I've been watching the Dolphins since probably 1988 or so when I was 10. Through the 90's and early 2000's losing would absolutely destroy at least the start of my week. We've been bad now for a decade+. Now I get neither high nor low. It's like I don't even care...but I do. Is anyone else at the shoulder shrugging point? Who still gets as wound up about winning and losing as much as they used to? Does this make me a fair-weather fan? I've never considered myself that fan, but now I'm questioning myself. Should I feel guilty about not really giving a flying F after games like this?
I am numb to it too. I used to let it ruin my weeks. I used to avoid ESPN until Wednesday so I would have to hear about it. After a while, I realized a Dolphin loss was ruining 4 days of my week. I even came down for the Baltimore game this year, but after driving 1,800 miles round trip I realized I was just checking an item off my Bucket List. I don't really let the losses get to me now.
Being in Sun Life did give me more insight into the state of this team. We are more than just "a couple wins away" from anything with this team.
The fan base is not energized. The stadium feels lifeless. You can feel it in every fan, we expect to lose. Now matter how much excitement we generate, it's short lived and we're waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under us.
But I also don't think starting over is the answer. We have a lot of pieces right now. More than we've had in a long time. And it's taking us a long time to finally get back to being able to say that. We don't have a name coach, a name GM, a name owner or a name QB or franchise caliber player that is recognized by other fans.
But I don't think it's possible for us to get a big name coach or GM. But I think we have a LOT of really good/great players and we have a QB. And I do want to thank the OLine for playing much better today. Mt. McKinnie made a HUGE difference. They were confident today. They just gotta build chemistry together.
But I think the biggest thing for fans to understand about the state of this team is the path we are on may not be the best path, but it is better than we've had in a long time. We're just gonna have to continue enduring the learning curves ahead for us. Keep going to the games, keep supporting our team.
It's a process. We need more pieces and our staff and coach need to learn from their mistakes. But we need to keep cheering and participating as fans. We have resources and we need to build around them. Getting rid of our coach or GM at this point also gets rid of our QB. And honestly, we've had a chance to get some good "name" coaches in the past few years. We've struck out every time.
The fans fail to realize that "wanting" a big time head coach is one thing, GETTING a big time head coach is another. We've been turned down because there are problem within our organization that were too enormous or daunting for them to want the job. And they also don't want to take a job that they may be run out of town in 2 years when they know more rebuilds take 3 - 5 years.
We have to endure this hell. But we have a future. And I believe if we are patient enough, we will start to get things turned around in a year or two. But what we need is time and patience.
No, you're not less of a fan for becoming numb to this team and losing. You just want your team to win like they used to. Unfortunately this organization eroded to a unrealized low standard. Its gonna take time for us to return to where we were. So, maybe "numb" is a better option than anger to endure the growing pains. :)
