Something some of you must realize (long)..

[BGtoKNfor6]

Something some of you must realize (long post)..

Ok I get it. We are all dolphins fans. I also acknowledge the fact that no matter what team forum you are you going to be a part of, we will always have those that look constantly through rose colored glasses. Additionally we will have those fans that constantly call for the head of one player one week and then back-peddle when that person shows up the next. We will also have those fans that are fairweather and ride the bandwagon. It is what it is.

However as with any team, you have another type of fan. The fan that has been with the team for 30+ years. Some have been lucky enough to witness the dominant early 70's teams and can remember superbowls and HOF'ers of years gone by. Then we have the fans that are the late 20 something to mid 30 somethings, myself included.

Now these fans have been with the team since the Marino years. Some are old enough to have watched the superbowl against the niners and sadly a loss. We have sat by to watch the franchise go from being very good during that time to watching them wane the later half of the 80's only to be reborn again in the early 90's. We have watched in heartbreak as Jim kelly and the bills ran crushing screen plays to kenneth davis and thurman thomas in the 1992 AFC champtionship game in OUR house. We later witnessed the team wax and wane with no "good enough" performances up until the tragedy against the Jaguars. Then came wanny and we all know the story from there.

What is my point? Well the point is that for us that have been watching since the early to middle 80's, there have been plenty of "close" moments. We watched as the organization completely ignored the defense and watched Dan sling it out in amazement against the Ken O'briens, Jim Kelly's, Boomer Esiasons, John Elways, Warren Moons, etc etc of the NFL. Indeed if you were a fan during those years, it was a real treat because we knew that dan always had it in him for a 4th quarter comeback that was something special.

Fast forward to the 2000's. While we had some good teams record wise under wanny, he drove them into the ground. The team NEVER recovered from the loss of Marino and we entered into Wanny ball...a ball controlling conservative offense that somehow if we could score 10 points, our defense would shut them down. It never worked. The losing still continued. Then we all know what occured after that up through today. Nothing but missed opportunities in the draft and free agency. Just complete mismanagement by the front office that left us fans out in the cold. Sure we had our dolphins but we all watched each week as guys who were taken after our picks were up and coming stars...boldin comes to mind.

Then we had the abysmal 1-15 season that tested ALL of our loyalties. We then win our division but we fall short in the playoffs, something I think all the realists knew was going to happen but the ride was fun nonetheless. Now we sit in a similar fashion this year, but the picture is a tad different. The schedule is brutal on paper. While this is the NFL and no game should be easy, the team for the first two games has let us all down. Bad coaching and bad preparation, missed assignment and generally awful play at times.

So, in summation and while this post is a tad rushed because of all the emotions and such going through my mind, it is easy IMO for some of the people on this forum to sit back and say that "the wins are coming and that we will do this or that". It makes me wonder how long they really have been through thick and thin with this franchise. For us that never tasted the glory years of the 70's only to watch the talents of arguably the best qb to ever play the game along with two of the greatest receivers in Miami Dolphins history go to waste, the past 25+ years for ME, has been very tough to swallow. Frustrations are mounting and deservedly so. We have a right to demand accountability for what has gone terribly wrong with this franchise and some of our posts reflect that.

Maybe this time around it will be different. At least we were told so. A new F.O. and owner. Maybe he is someone that wants to win and restore this franchise back to what it was built upon....WINNING. While I will always be a Dolphins fan, I cannot say the ride lately has been something that hasn't made me question my loyalty. However just as the logo that is tatoo'd on my right arm, I will never give up on the dolphins. While I am too far to really attend games becuase of my job, I pop for the sunday ticket every season and buy my phins merchandise yearly. I support them...I hope they haven't given up on me...

So lets all come together and support everyone on this forum and realize that some of us have been a staunch fan since the "dark" ages of this franchise in terms of winning. It is ok to have constructive criticism of the team and that doesn't make you a bad fan. Lets just hope we can get this ship pointed in the right direction....

 

[72champagne]

if you can tell me what i must realize in two sentences or less, i'll read it.

 

[BGtoKNfor6]

if you can tell me what i must realize in two sentences or less, i'll read it.

I guess you missed the part in the title that said (long)....

 

[j-off-her-doll]

I'm not going to say 'wins are coming' or stand by every decision the FO and coaching staff has made.

But, we didn't play poorly on Monday. We made some mistakes, but we did a lot of good things, and we were 1 key play from beating a good team (because of P. Manning if nothing else). On that same wave of thought, our FO has done a great job.

It looks like we're in for a difficult season, but we look MUCH better this season than we did at this point last season. Of course, the difficult schedule is going to make 11-5 a taller task. Few, though, thought we were ready for a SB this season. We're steadily improving and doing it the right way.

