SB Nation User Blog: DolfinPhan

Window Trolling

DolfinPhan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:10:52 -0000

I like to window shop. Sometimes I like to troll. Combine the two, you get window trolling. I was taking a gander over at Pat's Pulpit, you all know who pat is right? She/it/he looks (say it fast) like... this:

via upload.wikimedia.org

A sexually ambiguous creature that confuses men and women alike. This isn't important, but what is important, but not really, but really is... is...

The outright New England snobbery that comes from being from New England evident all over Pat's (see above) pulpit. Let me note that if you're a Dolphin fan in New England you are a genetic abberation blessed with the common sense and wisdom that doesn't proliferate the gene pool in said region. Moving on...

If I were to take a blanket and threw it on a statement, that is what I would get from the Patriot fans: we are racists (okay, finsx did call one ref a mexican, but to be completely fair, finsx also loves Greg Camarillo who is half-Mexican - so it ain't racist, if you love one mexican and hate another - by the way I love Mexico, for the record - and Cuba, I love cuban food).

Our whining about their classlessness. Do I really need to consult Buffalo fans, Redskin fans, and others about this? Really? Do I need to? Apparently they think, "Score differential is a factor in division and wild-card standings. If a team can do what the Pats did at the end, they’re obligated to." I'm sorry, if you lock up a division in week, I don't know, what was it, 10, last year, do you really need to run up the score for playoff purposes? NFL rules state if you go 16-0 you're locking up the #1 seed. Maybe I am whining, maybe that guy is a yooooge word in a Manfred Mann song about being blinded by light. But what I do know is that there was a large dialogue about runing up the score that went slightly unnoticed because of another camera involved scandal. Should I reiterate classlessness? Yes, I will

Class. Less. Ness.

Keeping with the lies and hypocrisy theme:

"Shula had the refs in his pocket and they NEVER seemed to get a bad call against them" O really? Gee, let's take a look at the Snow plow game, maybe even the Tuck game, or maybe let's look at today's game. Randy Moss blatantly, like shooting a kitten in your face just to get your disgusted reaction blatantly, push offs that led to a TD. Randy Moss, the atheletic phenom who makes many a CB cower is also one of the most blatant 'cheaters' in the game. But, the Patriot's motto, which LaDainian 'I'm worthy of a Superbowl more than the Pats are' Tomlinson once said so eloquently, "if you ain't cheatin', you ain't trying". I still think Randy Moss is amazing, even if he does those things consistently, because he can do the same without pushing and interfering as much.

Matt Light. Oh, Matt Light. I don't know if he is a "faggot". I don't really care. I do know that he is definately not Mike Tyson (circa when he was good). In fact, his boxing technique is so garbage Channing Crowder skipped away. He didn't really run away, he skipped like he was playing hopscotch. If that doesn't signify that Matt Light is the least scariest dude in the NFL then I don't know what would. Usually when people get swung at they are get angry and mad, etcetera. Laughing Crowder skipped away. Who laughs when they are getting punched at? Anyone know? It's like Ricky Gervais talking about that Falklands war, it was the equivalent of holding a midget at arms length away while kicking him in the bullocks. It's funny because you know a midget can swing at you all he wants... he's just got too small of arms so it doesn't matter. It's funny. Matt Light is Argentina, Channing Crowder is the United Kingdom. And speaking of England, there must be zero Patriots fans. I don't think I saw one at the London game. Who would root for a team based on the revolutionaries who beat you in our war of Independence. Zero. That's why the Fins are more popular over seas.

The Phinsider is one of the best blogs on SB nation. To put it in political terms, it is a big tent party. We encompass a lot of ground from all over the United States. We have LCFF whose obviously on the west coast, to Husk in that fly over state called Nebraska, I'm in Kentucky, and we have our resident Miami-area locals, and the manager Matty who lives in Jersey. So when people say :

"You could have 500 comments a gamethread if you kept finsx, Louie, etc., around and let them trash the place."

I say no, you can't. They don't make up the bulk of our threads, a lot more people do. We are more passionate about football than you are. When Randy Moss scores a TD the Pat's Pulpit gets a few token comments. When Camarillo catches a ball this house erupts like Krakatao. Some might even say it erupts like a soccer stadium in Mexico city when the home team scores a goal. Whatever, we all go ape shit.

