Dolphins reportedly offer Gruden, then Harbaugh $7mm+ (1 Viewer)

[NeverEnough]

Not to hijack, but it is amazing to me to see the Dolphins back up the brinks truck for someone with no NFL coaching experience. Yet this is the same team that screwed Ronnie Brown out of a $500K bonus for getting 1000 yards. He fell just 30 yards short, and had just 6 carries the last game. You had to beleive that managment didn't want Ronnie to get that extra $500K. In contrast, the Bucs fed L. Blount the ball late so he could get to 1000 yards and get his bonus. And the Bucs are notoriously cheap. Go figure.

30 yards short? He had 700 yards this season...

 

[NeverEnough]

You think I'm happy about most of the bs that has gone down?! Of course I'm not. However, I'm not jumping ship. You think the Phins will never have a winning season again? C'mon.You're eitehr a real fan or you're only when there has been X amount of "bad" Either stick w/it or pick another team.

Lots of bandwagon fans in here. I live in PA & have always been a Phins fan...

Bandwagon huh. I have been a Dolphins fan since 1975 (5 years old) the first year I started going to games. I was a season ticket holder along with my dad from 75-97. I gave up my seats after the first year of watching Jimmy Johnson handcuff Dan Marino and hand the ball off to a HOF back in Kareem Abdul Jabar (remember that stiff?). I have been with this team through thick and thin. But when you see what I see down here at the Stadium (I still go to a game or 2 ) it will make you puke in disgust. I did not go to a game in 2009 (Ross's first year as majority owner) I was in shock at the complete circus he has made the stadium formely known as Joe Robbie Stadium into. Just madness. Steven Ross stripped the one thread of tradition we had left in our corny fight song. Yeah that "song". It might have been corny, it might have been old, but it was all we had left from the glory years of the 70's and early 80's. hell even the early 90's we had very good teams that played great football...we just ran into a better team in the Bills. Ross is a tool.And to be honest we have some of the worst fans in the world. Yeh we do. Total morons who know nothing about football. I could not stand hearing them moan and groan every year anymore talking nonsense, trade Marino, fire Shula.....becareful what you wish for.Now I know some Detroit Lions fans will come here and Saints fans who suffered for decades.....that's all fine and good. I have been though many lean years as well. Christ I went through so much garbage with the Heat and Marlins it was a joy when they won their respective titles. I am a frustrated fan who is sick and tired of the missteps of this franchsie ever since Shula was ousted. It has been a huge joke. We have had some amazing players over the last 15 years. Great community leaders and they give back. I don't hold all the great players totally responsable. I hold all the clowns that have passed through here pretending to be GM's and coaches. The one thing that has never been addressed with any competence is our QB situation. It is truly amazing how inept it has been in the last 15 years in that one regard.Seriously we have wasted so many great careers over the last 15 years because we never have been able to get it right....not even close!!!!Pure incompetence.I am sure when all is said and done i will bleed Aqua and Orange for another 20 years.But man we are really pissed off down here.

 

[humpback]

LATEST ESPN UPDATE: After meeting w Harbaugh, source says Dolphins have decided that Tony Sparano is the best man for job. Will be retained.

 

[CompetitiveEdgeFootball]

Phins fan and Bills fan could have a real pissing contest as to whose franchise is managed worse. The gross part is they have to have New England shining in its glory constantly every time someone talks AFC East.

 

[Wingnut]

LATEST ESPN UPDATE: After meeting w Harbaugh, source says Dolphins have decided that Tony Sparano is the best man for job. Will be retained.

Wow, this is getting absurd

 

[xfactor99]

Adam Schefter's take on the whole thing:

Disinterested-football-fan wife just said to me, "So is this Jim Harbaugh the new Brett Favre?

 

[Jrcwy]

Ridiculous! Reminds me of the opening scene of There's Something about Mary when Ted's asking a girl to prom:

Girl: See, the thing is, I heard a rumor that this guy I like was gonna ask me. Yeah, so...I'm gonna wait and see what happens there...But that sounds great,yeah.Ted: So is that a yes or a no?Girl: I think I was very clear, Ted. If everything else falls apart, maybe.

Go get your prom dress on Tony!

 

[Limp Ditka]

I'd like to take a moment to thank Jim Harbaugh for respecting the game and respecting the process while interviewing for an NFL Head Coaching position that is currently occupied.

 

[J-Dawg]

God this whole thing is just comical now. It makes me embarrassed as a Dolphin fan to see our team looking so inept right now. Sparano, Cowher, Gruden, Harbaugh, no wait...SPARANO!! Unbelievable.

