Life in the Miami Dolphins locker room after a loss is not fun

When any team loses, not just the Miami Dolphins, the atmosphere in the locker room post-game is not quite fun for many reasons.

Last Sunday I sat in the Miami Dolphins Edwin Pope press box at Hard Rock Stadium. You can read that article on what it was like to sit in silence by going here. Following the game I was directed back to the elevator to go to the locker room where media members descended in a flurry.

Taking the elevator to the floor that we originally entered through, I was directed to the right down a short hall and into the tunnel below the stadium. We made our way to a security door, flashed our media credentials and were grouped outside of the Miami Dolphins locker room.

There are two options when you get here. Go into the locker room or go across the hall to the media room where the coaches and specific players take to the podium to conduct their interviews. Timing is important so you need to choose one or the other.

Having been coached up a bit, I chose the locker room. As it was said why waste your time trying to get a question in to a coach or player that every other media outlet will be reporting on after the game.

We stood outside for a short period while the players conducted post-game talks and then were ushered in and left to our own choosing. I had been in the locker room before. I knew its size and the layout. I had not seen players in that room but I was now.

In the video below you will get to see what the locker room looks like. Some of it has changed like the logo on the floor and of course the names on the lockers but the layout has not changed much if at all. It’s a good representation of what it looks like now. I didn’t feel in necessary to video the locker room after the game for the privacy of the players.

We entered through the main door and the mood was obviously subdued. Not a lot of idle chatter. Camera crews dotted from player to player trying to get a question in and capture a sound bite. Reporters from all over the media spectrum ran from one side of the room to another as one player made themselves available and then another on the other side.

As I walked in I was surrounded by men that were goliaths’ to my David. Hulking men in all matters of dress and undress. Some sulking, some with their heads down others leaning back looking to the ceiling, all of them simply waiting for the onslaught of questions as to why the lost.

I felt that I needed to get involved. Be a part of it. Ask the questions so I wandered through the room a short bit trying to gauge the feeling. I approached one group of reporters who had encircled a player I could not really see, it was Akeem Spence. Question after question about why the defense played so poorly. I realized then I didn’t need a sound bite. I needed a visual for this article instead.

The short 17 second video above played out around the locker room with microphones being shoved in the direction of any player that someone needed to or wanted to speak to. Seeing the media doing this part of their job was intriguing. A few canned responses would later turn into a published article or a video clip on the evening news.

Later that night in my hotel I would catch a quick glimpse of myself on the evening news as one of the above segment types was shown. For me though, it was more about the atmosphere.

I spotted Dolphins center Travis Swanson slowly unwinding tape off his wrist. The linemen are huge and to a degree intimidating. I approached and asked if I could ask him a question. He said yes but that he wanted to take a shower first. I smiled and said no problem. He asked me to come back. Later I saw him reaching for his bag and decided to just let him slip out the back door to go home. It had been a long day and these guys didn’t really want to spend time discussing their failures on the day with anyone.

Across the room Brock Osweiler and Ryan Tannehill sat at their lockers chatting about something. No one else was around them. No one. Tannehill quickly changed clothes and made his way out the back door. Osweiler would cross the tunnel to the media podium a short while later.

Tape balls littered the floor along with shells and pads. Socks thrown into piles by team equipment crew members. Under shirts and pants dotted the area but quickly joined the laundry piles. Shoulder pads laid on the carpet and players coming out of the showers wrapped in navy blue towels quickly sidestepped the mess with nary a thought or worry.

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I can’t talk about the atmosphere after a win. The week before Miami had beaten the Bears and the locker room was much more alive. Today however players wanted out quickly and wasted little time. I’m not sure how long I was down there. 10 minutes, 30, 45? It was full of players when I walked in but very few remained when I headed out.

As I contemplated what to do next and/or who to try to talk to I saw Cameron Wake sitting at his locker. No players next to him, in fact I’m not 100% sure if the lockers next to him are assigned to anyone. He sat alone, no media, he does his interviews at the podium. I watched him for a second as he was obviously not thrilled with the game or his performance. He buttoned his shirt and sat there waiting to be called to the podium.

Very few players wore smiles and after listening to some of the questions they were being asked I realized that some of those smiles were formed from something else. I asked Jerome Baker if the game was slowing down a bit because he has been playing well. He smiled for a second at the compliment and said, “yeah, yeah it is but playing well doesn’t mean anything when you lose.” It was a good response.

From the left as I walked around the room Darren Rizzi walked out of the coaches locker room which is adjacent to the main room through a small door. He grabbed some water from a table talked to a trainer and then walked out the back door skipping by the media without so much as an attempt by anyone to talk to him. Of course assistant coaches are made available later to the media.

In the end it all came to a slow conclusion. A few players lingered behind others made quick exits and some still lingered in the shower area perhaps waiting for the media to leave. As I walked towards the door Omar Kelly walked up to the offensive lineman that still remained. A couple maybe three.

Taking one last look around I left for the press box to edit one of our writer’s post-game article. Then I closed my laptop packed it away and left the stadium almost two hours after the game had ended. Outside a few tailgate tents still remained in place and trash littered the parking area but not too much. I slipped on my sunglasses, climbed into the seat next to Dave Buchler of Finatics.com who gave me a ride. I said good-bye to Hard Rock Stadium for another year and thought about the experience I had just had. One that I won’t forget any time soon.

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