As the 25th of the December draws closer, I have been wondering about various things.  Some of us Phinsiders have met and know other members personally.  Others only communicate via the cyberworld and don't know much besides the quick witted comments, jokes, and opinions about our beloved and sometimes frustrating Dolphins.  This got me wondering about you all out there and what we are all doing for the holidays.  So I wanted us to share a little holiday cheer and information with one another.  A couple questions for anyone willing to answer:

1.  What are your plans for the this Christmas?  (Where are you going to be, doing anything unusual besides opening presents, etc?)      For me, my son is getting leave from the Air Force, I am taking leave from the Marine Corps, and we are driving down to my Mom's in Cocoa Beach on the 20th.  We will stay until the 29th and then drive back to the DC area.  Unfortunately, my mother-in-law will be flying to Florida to join us there as well.  (not happy about the last part, I like her...but only for about 1 day and then she starts to irk me pretty badly)  I am hoping to get out on the water and do some fishing near Port Canaveral and was hoping to make it to the Fins vs Houston game but that most likely won't happen (thanks mom-in-law......among various reasons)

2.  What is on the top of your Christmas wish list this year?  (Lets please try to refrain from vanilla answers like the Fins making the playoffs or Brady breaking his leg....but know that I am hoping that both of those happen.  Just kidding on the Brady thing.....ummmm.....kinda)        Tickets to the Miami vs Houston game, or maybe a new Dolphins jersey (not really sure who though, I only have Long and Brown from our current roster)  But honestly just being here in the states for the holidays this year is nice, instead of Iraq or Afghanistan like many previous Xmas'.

3.  What is your favorite Christmas memory?           For me it was pretty simple.  I was 19, had been in the Marines for less than a year and I got deployed in late August 1990 (Desert Shield/Storm) and missed the entire season.  The day before Xmas I got a package from home that contained the first 12 games of the season on VHS along with some warm Dolphins sweats (it was surprisingly chilly in December over there) and some homemade candycane cookies that my little sister made for me.  I spend the entire day watching the Fins play and stuffing my face with cookies.  Good memories.

I think it's safe to say that we can get off of Devone Bess' back for a couple drops and a muffed punt.  I realize that the negative reaction towards Bess was probably a carry over of the butterfingers of Teddy Bear but please people, realize what DB brings to the table.

The guy is arguably the second best slot receiver in the NFL, behind our former slot guy....Wes Welker.  The guy runs great routes and his quickness really enable him to get open out of the slot position.  He catches almost everything (yes I know he had two bad games in his 26 game career, but we should realize that was more of fluke than reality) thrown at him and has a knack to get to an open spot when the QB needs an outlet.

I remember many of the debates that were getting thrown around when we were talking about getting Turner some playing time.  Many people were in favor, unjustly so, of sitting Bess while playing Hartline, Camarillo, Ginn (for his return skills) and Turner.  Now I ask those same people, where do you stand now?  I gave the numbers through 9 games in a few previous posts, Bess is number 2, YES NUMBER 2, in the NFL in converting 3rd downs into 1st downs.  I believe he only improved those numbers last night.  I hope we can finally lay the "Sit Bess" so Turner can play.  Don't get me wrong, I want Turner in the game but lets sit Hartline or Camarillo before we sit our best WR.

I would personally like to take a moment and reflect on my personal hero in sports.....Pat Tillman

How many of us out there would have left the life he was living, making the money he was making, to go and live a life that most American's can't fathom.  Imagine your worst camping trip conditions and add people trying to kill you at every turn and that's the life Pat and his brother Kevin chose.  (Kevin was a minor league baseball player at the time he chose to leave sports for the Army)  The guy felt that his country had provided him with the opportunity to do so much that it was his responsibility to give something back.  He was afforded the opportunity to leave the Army early and return to pro-football (there were reports that the Patriots coach was in contact with Pat about returning to play for him as well as couple other teams that were interested ) but instead chose to HONOR the contract he signed.  He felt that if the other military members were expected to honor their contracts, why should he be held to a different standard.  He did all of this without doing a single press conference or doing on the record interviews with media members.  There were a few media members that stated they had an occassion returned phone call from Pat when they left messages, but if they asked anything about his Army enlistment he said that he didn't want to talk about it and move on to the sports or family questions.

