This week, a great thing happened.
Well, if you’re a football fan, at least.
More specifically, if you’re a Miami Dolphins fan. If you are, then you should know what this is about. If you’re not, then let me explain: the Carolina Panthers lost this week.
So did the Dolphins, but we weren’t expecting to get to the playoffs anyway, so the game was kind of sorrowful to begin with.
Back to the original point though, the Carolina Panthers lost. Normally, I wouldn’t capitalize on someone else’s sad circumstances, but this was important. Because, in losing their first game this season, they let the Dolphins Perfect Season record stand.
What is the Perfect Season record, you ask?
Well, in 1972, the ‘Fins did the unthinkable: they won every single game in an NFL football season, including the Superbowl.
And in the forty plus years since then, the record has remained apart of our team’s legacy, the only thing we have to hold on to in the lean times (there’s a lot of those) and the great times (not as many, but when they come, they’re soul lifting moments).
So for another season, the record is safe once again.
Fans everywhere understand the complexity of what this means to a team that has had more ups and downs then what seems like anything else. We’ve had coaches fired, players suspended, defensive lines that are worn thin, quarterbacks that made the records, and other players who will hopefully never touch a field again.
Oh, and we also had a TV show based on our training camp. Nothing too big, but it did spin off a couple of other shows, so there’s that.
While this isn’t anything too unusual for a football program, any football program (just look at the what UCF’s looked like this year), for a team that holds the ultimate record in the sport, it’s what we hang onto when the going gets rough.
Every year it’s in threat, too. There’s always new teams who go for a winning streak, and we sit in bars, in our homes, listening in car rides, biting our nails and hoping, praying, for a fumble, a foul, anything that will slow them down.
Most records don’t stand for ten years, let alone over the span of four decades. I’m sure at first, after the euphoria died down, and the hard times started, there were worries that we’d soon be beaten out. But as the seasons passed, one after another, and then more tumbled after, we were still standing.
We’re bloodied, bruised, our team is sometimes coach-less, and the fans have a red spot on their foreheads from face palming so much, but we’re still alive.
2016 is a new year, and a lot can happen. A lot will happen, new things will develop. A new president will be elected, and that in and of itself is a big deal.
But if you’re a ‘Fins fan, you’re praying that for once, one thing will stay the same.
We just pray our record will stand.
And if a Superbowl could be thrown in there too, that’d be nice. This week, a great thing happened.
Well, if you’re a football fan, at least.
More specifically, if you’re a Miami Dolphins fan. If you are, then you should know what this is about. If you’re not, then let me explain: the Carolina Panthers lost this week.
So did the Dolphins, but we weren’t expecting to get to the playoffs anyway, so the game was kind of sorrowful to begin with.
Back to the original point though, the Carolina Panthers lost. Normally, I wouldn’t capitalize on someone else’s sad circumstances, but this was important. Because, in losing their first game this season, they let the Dolphins Perfect Season record stand.
What is the Perfect Season record, you ask?
Well, in 1972, the ‘Fins did the unthinkable: they won every single game in an NFL football season, including the Superbowl.
And in the forty plus years since then, the record has remained apart of our team’s legacy, the only thing we have to hold on to in the lean times (there’s a lot of those) and the great times (not as many, but when they come, they’re soul lifting moments).
So for another season, the record is safe once again.
Fans everywhere understand the complexity of what this means to a team that has had more ups and downs then what seems like anything else. We’ve had coaches fired, players suspended, defensive lines that are worn thin, quarterbacks that made the records, and other players who will hopefully never touch a field again.
Oh, and we also had a TV show based on our training camp. Nothing too big, but it did spin off a couple of other shows, so there’s that.
While this isn’t anything too unusual for a football program, any football program (just look at the what UCF’s looked like this year), for a team that holds the ultimate record in the sport, it’s what we hang onto when the going gets rough.
Every year it’s in threat, too. There’s always new teams who go for a winning streak, and we sit in bars, in our homes, listening in car rides, biting our nails and hoping, praying, for a fumble, a foul, anything that will slow them down.
Most records don’t stand for ten years, let alone over the span of four decades. I’m sure at first, after the euphoria died down, and the hard times started, there were worries that we’d soon be beaten out. But as the seasons passed, one after another, and then more tumbled after, we were still standing.
We’re bloodied, bruised, our team is sometimes coach-less, and the fans have a red spot on their foreheads from face palming so much, but we’re still alive.
2016 is a new year, and a lot can happen. A lot will happen, new things will develop. A new president will be elected, and that in and of itself is a big deal.
But if you’re a ‘Fins fan, you’re praying that for once, one thing will stay the same.
We just pray our record will stand.
And if a Superbowl could be thrown in there too, that’d be nice.