I challenge their fanhood because they don't show it like we do. We cheer over everything and we fight over anything. We had more personal attacks on each other than the Broncos when we lost this game because we have one common goal: to see the Dolphins do good. We don't hate each other, we hate losing, because we are passionate, we are dedicated, we are louder, more aggressive and better fans than they are.

Just let me take a note on our aggressiveness though. We don't need to raid the Pat's gender ambiguity site with pithy comments, we should just watch. Laugh. Enjoy it. Every shooting star turns into a falling star, the Patriots hit their zenith. When they start losing games their comment total will slip. When we start losing games are comment total will rise because we're extra volatile, like today.

That's my two cents. Hope you enjoyed it. And if you're a Pats fan, including my brother and old roomate, %^&@ off and have a lovely day! :)

Bill Simmons: Patriot Stadiums, Then and Now

DolfinPhan — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:38:58 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/partone/081121

I don't particularly care for Bill Simmons. He's an unabashed Patriot's fan who plays reporter. Every week he talks about how great Boston sports are, everyweek he drones on about Tom Brady's season ending injury and the what-ifs that inevitably follow. Yet, somehow, he still manages to be amusing, this time he is more sobering.

This article talks about how things have changed in the football world for Patriot fans. How home field has been lost, how the poorer (read: more devout fans) have been sacrificed to make room for the higher paying "fans". Bill phrased it well what Kraft has done: "They feel disenfranchised to a degree. Like Turtle and Drama if "Aquaman" hit big, then Vince told them they had to start sleeping in the guesthouse."

I haven't been to Dolphin stadium in forever, I live too far away, to visit often (though I plan on making a trip next year). But what I do remember from Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Dolphin Stadium is that it was wide open, plenty of parking space, with little to no urbanization around it. I'm sure some has changed, but it can't be as bad as Gillette stadium with the multi-million dollar mall out front?

Do those of you who attend games on a regular basis feel like it is worth spending your hard earned money (seeing the Fins play is one damn good reason to spend your money, just put that aside for a fw). Is parking still easy? Does it take forever to walk to the stadium from your parking place? You get what I'm aiming at.

What say you?

Tennesssee Titans: Perfect in the '72 Likeness

DolfinPhan — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:56:48 -0000

The Titans are 10-0. Half perfect. To keep things in perspective, the '72 fins were 10-0 midway through the season as well. So what are the chances of the Tennessee Titans going perfect? Since the merger, only 1 team has been perfect out of 42 Superbowl seasons. Pretty rare. But the '72 Dolphins have something in common with the '08 Titans...

Bruising, quick, physical, agile, and elite. Those are all words that describe the best running back duo in the NFL today. Slash and Dash, Chris Johnson and Lendale white, the speedster and bruiser combo have combined for 1327 yards this year. CJ has 787 rushing yards with 5 touchdowns. Lendale White has 470 with 11 touchdowns. They aren't the leaders in rushing yards per game, the Giants are, but they get the yards they need when it matters. If they don't, they go to their QB, back up veteran Kerry Collins. The Veteran "game manager" isn't just a game manager, he's a play maker when needed as shown last week when the Chicago Bears shut down the Titans running game. Passing for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns he effectively carried the offense to a win. On the season he has thrown 8 touchdowns and 4 interceptions in 10 games, he has only been sacked 5 times.

This scenario has played out before in the past. The 1972 Dolphins. Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka, Earl Morrall. The one-two punch of Morris and Csonka lead a tenacious rushing attack that helped the Fins combine for more than 2,000 yards rushing, with both getting over 1,000 yards each - the first time that has ever happened in the NFL. At QB, Earl Morall lined up under center to manage the game with limited passing and limited mistakes, he didn't have flashy numbers, but he didn't lose a game either. Throwing for 1,360 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions, and sacked 14 times, Earl Morall did just enough to keep winning. Nothing amazing, nothing game breaking either - just like Collins.

This offense is almost a mirror image of the '72 fins. Run oriented, efficient passing.

