NLude33
Section 415, Row 17
I wrote this article the other day after reading one by Greg Cote in The Herald. The article he wrote kind of rubbed me the wrong way, so I wrote my own. I am not a journalist, nor do I write, so have fun with it, and hopefully it will inspire some of you for the upcoming season.
Greg Cote's article: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/12501790.htm
What have the Dolphins done for us lately? A Lot
By Nick Luders
In reading an article by Greg Cote in the September first Herald, “What have the Dolphins done for us lately, anyway?†I got to thinking about it really seriously. What have the Dolphins done for ME lately?
I will try to tell you exactly what they have done for me.
In my 24 years of life, I can remember no other NFL team that I cared more about than the Miami Dolphins. I remember a time when I was gifted a
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com /><st1:place>Lot</st1:place>![/size][/font]
<st1:City><st1:place>San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> 49ers blanket, and a Cincinnati Bengal’s uniform for a Halloween costume. Never has my heart been to any of those teams, and I always liked to watch the Dolphins with Dan Marino.</FONT></FONT></P>
[font=Arial][size=3][/size][/font] </P>
[font=Arial][size=3]So much did I like to watch the Dolphins, that for my 14<SUP>th</SUP> birthday, when other kids would ask for a moped or a Nintendo, I was asking that my parents switch to DirecTV service, and sign up for the NFL Sunday Ticket, so I could watch the Dolphins every Sunday (which they did….great parents)![/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3][/size][/font] </P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Why, you may ask, does a kid from northern <st1:State><st1:place>Iowa</st1:place></st1:State> pick the Miami Dolphins as his favorite football team? Wouldn’t the Minnesota Vikings or Green Bay Packers be a better choice? Maybe the <st1:City><st1:place>Chicago</st1:place></st1:City> Bears of the <st1:City><st1:place>Kansas City</st1:place></st1:City> Chiefs? The Rams moved to <st1:City><st1:place>St. Louis</st1:place></st1:City>, how about them?[/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3][/size][/font] </P>
[font=Arial][size=3]No, No, and NO![/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3] [/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]In my younger days I hated those teams, and the reason was simple. I hated running the football. I wanted passes, and lots of them. And that is why I feel in love with the Dolphins and Dan Marino. Marino passed a lot, and really pretty ones at that.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]So now that Dan Marino is nothing but a bronze bust in <st1:City><st1:place>Canton</st1:place></st1:City>, I will switch my allegiance to one of the closer team’s right? Not a chance.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]You see Greg, I, like so many other fans of the Dolphins grew up with this team, and has loved them as long as I can remember. It doesn’t matter if your first memory of the Dolphins is Dan Marino’s Super Bowl loss, the Jets’ Midnight Miracle or the 17-0 perfect season, they are our memories, and they are unforgettable.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Equally so, it doesn’t matter if our last memory of these Dolphins is a horrible 4-12 season in which everything went wrong, or not making the playoffs for three seasons in a row.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]They are all memories Greg good or bad. And that is what keeps us coming back. The feeling of watching the Monday Night Football game on <st1:date Month="12" Day="20" Year="2004">December 20, 2004</st1:date> against the Patriots will be with me for the rest of my life…however meaningless. It was my first time to watch a Dolphins game live in Dolphins Stadium.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]I had waited 23 years at the time for my chance to step foot into Dolphins Stadium, and cheer on my beloved Phins with thousands of other Dolphin fans around me. It was the most moving game I have ever been a part of.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]I will never forget the view from the end zone when Brendon Ayenbedjo intercepted Tom Brady to set up the go ahead score. The look on his face was of pure joy and excitement, and the look on my face was the same. Maybe you didn’t get to see this Greg from the press box, and maybe you didn’t get to feel the excitement with your Journalist hat on, but I did Greg, and I will never forget it.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]However meaningless that game was, and however meaningless the past 31 years without a Super Bowl championship have been, they mean more to me than just about anything.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Fellow fans, football season is back, and let the good and bad times roll! I am ready to be a part of more unforgettable moments, good or bad. Because that’s what being a fan is all about folks. All these memories we have stored inside of us, the wins, the losses, the injuries and the heartbreaks, we will carry them with us for the rest or our lives.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]So what have the Dolphins done for me lately Greg? They fill me with joy, with heartache, with excitement and with anger. At times they won’t let me sleep at night, but they give me something to dream about when I do.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]“Saban is thusly positioned to become a local legend….Making the Dolphins champions again would do it….Making the Dolphins at least matter again would be start†said Greg Cote.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Well Greg, the Dolphins have always mattered to me. And when the turnaround happens, it will mean more to me in the long run, because I took the whole ride. The ups the downs, the crashes and the falls, I was there and will be there for it all, and I will never forget them.[/size][/font]</P>
Greg Cote's article: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/12501790.htm
What have the Dolphins done for us lately? A Lot
By Nick Luders
In reading an article by Greg Cote in the September first Herald, “What have the Dolphins done for us lately, anyway?†I got to thinking about it really seriously. What have the Dolphins done for ME lately?