I do think that if we lose to San Diego, we should immediately insert Henne, moving toward the future (one way or another).

 

[DolfanDuBbZ~]

Ok I get it. We are all dolphins fans. I also acknowledge the fact that no matter what team forum you are you going to be a part of, we will always have those that look constantly through rose colored glasses. Additionally we will have those fans that constantly call for the head of one player one week and then back-peddle when that person shows up the next. We will also have those fans that are fairweather and ride the bandwagon. It is what it is.

However as with any team, you have another type of fan. The fan that has been with the team for 30+ years. Some have been lucky enough to witness the dominant early 70's teams and can remember superbowls and HOF'ers of years gone by. Then we have the fans that are the late 20 something to mid 30 somethings, myself included.

Now these fans have been with the team since the Marino years. Some are old enough to have watched the superbowl against the niners and sadly a loss. We have sat by to watch the franchise go from being very good during that time to watching them wane the later half of the 80's only to be reborn again in the early 90's. We have watched in heartbreak as Jim kelly and the bills ran crushing screen plays to kenneth davis and thurman thomas in the 1992 AFC champtionship game in OUR house. We later witnessed the team wax and wane with no "good enough" performances up until the tragedy against the Jaguars. Then came wanny and we all know the story from there.

What is my point? Well the point is that for us that have been watching since the early to middle 80's, there have been plenty of "close" moments. We watched as the organization completely ignored the defense and watched Dan sling it out in amazement against the Ken O'briens, Jim Kelly's, Boomer Esiasons, John Elways, Warren Moons, etc etc of the NFL. Indeed if you were a fan during those years, it was a real treat because we knew that dan always had it in him for a 4th quarter comeback that was something special.

Fast forward to the 2000's. While we had some good teams record wise under wanny, he drove them into the ground. The team NEVER recovered from the loss of Marino and we entered into Wanny ball...a ball controlling conservative offense that somehow if we could score 10 points, our defense would shut them down. It never worked. The losing still continued. Then we all know what occured after that up through today. Nothing but missed opportunities in the draft and free agency. Just complete mismanagement by the front office that left us fans out in the cold. Sure we had our dolphins but we all watched each week as guys who were taken after our picks were up and coming stars...boldin comes to mind.

Then we had the abysmal 1-15 season that tested ALL of our loyalties. We then win our division but we fall short in the playoffs, something I think all the realists knew was going to happen but the ride was fun nonetheless. Now we sit in a similar fashion this year, but the picture is a tad different. The schedule is brutal on paper. While this is the NFL and no game should be easy, the team for the first two games has let us all down. Bad coaching and bad preparation, missed assignment and generally awful play at times.

So, in summation and while this post is a tad rushed because of all the emotions and such going through my mind, it is easy IMO for some of the people on this forum to sit back and say that "the wins are coming and that we will do this or that". It makes me wonder how long they really have been through thick and thin with this franchise. For us that never tasted the glory years of the 70's only to watch the talents of arguably the best qb to ever play the game along with two of the greatest receivers in Miami Dolphins history go to waste, the past 25+ years for ME, has been very tough to swallow. Frustrations are mounting and deservedly so. We have a right to demand accountability for what has gone terribly wrong with this franchise and some of our posts reflect that.

Maybe this time around it will be different. At least we were told so. A new F.O. and owner. Maybe he is someone that wants to win and restore this franchise back to what it was built upon....WINNING. While I will always be a Dolphins fan, I cannot say the ride lately has been something that hasn't made me question my loyalty. However just as the logo that is tatoo'd on my right arm, I will never give up on the dolphins. While I am too far to really attend games becuase of my job, I pop for the sunday ticket every season and buy my phins merchandise yearly. I support them...I hope they haven't given up on me...

So lets all come together and support everyone on this forum and realize that some of us have been a staunch fan since the "dark" ages of this franchise in terms of winning. It is ok to have constructive criticism of the team and that doesn't make you a bad fan. Lets just hope we can get this ship pointed in the right direction....

Ditto

Nice post!

 

[phintim]

I am a long term fan around 30 years and will be the first say the phin teams during all those years have been basically 1 deminisonal in one way or another. If one area was really humming and doing well on the team then it seemed like the other area was missing or misfiring all the time. So that frustration has been forever with us a phin fan. I have swore I would never watch them after Dan and Shula retired and currently will usually not even have a beer during the game.

So anyway your points are well taken. In regards to the current staff I beleive we are in pretty good hands. Can we win the Super Bowl not to sure about that. To do that I beleive either one of 2 things have to happen that certainly our current phins team this year does not have going for it, at least not yet. Either be very talented plus movtivated and or be very hungry with a us against the world and ready to prove it every Sunday.