The first time I heard the name Haynesworth was after his face stomping incident, since then it has only been about his dominance as a defensive tackle. His performance has been pro bowl worthy, so has the performance of the men around him. Not big names, no huge stars, just strong consistent players like Keith Bullock, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Cortland Finnegan, and Jevon Kearse (serviceable, not as amazing as his first time around). No superstar like Ray Lewis or Bob Sanders. Just good solid players who make plays, sack the QB, stuff the run, intercept, just enough to win that week.

What is the opposite of a run oriented, defensive minded team? Passing teams, finesse teams.

The New England Patriots had an explosive offense that almost ran the table. Scoring the most points in one season in NFL history, record breaking performances from Tom Brady and Randy Moss set what the ideal image of a perfect team would look like. At least what most people thought what it would take to be an undefeated team. There was just 2 things that limited the Patriots:

1: No solid running game. Yes, it did perform late in the season, but evaporated in the Superbowl. Not consistent, not overwhelming.

2: Defense. Good, but the flaws were covered up by a pass offense that could make up for it. Consistent, but flawed in numerous ways as we all saw in the Superbowl.

Perfect isn't explosive. It is hard fought. It has a blue collar. It hurts and it is going to be close, a lot of the time.The offense will score when it can, but the defense takes up the slack when it has to. The Patriots blew out teams all year long minus a few, very few, occasions. The Titans and '72 Dolphins had very close games and very lopsided games, as I'll show below. Winning by a large margin may guarantee wins in the short term, it does not matter in the long term:

The '72 Fins forced 385 points to 171 allowed, that's a 214 point difference. The Titans are significantly less, at a 131 point differential but the allowed points total is at 113, and that's only in 10 games. It will go up, but at this pace it will be around 181 points allowed in 16 games. When we look at the '07 Patriots the point differential is some 315 points. 274 allowed (around 100 more than these Titans) in 16 games, to 589 forced. As we see, the lower the points allowed total the better the win chance, not the amount of points forced.

The cliche NFL mantra: defense wins Championships.

It is true.

---

As a Dolphin I don't really want them to complete something that is so close to my Dolphin fandom. Other teams have won more superbowls than we have have, but we are the only team to win one while going undefeated. That sets us apart from the rest of the league. We have the Perfect Season. We set the example of what a Perfect team looks like. It's not the gunslinging, high flying air show ala the Patriots, but of what a traditional football team is: defence and pounding the rock.

I just wanted to highlight the similarities between the Titans and '72 Phins. They are very alike: same characters, same philosophy, same kind of coach.

TNF: Broncos-Browns on NFL Network

DolfinPhan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:05:53 -0000

Any one else going to watch?

I think I'm going to root for the Broncos despite what happened last week. The only reason I am doing this is the play off outlook. The Browns are out so it doesn't matter if they win or lose. If the Broncos win they lock up the AFC West which will keep the Chargers out of the playoff picture for the most part (I think the Chargers are the better team afterall we wouldn't want to face them in the playoffs on week one).

What about you all?

Porter Opens Mouth Again

DolfinPhan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:13:43 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3684746

I understand what Joe is saying. Matt Jones got caught with Cocaine yet some how is still playing while other players are getting fined for speaking out against the refs. Okay, fine, but is this the kind of publicity Miami needs? Something new, every week. The Marshall thing is cool with me, he's soft.

But damn, we don't even play the Jaguars this year! Is this really necessary?

Responding to Baby T.O.: "Nope. I know Orville Redenbacher. I know popcorn," he said. "But I'm not worried about that. That game is over. I'm looking at Seattle. For him to still be on that, I did get in his head, obviously. He's wasting time. They have a game tomorrow. I'm worried about me. I left Denver three days ago."

Ultimate Power Rankings

DolfinPhan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:55:36 -0000

ESPN has ranked the top Franchises since the merger.

Dolphins appear at #4, behind the Cowboys, Steelers, and 49ers.

This is a great morale booster after a 0-2 start. It's been a rough few years, but our history shows we are a great team and we will be great again. We aren't bottom dwellers, we are too proud for that. The Dolphins will be a great team again soon.

What do you guys think about this?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=nflrankings/1-10/080917