The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Merriam-Webster defines patience as: The capacity, habit, or fact of being patient.  A common saying states that patience is a virtue. In small doses, I suppose I could agree. However, maybe due to my type A personality, patience has never been one of my better traits. In fact, I am the guy you see walking faster than anyone else around him, and the first to jump in the shortest line at the store or bank.  FedEx employees call their overnight priority mail service “The Fins4ever Special”. I can watch 60 minutes is 18 minutes. You get the idea. So, that begs the question,  just how much of this so called “patience” is enough?

If you are a Dolphin fan, you either have The Patience of Job , am at the end of your rope, or have been in a coma for the past 12 -15 years.  Dolphin fans have indeed been “Job like”. Despite being 1-11 in their past 12 home games, all games have been sold out. This streak of 109 consecutive sell outs is expected to end any week.

When Shula left and Johnson took over, we were patient. When Johnson left and Wannstedt took over, we were patient. We even tolerated Nick Saban and Cam Cameron. Now that the current front office has had over three years and the organization is further away than ever to returning to excellence,  how is your patience holding up? Me? NOT TOO GOOD!

Perhaps Tom Petty said it best when he sung The Waiting is the Hardest Part. Seriously, if I had wanted this much pain and suffering, I would become a Chicago Cubs fan. Even the annual bottom dweller Detroit Lions have a more promising future. A MUCH MORE PROMISING FUTURE!

Do you realize how long it has been since the organization has had significant success or any semblance of long-term stability? Let’s look at the history of mediocrity:

• The last time they won a Super Bowl was in 1973. That was also the year that CBS sold the Yankees to George Steinbrenner for 10 million dollars. Today, according to Forbes, they are valued at 1.7 BILLION.  Richard Nixon was the President of The United States. Secretariat won The Preakness Stakes. Anyone under the age of 38 was not yet born.

• The last time they played in a Super Bowl was 1984. Is was also  Dan Marino’s only SB appearance. Ronald Reagan was President.   LeBron James was born.

• The last time the Fins won a playoff game was in 2000, when they beat the Colts in OT, only to get shutout by the Raiders the next week. Johnny Weissmuller died (AKA Tarzan). This was also a full year before Apple invented the I-Pod.

• Aside from Tony Sparano, the last time the franchise had a HC for more than two years was Dave Wannstedt who coached from 2000-2004.

• The last playoff game the Dolphins played in was in 2008, where they were promptly disposed of in the first round by a 27-9 physical drubbing, courtesy of the Baltimore Ravens.

According to a recent poll asking the fans what Mr. Ross should do, the fans, or at least the readership of this website have had enough. The patience is gone.  An overwhelming 87% of over 600 pollsters want major changes in the front office and coaching staffs either immediately or at the end of the year at the latest. While Stephen Ross is still a fairly new owner and has yet to make any type of serious decisions regarding the franchise, two things are clear to me. Mr. Ross has both much more money and much more patience than I do. Yes, waiting is the hardest part!

Fins4ever!~