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Commentary: Lifeless Dolphins still don't show up for home games; are fans next?

Jetfan13

By Jetfan13
in NY Jets Forum

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Jetfan13

Jetfan13

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MIAMI GARDENS — Home is where the heartache is for the Miami Dolphins.

Six straight losses at Sun Lifeless Stadium is a pathetic pattern, but it gets worse.

Try 11 clunkers in the last 12 home games. That's a trapdoor through which suffering fans vanish by the thousands, howling all the way about the money they've wasted on good times gone wrong.

"It's baffling to me," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said in the quiet moments after Sunday's 23-13 loss to Houston. "I don't have an answer for it."

Maybe not, but there's a crystal clear reason why the Dolphins and a Miami TV station and a beer distributor had to team together to stop a television blackout of this game by buying approximately 10,000 tickets that nobody wanted.

Customers have a choice, and increasingly customers of the Dolphins are feeling pretty stupid about fighting the traffic and emptying their wallets to watch the visiting team vandalize the scoreboard and run away laughing.

The economy is tough. Sunday afternoons are supposed to be soft, or at the very least recreational. All the Dolphins have been recreating here for the last couple of seasons, despite an alternate universe of celebrity sightings and stadium special effects served up by team owner Stephen Ross, is disappointment.

There's another splash of cold water in knowing that it will be more than a month before anything can be done about that. The Dolphins' next home game is Oct. 23 against Denver.

Most Miami players rolled out a dingy carpet of clichés for their exit from the locker room, but Brandon Marshall, 1-9 at home in his time with the Dolphins, wasn't shy about speaking what everybody knows.

"It stinks, man, because our fans were trying to get things going here in this community and get that spirit back up in our stadium," said Marshall, who did his part Sunday with a 12-yard touchdown reception from Chad Henne and a leaping, scrambling sparkler of a catch for 29 yards along the sideline.

"You have to win at home to do thatEvery day I run into fans telling me they have been season-ticket holders since 1972, thirty-something years. You want to play for those people and it's frustrating when you come up short. It's embarrassing, really."

There were nasty boos Sunday, not only when Dan Carpenter missed an easy field goal and had another one blocked before halftime but also when Sparano flinched midway through the fourth quarter on what proved to be Miami's last chance to make a run at the Texans.

On fourth-and-1 from the Dolphins' 17-yard line, Tony left his offense on the field, down 10 points and desperate for a momentum shift. That was the turning point for most in the announced crowd of 51,032, as in 'Do I keep heading up the aisles for the exits or do I turn around and see what happens?' "

Here's what happened. Henne went to the line of scrimmage, waiting to see if the Texans would jump offsides and then, with the play clock almost spent, he called a timeout as if 5 yards for a delay-of-game penalty might turn out to be the telling stat of the day.

Right about then I noticed a fan sitting alone on the top row of Sec. 421 in the stadium's upper deck. He appeared to be numb, well past booing or cheering or even wondering how he came to be stranded in a sea of empty orange seats on such a beautiful September afternoon.

In honor of him, here are a few suggestions about how the Dolphins should spend their money the next time a home blackout deadline looms, starting with the premise that 10,000 tickets at an average cost of $35 comes to $350,000.

The Dolphins could pay the Denver Broncos $350,000 to start Tim Tebow at quarterback on Oct. 23. Love him or not, that would move tickets by the ton.

Or how about $350,000 in door prizes for lucky fans, including the chance to have minority Dolphins owner Fergie sing at somebody's wedding or birthday party?

If none of that works, at least pay CBS to keep the blimp on the ground for all remaining home games. Those overhead shots of unused seats are downright depressing.

"We're not paying attention to that," Henne said. "People who are behind us are behind us, and if they're not then we're still going to come out on Sundays and play the game."

It's not quite the same for Miami players. They are paid to be here. The rest of South Florida has a choice, and watching the Dolphins forfeit home-field advantage in a flurry of boneheaded errors just isn't cutting it anymore.

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Gainzo

Gainzo

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I watched a good bit of that game. Of the 50,000 or so people that were there, after half time with the Fish trailing 16-3, a lot of people just didn't come back.

The place was empty.

It was a sea of orange seats. I can understand the upper corners being empty but the lower bowl looked like a Marlins game. Dolphins tickets are relatively cheap so I don't buy the, "there are better things to do in South Florida" excuse.

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Jetsfan80

Jetsfan80

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Maybe they should have fired Sporano....

They tried. They threw big money at Harbaugh, and when they failed to land him, they were forced to stick with Sparano. They also attempted to replace Henne with Orton in the offseason.

That's a great way to go into a season, giving neither your HC nor your QB any vote of confidence. It'll be a wonder if ANYONE will want to coach that team if/when they fire Sparano.

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flgreen

flgreen

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Fish fans are an odd breed. With the population explosion in south Florida over the last few decades, a lot of them were really fans of teams up north. Not very good fans. When The Don, and Marino were here and the Fish were doing well, a lot of them became "Die hard" Fish fans.

I've know a guy down here who goes to the same sports bar I do. For years he was a really big mouth Fish fan. I went to the bar Sunday to watch the Jets. He was there wearing a Bills jersey. Funny stuff

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dolphann4life

dolphann4life

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Well I was at the game and let me tell ya, i'm not sure If i'm gonna buy tix for the next home game. I sat in what my car temp reader registered 103 degrees for a total of 8 hours, sun burned from head to toe, have no voice left, spent over 150 bucks inside the stadium (so now i'm light in the wallet) and my reward for all that was having some drunk Texan fan waving a Texans flag practically in my face. Let's just say my 2 year ban from NFL stadiums reminded me to be cool, calm and collective. lol

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nodimwithere

nodimwithere

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Fish fans are an odd breed. With the population explosion in south Florida over the last few decades, a lot of them were really fans of teams up north. Not very good fans. When The Don, and Marino were here and the Fish were doing well, a lot of them became "Die hard" Fish fans.

I've know a guy down here who goes to the same sports bar I do. For years he was a really big mouth Fish fan. I went to the bar Sunday to watch the Jets. He was there wearing a Bills jersey. Funny stuff

Most people in South Florida are from somewhere else, and they have retained their allegiance to teams in their former areas (mainly Jets or Giants).

And here's somethiong else... out of the last 12 home games, the Dolphins lave lost 11 of them. That is not the way to bring fans to the stadium. And the fiasco with Tony Sparano... and Bill Parcells; and trading (NOT) for Orton. No wonder they can't get anything together.

The Pats have already won at Miami; the Jets need to do the same.

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