For Miami/Taylor, Image Is Everything

Get off Jason Taylor’s back!  There I said it.  Yes, this is another Jason Taylor Dancing With The Stars blog so if you don’t want to be told to shut up then skip this entirely. 

I admit it, when I first heard JT was going to be on the show I was thrilled.  My first thought was “cool“.  Then I heard the squabbling of one Bill Parcells and I realized that maybe as a current player with a new regime, probably not a good idea.  As the draft drew closer and I realized that the chances of trading the stud DE was dwindling in part to his participation in the show, I was a little less enthused.  Had JT gone out gracefully earlier, this would not be a topic of conversation.  He hasn’t though.  In fact, he is in the top 3, the finals, and when this show ends tomorrow, he will be on it.  Not as a former contestant brought back to dance once more, but awaiting the decision of the American public.

With every interview JT does, JT seems to back himself into a corner because simply, fans take everything he says out of context.  Let’s get this straight.  I would love to see JT playing for Jacksonville or Dallas, almost any team set to legitimately compete for a Super Bowl.  11 years as one of the NFL best and Miami has consistently given him one of the worst teams to surround him.  The man deserves what his brother-in-law Zach is afforded this year.  Opportunity.

That being said, he is a Miami Dolphin and as such, he deserves your support, your empathy, and your applauds.  If your sick of hearing about Jason Taylor, then you must be thrilled with the prospect of Will Allen and his possible gun toting escapades.  Or maybe your sitting on the edge of your seat awaiting another failed test by Ricky Williams.  Say what you want, but the only thing that JT has brought to Miami…sorry Bill…is a positive light.

Don’t feel bad though, your not the only ones who don’t support him.  The NFL themselves are a brain-trust of mongers who would rather hype and debate the Matt Walsh New England Patriot black eye than embrace one of it’s leaders, the Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner.  Says a lot about the current state of the NFL.

So while JT gets in shape while working out more these past 16 weeks than he would have participating in OTA’s to appease one Bill Parcells, the NFL has mindlessly disregarded his actions.  The Miami Dolphins publicly say little.  Tony Sparano openly praises his start DE but only when asked, what is he supposed to say?  At least the staff over at MiamiDolphins.com see it different.  They embrace the positive image that JT is once again casting on the Dolphins logo.

So now the word is that Jason would rather be known as an actor in 10 years than a football player, a comment made during an ESPN interview.  Fans that had bordered on the fence of support…too which I ask why?…are now ranting about how they lost respect for him.  WHAT?  That is not only stupid, it’s a vial misrepresentation of what the man said.

Saying that he would rather be known as a successful actor in 10 years means simply that in the next part of his life, he becomes successful.  Let’s face it, rarely does anyone truly care about what happens to an athlete when he leaves the game.  If they are not sitting on a pre-game show, most never give it a thought.  What does Joe Montana do these days?  How about Jim Kelly or for that matter Jerry Rice?  Exactly.  For Jason Taylor, his future is in Hollywood, it is his “NEXT” career choice, not the current one.  Why should he not want to be known for it?  He should.  For the very reasons that JT has spent 11 years knocking down QB’s, he should be thinking about life after football before he is in life after football.

As JT puts it, you can get kicked to the curb at anytime without warning…right Zach?  The NFL owes you nothing, the teams give you little respect when they want to go in a new direction, why should a veteran player who has given everything of himself not be afforded the right to choose his next path?  JT owes no one but himself.  Even Bill Parcells.

In reality, this team is not going to win a Super Bowl in the time JT will be in the NFL.  Whether he stays, goes, or gets traded, JT will always be one of the best players in history for this franchise.  He will be honored on that ring around the stadium, he will get considerations for the Hall of Fame.

So why you sit there and complain that he is not at the team facility “voluntarily” working out, or that he talks about his future in terms of ten years from now, and you waiver on your support for the man, or get pissed off that he is somehow letting this team down.  Ask yourself one question.  One simple question.  How do you feel about Ricky Williams being in Miami?  Because if you support Ricky’s return and can’t support what JT is doing and saying, then your worse than a hypocrite.  Ricky says he will be done in 2 years, can’t guarantee that he will stay clean, and has been nothing but a 5 year black cloud over this team.  JT has done nothing but give the NFL and the Miami Dolphins 11 years of 100 percent role model service.  For the NFL, that is nothing worth talking about.

Maybe JT should leave now.  He is not a distraction to anyone in this organization except those who has no memory of what it has been like in Miami for the last 8 years.  Miserable.  JT once again has given some Dolphins fans something to cheer about, something positive.

It’s funny that the only real press JT has gathered prior to this year was the issues of he and his wife, his “egg” comment about Trent Green, and his tiff with Cam Cameron.  I suppose if he really wanted to be more recognized by the NFL, he should get a few different women pregnant, fire off a few shots in a strip club, beat up a cop then his wife, and fail a few drug tests.  Maybe then he would be the poster boy for the NFL.

When JT returns to Miami later this week, he will only recognize a few of the faces staring back at him while the majority of the others ask him for an autograph.  With all the turnover this year, maybe JT should be thinking about his acting career now rather than later.  Hell maybe he should be contemplating starting that career sooner rather than later as well.  Either way, he deserves it.

And he deserves a hell of a lot more from many of the fans that call themselves fans.  Plain and simple, if you can’t support Jason Taylor for what he is doing now, what the hell do you support?