It's been a dream of mine for many years to go to Miami to see a home game but reading comments from those that go it makes me cringe. I might just stick to going to Seattle when Miami comes up this way to watch them play instead. Qwest Field and Seattle in general is a great place to watch a football game, regardless of which team's colors you're wearing. Fans going crazy, stomping their feet and screaming at the top of their lungs on defence, total silence on offence...the way it should be. I was at the Kingdome for the AFC Wild-Card Game in 2000 which ended up being Marino's final win in the league, I'm happy I was able to see him play in person before he retired, but sadly that was probably the last time I remember being excited about anything Miami has done. It's painful to see this franchise being run into the ground and have such horrible leadership top to bottom. I was born after the glory years in the 70s and was too young to remember the early Marino years, so my tenure as a 'Phin fan has been the constant losses to Buffalo in the early 90s, Marino's torn ACL in a year where we were one of the NFL's best up until the point (probably the last time a Super Bowl run seemed possible) and the horri-awful Wannstedt years. At some point I would like to see this team win a Super Bowl before I die, but that doesn't look even remotely possible in the near future.

The only silver lining is the possibility of all of this ineptitude translating to a horrible season in 2011 and Andrew Luck as our 2012 1st round pick.

 

[Wingnut]

God this whole thing is just comical now. It makes me embarrassed as a Dolphin fan to see our team looking so inept right now. Sparano, Cowher, Gruden, Harbaugh, no wait...SPARANO!! Unbelievable.It's been a dream of mine for many years to go to Miami to see a home game but reading comments from those that go it makes me cringe. I might just stick to going to Seattle when Miami comes up this way to watch them play instead. Qwest Field and Seattle in general is a great place to watch a football game, regardless of which team's colors you're wearing. Fans going crazy, stomping their feet and screaming at the top of their lungs on defence, total silence on offence...the way it should be. I was at the Kingdome for the AFC Wild-Card Game in 2000 which ended up being Marino's final win in the league, I'm happy I was able to see him play in person before he retired, but sadly that was probably the last time I remember being excited about anything Miami has done. It's painful to see this franchise being run into the ground and have such horrible leadership top to bottom. I was born after the glory years in the 70s and was too young to remember the early Marino years, so my tenure as a 'Phin fan has been the constant losses to Buffalo in the early 90s, Marino's torn ACL in a year where we were one of the NFL's best up until the point (probably the last time a Super Bowl run seemed possible) and the horri-awful Wannstedt years. At some point I would like to see this team win a Super Bowl before I die, but that doesn't look even remotely possible in the near future.The only silver lining is the possibility of all of this ineptitude translating to a horrible season in 2011 and Andrew Luck as our 2012 1st round pick.

Problem is, there will be a handful of teams that will be worse than Miami, so Luck is probably out of the question. I feel your pain though. As a 9er fan, I know EXACTLY what youre saying, and its frustrating as hell. The last time I was really excited going into a season was 1998.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

LATEST ESPN UPDATE: After meeting w Harbaugh, source says Dolphins have decided that Tony Sparano is the best man for job. Will be retained.

 

[GoFishTN]

...

 

[CompetitiveEdgeFootball]

How insulting is this? An extremely proud head coach would probably just quit and test the market at this point. I think Sparano probably knows in his heart of hearts he's not going to garner a ton of interest. This is just a nightmare in Miami... he's lost the locker room and the front office, and now he's being told he has to report for duty and try and coach this derailed train. At least its not moving very fast.

Two head coaches offered 7 million a year to coach a team, and both turn the team down. Parcells pulled his disappearing act at the beginning of the season. The only good thing I can think of going on in Miami is that the OC "retired."

 

[J-Dawg]

With everything that's gone on in just these past couple of weeks, the fact we even won 7 games this year is a miracle. Thanks Mike Nolan!

 

[nxmehta]

Why in the world did the Dolphins not just fire Sparano in the first place if they were going to start interviewing all these other people? I mean either he's the guy or he's not... the front office needs to get their head straight. So disrespectful.

Do Dolphins fans want Sparano gone in general?

Man, the Browns are a mess but at least the guy at the top has the decency to fire our coach before interviewing new ones...

 

[J-Dawg]

Why in the world did the Dolphins not just fire Sparano in the first place if they were going to start interviewing all these other people? I mean either he's the guy or he's not... the front office needs to get their head straight. So disrespectful.



Do Dolphins fans want Sparano gone in general?

Man, the Browns are a mess but at least the guy at the top has the decency to fire our coach before interviewing new ones...

Most do, there's some that don't which is the category I would have put myself in just a couple of weeks ago. But from everything that's gone on, it's best for the team now if he goes. He lost the locker room and now lost the trust of the front office as somebody else mentioned. How he'll be able to command any shred of respect and effort out of the players now after the farce that Ross and co. has turned this into beyond me. This team is a sinking ship that nobody wants to be a part of and they are leaving Tony twisting in the wind and expecting him to continue full-steam ahead. Not gonna happen.

 

[Jason Wood]

It's easy for people to say Sparano should quit, but let's be realistic. He would have to resign, and that would mean Miami wouldn't owe him the rest of his contract and, meanwhile, there's almost no chance he would be able to get another head coaching job. His best hope would be to latch on as a coordinator, which would mean less power and considerably less money.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

Not to hijack, but it is amazing to me to see the Dolphins back up the brinks truck for someone with no NFL coaching experience. Yet this is the same team that screwed Ronnie Brown out of a $500K bonus for getting 1000 yards. He fell just 30 yards short, and had just 6 carries the last game. You had to beleive that managment didn't want Ronnie to get that extra $500K. In contrast, the Bucs fed L. Blount the ball late so he could get to 1000 yards and get his bonus. And the Bucs are notoriously cheap. Go figure.

