Right now is a great time to be a Miami Dolphins fan

As fans of the Miami Dolphins, we have endured a ton of pain and anguish. We’ve been let down more times than I can count or want to think about. But right now at this very point in time, it is an excellent time to be a fan of the Miami Dolphins.

I’m 35 so I can’t tell you how it was back in the 70s when the Miami Dolphins were a juggernaut and were vying for Super Bowls every year and winning two of them. That had to be awesome to be a part of.

My fandom started in the early 90s. The 90s were like the 70s except for the winning Super Bowls part. The Miami Dolphins were always thought of as a team that could possibly win the whole thing but in the end, would find ways to lose it. I don’t feel like going over all the reasons why, but we know what they are.

Towards the end of Dan Marino’s career and after he retired the team still had mild success making the second round of the playoffs with Jay Fielder at quarterback.

Then the move that we all thought would bring at least an AFC championship birth happened. The Miami Dolphins traded for Ricky Williams or Errick Mirron as he wants to be called now, and we all were sitting pretty thinking that the Dolphins made a move that will equate to real winning.

Ricky put up an insane 1,800-yard season and the Miami Dolphins had around 50 guys on defense make the pro-bowl and somehow in classic Miami Dolphins fashion they missed the playoffs in 2002.

And it was right there where things started to really start trending against the Miami Dolphins. Weird situation after weird situation followed by completely avoidable dumb situation kept happening and the Dolphins were just an afterthought most years.

Sure, the 2008 Wildcat year was a ton of fun but even when it was happening most knew it was only a one-off type of season that couldn’t be sustained.

The 2010s were mostly forgettable. 2016 provided a year that the Miami Dolphins made the playoffs. But Ryan Tannehill got hurt weeks before the postseason and Matt Moore, who I liked a lot, simply wasn’t going to get it done against Pittsburgh. Moore got obliterated into another dimension for his troubles in that game.

When Brian Flores was hired, I was convinced that adults were finally running the team. I ended up being way wrong because that guy didn’t know how to play well with others which is something that children have to learn how to do around age 10.

After all that at this exact moment, it does feel really good to be a fan of the Miami Dolphins. Now, let’s get this out of the way. The biggest reason for this feeling is based solely on one thing and that one thing is hope. Naturally, you don’t want to base everything you’re going to do or think you’re going to do on hope. But like Andy Dufresne once said to Red while he sat under that tree; “hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Now I’m not equating the 2022 Miami Dolphins season to old Andy who was wrongfully imprisoned and took 17 years to escape that prison, but perhaps it’s not that far off. I can make the argument that we’ve all been in a form of fan prison for the last 20 years or so. Forgive me if I choose to be hopeful that Mike McDaniel and the overall plan that it appears that Miami Dolphin’s management is implementing makes me hopeful.

The addition of Mike McDaniel and everything that is being reported about how he is conducting himself at practice to all the pictures and video of the team looking like a bunch of guys in a fantastic mood makes me think that will translate to wins during the season.

Players weren’t acting and talking like the last few years with Flores. Players weren’t too jovial when they spoke to the media. The head coach didn’t immerse himself in what the players had going on. I think that matters. I think that, organically, makes energy or culture if you will that is powerful and tough to stop.

I know full well that executing gameplans, making plays, and scoring points is what’s really going to determine how the Dolphins do this year. But you can’t deny the vibe that is being created in South Beach looks like one where guys will do everything in their power to reinforce with wins.

The front office is taking an all-in approach while also looking at the future. They traded for Tyreek Hill, signed Terron Armstead, and made a bunch of other smart moves. They have two first-round picks next year just in case, you know, Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t pan out.

Tua’s teammates couldn’t have his back anymore as they pump him up to being fully healthy and the real deal. I wrote the other day about how all the praise Tua has been getting is starting to make me start to think, just a little bit, like it’s an actual strategy to give Tua supreme confidence something he had zero of last year. I want to see actual throws that look like Tua is throwing the ball harder. Ask and you shall receive.

That throw looks like an upgrade to last year’s version of this throw. Give me more of these.

The talent throughout the whole team also gives me a ton of optimism. The defense, which was a force last year, didn’t lose anybody and only got wiser. That very well may be the secret sauce to why the team does the kind of winning I think they’re going to do this upcoming year.

Can all of this hope be wiped away after an 0-3 start to the season? Absolutely. The Miami Dolphins are the masters of delivering disappointment and have had decades to perfect the art of the let-down. But for right now on May 27th, I choose to be hopeful that we finally have a winner in place that could be tweaked in the future in need be.

I’m a see-it-to-believe-it guy so I’ll have to see how training camp, the preseason, and the beginning of the season go until I firmly 100% say we have it and we aren’t going to lose it. But for right now, I love being a fan of the Miami Dolphins.

If you want to be the ultimate pessimist type of fan who thinks it’s dumb to believe in this team or if you’re the worst kind of person that actually wants Tua to be bad so that you can be right, go right ahead. You do you. To that type of, alleged, fan I really wonder what kind of excuses you have a built-in place if Tua and the Dolphins are winning games and what you’re going to say to dismiss or minimize Tua’s contributions. Looking forward to it you weirdos.

Enjoy your long weekend. I’m kicking mine off today. It’s going to be a lot of fun this weekend. Everyone be safe, everybody loves everybody, eat and drink responsibly and everyone goes out and has a great Memorial Day weekend. Fins Up

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