A New Day

It is official. A new day is upon us where children rejoice and men weep with joy. A day that brings great happiness and jubilation. A day that will forever be etched in the minds and hearts of all who are living. The Miami Dolphins have been victorious. They have defeated the Baltimore Ravens. Let's hear it now...three cheers for the Phins. Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!

Indeed, the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers retain their sole claim to the only winless season. Pop the cork on the champagne! You can celebrate once again Buc fans...you don't have to share the record books with anyone!

As the Dolphins awaited a Matt Stover (Ravens) field goal attempt in overtime you could feel what was going to happen. You see the Phins have lost 6 games by three points. 6 games! That means there have been 6 games that the Phins almost won. As Stover, who is a pretty clutch kicker, lined up...you just knew that this would be number 7. But, to our great ecstasy...he missed. We had another shot.

A couple plays later Cleo Lemon hit Greg Camarillo with a short pass and Greg proceeded to sprint to the goal line for a 64 yard TD! The Phins win! The Phins win! Going into the game on Sunday, Camarillo had only caught one ball for 2 yards. The only time his name was ever really mentioned in the post-game comments before was in regards to a holding penalty that brought back a Ted Ginn Jr. kick return for a touchdown. They lost that game by three points.

In Miami...and the hearts of Dolfans everywhere, Camarillo is a hero. I guess you could say that he is the savior of the Dolphins season. A receiver who no one expected would change the game as he did. The defense accounted for the speed of Ginn and the strength of Booker. They even took care of Martin. They didn't however account for what an unknown receiver who after leaving Stanford, was not recruited. If you watch the play...you can see that the safety did not respect his abilities. He was too worried about the other guys.

The defense was watching for something. They were watching for many things. They thought the "savior" would be Ginn or Booker. Never did they think it would be Camarillo. But it was. And, they were not ready for it.

It sounds a little like people waiting for a savior that fit their paradigm of what a savior should be. The Bible depicts many people doing the same thing. They were looking for a king or a warrior. Anything...but certainly not a child...born in a manger...to a family that was not of royalty. A boy that would grow up to reject the idea that a savior had to be a warrior or a king. He was who He was...the unexpected expected one.

The moral of the story? Well...the Dolphins win!!!!!! That was pretty much my point...the rest were just rambles. Do with it what you wish.

No Fairweather Fans Here

So, if you have not heard this before, my biggest pet-peeve is when someone is a fairweather fan. You can be a fan of any football team and you don't have to have any good reasons to be a fan...I mean...look at Colt fans. While I was in high school my frustration with fairweather fans developed. I even wrote an article about it in the school newspaper. Not many people liked the article because...I think...they knew I was talking about them.

Fairweather fans are those who only like a team when they are doing well. For instance...Colt fans. They are the ones that spurred the article in the first place. The year was 1995. Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback and the Colts were entering the playoffs. It was just four years earlier that the Colts went 1-15 for the season and just 8-8 in 1994. Things were different now. Not because they were in the playoffs...while that was different. No...things were different because there were fans! The Colts were winning and people were supporting them. I predicted that year in my article...I remember my words clearly..."When they lose...and they will lose...no one will care about the Colts anymore." Within 2 years the Colts' record was 3-13 and the fans were gone. They then drafted a quarterback from Tennessee and some fans began to pop up. Now they win games and there are fans again. Shocking! Many of these people grew up in the very area in which the Colts play...and they finally become fans when the team could be considered "winners". They never even acknowledged that the team was there before. What will happen, I wonder, when they struggle again like they did for so many years? Will the fans turn back to the Pacers...who they have bailed on...since they don't win like they used to?

If you can't tell or don't know, I don't like the Colts (if you don't know that...you don't know me very well). So imagine my frustration. All these fairweather fans watch their team win (who they have supported for a couple of years and claim that "I have always like the Colts") while I, who have remained a Dolphins fan since I was five years old am enduring a season that could end up 0-16...while I do not think it will.

People have asked me..."Why do you like the Dolphins? They suck!" My response...well...I guess it is loyalty. For me it is not about following a winner. That would be selfish on my part wouldn't it? I mean...do I really need a sports team to fulfill some void in my life of overcoming something or of being better than someone else? I hope not. I could always go cheer for the Patriots. They win. But...then I wouldn't be a fan. I would just be a passenger on the bandwagon waiting for the next one to drive by.

An article was recently posted on the Miami Herald's website about the Dolphin fans' viewing habits. Viewership is up. We have not won a game...but more people are watching than years past. Why is that? Because we are fans. We are not fickle. We are loyal. I am proud to be a Dolphins fan. Being a fan in a season like this provides some sort of ownership of my fandom. It is a season like this that builds a real fan...not a fairweather fan...not a Colt fan (I had to get one more jab in there).

Tomorrow I leave for Buffalo to attend the Dolphins vs. Bills game. Win or lose...I am still a Dolphins fan...just maybe a little more frustrated. So...enough with the questions on why I am still a Dolphins fan. Because...the question is really more telling of the asker's fandom than my response is of mine.