Will The Real DolFans Please Stand Up
Sep 7, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins fans cheer on the team in the second half against the New England Patriots at Sun Life Stadium. Miami won 33-20. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
For any fan of any sport, there are passionate moments in a game where you need to stand up and cheer on your team. There are moments in football where standing up and making noise can wreak havoc on an offense, to the point where Seattle prides itself on the bedlam it’s fans create for opposing offenses. The “12th man” even has a jersey in their stadium, and reports of the stomping and cheering registering on the Richter scale are reported. In the dome in Indianapolis, not only are the real fans heard, but at times it has been alleged that additional crowd noise is pumped in via the sound system when opposing offenses are in critical situations. At countless stadiums around the NFL, college and other football levels fans are urged to stand up for third downs and cheer on their team. Messages flash on the big screen telling fans to get on their feet and get loud.
Then… there’s SunLife Stadium in Miami. All of the news this week should be positive, despite some struggles by the team in the first half of the convincing win against the Patriots. Jeff Darlington reported that the stadium was the loudest he’s ever heard it in his time as a reporter. Stadium security and a small population of fans (both home AND away fans) seek to remove the very advantage the stadium has sought for so long – the homefield advantage. Fans were asked in numerous areas of the stadium (some confirmed, some alleged) to “sit down” and in some cases even told they were cheering too vigorously. They were told they would be removed from the stadium if they refused. These are not fans that were swearing, not fans who were standing the entire game even when it didn’t make sense, but ones standing on third down and simply getting loud – and for the home team. Yankee Stadium and others even have sections for fans to sit that have a zero alcohol tolerance policy and an even stricter stance on fan actions in that section. Do you know what those fans do on a good play? They stand up and cheer for the team, they chant for the players.
If the fans in the stadium are standing up, swearing, blocking children, being rude, visibly hammered, etc – this I can see. Fans that are sober, standing at the key points that EVERY other team wishes and urges fans to stand up for? No, they should not be asked to sit down at a home game in the scenarios that they were. I wish this was an isolated incident, but I know a number of die hard fans personally who have encountered this same issue at the stadium over the past few years. This is a scenario that the Dolphins, who have a low attendance rating by NFL standards already, need to correct. Situations like this will chase more fans away from the stadium on game day.
The team even issued public apologies to fans on Twitter who raised the issue. There is no confirmation that the situation will be resolved moving forward, and there is a history of this leading up to now. The Dolphins front office needs to take action on this issue. It’s an embarrassing situation that needs to be resolved.
Fins up! (And for Shula’s sake, STAND UP!)