30 yards short? He had 700 yards this season...

I had heard 1000 yards. I think they meant total yards. Brown had 734 rushing and 242 receiving. He had a bonus 500K coming his way had he hit 1000 total yards.

 

[Reaper]

Wow.... I wonder if some giddy Miami fans wish their HC "Only" had a foot fetish at this point.

As for Abandoning your team... Music to my ears to hear Miami fans talk some #### but REALLY????? MOP????? But, that's the Dolphin fans I know and love.

I've got a friend of a friend who was an Islander fan (an NHL team on Long Island) .. talk about mis-management. One day he goes out and buys a bunch of Bruins jerseys, buys a ticket package and starts making trips to Boston every other week... ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!!!!!! Someone from New York giving up on a team and changing to a Boston team???????

As a Sports fan, this guy is absurd to me.... I can't sit in a room and talk to this guy about sports or Hockey and talk about "His" team.... He's got absolutely no history, no roots,no deep passion....

As Sports fans, for most of us this is developed when we are younger in elementary school - we BLEED for our Teams.....

In my book, giving up on your team and adopting another isn't even an option unless your a fringe fan, maybe a kid or maybe you pick teams by color? Like My mom watching the Super Bowl as if it's just another American Idol contest.

And SO WHAT if your team NEVER wins, I'm a Jets fan, that's kinda part of the "fun"... Win or lose, i do enjoy the roller coaster, the drafts, who will the next coach be?, Who are the top 10 picks we can look at? and heck, even a good rant about how bad things are is part of the fun. BUT, if/when they do win, NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING could ever match that high that comes from deep within. It's REAL... It's as if a child of mine accomplished something amazing....

I grew up not seeing the Yankees win for 18 years.. When they won in 1996 it was as close to a religeous experience as I'll see.... When the Red Sox Won in 2004, the emotion and jubilation out of Boston was off the charts and was built up from 180 years of suffering......

JEEZ MOP! Go get a Tampa Jersey already.

And as for the Home games and fans.... I learned at some point as I approached 40 that as a fan I could no longer stick up for and speak for the new generation of fans and kids that attend sporting events.... I was watching an NBA draft draft and they had Knicks fans on with a bunch of little white kids with hats backwards and pants hung low making gangsta signs and thought, Jeez, I'm a Knicks fan, how the hell could I pretend to know and speak for THAT?????

Whatever. Let them do the macarena and silly songs and dances at games - I'm A Jets fan no matter what the latest pack of 16-19 year olds are doing to get excited at the game. I'll be on my recliner screaming, throwing things, crying and laughing for MY team for as long as I'm here.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

 

[Ministry of Pain]

JEEZ MOP! Go get a Tampa Jersey already.

I have a few of those. I lived in Tampa from '92-'00 and became a fan the day they hired Tony Dungy. Got to see a few games at the Sombrero and then at C.I.T.S. and when I was in SoCal it was pretty sweet watching them beat Oakland in the Super Bowl but my team from when I was a kid was always Miami. Tampa Bay filled a void when I lived there and I still root for them, been watching the team grow this season.I am so embarrassed as a Miami fan and also for Sporano at this point. How can Sporano be taken seriously by the fan base here. I hope no one buys season tickets next year. I bet half the Miami fans haven't even been keeping up with this drama and probably forget about it by the time August rolls around.

 

[Todem]

You think I'm happy about most of the bs that has gone down?! Of course I'm not. However, I'm not jumping ship. You think the Phins will never have a winning season again? C'mon.You're eitehr a real fan or you're only when there has been X amount of "bad" Either stick w/it or pick another team.

Lots of bandwagon fans in here. I live in PA & have always been a Phins fan...

Bandwagon huh. I have been a Dolphins fan since 1975 (5 years old) the first year I started going to games. I was a season ticket holder along with my dad from 75-97. I gave up my seats after the first year of watching Jimmy Johnson handcuff Dan Marino and hand the ball off to a HOF back in Kareem Abdul Jabar (remember that stiff?). I have been with this team through thick and thin. But when you see what I see down here at the Stadium (I still go to a game or 2 ) it will make you puke in disgust. I did not go to a game in 2009 (Ross's first year as majority owner) I was in shock at the complete circus he has made the stadium formely known as Joe Robbie Stadium into. Just madness. Steven Ross stripped the one thread of tradition we had left in our corny fight song. Yeah that "song". It might have been corny, it might have been old, but it was all we had left from the glory years of the 70's and early 80's. hell even the early 90's we had very good teams that played great football...we just ran into a better team in the Bills. Ross is a tool.And to be honest we have some of the worst fans in the world. Yeh we do. Total morons who know nothing about football. I could not stand hearing them moan and groan every year anymore talking nonsense, trade Marino, fire Shula.....becareful what you wish for.Now I know some Detroit Lions fans will come here and Saints fans who suffered for decades.....that's all fine and good. I have been though many lean years as well. Christ I went through so much garbage with the Heat and Marlins it was a joy when they won their respective titles. I am a frustrated fan who is sick and tired of the missteps of this franchsie ever since Shula was ousted. It has been a huge joke. We have had some amazing players over the last 15 years. Great community leaders and they give back. I don't hold all the great players totally responsable. I hold all the clowns that have passed through here pretending to be GM's and coaches. The one thing that has never been addressed with any competence is our QB situation. It is truly amazing how inept it has been in the last 15 years in that one regard.Seriously we have wasted so many great careers over the last 15 years because we never have been able to get it right....not even close!!!!Pure incompetence.I am sure when all is said and done i will bleed Aqua and Orange for another 20 years.But man we are really pissed off down here.

