I emphasized that theme from the first days I joined this site. Media disdain is idiotic, with zero upside. The ball gets rolling against you and media members are increasingly content and emboldened to turn against you when the franchise doesn't respect their job, and denies basic access and courtesy. These days it's even worse than previously because the theme spreads nationally within days or even hours. Fans and players from other teams pick up a stereotyped impression of the Dolphins, and it's hardly positive.
For some reason sports sites are frequented by posters who are remarkably clueless along those lines, and actually enjoy the franchise bashing or ignoring the media. I was greeted by that type every time I expressed disgust at the Dolphins' senseless masochistic tactics. It's similar to the type who automatically take the owners' side in labor disputes. Not similar. Same names, and inept handicapping.
I wasn't posting here last fall but I guarantee a high percentage of posters actually tried to dismiss Gator Day as no big deal, a necessary corporate bottom line strategy, instead of another typical PR disaster.
In the old days an idea like that wouldn't have made it beyond the lips of the moron who dreamed it up, let alone survive inspection at one level after another.
BTW, Saban was hardly the beginning. He was merely the first scowl, the guy who took it to another level of laughably defensive. Nick Saban was born for small market back patting and silent awe, sports media members who barely can write a sentence that doesn't include phrases like, "total team effort."
Huizenga was media pathetic compared to the Robbie family. Only Jimmy Johnson's teflon masked Huizenga's media issues for a few years. The Miami sports media loved Johnson, and continues to. Once Johnson was gone the local media felt free to pounce on Wannstedt and Spielman as overmatched and somewhat clownish, and consequently doubts began to attach to Huizenga as well.
Then when we desperately needed to pivot in the other direction the franchise brainstormed to bring in Parcells and Ireland. Creeps. I remember posting that a title was so unlikely you couldn't afford to further alienate the media, considering all the negative residue guaranteed to attach.
The good news is Philbin is naturally likeable, charismatic and with a clever subtle sense of humor. He'll do very well with the media and to rebuild the Dolphins' image. The problem right now is he hasn't accomplished anything toward the bottom line so he's reluctant to assume a high profile role, and frankly he probably doesn't grasp the extent of the problem, the depth of the wounds. At some point Philbin will become the spokesman for the franchise and break free of Ireland's ignorant reigns and obsession with fear.
I'm amazed by younger fans who applaud daggers toward the media. The Dolphins in their '70s heyday were a terrific upbeat organization that seemed merged with the local media. Bobby Beathard's boyish grin could deflect anything. Shula and Robbie were both hard edged but they'd give you personality and reason to like them, like cantankerous family members. When a topic showed up there was quick respectful discussion from someone in the front office. Consequently the media was so smitten by the team that Dave Willingham on Channel 7 literally went years between picking the Dolphins to lose on his Friday night prediction segment.
Canes fans have a reference point in the transition from Shannon to Golden. Shannon would have fit very well with recent Dolphin brass, barely able to speak a competent sentence and so paranoid of the media he forbid Jacory and other prominent players from providing basic interviews. If there were opportunity to out think a situation and create a negative that shouldn't exist, Shannon barreled forward. School is out on Golden's ability as a coach considering Miami's aspirations since 1983, but he's been a revelation as a straight talking gem, repairing relationships with the media and local high schools from his first days on the job.