On the day Pat was killed, his platoon was transporting a broken down Hum Vee from a small town in the Afghanistan mountains.  To get it back to their base they were forced to take the vehicle through a very narrow canyon.  The dangers of doing this was enough that the platoon commander decided to divide the platoon in two and rally at an appointed place past the canyon.  Kevin was in the element that was with the vehicle while Pat was with the element that took a different route.  Pat's half of the platoon arrived at the location and was waiting when they heard gun fire back towards the canyon.  When Pat heard the gun fire, he took off running back to the canyon in order to help his platoon.  The reports are that Pat was running like a man possessed and actually requested permission (which was denied) to remove all his body armor in order to run faster.  He covered the distance, an estimated distance of about 350 meters through rocky terrain, at least 20 seconds faster than any of the other platoon member.  Pat, another member of his platoon, and an Afghani national that was assisting the platoon were the first 3 to arrive.  They came under fire from friendly positions immediately.  Pat did everything he was supposed to do to show he was friendly, from popping smoke, to signals, to yelling out his identy.  Unfortunately Pat took three rounds to the head and our country lost a true hero.  There is a lot of speculation on how things went down in those few moments but I won't touch on those.  How ever it happened, it was a great tragedy and one that touched me deeply.

I had the honor of meeting Pat on two different occassions and I can tell you that there was not a more humble athlete or man that I have ever met.  He was a favorite of mine before meeting him because of the story of his NFL journey and the way that he played the game.  It was the offseason and I was at the airport, wearing a Pat Tillman jersey oddly enough when I noticed a guy looking at me.  He smiled and walked over to me, asked my name and where I was going.  Now remember, he is the famous one, but he approached me.  He talked sincerely and with great interest with me for about 20 minutes before he had to board to catch his flight.  Most of his questions were about me, my military background and fairly meaningless things.  He rarely blinked and never took his focus off of me.  The second occassion wasn't as personal as it was at a Cardinals preseason game.  Oddly enough Pat actually remembered meeting me as well as my name and the name of my wife (he actually asked about her even though he hadn't actually met her).  That touched me profoundly as I was just some Marine that a pro football star talked to in an airport.  He had the most intense eyes I have ever seen and I felt like he was trying to take in every detail of the conversatioin.  Those two occassions catapolted him into my favorite athlete not named Dan Marino.  When Pat enlisted and chose to become an Army Ranger, he took the lone position as my athletic hero.

Pat played the game of football with reckless abandon and great passion.  He wasn't supposed to be big enough or fast enough to play in the NFL but all he did was set a Cardinal record for tackles that still stands.  He played Linebacker in college where he was the Pac-10 defensive player of the year his senior year.  He converted to safety when he signed with the Cardinals.  Paul Zimmerman, aka Dr. Z, named Pat to his 2000 All-Pro Team.  He was married and his wife was pregnant when his life came to an early and tragic end.  His Army uniform sits on display in Canton Ohio at the pro football Hall of Fame and I make sure to spend some time there every time that I make it to Canton (usually every other year).  He was a person that made you want to be a better human being just by meeting him and I don't normally say that about athletes or famous people, but with Pat it was the truth. 

I am not a man of many tears and don't cry often.  I don't say this as a way of trying to be macho, it's just who I am.  The day Pat Tillman's death was announced I broke down in tears.  My hero was gone and I think it will be a long time before anyone takes over the top spot in my athlete department.  Each year on April 22nd, I spend silent time remembering my hero and I can say without shame, I cry every year.  Jim Rome, the prominant radio and TV personality was asked to speak  at Pat's funeral.  Now I love Rome and have been a fan of his show for YEARS!!  As he closed his moving remarks made a statement that personifies how I felt about Pat Tillman.   Rome says and I am summarizing..."I have a young son named Jake (I think he was 2 or 3 years old at the time) and I haven't ever talked with him about any professional athletes.  But when I do, rest assured that the first one that I will talk to him about will be Pat Tillman". 

RIP Pat......you are loved and missed.  Happy Veterans day!

P.S.  Sorry I didn't get this post out yesterday, but being stationed near DC, I battled the wind and rain and spent the day downtown at all the memorials and at the Arlington National Cemetary.  For those that have never been to see the monuments, take the time, plan a vacation and go see the things that made this nation great.  And if you get in contact with me early enough, I might be able to be your tour guide.

