Yes, we here at PhinPhanatic.com have grown tired of our normal mundane banner in the upper left corner and so we decided that we needed a more marketable logo.  In fact, we decided that we needed a logo period.

So, Zach took on the task of finding a new design for our site and I’m pleased to say that we now have our first real Phinphanatic.com logo.  So what I need you to do, is click over to the 2nd page, take a look at the new design and let me know what you think of it.  We will be adding some simple merchandise items down the road like coffee cups and bumper stickers and such.

Why?  Well, like me, your more than a simple Fan.  Your a Phanatic!

It’s here.  Finally!  The start of the NFL season.  Training camps are kicking off around the league and that means it’s time to get your fantasy football leagues up and running and your draft days and times set.  Before you do however, make sure you click on this site and get 80% or more off your 2010 CBS Sportsline Commissioner’s league.  That’s a bargain at only 99.00.

To get this deal you only need to click any number of the links on this site, follow the instructions to create your league, set your draft day and time (you can set that later if you wish), and then pay for the league.  You will then receive the normally $179.00 league for the above mentioned 99.00.

CBS Fantasy football offers a wide variety of options that most of the free sites do not.  Do you have bonus points for scoring over “X” amount of yards?  You can set that up on CBS.  Do you want to award extra points for runs over “X” amount of yards?  You can do that as well.  In fact, there is very little that you can’t do.

Now is the time as draft time slots will be closing quickly.  Go to CBSSportsline.com and register today, get your league set up and take advantage of this opportunity now.

Once your league is created and you have purchased your league through this site, Email me at Phinphanatic23@yahoo.com and let me know what price you received and how the experience was so I can monitor this for the future.

The Miami Dolphins and their “sisters” in the AFC East have skated through round 1 of the Division Smack Down and are now set to battle it out with the AFC West for the right to face off in the finals against the best NFC team for the title of “Best Division Team” in the NFL.

Over on the NFC side, the North will battle the East.  You can vote for the NFC best here.

Back on the AFC side of things, the team of all-stars needs your vote!  To vote and see a list of the players who made that roster, simply click here!

Hi Guys

Well with training camp a little under a week away, I wanted to take a look at some of the high & low lights of previous  seasons, to see how our beloved team and its players/coaching staff, have played with our emotions & expectations around this time of year.

See, the trouble with this time of year, is we have no way of  knowing  just  how the drafted players, free agents, schedule coaching and injuries are going to pan out . All we have is hope, so over the next couple of weeks we’ll take a sometimes funny, sometimes sad and sometimes down right scary look at past training camps.

To start with, here are a couple of  bone head training camp historical high low lights.

Its 1998 and draft genius  JJ is looking to fill  plenty of holes, add a few more pieces to a solid defense and find the next “Micheal Irvin” for his offense. We fans hoped and prayed for that one piece to give Marino a shot at another Superbowl.

Most fans had hoped for Randy Moss! but oh no we traded down and got John Avery ?? go figure !! We did get that tall rangy wide reciever though, Larry Shannon.

“With Larry Shannon coming to our football team, he’s probably a step faster than Randy Moss. So he’s bigger, taller, he’s faster” said JJ after passing on Moss in the draft. The word Doh!! Is so apt at this point! Shannon had a history of ankle injuries, missed the first year and never caught a pass … oh how different the landscape might have been if we had  picked Moss….

But bone head picks, pale insignificance to this next gem, does the name Alfred Oglesby ring any bells?  Alfred had been a 3rd round pick in 1990 out of Houston (the same year Miami picked Richmond Webb, Kieth Simms 1 & 2 respectively).

Alfred had made the team and actually looked ok for a 6′4 and 290lb guy, but it all went downhill when in 1992  Alfred had missed practice, no one could get hold of him or knew where he was… now this bit you couldn’t make up honest, he was… wait for it … he was kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the Everglades!! yes that’s what he said! The truth only came out under heavy questioning by authorities, he was “out late”  (very late)  by all accounts.