Oh yeah it's not ok too express your displeasure the way a team you have given your heart and soul to for 35 years has been run into the ground.Give me a friggin break. Stick with it...WTF do you think I have been doing for the last 35 years?

 

[Ministry of Pain]

AFC Championships at JRS since it's inception in 1986...1 in 1992 and Miami was blown out 29-10 to Buffalo. And outside of that, the divisional playoffs at Denver where we were blown out 38-14 in 1997.

FUN FUN FUN

Since 1985

New England 6 Super Bowls

Buffalo 4 Super Bowls

Miami ZERO

Fans need to wake up.

 

[Todem]

Ridiculous! Reminds me of the opening scene of There's Something about Mary when Ted's asking a girl to prom:

Girl: See, the thing is, I heard a rumor that this guy I like was gonna ask me. Yeah, so...I'm gonna wait and see what happens there...But that sounds great,yeah.Ted: So is that a yes or a no?Girl: I think I was very clear, Ted. If everything else falls apart, maybe.

Go get your prom dress on Tony!

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Young fans that are 21 and under...what is their memory of the Miami Dolphins? Honestly over the last 15 years what can young fans hang their hat on?

 

[Todem]

AFC Championships at JRS since it's inception in 1986...1 in 1992 and Miami was blown out 29-10 to Buffalo. And outside of that, the divisional playoffs at Denver where we were blown out 38-14 in 1997.FUN FUN FUNSince 1985New England 6 Super BowlsBuffalo 4 Super BowlsMiami ZERO Fans need to wake up.

We are on the same page. I am not giving up my team....frustration can make you say some funny things. I was being sarcastic to the extreme.But that does not mean you can't see things for what they are. It is deplorable how Steven Ross has handled this team. I will give Wayne this, he hired what was thought of as the best at the time in Jimmy Johnson and Nick "lying" Saban. Letting Wandstash coach (and make some of the most boneheaded draft picks ever in Dolphins history) though was the first of numerous mistakes and misteps.But the one common thread in all of this is the bottom line that we as a team have never been able to replace Dan Marino. Now as a life long Dolphin fan I never expected to get a QB like him. He is one in a million. But we have not had a competent QB here since....not one.Unacceptable.

 

[Todem]

Young fans that are 21 and under...what is their memory of the Miami Dolphins? Honestly over the last 15 years what can young fans hang their hat on?

Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Pat Sutain, Sam Madison. That's it.

 

[aerolaw]

Hi MOP and Todem, much has transpired since our little meet and greet at that Ft Lauderdale bar before the season. I wound up losing the championship game in that league i was drafting on my iphone (notwithstanding taking Fitz and p thomas with 2 of the 1st 4 picks against your advice!)

I'm quite a bit more advanced in age than you guys and thus have a longer history of being married to the Dolphins. I was at the Orange Bowl from day 1, getting in for $1 as a "Velda Farms kid". The memories are still vivid...i still have the program from the game where John Stofa broke his leg and they had to bring in that quiet,frail looking choir boy from Purdue. The initial Don Shula press conference "i'm just a guy who rolls up his sleeves and gets to work", "I'm no miracle worker or anything like that", he said. A front office that trades their draft picks for Shula and Paul Warfield, trades for nobodies like Larry Little,Jim Langer, drafts Csonkas, Morris's, and Kiicks, not to mention Griese's,**** Andersons....picks guys off of scrap heaps (Buonoconti),grabs guys from CFL (Jake Scott). scores up low round draft picks (m fernandez, Matheson, Swift) Amazing that yes, we once had people running the team that knew what they were doing.

Shula, the poster boy for fitting your scheme to the talent you have, rather than the egomaniacs now who have to fit the personnel to their own system. All those years of watching the greatest passer in the history of the game, up close and personal. The crowd and atmosphere at the Orange Bowl.

Yes, memories are all us original dolfans have left. The tradition started fading badly after the move to JRS, the stink and stench just seemingly getting worse each and every year. I gave up my season tickets long ago, when it was painfully obvious that the franchise was heading in to the crapper.

Its just so sad that a franchise with those glorious memories is reduced to a maddening collection of football dimwits, with no plan, no clue how to make one, much less implement it, and with clueless ownership.