Last year as I am writing this it was the very hungry with us against the world and ready to prove it every Sunday that really carried this team through and allowe us to win many of those games. Well we won those games last year and this years player recognize that an just do not have that chip on their shoulder. As much as Tony Sporano talked about just this thing durning preseason it was not enought to light a fire under this team. Not sure if it will happen either. This is an emotional process and the defense feeds off emotion tackles off emotion and its been missing.

Now as I mentioned earlier there are 2 ways to win a superbowl via talent or emotion and I truly believe as most fans that this team is much more talented than last years team and it is being built that way. Tony S has said such in his press breifing we are still a year or two away in the building process talent wise. I tend to agree with his assessment.

Still last years team was able to win with the emotion factor so this team can do the same logically given that on paper they are more talented, experienced squad than last years. Still the question remains can Sporano light a emotional fire underneath this years squad. I am not sure he can.

Other factors that are going to make it a tough year to be a phin fan is we have 2 such teams in our own conference this year. The Pats have been and should be every ones pick to beat because they are talented and should be movtivated after finishing 2nd to us in the AFC east and missing the playoffs for the first time in eons. Back in the day when the phins ruled the AFC east if that happend they came back with a vengenace the next year and were very very hard to beat. Yes I hate to say it but the Jets are that other team that is not the same Jets team we faced last year. They have the emotional factor that I was speaking about working for them. We are going to face a San Deigo team this week that pulverized a Baltimore defence just last week. That my fired has not happened in quite a few years. It will be real interesting if our defense play much better than Baltimores defense last week because if it does that might really tell us something. That something is what does the demise of the Baltimore defense and the Jets emotional resurgence both have in common. The coach. Rex Ryans shadow might show you how much he brings to the table for a team both coming and going.

I have my theory both NFL, College football etc that it is the coach not the players that are the difference. When the phins were winning those championships back in those old glory days they had quite the staff. Then for whatever reason I do not know most of those guys moved on to Washington's staff and guess what Washington started winning the Superbowls. Shula hung around and could get the fins to the party many years but his presence was never enough to win the big dance again.

Which brings me to the point you were going with your thread about being a bit impaitent with this team. Bascially the fans and Wayne got impaitent with Shula at the end of the 90s and ousted him. Look what that accomplished. We went from a fairly good to average team at worst to several bad to average teams at best ever since he has been gone.

So in conclusion I will say for myself I currently believe we have the correct mgt in place with Parcells, Sporano and Ireland. Parcells has been through this a hundred times and will keep this team on track plus Sporano has shown the inate ability to make changes to his teams that many of his predcessors lacked. Ireland has found some decent talent. Now thats so far and that is some really good news and if you do not agree of like it reread what I wrote what happened when we outsed Shula. The bad news and get used to it I currently believe between the Pats, Jets and the Phins we are in the toughest conference in the NFL. Whoever survives if they are not to beat up from our conference is going to provide quite a challenge in the playoffs.

 

[BGtoKNfor6]

The bottom line here is that for the fans that have been around 25-30 years, we have had really nothing to write home about so we are HUNGRY. Sure we have seen the coming and going of a legend and we have had our players on the team that made the some of the seasons great. However when you take a look at the blatant mismanagement of the team and you see teams around you that were equally as bad at times that have had their superbowl run, it doesn't make it any easier.

Therefore some of the grumblings around here are VERY justified as long as they are not "homerish" (i.e. lets trade this person for this person, get rid of this guy, etc) but rather constructive in nature. Personally, I cannot fathom anyone in this "fan range" to be happy as to what has gone while we have been fans.

As bad as it may seem, you start to become "numb" to the losing and in a bad way, sometimes expect it even though you would almost take a bullet for the organization...

There are those out that know exactly what I am talking about. The "newer" fans from the mid-late 90's up until now, I wouldn't expect for them to understand because there is always "next year".

 

[Pinkboy]

Well I can certainly understand the OP.. I have watched every game since the 1981 season.

 

[Howard Stern]

Anybody have the cliff notes on that?

 

[Predaphin]

Ok I get it. We are all dolphins fans. I also acknowledge the fact that no matter what team forum you are you going to be a part of, we will always have those that look constantly through rose colored glasses. Additionally we will have those fans that constantly call for the head of one player one week and then back-peddle when that person shows up the next. We will also have those fans that are fairweather and ride the bandwagon. It is what it is.

However as with any team, you have another type of fan. The fan that has been with the team for 30+ years. Some have been lucky enough to witness the dominant early 70's teams and can remember superbowls and HOF'ers of years gone by. Then we have the fans that are the late 20 something to mid 30 somethings, myself included.