I will try to tell you exactly what they have done for me.
In my 24 years of life, I can remember no other NFL team that I cared more about than the Miami Dolphins. I remember a time when I was gifted a
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com /><st1:place>Lot</st1:place>![/size][/font]
<st1:City><st1:place>San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> 49ers blanket, and a Cincinnati Bengal’s uniform for a Halloween costume. Never has my heart been to any of those teams, and I always liked to watch the Dolphins with Dan Marino.</FONT></FONT></P>
[font=Arial][size=3][/size][/font] </P>
[font=Arial][size=3]So much did I like to watch the Dolphins, that for my 14<SUP>th</SUP> birthday, when other kids would ask for a moped or a Nintendo, I was asking that my parents switch to DirecTV service, and sign up for the NFL Sunday Ticket, so I could watch the Dolphins every Sunday (which they did….great parents)![/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3][/size][/font] </P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Why, you may ask, does a kid from northern <st1:State><st1:place>Iowa</st1:place></st1:State> pick the Miami Dolphins as his favorite football team? Wouldn’t the Minnesota Vikings or Green Bay Packers be a better choice? Maybe the <st1:City><st1:place>Chicago</st1:place></st1:City> Bears of the <st1:City><st1:place>Kansas City</st1:place></st1:City> Chiefs? The Rams moved to <st1:City><st1:place>St. Louis</st1:place></st1:City>, how about them?[/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3][/size][/font] </P>
[font=Arial][size=3]No, No, and NO![/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3] [/size][/font]</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]In my younger days I hated those teams, and the reason was simple. I hated running the football. I wanted passes, and lots of them. And that is why I feel in love with the Dolphins and Dan Marino. Marino passed a lot, and really pretty ones at that.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]So now that Dan Marino is nothing but a bronze bust in <st1:City><st1:place>Canton</st1:place></st1:City>, I will switch my allegiance to one of the closer team’s right? Not a chance.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]You see Greg, I, like so many other fans of the Dolphins grew up with this team, and has loved them as long as I can remember. It doesn’t matter if your first memory of the Dolphins is Dan Marino’s Super Bowl loss, the Jets’ Midnight Miracle or the 17-0 perfect season, they are our memories, and they are unforgettable.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Equally so, it doesn’t matter if our last memory of these Dolphins is a horrible 4-12 season in which everything went wrong, or not making the playoffs for three seasons in a row.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]They are all memories Greg good or bad. And that is what keeps us coming back. The feeling of watching the Monday Night Football game on <st1:date Month="12" Day="20" Year="2004">December 20, 2004</st1:date> against the Patriots will be with me for the rest of my life…however meaningless. It was my first time to watch a Dolphins game live in Dolphins Stadium.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]I had waited 23 years at the time for my chance to step foot into Dolphins Stadium, and cheer on my beloved Phins with thousands of other Dolphin fans around me. It was the most moving game I have ever been a part of.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]I will never forget the view from the end zone when Brendon Ayenbedjo intercepted Tom Brady to set up the go ahead score. The look on his face was of pure joy and excitement, and the look on my face was the same. Maybe you didn’t get to see this Greg from the press box, and maybe you didn’t get to feel the excitement with your Journalist hat on, but I did Greg, and I will never forget it.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]However meaningless that game was, and however meaningless the past 31 years without a Super Bowl championship have been, they mean more to me than just about anything.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Fellow fans, football season is back, and let the good and bad times roll! I am ready to be a part of more unforgettable moments, good or bad. Because that’s what being a fan is all about folks. All these memories we have stored inside of us, the wins, the losses, the injuries and the heartbreaks, we will carry them with us for the rest or our lives.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]So what have the Dolphins done for me lately Greg? They fill me with joy, with heartache, with excitement and with anger. At times they won’t let me sleep at night, but they give me something to dream about when I do.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]“Saban is thusly positioned to become a local legend….Making the Dolphins champions again would do it….Making the Dolphins at least matter again would be start†said Greg Cote.[/size][/font]</P>
</P>
[font=Arial][size=3]Well Greg, the Dolphins have always mattered to me. And when the turnaround happens, it will mean more to me in the long run, because I took the whole ride. The ups the downs, the crashes and the falls, I was there and will be there for it all, and I will never forget them.[/size][/font]</P>