Were it not for my memories, i would not even notice that we have an NFL franchise in this town. Someday maybe it will change. I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Hi MOP and Todem, much has transpired since our little meet and greet at that Ft Lauderdale bar before the season. I wound up losing the championship game in that league i was drafting on my iphone (notwithstanding taking Fitz and p thomas with 2 of the 1st 4 picks against your advice!)I'm quite a bid more advanced in age than you guys and thus have a longer history of being married to the Dolphins. I was at the Orange Bowl from day 1, getting in for $1 as a "Velda Farms kid". The memories are still vivid...i still have the program from the game where John Stofa broke his leg and they had to bring in that quiet,frail looking choir boy from Purdue. The initial Don Shula press conference "i'm just a guy who rolls up his sleeves and gets to work", "I'm no miracle worker or anything like that", he said. A front office that trades their draft picks for Shula and Paul Warfield, trades for nobodies like Larry Little,Jim Langer, drafts Csonkas, Morris's, and Kiicks, not to mention Griese's,**** Andersons....picks guys off of scrap heaps (Buonoconti),grabs guys from CFL (Jake Scott). scores up low round draft picks (m fernandez, Matheson, Swift) Amazing that yes, we once had people running the team that knew what they were doing. Shula, the poster boy for fitting your scheme to the talent you have, rather than the egomaniacs now who have to fit the personnel to their own system. All those years of watching the greatest passer in the history of the game, up close and personal. The crowd and atmosphere at the Orange Bowl. Yes, memories are all us original dolfans have left. The tradition started fading badly after the move to JRS, the stink and stench just seemingly getting worse each and every year. I gave up my season tickets long ago, when it was painfully obvious that the franchise was heading in to the crapper.Its just so sad that a franchise with those glorious memories is reduced to a maddening collection of football dimwits, with no plan, no clue how to make one, much less implement it, and with clueless ownership. Were it not for my memories, i would not even notice that we have an NFL franchise in this town. Someday maybe it will change. I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

 

[Todem]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

Not buying it.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

Not buying it.

It makes sense though...Marshall doesn't like Sporano, get him out of here...3 TDs this year, he's not helping. He'll flourish elsewhere.

 

[Todem]

Hi MOP and Todem, much has transpired since our little meet and greet at that Ft Lauderdale bar before the season. I wound up losing the championship game in that league i was drafting on my iphone (notwithstanding taking Fitz and p thomas with 2 of the 1st 4 picks against your advice!)I'm quite a bit more advanced in age than you guys and thus have a longer history of being married to the Dolphins. I was at the Orange Bowl from day 1, getting in for $1 as a "Velda Farms kid". The memories are still vivid...i still have the program from the game where John Stofa broke his leg and they had to bring in that quiet,frail looking choir boy from Purdue. The initial Don Shula press conference "i'm just a guy who rolls up his sleeves and gets to work", "I'm no miracle worker or anything like that", he said. A front office that trades their draft picks for Shula and Paul Warfield, trades for nobodies like Larry Little,Jim Langer, drafts Csonkas, Morris's, and Kiicks, not to mention Griese's,**** Andersons....picks guys off of scrap heaps (Buonoconti),grabs guys from CFL (Jake Scott). scores up low round draft picks (m fernandez, Matheson, Swift) Amazing that yes, we once had people running the team that knew what they were doing. Shula, the poster boy for fitting your scheme to the talent you have, rather than the egomaniacs now who have to fit the personnel to their own system. All those years of watching the greatest passer in the history of the game, up close and personal. The crowd and atmosphere at the Orange Bowl. Yes, memories are all us original dolfans have left. The tradition started fading badly after the move to JRS, the stink and stench just seemingly getting worse each and every year. I gave up my season tickets long ago, when it was painfully obvious that the franchise was heading in to the crapper.Its just so sad that a franchise with those glorious memories is reduced to a maddening collection of football dimwits, with no plan, no clue how to make one, much less implement it, and with clueless ownership. Were it not for my memories, i would not even notice that we have an NFL franchise in this town. Someday maybe it will change. I'm not holding my breath.

Very Good to see ya around Aerolaw. I think you MOP and I should start an annual tradition of getting together to discuss our rosters and strategies for the upcoming year. I had a good time hanging with you guys and talking football.See you again in the future I hope at the next FBG sponsered event. Hopefully this time we do a draft...hell I would be all for a cheap best ball league for ****s and giggles I really liked that concept. Be well and hopefully the Dolphins can some how get their act together. I, like you am a fan from the 70's and had the pleasure of being a season ticket holder with my Dad for 21 action packed years. The 22nd year was the signal things were going into the crapper (the first year Jimmy took over the team). My Dad and I both looked at each other after the first home game and said "how many carries did this stiff (Abdul Jabbar) just get? The Marino era was over from that moment on. Man I miss Shula....loved that guy.

 

[humpback]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

Not buying it.

It makes sense though...Marshall doesn't like Sporano, get him out of here...3 TDs this year, he's not helping. He'll flourish elsewhere.