After watching the Dolphins give me something to cheer about against the J-E-T-S, I started thinking about my list of top 5 games I remember the Dolphins playing in....and winning wasn't necessary to make my list.  There have been a lot of great games over the years but I managed to condense it down to a top 5.  There are different reasons why I selected the games and I will try to explain my reasoning.  There were some other great games I remember seeing but these were my favorite:

5.  2007 Dolphins vs Ravens.  Had to include this game just due to the fact that it kept us off of the list of infamy, and allowed the Lions to become the charter member of the 0-16 club.  We had nothing to cheer for all season but when I saw Camarillo break away over the middle, I literally went ape-shit!  So this game had to get honorable mention of the number 5 slot.

4.  1994 Dolphins vs Jets.  This is a game that always puts a smile on my face, not only because we beat the J-E-T-S, but because of the manner in which we did it.  We were getting our asses handed to us all of the 1st half and the start of the 3rd qtr....then Dan the Man woke up.  If memory serves me correctly, we were trailing 21-0 at one point.  In the 4th qtr, Marino started one of his greatest comeback pulling us to within 3 at 24-21.  With very little time left on the clock he started that famous drive taking us deep into the J-E-T-S territory.  Giving the sign to spike the ball after a 1st down, Dan pulled off one of the most famous plays, or infamous if you are unfortunate enough to be a J-E-T-S fan.  With just 27 seconds left Dan lured the entire J-E-T-S team to sleep and quickly hit Ingram wide to the right for his 4th TD catch of the day.  The Fins were 7-4 at the time and went on to win the division (eventually losing to the Chargers 22-21 due to a safety after leading 21-6 at halftime) and better yet it sent the J-E-T-S onto a streak where they lost 32 of their next 36!

Tie 3.  2009 Dolphins vs Jets.  This should be fresh in everyone mind since it was only a week and a half ago.  Trailing by 3 with 5 minutes left the Fins drove down the field, led by second year QB Chad Henne.  Completing two key passes on third downs the Fins were inside the 5 with the clock winding down.  For me what makes this great is that we didn't get conservative when we were in FG range, we pushed for the win instead of sending the game into OT.  With 10 seconds left, Ronnie Brown takes the snap from the wildcat and runs right down the middle of the "vaunted Rex Ryan defense" for the game winning score.

Tie 3.  1994 Dolphins vs Patriots.  Dan Marino was coming off of his achilles heel injury the previous year and no one knew what to think.  I certainly didn't think that he looked ready when I saw him during preseason or even pregame warm ups.  He looked like he was rushing back far too quickly.  Needless to say Mr. Marino proved many doubters wrong.  In the home opener, the field was a muddy mess.  Marino and Bledsoe combined for 894 yards and 9 TDs in the game.  The Fins won 39-35 in one of the wildest shootouts many people can remember.  I personally remember thinking "Ok, the Fins and Marino are back and this is going to be a good year!"

Here is where it gets tricky

2.  Jan 2, 1982 Dolphins vs Chargers.  This has to be one of the most painful memories that I have as kid.  We were watching the game over at my parents friends house and the game didn't start well at all.  This was back when David Woodley was our starting QB and the Chargers jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the end of the 1st Qtr.  I distinctly remember wanting to cry and my dad calmly said "Son, the game isn't over.  Don Shula is our coach and he will find a way to get this thing going."  The Fins pulled Woodley and put in ol' number 10, Don Strock.  Quickly strock brought the Fins roaring back closing the gap to 21-17 with the famous "hook n ladder" play from Nat Moore to Tony Nathan.  The rest was history.  Kellen Winslow played the game of his life, Strock throw for 400+ yards and 4 TDs, Dan Fouts throw for 433 yards and 3 TDs, and I learned to HATE our kicker Uwe Von Shamann (you have to hate someone with the first name of Uwe).  I went home heart-broken and in tears but it is a game that many consider the greatest ever played.

1.  December 2, 1985 Dolphins vs Bears.  Yes I had to put this at the top, slightly edging number two.  The Bears were unbeaten and it looked like no one had a chance to beat them.  Their "46" defense was amazing and their offense had "Sweetness", Walter Payton.  It was a Monday night game that still brings a smile to the faces of the entire 1972 Dolphins team.  The Bears had blown out their previous three opponents 104-3.  All Dan Marino did was throw for 277 yards and 3 TDs while leading Miami to a 14 point victory, 38-24.  It broke up the "perfect season" for the Bears who went on to shut out the Giants 21-0 and the Rams 24-0 in the playoffs before destroying the Patriots in the Superbowl 46-10.