"D"olphinBomb
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This is from over a year ago but I can't help but think how this relates to what is happening in Miami. To win takes more than 1 man!!!
Lack of Super Bowl Ring likely to follow Marino
"The greatest game of my career ... You know, I guess if I had played in and won a Super Bowl that would have been it. But I didn't do that." -- Dan Marino
A ring would have been nice.
Dan Marino wouldn't deny that, not as he prepares to be inducted Sunday into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For all his records, for his title as the game's most prolific passer, Marino travels to Canton, Ohio, this weekend without the one thing he so dearly wanted -- a Super Bowl ring.
"I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I think about it sometimes," he said.
And if he doesn't think about it, there certainly will be someone to remind him during the rest of his life. In the words of Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, failing to earn a Super Bowl ring is "in front of me all the time."
Tarkenton is similar to Marino in that, when he retired in 1978, he was the career leader in touchdowns (342), passing yards (47,003) and passes completed (3,686). But his inability to win one of the three Super Bowls he played in has followed him.
"It never goes away if you're a quarterback," said Tarkenton, 65, from his office in Atlanta last week. "It's crazy. No one could play any better than Marino. Is Trent Dilfer better than Marino? Is Doug Williams? Of course not. But it's almost like something's wrong because you couldn't win the big one. That's the perception. I didn't realize it at the time, but they really hang the quarterback with it. Without a title your career as a quarterback is somehow diminished in the eyes of the public. The whole thing is stupid."
There's a long list of Hall of Fame players in every sport who have never won a championship. Ted Williams and Juan Marichal in baseball. Dick Butkus and Jim Kelly in football, Elgin Baylor and Karl Malone in basketball and Mike Gartner and Cam Neely in hockey.
But the lack of a championship doesn't weigh as heavily as it does on an NFL quarterback. It's ludicrous when you think about it. There's no question Marino was one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. He is arguably the greatest to ever play the position. But without a championship. ...
"It just seems to be one of those things for a quarterback," said former Dolphin and Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson.
Think about it: What if John Elway didn't win a Super Bowl? "His career would be tarnished if the Broncos didn't get him that big running back Terrell Davis," Tarkenton said. "Until then, he was in the graveyard. If Peyton Manning doesn't win, the same thing will happen to him."
Stephenson said last week that because athletes are goal-oriented, "one of the goals of all football players once they've established themselves is to win a Super Bowl."
"When it doesn't happen it's a letdown," he added. "I don't know of any offensive lineman who's known for being in the Hall of Fame but not winning a Super Bowl. But the quarterbacks, they're known more for winning or not winning a Super Bowl."
No one may know how tough it is to secure a championship ring in a team sport than Mike Gartner, who never got a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup despite more than 700 goals and 19 seasons in the NHL. But Gartner said credit for winning or losing in football or hockey can't rest with one person.
"I look back and winning a Stanley Cup is something I wish I could have been part of," Gartner said from Toronto last week. "But in a team sport you have to be very good to win a championship, and the team has to be good enough to win a championship. But from Dan Marino's perspective, I don't think it diminishes his accomplishments one bit. You can't be a one-man team."
Former Bruin Cam Neely, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November, said the dynamics of winning and losing are different in a team sport.
"I guess I can understand the argument of not winning a championship if you're in tennis or golf," Neely said from Boston. "If you don't win a major in golf, it can be a whole other story. But there's similarities in football and hockey. If you don't win a championship, it's not because you weren't good enough. You can only do the best you can. I watched Dan's career, and it was incredible."
And, really, unrivaled. Two weeks ago, when asked if being inducted into the Hall of Fame took away the frustration of not having won a Super Bowl, Marino replied, "The only frustrating thing about not winning ... the person that's got to deal with that is me.
"I'm sure there's things in your life that you've wanted to accomplish that you haven't, and you have to deal with things like that, and that's part of it," he added. "I don't think it's taken away from my career at all."
It never will. And the frustration of not having won?
"It's nice to win at the time, but it diminishes as you go along," said former Vikings coach Bud Grant, who failed to win a championship despite four trips to the Super Bowl. "If we won a Super Bowl, it's not like my life would be any different. I mean, football is entertainment. It's not like winning the Nobel Peace Prize."
Unless you're a quarterback.