Now these fans have been with the team since the Marino years. Some are old enough to have watched the superbowl against the niners and sadly a loss. We have sat by to watch the franchise go from being very good during that time to watching them wane the later half of the 80's only to be reborn again in the early 90's. We have watched in heartbreak as Jim kelly and the bills ran crushing screen plays to kenneth davis and thurman thomas in the 1992 AFC champtionship game in OUR house. We later witnessed the team wax and wane with no "good enough" performances up until the tragedy against the Jaguars. Then came wanny and we all know the story from there.

What is my point? Well the point is that for us that have been watching since the early to middle 80's, there have been plenty of "close" moments. We watched as the organization completely ignored the defense and watched Dan sling it out in amazement against the Ken O'briens, Jim Kelly's, Boomer Esiasons, John Elways, Warren Moons, etc etc of the NFL. Indeed if you were a fan during those years, it was a real treat because we knew that dan always had it in him for a 4th quarter comeback that was something special.

Fast forward to the 2000's. While we had some good teams record wise under wanny, he drove them into the ground. The team NEVER recovered from the loss of Marino and we entered into Wanny ball...a ball controlling conservative offense that somehow if we could score 10 points, our defense would shut them down. It never worked. The losing still continued. Then we all know what occured after that up through today. Nothing but missed opportunities in the draft and free agency. Just complete mismanagement by the front office that left us fans out in the cold. Sure we had our dolphins but we all watched each week as guys who were taken after our picks were up and coming stars...boldin comes to mind.

Then we had the abysmal 1-15 season that tested ALL of our loyalties. We then win our division but we fall short in the playoffs, something I think all the realists knew was going to happen but the ride was fun nonetheless. Now we sit in a similar fashion this year, but the picture is a tad different. The schedule is brutal on paper. While this is the NFL and no game should be easy, the team for the first two games has let us all down. Bad coaching and bad preparation, missed assignment and generally awful play at times.

So, in summation and while this post is a tad rushed because of all the emotions and such going through my mind, it is easy IMO for some of the people on this forum to sit back and say that "the wins are coming and that we will do this or that". It makes me wonder how long they really have been through thick and thin with this franchise. For us that never tasted the glory years of the 70's only to watch the talents of arguably the best qb to ever play the game along with two of the greatest receivers in Miami Dolphins history go to waste, the past 25+ years for ME, has been very tough to swallow. Frustrations are mounting and deservedly so. We have a right to demand accountability for what has gone terribly wrong with this franchise and some of our posts reflect that.

Maybe this time around it will be different. At least we were told so. A new F.O. and owner. Maybe he is someone that wants to win and restore this franchise back to what it was built upon....WINNING. While I will always be a Dolphins fan, I cannot say the ride lately has been something that hasn't made me question my loyalty. However just as the logo that is tatoo'd on my right arm, I will never give up on the dolphins. While I am too far to really attend games becuase of my job, I pop for the sunday ticket every season and buy my phins merchandise yearly. I support them...I hope they haven't given up on me...

So lets all come together and support everyone on this forum and realize that some of us have been a staunch fan since the "dark" ages of this franchise in terms of winning. It is ok to have constructive criticism of the team and that doesn't make you a bad fan. Lets just hope we can get this ship pointed in the right direction....

And I thought I was the only one....I am in the same boat, late 20's early 30's, tattoo in arm, far from Miami to attend games because of job, Sunday ticket every year, etc. etc......wow.

 

[BGtoKNfor6]

Anybody have the cliff notes on that?

If your in the age range I speak of and a true miami dolphin fan (i.e. you have no other NFL loyalties), then you should read it. It isn't that long. I think it fits some of the feelings that some dolphins fan in this age group...

 

[DolfanDuBbZ~]

Well I can certainly understand the OP.. I have watched every game since the 1981 season.

Ditto

Don Strock and DJ Woodly.

Throw in the Killer B's and the big center in the middle, D. Stephenson. Those were the days. First game I saw of MIA, was a NYJ game. Damn I'm getting old.

 

[cyesae]

It seems like whenever people take there time to read something this long they always thank it on this board.

 

[FinHopeful]

So lets all come together and support everyone on this forum and realize that some of us have been a staunch fan since the "dark" ages of this franchise in terms of winning. It is ok to have constructive criticism of the team and that doesn't make you a bad fan. Lets just hope we can get this ship pointed in the right direction....

Nice post! I too have been disappointed by this team time and again. I too have hoped for more. I differ from you in my opinion of this year. I am disappointed in the outcomes, but I am not disappointed in this team.

Ginn is playing better than ever!

The offensive line played better in both games than they did last year.

Young players like Merling, Langford, Sean Smith, and big man PS have played well.

Ronnie and Ricky are both running well.

Our defense has stopped the run.

I am still very optimistic about this season.