomplishments, with the Dolphins being more historical and the Heat's legacy being unfinished as of now.
 
There's no comparison! When you go out and bring three of the best players together...you better win championships like the Heat have. I'd like to put it in perspective,it's alot easier to build a 15 man roster than a 53 man like in football,not to mention a starting 5 to a starting 22. Football is more complex and team oriented,therefore success is much harder to come by. The Dolphins were built by the draft and the HEAT were built by a dream! A dream to bring 3 or more all stars together to guarantee championships, and if not, an epic fail! There is also a much greater chance to lose players to injury in football, the Dolphins lost their starting QB in Griese during their run and still completed their undefeated season. I'm not a HEAT hater just a football fan! IMHO, The NFL is much greater than NBA. Which makes the NFL championships much sweeter!
 
I was in town for both of them, as a junior high kid 40 years ago and now into my 50s. There was greater investment in the Dolphins. No question about it. If the Heat lost game 6 last week, the community would have been silent and briefly a bit stunned, but life would have progressed normally. When the Dolphins lost it was difficult to find any smiles or energy. I think I've mentioned previously that home room teachers in that era would lead off the Monday session with Dolphins talk, and conclude the Friday session with similar. Skipper Chuck was on Channel 4 every morning, obsessed with the Dolphins.

The one aspect that is exponentially more satisfying this time is the Heat-vs.-the-world aspect. Nobody hated the Dolphins. The nation doubted the Dolphins initially but nobody really hated us until 1974, following the two Super Bowl wins. Heading into '74 I felt jealousy and animosity for the first time, and when the team struggled early in the season there was unquestionable giddiness across the country, with fans hoping to avoid another Dolphins' title.

With the Heat I had to restrain myself from posting in glee on certain sites, after each of the two titles. One message board after another is flooded with Heat haters, regardless of the topic of the board. I'm sure cooking forums featured anti-Heat threads. When the media focused on all the Heat fans who left the arena early in game 6, all I could imagine was the delightful opposite, the haters who posted premature euphoria that the Heat were going to fail.

One aspect that is dramatically different is the post game celebration. I guess it's largely the Hispanic influence. Trust me, there was no such thing as pots and pans in '72 or '73. Nor was there a centralized location, like Bird Road the past two years. I was there again, BTW. It was amusing that the traffic near Bird and Galloway was all but stationary until a brief shower appeared just shy of 2 AM. All of a sudden people were ducking for cover and jumping back into cars, which started moving several times the speed of the previous hour. Too bad the national media didn't get clips of that. We're big bad Heat backers until we get a little bit damp.

Forty years ago people grouped on every street corner, holding up bedsheets with homemade congratulatory praise of the Dolphins. Cars drove past and honked for hours, with people waving hankies and banners out the windows. Then it felt like the town floated for a month.
 
Nothing tops the Superbowl celebrations. Dolphins WERE Miami pro sports period.

Times have changed and the Fins need to get the town back from the Heat who own it now.

Lucky me. i support both teams so it all good :hi5:
 
Don't be mad. I mean I appreciate your salty tears cause they taste like candy to me but you are witnessing a generational player. You should enjoy being able to see it instead of letting hate cloud your view.

Heaven forbid this city unites... This is why we get that rep. So few fans actually represent all of Miami. I don't like hockey but I wouldn't diss the home town team if they made a run.
 
Don't be mad. I mean I appreciate your salty tears cause they taste like candy to me but you are witnessing a generational player. You should enjoy being able to see it instead of letting hate cloud your view.
i assume you're referring to lebron. he's took his talent to be a clown. and why are you talking about putting my tears on your tongue? that's just creepy.

[video=youtube;31i63NbpcBc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31i63NbpcBc[/video]
 
Heaven forbid this city unites... This is why we get that rep. So few fans actually represent all of Miami. I don't like hockey but I wouldn't diss the home town team if they made a run.
I'd say half the people on here are Dolphin fans that live elsewhere so there is really not much love for our basketball team. That's understandable .

 
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don't ever compare these bozos on the heat with the 70s dolphins.

i assume you're referring to lebron. he's took his talent to be a clown. and why are you talking about putting my tears on your tongue? that's just creepy.

[video=youtube;31i63NbpcBc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31i63NbpcBc[/video]

LOL U MAD?
U Jelly?
 
There is also an interesting parallel with the post 2014 opt-out distraction and the WFL defections.

The latter ended the dynasty, what will be the effect of the former....???
 
The Superbowl wasn't that big of a deal compared to now as you didn't have the mefia coverage 24/7...no ESPN or cable/satellite tv....no internet, no twitter.....baseball was a bigger deal than the NFL....and not many people cared about the NBA. I think only Boston has had back-to-back NBA and Superbowl Champions....add Miami to the list.
 
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