The only way it would make sense is if this organization really is as big of a train wreck as you guys are saying. It makes zero sense to replace Marshall with a rookie, especially when you're probably going to spend a higher draft pick on that rookie than you'll get back for Marshall.I guess what I'm saying is, Marshall certainly isn't an angel, but he's very low on the list of problems in Miami right now.

 

[mchaps55]

PFT - Report: Sparano hasn’t been informed of his fate

Amid reports that the Dolphins have opted to stick with coach Tony Sparano after openly flirting with Jim Harbaugh, there’s one minor detail that has been overlooked.

The Dolphins haven’t bothered to tell Sparano that he still has a job, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.

Salguero reports that a meeting is scheduled for later today. But why wait until a meeting to put a man’s mind at ease, after screwing with that same man’s mind for the last two days?

Here’s a possible explanation. Maybe the news that the Dolphins were sticking with Sparano was part of a leverage play aimed at getting Harbaugh to take whatever the last offer was before the talks between the Dolphins and Harbaugh fell apart and owner Stephen Ross flew home without his new trophy coach.

Yes, we’re speculating. But this is precisely how high-stakes negotiations often are resolved.

Then there’s the possibility that Ross and non-Dolphins official (wink, nod) Carl Peterson, who reportedly was involved in the meeting with Harbaugh and who reached out to Bill Cowher as well, are pondering doing to G.M. Jeff Ireland what they were going to do to Sparano.

As Jeff Darlington of the Herald recently reported, Cowher bowed out due to control concerns. It was the first tangible sign that Ireland would still have a job. If the only thing standing between the Dolphins and Cowher is Jeff Ireland, then maybe both Ireland and Sparano get the ***** Bonpensiero treatment.

So with Ross facing the embarrassment of swinging and missing for Harbaugh and now confronting the awkwardness of keeping Sparano and the local outrage in Miami arising from this first-class shebacle, the way to remedy the failed pursuit of a rock star isn’t to pretend that Ross has decided to love the one he’s with. The best approach is to find another rock star.

So stay tuned, Fins fans. Your favorite team’s descent into abject humiliation may not be over just yet.

 

[Slapdash]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

Awful

 

[Todem]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

Not buying it.

It makes sense though...Marshall doesn't like Sporano, get him out of here...3 TDs this year, he's not helping. He'll flourish elsewhere.

Sparano will not make it past mid season in 2011. Marshall stays.

 

[Slapdash]

Rumor that Josh McD will be the OC and then trade for Kyle Orton...hard to believe with Marshall, but then the rumor is they trade Marshall and get another WR in the draft which is loaded...not sure how much I am buying it.

Not buying it.

It makes sense though...Marshall doesn't like Sporano, get him out of here...3 TDs this year, he's not helping. He'll flourish elsewhere.

The only way it would make sense is if this organization really is as big of a train wreck as you guys are saying. It makes zero sense to replace Marshall with a rookie, especially when you're probably going to spend a higher draft pick on that rookie than you'll get back for Marshall.I guess what I'm saying is, Marshall certainly isn't an angel, but he's very low on the list of problems in Miami right now.

Not to mention we have already given up two 2nds for him. Trading him away to further weaken our WR corps would be Brad Childress stupid.

 

[NeverEnough]

Don't twist my words. MOP was talking about jumping ship. You're either a fan or you're going to another team. #### or get off the pot.

You think I'm happy about most of the bs that has gone down?! Of course I'm not. However, I'm not jumping ship. You think the Phins will never have a winning season again? C'mon.You're eitehr a real fan or you're only when there has been X amount of "bad" Either stick w/it or pick another team.

Lots of bandwagon fans in here. I live in PA & have always been a Phins fan...

Bandwagon huh. I have been a Dolphins fan since 1975 (5 years old) the first year I started going to games. I was a season ticket holder along with my dad from 75-97. I gave up my seats after the first year of watching Jimmy Johnson handcuff Dan Marino and hand the ball off to a HOF back in Kareem Abdul Jabar (remember that stiff?). I have been with this team through thick and thin. But when you see what I see down here at the Stadium (I still go to a game or 2 ) it will make you puke in disgust. I did not go to a game in 2009 (Ross's first year as majority owner) I was in shock at the complete circus he has made the stadium formely known as Joe Robbie Stadium into. Just madness. Steven Ross stripped the one thread of tradition we had left in our corny fight song. Yeah that "song". It might have been corny, it might have been old, but it was all we had left from the glory years of the 70's and early 80's. hell even the early 90's we had very good teams that played great football...we just ran into a better team in the Bills. Ross is a tool.And to be honest we have some of the worst fans in the world. Yeh we do. Total morons who know nothing about football. I could not stand hearing them moan and groan every year anymore talking nonsense, trade Marino, fire Shula.....becareful what you wish for.Now I know some Detroit Lions fans will come here and Saints fans who suffered for decades.....that's all fine and good. I have been though many lean years as well. Christ I went through so much garbage with the Heat and Marlins it was a joy when they won their respective titles. I am a frustrated fan who is sick and tired of the missteps of this franchsie ever since Shula was ousted. It has been a huge joke. We have had some amazing players over the last 15 years. Great community leaders and they give back. I don't hold all the great players totally responsable. I hold all the clowns that have passed through here pretending to be GM's and coaches. The one thing that has never been addressed with any competence is our QB situation. It is truly amazing how inept it has been in the last 15 years in that one regard.Seriously we have wasted so many great careers over the last 15 years because we never have been able to get it right....not even close!!!!Pure incompetence.I am sure when all is said and done i will bleed Aqua and Orange for another 20 years.But man we are really pissed off down here.