As you can imagine, he didn’t last long in a Dolphins uniform! He also played for Green Bay, NYJ and the Bengals. He totalled 59 career games but sadly passed away in 2009.

These and many more stories from previous training camps will follow over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.

The Miami Dolphins continue to add bodies along the defensive front prior to Friday’s start to camp.  According to agent Ralph Cindrich, his client, 6′2 302-pound DT Montavious Stanley is now a Dolphin.

Stanley saw time in 15 games for the Jaguars last season, and picked up 2o tackles and a single sack.  He is a 4-3 defensive tackle originally drafted in the 6th round in 2006 by Dallas.

Stanley played college ball at Louisville and has been a journeyman  in his 4 year NFL career, making stops in St. Louis, Atlanta, and New Orleans in addition to Jacksonville.  Most recently, he’s been a member of the UFL’s Omaha Nighthawks.

Given Stanley’s size and the fact he’s familiar with a 4-3 front rather than the 3-4 defense the Dolphins run, he’s most likely insurance at NT rather than DE.  The Dolphins have unexpected holes to backup both positions.  Jason Ferguson retired July 15, and Philip Merling’s 2010 was finished before it started last week due to injury.

Heading into Training Camp, Miami Dolphins Offensive Coordinator Dan Henning should be licking his chops.  If Miami can avoid injuries in the upcoming 2010 season, they should have one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the NFL. 

Henning is entering his 3rd season at the helm of the Miami offense, and has clearly shown he can play with what he has.  In 2008, with Miami led by the ever accurate passing of Chad Pennington, Miami ranked 10th in the league in passing with 227 ypg.  Their rushing attack that year?  It ranked 11th with 118.6 ypg.

During the 3rd week of the 2009 NFL season, Pennington went down with a season ending shoulder injury, enter Chad Henne.  With Henne at the helm, Henning had to adjust his offense to match Henne’s ability.  Miami relied on the success of the running game, moving up from 11th to 4th in the NFL.  The passing game however, dropped from 10th to 20th under the 1st year starter.

The Miami Dolphins bucked a trend or rather an unwritten policy and have signed former NY Jets DE Marques Douglas. The signing comes on the heals of Phillip Merling’s season ending injury.

Douglas, 34 years old is a rather big change for a team that normally doesn’t sign players over 30. Earlier speculation was that the Phins would pursue a trade for former Bill Parcells draft pick Marcus Spears. Instead they opted for a player with Mike Nolan connections. Douglas played for Nolan in 2005.

Merling who has had a rough off-season that began with hitting his pregnant girlfriend and last week had that incident officially bring a felony charge will at least not have to worry about a competition with Jared Odrick.

Training camp begins next Friday.

A week ago Dez Bryant was threatening a Michael Crabtree style hold out. Today, he became the first, first round pick to sign from this years draft class.

Taken four spots ahead of Miami Dolphin DE Jared Odrick at 24, Bryant will receive just over 8 million in guaranteed money on an 11.5 mill 4 year deal. Last years number 24 received 7 mill guaranteed.

Bryant’s signing will kick off signings from the 24th slot into round 2.

The off-season is finally coming to an end as teams begin to report to training camp over the next couple of weeks. But until then to tide you all over I thought I’d fool around and go off topic a little bit. Recently, with the acquisitions of Chris Bosh and Lebron James to join Dwyane Wade, there has been a lot of debate over which team are now the favorite sons of Miami.

The prevailing thought seems to be that if the Heat are not now the dominant South Florida team, they soon will be. That’s not what this article is about, that’s silly. The Heat may well be the talk of the town for the next few years, but all three players can opt out of their contracts in four years and it’s doubtful they all retire Heat. The Dolphins have been the star of the town for over 40 years. So yes, for four, maybe six years the Heat may hold the top spot on South Beach, but it’s a fad. More to the point though, I figured with the star power now in Miami we could do one hell of a sports power ranking. It’s fun, who doesn’t love a good list and at the very least it will give us something to talk about.  Quickly, the list was determined based on the level of fame, clout and influence of the individuals in the South Florida sports world.

