Why you ask? Why so jaded? Why so determined to stop myself from celebrating a victory, especially one on the road against a team many consider Super Bowl caliber with a Hall of Fame quarterback and a Pro Bowl running back? Why not, for just a second, admit that it feels good to pull off this victory and be atop the AFC East Division? I've been down this road before. Since the very beginning of my Dolphin fandom I have been a hopeless romantic. Always believing the Dolphins will give me what my heart desires--a championship.
At first, it was because Dan Marino needed one. It would be the one thing that would cement him in the minds of many as the top quarterback of all time. Year after year I would feel pain when the Dolphins would lose in the playoffs. Not just my pain, I would feel Dan's pain. I would see him on the sideline or in the locker room, head hung, looking older each passing season. His arm was not failing him, but his legs and hips surely were. Time was running out on Dan.
In 1995, the Dolphins seemed set to make a run at the Super Bowl. We started off the year 4-0 and expectations were through the roof. Then we lost three in a row. The rest of the season was up and down, but even so we believed that come playoff time, Marino would get us to the Super Bowl. First round playoff exit. The Buffalo Bills rushed for over 300 yards and we got destroyed even though Marino threw for over 400 yards. That's when everyone started saying it was time for a change. Don Shula had to go.
Bring on the Jimmy Johnson era. More promises being made. Jimmy promised he would win us a championship by his third year. That didn't workout the way he planned, so he quit, leaving us in the hands of Dave Wannstedt. During all those years we had a few nice seasons. But we never made it to the promised land. Wannstedt quit the same year Ricky Williams left the team and then we started playing what seemed to be musical chairs with our coaching staff. Jim Bates was the head coach for some time, then there was Nick Saban. Saban seemed promising. I wanted to believe in him so much because I had read his book and he was part of the Parcells/Belichik coaching tree. Sports Illustrated predicted the Dolphins would win the Super Bowl. We signed Daunte Culpepper instead of Drew Brees. Culpepper played a few games before he was back on the injured list, and Nick bailed on us when he saw we were much further from a Super Bowl than what he had envisioned. He lied to all of us, packed his bags and went to Alabama.
Bring on Cam Cameron and the worst season in Miami Dolphins history. This was definitely the most painful season of football I have ever had to endure. I watched the games only because I was hoping we could win at least ONE. We did, against the Baltimore Ravens on a catch over the middle by Greg Camarillo. Then we got Parcells, Sparano, and Ireland. This is where we are at. Years and years of first round playoff exits, watching legends get tossed to the curb, stars simply walk away from the game for reasons I yet don't fully comprehend (Ricky Williams), draft day screw ups, free agency miscues, career ending injuries, have all left me in a fetal position on the floor sucking my thumb. The Super Bowl has become something of a myth around Miami. It's like the Holy Grail. Is it even real? Again, the Dolphins may be 2-0, and we may have beaten Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings, but I refuse to allow myself to fall into the same traps I've fallen into since I was a kid.
