Playoff Fever can Be Contagious

by Rexx on Dec 31, 2008 10:17 AM EST Comment 9 comments

Wow, I never thought that the excitement of making the post season after such an embarrassing season would bring out the worst in all of us, especially during what should be the holiday season.

I guesss that we never expected to be in this situation and are handling it with all the giddiness and immaturity of a little kid who just opened the best Christmas present that they could ever imagine. That goes double for the Miami Dolphins fans as well, who have every reason to even be more excited than we are. They turned their 2007 one-win season (who did they beat again?) into a division title this year and I'm sorry, but head coach Tony Sparano deserves every accolade as Coach of the Year, even over our own John Harbaugh. Harbaugh had a much better core group of veterans to work with and bonded with them to get them on board and behind him for every step of the way this season. For that, he deserves to win the award as well, and probably would if not for the great successes of Sparano and Atlanta Falcons rookie coach Mike smith as well.

So give the Dolphins the credit they deserve, which they should return to us for our great turnaround as well. It's nice to have some fresh faces in the playoffs instead of seeing the Patriots every year. Too bad we still have to deal with the Colts and Steelers as usual. However, that can wait at least another week for one of us and despite all the trash talking, we will just have to wait until the game is over to see who had it right through all the smack.

Because of our recent and unexpected success, it seems to me that both teams' fans have handled this newfound position pretty poorly. The sophomoric comments on both sides really needs to stop and while a little trash is fine and even fun, the spewing of hatred and personal comments really turns my stomach. We expected and got that from the Cleveland fans and heard that from a lot of teams throughout the league when they played the Browns. But let's not lower ourselves to that level, regardless of what the other teams' fans throw our way. Let's see if we can tone that portion of our smack down a bit and focus on what has made our small group of loyal and knowledgeable fans great to trade comments between all season. That has been our "quality over quantity" mantra all season and should continue for what is left of our great season.

To the Miami Dol-fans: Maybe we have gone a bit overboard with our enthusiasm and zealousness and if we've offended you in any ways, we apologize. However, please don't misunderstand our spirit and excitement of getting to this point of the season which no one, including most of us, ever expected us to be at. You can certainly relate to that and understand our reasoning. So let's move on and focus our comments and opinions on the game at hand and honestly, may the best team win, move on and dethone those hated Steelers, Colts, Chargers and Titans!

Okay!?

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOOTBALL FANS!!!

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Playoff Fever

Well said, Rexx. I think you speak for a lot of fans on both sides of thet line of scrimmage. And in the spirit of focusing on the sport, I’m going to have to take issue with your Coach of the Year nomination.

First of all, I don’t want to understate what Sparano has done this year. A 10-win turnaround from the previous season hasn’t been seen since Peyton Manning’s first and second seasons with the Colts (3-13 to 13-3 if I’m not mistaken). If anything, I think it’s a very close race. But with that said, I think Harbaugh has the edge.

The Dolphins brought in Bill Parcells during the offseason who reinvented the team in his own image, bringing in “his” guys (like Sparano from Dallas). Parcells essentially gave Sparano a clean slate with certain types of players with which to work. Not having a solid group of veterans to start with can be a huge advantage for a new coach trying to instill his own philosophy into a team trying to rise from the ashes. There’s less to worry about with regards to the clashing of powerful personalities.

And this is the main reason why I give Harbaugh my vote. He came into a team with a core of veterans — containing at least two future Hall of Famers — with big egos; veterans that were used to things being a certain way. They had been going to the cushy Camp Billick in the preseason for something like a decade. The defense felt like it was habitually carrying a limping offense along year in and year out. But Harbaugh came in with his own old-school way of doing things and got crucial team leaders (Ray Ray) on his side. He wasn’t afraid to discipline other veterans who weren’t buying in (McCalister). He turned the late-game meltdown-prone and undisciplined 2007-08 team of Patriots vs. Ravens notoriety into the well-oiled, week-to-week focused, team first Ravens we have now. A team that Peter King wouldn’t be surprised to see go to the Super Bowl (see his Monday Morning QB from earlier this week, page 6).

Obviously both teams have seen major turnarounds this year. But molding a set-in-their-ways group of proud veterans into your kind of players without a Bill Parcells safety net has to count for something.

by Ampallang on Dec 31, 2008 11:08 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Would love to see it, but...

…while Sparano can’t shake the Parcells connection to get the credit due him, Atlanta’s situation was
f-cked up from M. Vick and no one expected them to do that, while Baltimore was one season removed from a 13-3 record. Love to see Harbaugh get his due, but he will have another chance something tells me.

Rexx

by Rexx on Dec 31, 2008 6:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

word up

glad there was an apology and i’m sure the guys at The Phinsider share your sentiments. (although I can’t speak for the “frisky” ones).

here’s to no injuries

"check that...the 29th of Feb. this year.....why is that the record day for hits? Did Matty have the Kim Kardashian sex tape or something?"
-Treat
"yes he did. and Jersquall recut it to look like Marino was boning her."
-Treasure

by chrislucas on Dec 31, 2008 11:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Happy New Years

Crazy 2008 year and football season. Just a crazy year in sports in general. I hope to start our 2009 off with a bang and execution of some dolphins. I will leave you with a nice image to keep in our minds.

Be safe, Be smart, Be Purple!