Oh yeah it's not ok too express your displeasure the way a team you have given your heart and soul to for 35 years has been run into the ground.Give me a friggin break. Stick with it...WTF do you think I have been doing for the last 35 years?

 

[Todem]

Gotcha Magic Man.

 

[aerolaw]

Hi MOP and Todem, much has transpired since our little meet and greet at that Ft Lauderdale bar before the season. I wound up losing the championship game in that league i was drafting on my iphone (notwithstanding taking Fitz and p thomas with 2 of the 1st 4 picks against your advice!)I'm quite a bit more advanced in age than you guys and thus have a longer history of being married to the Dolphins. I was at the Orange Bowl from day 1, getting in for $1 as a "Velda Farms kid". The memories are still vivid...i still have the program from the game where John Stofa broke his leg and they had to bring in that quiet,frail looking choir boy from Purdue. The initial Don Shula press conference "i'm just a guy who rolls up his sleeves and gets to work", "I'm no miracle worker or anything like that", he said. A front office that trades their draft picks for Shula and Paul Warfield, trades for nobodies like Larry Little,Jim Langer, drafts Csonkas, Morris's, and Kiicks, not to mention Griese's,**** Andersons....picks guys off of scrap heaps (Buonoconti),grabs guys from CFL (Jake Scott). scores up low round draft picks (m fernandez, Matheson, Swift) Amazing that yes, we once had people running the team that knew what they were doing. Shula, the poster boy for fitting your scheme to the talent you have, rather than the egomaniacs now who have to fit the personnel to their own system. All those years of watching the greatest passer in the history of the game, up close and personal. The crowd and atmosphere at the Orange Bowl. Yes, memories are all us original dolfans have left. The tradition started fading badly after the move to JRS, the stink and stench just seemingly getting worse each and every year. I gave up my season tickets long ago, when it was painfully obvious that the franchise was heading in to the crapper.Its just so sad that a franchise with those glorious memories is reduced to a maddening collection of football dimwits, with no plan, no clue how to make one, much less implement it, and with clueless ownership. Were it not for my memories, i would not even notice that we have an NFL franchise in this town. Someday maybe it will change. I'm not holding my breath.

Very Good to see ya around Aerolaw. I think you MOP and I should start an annual tradition of getting together to discuss our rosters and strategies for the upcoming year. I had a good time hanging with you guys and talking football.See you again in the future I hope at the next FBG sponsered event. Hopefully this time we do a draft...hell I would be all for a cheap best ball league for ****s and giggles I really liked that concept. Be well and hopefully the Dolphins can some how get their act together. I, like you am a fan from the 70's and had the pleasure of being a season ticket holder with my Dad for 21 action packed years. The 22nd year was the signal things were going into the crapper (the first year Jimmy took over the team). My Dad and I both looked at each other after the first home game and said "how many carries did this stiff (Abdul Jabbar) just get? The Marino era was over from that moment on. Man I miss Shula....loved that guy.

i'm in for that! lets hope there's a season

 

[Jrcwy]

Young fans that are 21 and under...what is their memory of the Miami Dolphins? Honestly over the last 15 years what can young fans hang their hat on?

Good question. I'm a couple years past 21 now but my fondest memories are Lamar Smith's 200 yard playoff game, Pennington over Favre to win the division, and Jason Taylor's defensive MVP season. This is not that impressive of a list.As a Dolphins fan, I've experienced as many highs as a Bengals or Browns fan. Sure the Dolphins have a glorified history compared to these other teams but i wasn't around for that.

You're either a fan or you're going to another team. #### or get off the pot.

It has been frustrating but I'm not about to jump of the pot. I guess that means I'll stay put and wait for more ####.

 

[SupaDupaTD]

I'm 25, but despite having been born and raised in New York, I've rooted for the Dolphins my entire life.

This latest frustrating episode is particularly painful because for the first time it's become crystal clear to me that we are currently a joke of a franchise. We're like the Bengals and the Jets the '90s - that's my frame of reference for who sucked similarly when I was a kid. We've become a perpetual punchline.

Today I found myself thinking about how it wasn't this bad when we had Dan Marino. Despite having missed most of his career, I remember staying up late throughout the 90s to watch him on Monday Night football, before the days of DirectTV. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I made a pilgrimage to Ohio to be there. I remember the fake spike game, the torn ACL, and the last hurrah in Seattle around the turn of the decade. And then I realized that despite having one of the greatest, if not the greatest pure passing quarterback ever, we barely won anything during his time here. Given how badly that golden opportunity was squandered, there is almost no hope that things will get better.

