Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross doesn’t know his team?

The Miami Dolphins are owned by Stephen Ross. We know. Does he know the Miami Dolphins? He says that he does but Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald doesn’t think that is true. Salguero was on WQAM and spoke briefly about this.

"“Steve Ross thinks he knows his team,” the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero said on the Marc Hochman Show with Zach Krantz. “I’m not sure he really does. He’s not often around his team, he’s in New York. But he does, as you say, provide every single — or most every single — request that the team needs. So in that regard, yeah he’s ace, he gives them whatever he needs to give them from his checkbook. He allows them to do whatever they need to do to succeed. But the difference between a great owner and a bank is that the owner knows we’re making this move because x, y, and z — I believe in it because I see it myself. Steve Ross isn’t around often enough to see it himself.”"

The first question that arises for me is whether Ross needs to know the X, Y, and Z’s of football or reasons for opening his wallet. The next question that comes to mind is do we want him to? Ross has invested millions of dollars in the stadium, the players contracts, and the front office. He makes the appearances he needs to but he isn’t an owner that is going to meddle in the day to day operations.

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Would you as a fan rather have a Jerry Jones playing GM or a Daniel Snyder plugging the holes in the dam? Or would you rather have an owner who signs his name to a check and says “I hired you to do a job and I’m trusting you to do it”. I prefer the latter.

Ross has yet to win over the fan base and that’s a shame. I don’t know Ross personally but I know people who do. I know that he goes out of his way to accommodate the fans and that his biggest desire is to see the team win a championship. Ross’ reputation as the teams owner has been hindered by early judgments as an owner. Kind of like a kid with a new toy that he just wants to play with.

As fans we need to move past the celebrity minority-ownership, the orange carpet celebrity walk that is now since gone, Club Liv, and the failed attempts to lure Jim Harbaugh, Jeff Fisher, and Peyton Manning to Miami. Two seasons ago we shook our heads at the debacle that was a general manager search but in the end, who doesn’t like what they have seen from Dennis Hickey. Imagine what we would be talking about if Ray Farmer had accepted the offer.

Since becoming the owner of the Dolphins, Ross has grown into the role. Sure he is a little goofy and last years bold announcement of Joe Philbin’s retention after a victory of the Vikings still makes some of us (me) snicker. Yet for his fallacies there is no question that the team is his first priority. Forget everything else. Haters gonna hate.

I like Ross. I like Ross because he stays out of the way most of the time. I like Ross because his intentions are not self serving at the top. Sure he wants to win and show off a Super Bowl ring but you can’t tell me that he isn’t going out of his way to make the fan experience the best it can be. Forget the notion that Ross is more about the money. It’s not true. Many fans have repeatedly said that Ross is more interesting in getting Super Bowls than going to the Super Bowl. Those same fans say that Ross should be spending money on the players instead of the stadium or the clubs or the whatever else he does around the stadium and game days.

Guess what? That’s wrong. The money poured into the game day events and the stadium are not from the teams funds. They are separate. He owns the stadium too and that is an entirely different property from the Miami Dolphins themselves. The Dolphins annually spend close to the salary cap and no one complains about the job done by cap guru Dawn Aponte. The reality is Ross is a good owner because Ross stays out of the way and let’s his management team do what they are hired to do.

I can’t speak for Armando so I won’t say that his comments were a blast to Ross. I don’t know the context in which those comments were made. This is not a knock on him but instead simply taking the comments to express my opinion on the subject of Ross.

There are a lot of fans who don’t like the owner but not everyone loved Wayne Huizenga either. Coaches are an acquired taste as well. I didn’t care for Jimmy Johnson but I know members of the teams executives who are very fond of the way he conducted his business. It’s apples and oranges.

I’m not blind by the fact that Ross has made mistakes and we all know that some of them were doozies. Ross can come across like that kid I mentioned with a new toy. He wants his face in front of the franchise but I don’t see that as a “look at me I own a football team” as much as a way to say, “I’m here with you and I support this decision”.

Like him, love him, or loathe him, Ross is not going anywhere and it’s likely he will never know the X’s, Y’s, and Z’s of the game but at least give him credit for making a decision and sticking by it. Right or wrong.