By Dave Joseph
Staff writer
Posted August 1, 2005
Lack of Super Bowl Ring likely to follow Marino
"The greatest game of my career ... You know, I guess if I had played in and won a Super Bowl that would have been it. But I didn't do that." -- Dan Marino
A ring would have been nice.
Dan Marino wouldn't deny that, not as he prepares to be inducted Sunday into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For all his records, for his title as the game's most prolific passer, Marino travels to Canton, Ohio, this weekend without the one thing he so dearly wanted -- a Super Bowl ring.
"I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I think about it sometimes," he said.
And if he doesn't think about it, there certainly will be someone to remind him during the rest of his life. In the words of Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, failing to earn a Super Bowl ring is "in front of me all the time."
Tarkenton is similar to Marino in that, when he retired in 1978, he was the career leader in touchdowns (342), passing yards (47,003) and passes completed (3,686). But his inability to win one of the three Super Bowls he played in has followed him.
"It never goes away if you're a quarterback," said Tarkenton, 65, from his office in Atlanta last week. "It's crazy. No one could play any better than Marino. Is Trent Dilfer better than Marino? Is Doug Williams? Of course not. But it's almost like something's wrong because you couldn't win the big one. That's the perception. I didn't realize it at the time, but they really hang the quarterback with it. Without a title your career as a quarterback is somehow diminished in the eyes of the public. The whole thing is stupid."
There's a long list of Hall of Fame players in every sport who have never won a championship. Ted Williams and Juan Marichal in baseball. Dick Butkus and Jim Kelly in football, Elgin Baylor and Karl Malone in basketball and Mike Gartner and Cam Neely in hockey.
But the lack of a championship doesn't weigh as heavily as it does on an NFL quarterback. It's ludicrous when you think about it. There's no question Marino was one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. He is arguably the greatest to ever play the position. But without a championship. ...
"It just seems to be one of those things for a quarterback," said former Dolphin and Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson.
Think about it: What if John Elway didn't win a Super Bowl? "His career would be tarnished if the Broncos didn't get him that big running back Terrell Davis," Tarkenton said. "Until then, he was in the graveyard. If Peyton Manning doesn't win, the same thing will happen to him."
Stephenson said last week that because athletes are goal-oriented, "one of the goals of all football players once they've established themselves is to win a Super Bowl."
"When it doesn't happen it's a letdown," he added. "I don't know of any offensive lineman who's known for being in the Hall of Fame but not winning a Super Bowl. But the quarterbacks, they're known more for winning or not winning a Super Bowl."
No one may know how tough it is to secure a championship ring in a team sport than Mike Gartner, who never got a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup despite more than 700 goals and 19 seasons in the NHL. But Gartner said credit for winning or losing in football or hockey can't rest with one person.
"I look back and winning a Stanley Cup is something I wish I could have been part of," Gartner said from Toronto last week. "But in a team sport you have to be very good to win a championship, and the team has to be good enough to win a championship. But from Dan Marino's perspective, I don't think it diminishes his accomplishments one bit. You can't be a one-man team."
Former Bruin Cam Neely, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November, said the dynamics of winning and losing are different in a team sport.
"I guess I can understand the argument of not winning a championship if you're in tennis or golf," Neely said from Boston. "If you don't win a major in golf, it can be a whole other story. But there's similarities in football and hockey. If you don't win a championship, it's not because you weren't good enough. You can only do the best you can. I watched Dan's career, and it was incredible."
And, really, unrivaled. Two weeks ago, when asked if being inducted into the Hall of Fame took away the frustration of not having won a Super Bowl, Marino replied, "The only frustrating thing about not winning ... the person that's got to deal with that is me.
"I'm sure there's things in your life that you've wanted to accomplish that you haven't, and you have to deal with things like that, and that's part of it," he added. "I don't think it's taken away from my career at all."
It never will. And the frustration of not having won?
"It's nice to win at the time, but it diminishes as you go along," said former Vikings coach Bud Grant, who failed to win a championship despite four trips to the Super Bowl. "If we won a Super Bowl, it's not like my life would be any different. I mean, football is entertainment. It's not like winning the Nobel Peace Prize."
Unless you're a quarterback.
By Dave Joseph
Staff writer
Posted August 1, 2005