I thought my low point came during the week 6 game against the Steelers, when a friend and I splurged on 7th row tickets and flew into town. Despite monsoon-like conditions to start the game, we were still out there cheering as loud as we could when the players took the field. Unfortunately, we were surrounded by Steelers fans. Scant few Dolphins fans wanted anything to do with the rain.

When the sun finally came out, the fairweather (literally) fans came with them...and then promptly called security on us, THEIR VERY OWN FANS, for standing and screaming while the Dolphins were on defense. You read that last part correctly.

I thought I'd never be more embarrassed to be a Dolphins fan than I was that day until this latest episode took place. Sparano probably needed to get fired. I've never seen a coach who seemed to admit he had no idea what he was doing more than when Sparano essentially alternated Henne and Thigpen in the season's final game. Really, Tony? That apathetic? Still, to so publicly screw up the courtship of Harbaugh while leaving Sparano dangling in the wind is so catastrophically pathetic and embarrassing that it makes me want to hang up the aqua and orange forever and just root for the Giants like the rest of my family.

But I can't. I'll keep coming back to the Dolphins. And as far into the future as I can see, there's only more misery ahead.

 

[madd futher]

Just for fun I pulled up this July 2010 article written by Sean Leahy:

[Can the Miami Dolphins go from 7-9 to the Super Bowl?

That's what team owner Steve Ross is expecting.

Ross told AOL FanHouse on Saturday he is planning for his Dolphins to occupy the AFC's berth in Super Bowl XLV next February in Dallas.

"I think in February, we will be playing in the Super Bowl,'' Ross said.

He added that he's not saying that to raise the stakes for coach Tony Sparano.

"It's no pressure on (Sparano),'' Ross said. "He thinks that too, and so does every player on the team. You just have to go out and do it.''

The Dolphins won the AFC East with an 11-5 record in 2008, but regressed last season as they transitioned from Chad Pennington to Chad Henne as their starting QB.

Ross said he thinks Henne could become the best QB in franchise history.

Better than Dan Marino?

"Henne can handle the pressure,'' Ross told FanHouse. "That I can tell you. He started at the University of Michigan as a true freshman and was playing in front of 110,000 people and led them to the Big Ten championship.

"I think the Miami Dolphins have a great quarterback for the future and I think everybody in South Florida is excited about what Chad Henne brings to this team.'']

 

[Orange&Blue]

I hope they fire Sparano so the Broncos can get Nolan back.

 

[Jercules]

The important to thing to remember is this: The Dolphins will suck next year.

Don't listen to all of the automatic hype that will inundate us leading up to next year. They'll change something somewhere, maybe draft a better QB, etc. etc., to fool people into thinking they may have a shot next year (because the Jets will lose this guy, and the Patriots will lose this guy, blah blah blah).

After embarrassing Sparano like this, openly seeking someone new, failing, and then letting him keep his job, they have essentially written off 2011.

 

[mchaps55]

Summary: Ross apologizes for not telling Sparano about Harbaugh meeting. Says he didn't talk to other coaches & he didn't offer Harbaugh.

less than 10 seconds ago via TweetDeck .The roundtable discussion has ended.

1 minute ago via TweetDeck .Ross ultimately says, "I'd go about it a different way."

2 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Harvey Greene just announced one more question is allowed. This has been limited to only a few.

3 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ross said Mangini called Sparano to say he "didn't want to farm on his land." Huh?

5 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ross just said Mangini asked the owner to meet with him to "talk." I have no idea what that even means. Unclear explanation.

6 minutes ago via TweetDeck ."We're going to try to move on (a new offensive coordinator) really fast," Sparano said. He noted he'd still take his time to get right guy.

8 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Harvey Greene just said a few more questions. Um, I've got many more.

10 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Sparano said he shut his phone down Thursday night and awoke to 30 texts from players and one from Ross saying he'd be the team's coach.

10 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Sparano said he received 45 to 50 text messages from his players encouraging him throughout the week.

12 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ross asked why he did not offer the job to Harbaugh: "Because I realized we had a great team here."

12 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Asked if Harbaugh would have said he wanted the job, would he have gotten it, Ross says, "We never got to that point."

13 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ross asked if actions of week were professional. "I shouldn't have been talking to coaches until I decided that I should make a change."

14 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Sparano: "I had alot of emotions throughout the week. I have the best job in the world, and I don't take it for granted one day."

15 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Tony Sparano: "When we walk in here, we don't place blame. That's not what we're trying to do. We solve problems."

16 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ross says Ireland, himself and an executive from real estate company (who attended for unrelated business in California) were on the plane.

17 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ross says Carl Peterson has no input on the Miami Dolphins. He also says Peterson did not accompany Ross on the trip to California.

19 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ireland: "We've worked together for seven years. We have a great working relationship and a personal relationship."

21 minutes ago via TweetDeck .Ireland: "There's no doubt in my mind the lines of communication should have be handled differently. I was in a tough spot. Tony as well."

22 minutes ago via TweetDeck .GM Jeff Ireland is now reading from a piece of paper

 

[Todem]

Total circus.

We are going to be the suck next season....and that's ok we need a top 3 pick.