Hard Rock Stadium still rocks with Miami Dolphins fans amid Covid atmosphere
By Pablo Rosero
Going to a football game during a pandemic isn’t the same, but Miami Dolphins fans can look forward to a great product on the field.
This past Sunday, I attended the Miami Dolphins vs Los Angeles Chargers game with my family and friends as we had our eyes set on watching the duel between Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert.
While your eyes direct you down to the field as the 5th and 6th overall picks of the 2020 draft dueled for the first time in their careers, something else catches a spectators eye as the game kicks off. The emptiness of a stadium, that felt well below the 20% it is allowed to have, makes you question whether you are actually at a major sporting event, or watching a sideshow attraction that has rolled into town.
However, it is easy to make that mistake, but once the opening kick came off it felt as though there were 80,000 fans packing the stadium. This is a lot better when you are the 2020 version of the Miami Dolphins.
Coming in winners of four straight, including a close victory against Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals, there was a sense of hope that flooded the stadium in a manner that has not been seen in years. At every corner you saw one aqua and white throwback jersey on a majority of fans. The crisp number 1 with the last name ‘Tagovailoa’ on the nameplate.
In a year where there is so much uncertainty and chaos, Dolphins fans are willing to go to games in order to watch number 1 lead this team.
It’s obvious that there are major changes at the stadium outside of limited seating. Besides having a specific group and time to enter the stadium some other big changes include the way you order food. Food orders are done in the app and made to pick up. You must wear a mask at all times, and you have open seating in front and behind you. One of the glaring and best positives of this is the fact that coming into and leaving the stadium has been made much easier because there is less people.
Fans will bite the bullet on all these changes for one reason, and one reason only. Hope.
Coach Brian Flores and his staff have put together a team that has this franchise trending in the right direction and gives fans a reason to show up. With a smothering defense and excellent special teams, this offense has been given opportunity after opportunity to succeed. Even when plagued by injuries this team continues to have players step up, Zach Sieler, Jakeem Grant, and Salvon Ahmed.
No, the atmosphere isn’t the same as it would be with 80,000 screaming fans. No, we don’t know if it will be that way again for a while. But, with the offense playing smart and efficient, and the defense and special teams playing at elite levels, this team is easy to go out to and root for, at Hard Rock stadium, any given week.