The Miami Dolphins are closing in on locking down their 2010 NFL draft picks. Yesterday the National Football Post announced that the Phins have inked guard John Jerry to an4 year deal.

“The Miami Dolphins have struck a four-year, $2.64 million deal with third-round rookie offensive lineman John Jerry, according to a league source.

Jerry received a signing bonus slightly over $858,000.

The deal includes the standard base salaries of $320,000, $405,000, $490,000 and $575,000 as well as a fourth-year escalator clause that can significantly boost the maximum value of the deal.” – national football post

The signing leaves the Phins two shy of completion. Reports out of Miami indicate the team is currently in deep negotiations with both Jared Odrick and 2nd round pick, LB Koa Misi. The Phins have made initial offers to both and expect both to be under contract before the start of camp next week.

In other draft news, Dez Bryant is reportedly ready to hold out for top 10 pick money despite being drafted in the mid-twenties. His agent has stated that Bryant is prepared to hold out. Another Michael Crabtree situation perhaps?

The division best competition has begun. The Miami Dolphins and the AFC East are up against the AFC South right now.

Go to Www.Fansided.com and cast your vote for who is the best division in the NFL. Then vote for the Nfc Team that you think is the best.

AFC vote here!http://fansided.com/2010/07/19/fansideds-nfl-divisional-smackdown-afc-round-1/

NFC vote here!http://fansided.com/2010/07/20/fansided-nfl-divisional-smackdown-nfc-round-1/!

Also check out finsradio. Tonight at 8pm eastern time fo on the Fin side.

Continuing in the series of looking at the Miami Dolphins 2010 draft picks this week we focus on third round pick John Jerry. The first thing that you notice about Jerry is that he is a massive man, standing 6’6” and weighing 335 pounds. However, Jerry is more than just a big body that can seemingly move mountains. John Jerry was yet another team captain picked by the Dolphins. Last year one of the criticisms of the Dolphins was the lack of leadership. That issue was addressed in the 2010 draft. While these players make take a year or two to become leaders on this team, leaders they will become. 

Jerry finished 2009 as a first, second and third team All-American by several different associations. He was a four year starter and has a total of 46 starts in his four years at Ole Miss. Jerry has played both tackle positions and right guard. He anchored an offensive line in 2009 that only allowed 14 sacks, which was ranked 14^th in the nation. His unit did not allow a sack in four games and allowed Dexter McCluster to rush for 1,169 yards, which is a school record.   Perhaps Jerry’s shining moment was when the offensive line helped lead the Rebels to an upset victory over the #8 LSU Tigers in November. LSU entered the game as the fourth ranked defense in the country, but by the time the game was over it was Ole Miss that won the game and the battle. They racked up 426 total yards on offense with a whopping 359 on the ground, while not allowing a sack. Jerry started the season at right tackle, but due to injuries along the line moved to his natural position of right guard. According to CBS Sports Jerry finished 2009 with 92 knockdown blocks and 10 touchdown resulting blocks. This is the kind of production the Trifecta expects to see from jerry at the next level. 

We are looking for a contributor to our site. Not exactly a content writer although you will be writing some. What I need is a person who is willing to cover the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders.

You would be responsible for doing pieces on the cheerleaders and also maintain the cheerleading section on our site.

This is not some joke this is going to be an aspect of our site so we will be carefully considering this new hire. You will only be covering the cheerleaders. If interested please email me at phinphanatic23@yahoo.com.

This is a non-paid staff position.

Miami Dolphins DE Phillip Merling has been slapped with felony battery charges stemming from him hitting his pregnant girlfriend a couple months back. Merling already considered to be on a tight thread in danger of losing a roster spot if he doesn’t improve is now almost certain to face league discipline.

It’s likely that the charges will be reduced if Merling strikes a plea bargain and it’s unlikely he will spend any time in jail. However, the league will not likely sit idle .

No word on when he will be assigned a court date. Merling is accused of hitting his pregnant girlfriend in the face causing swelling and a cut lip.