Dolphins empathize with Texans
By Sean Denison
The Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans have some similarities: both have endured the embarrassment of being destroyed in the playoffs.
In my formative years, I learned a lot: how to adapt inside of a broken home, handle the devastating loss of a family member, battle insecurities, and endure the gut-wrenching pain of losing your first love. It’s these experiences that made me a person capable of feeling genuine, honest empathy for others. In hindsight, I’m in a certain sense grateful for those tough moments.
But more often than not, empathizing with others brings back terrible memories. You couldn’t help but feel badly for the Houston Texans as you watched them get torn apart by the Kansas City Chiefs 30-0 on Saturday. And for the average Dolphins fan, watching the outcome of that game unfold certainly brought back those unpleasant feelings, didn’t it?
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Getting blown-out, especially in the playoffs, is dreadful. The Dolphins organization is suffering an eight-year playoff drought. Eight years may seem like forever, but it’s hard to forget how Dolphins fans felt seeing their team get embarrassed in the playoffs—like the Texans did Saturday.
Let’s take an adventure. The year was 1997. In sports, the Florida Marlins won their first World Series; the Chicago Bulls were becoming one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history; Tiger Woods became the first African-American to win the Masters golf tournament; and the Miami Dolphins got clobbered by the New England Patriots 17-3 in Foxborough.
Dolphins fans have the uncanny ability to feel the pain of any team that witnesses their hopes and dreams crumble into dust as the world watches—especially on NFL’s highest of stages. And, for the most part, 1997 would foreshadow what was to come anytime the Dolphins found themselves in the playoffs.
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In 1998, after beating their division rival, the Buffalo Bills, in the wild card round, the Dolphins got manhandled in Denver, losing 38-3 to the Broncos. The very next year (Dan Marino’s last), after capping off an exhilarating, game-winning drive to beat the Seattle Seahawks on the road in a wild-card game, the Dolphins went up and suffered the worst loss in NFL playoff history losing to their cross-state rival, the Jacksonville Jaguars, 62-7.
Unfortunately, we’re not done yet. The devastation continued the following year in 2000. After watching Lamar Smith restlessly rumble into the endzone in an overtime-thrilling win against Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts at home in the wild-card game, Dolphins fans were elated. However, you guessed it: the following week in the divisional round, the Dolphins’ bad luck resurfaced yet again, as they were pummeled into submission, shutout, and embarrassed by the Oakland Raiders 27-0.
And we continue.
To no one’s surprise, the following year saw the Miami Dolphins get abused in the wild-card round by the Baltimore Ravens at home in Sun Life Stadium 20-3. Seven years later, the same Baltimore Ravens tore the Dolphins apart 27-9, in what would be the Dolphins’ last playoff appearance.
At this point, I think you understand how a Dolphins fan can feel the pain that the Texans fans felt last Saturday afternoon. We’ve been there. We’ve endured the embarrassment, heartache, and the agony of watching our beloved team be embarrassed when it matters most.
And even though the Houston Texans lost decisively to the Miami Dolphins in week seven 44-26, Dolphins fans might lend a shoulder on which the Texans fanbase can drop its tears. We’ve been there, guys.
I would say everything will be ok, but I would be lying; the Dolphins have been everything but ok the last time they set foot on the football field during the playoffs. Eight seasons have passed since this organization sniffed the playoffs. Hopefully, for the sanity of Dolphins fans around the globe, it won’t be another eight seasons. But when, and if, they do find themselves in the playoffs again, we’d be lying to ourselves if we said the Dolphins luck would change.
Pessimistically speaking: we’ve grown numb to it.