Dan Marino The Pot Smoker?

It’s been so long since Dan Marino was in uniform for the Miami Dolphins that thinking back that far can make your head hurt.  Of course for some of us, remembering those old days of the Marino led Dolphins simply makes us angry when we see the state of the team post-Marino.  Imagine what it’s like for an entire generation of new Dolphins fans who never saw the guy play at all?

It’s funny, there is things in this world that for whatever reason we remember what we were doing the day it happened.

Take the 25th anniversary of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster yesterday.  I bet those of you alive remember exactly where you were when that happened.  Or 9-11, and our older readers can tell you all about the day John F. Kennedy was shot.  We all have our memories.  I can still remember exactly what I was doing the last time that Dan Marino wore a Dolphins uniform in that blowout playoff loss.  Luckily I was unable to watch that game but listened to it VIA radio in between fire training exercises.

Basically the picture I am trying to paint here is that we all have images in our heads and as time goes by we tend to skew them in some ways to make the good memories more exciting and often over-exaggerated and the bad ones a little less dark.

Which brings us to how you remember Dan Marino as a player. Would it change that image if you knew that he smoked pot before the games?According to former NFL player Kyle Turley, who was on the Dan LeBatard show yesterday, Dan Marino used to smoke pot before games.  Makes Ricky Williams look like he did nothing wrong if true.

Turley was talking about his big Super Bowl party that he is promoting and bragged about how he drank whiskey straight from the bottle and enjoyed the hemp from time to time, but never before a game.

"“I heard Dan Marino did, down there in Miami. That’s a rumor, but I don’t know. You’d have to ask Danny. All those old pictures of him and his old hair, I wouldn’t pass it by him.”"

"“It’s locker room talk,” Turley said. “I’ve heard a few things. I was going to do it one time in my prime, but definitely not when I wasn’t in my prime. It never happened. I was facing too many guys I needed to take care of, so I wanted to be at my best. Not that I wouldn’t have been at my best. I’ve actually heard from guys that it actually slows things down so you can see things a little better and that’s where the whole Marino thing came from. And I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it’s something I heard that that was something that he was able to get relaxed before the games and not be too edgy and calm and collected and be able to see things more clearly on the field.”"

This is a rather slanderous comment considering that Turley lacks any real evidence or proof and directly states that it was all rumor. So why bring it up at all?  Why throw a name into the pot that could potentially do harm to someones otherwise glowing image?

It’s simply Turley being Turley.  Who also stated that his coaches took shots before games.

The truth is that it’s likely never going to come to life if Dan did or didn’t smoke a little weed before games unless more than a few players that actually played with him come out and say so or if Dan himself does.  Both unlikely scenarios.  Either way, this is simply absurd that anyone would throw a name into a conversation simply based on rumor.

That would be like Richmond Webb who never played with Troy Aikmen coming out and saying that he isn’t surprised that Aikmen is getting a divorce because it was always rumored that he was gay.  A real rumor that had circulated for many years during and after Aikmen’s career.

I suppose the question that would linger in reality is this.  How would that information change your perception of Dan Marino?  Putting your fan loyalty aside.  If you weren’t a Dan Marino fan to the degree you are, would a revelation of him smoking pot before games change your impression of him?  Answer the poll question below and let us know.