No, No, No

Well, since it's obviously not worth my time to rant about the Dolphins at this time, let me send over an article that should surprise all of you. Let me preface this by saying that current starting Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal serves in some law enforcement capacity, having been given some police "powers" (for lack of a better word). Well, here you go. Read this article:

http://www.theagitator.com/archives/027150.php#027150

Now just imagine that scene. It's a wrong-door raid in the first place, so the people involved in this are innocent. So you're already wetting / soiling your pants because of this, but then you have the STARTING MIAMI HEAT CENTER with a sidearm involved in the wrong-door raid. Talk about crazy scene! What's next?!?!?!?

Weird end to the first

Weird end to the first half here in Miami. But Dolphins are up, 10-6.

Classic JH interception.

Classic JH interception.

7-0 Dolphins on a pass

7-0 Dolphins on a pass from Harrington to Booker. Maybe today...

Here @ Packers/Dolphins. A lot

Here @ Packers/Dolphins. A lot more exuberance than I thought possible for a 1-5 team.

Watching Week 4 - 2006, Fourth Post

Ok, let's talk about this Briscoe High School football commercial. This team is coached by Don Shula and Urban Meyer. It has Michael Vick as its starting QB, Matt Leinart as its backup QB, LaDainian Tomlinson as its starting RB, Brian Urlacher as its starting MLB and Troy Palumalu as its starting safety. And it needs a trick play of a HB pass option to win a game? I'd have to say that the Briscoe High School football program is underachieving, and that's putting it mildly.

Watching Week 4 - 2006, Third Post

Every time I hear the Sunday Night Football theme song, I expect Hayden Christiansen and a battalion of clone troopers to appear.

It's too bad that RB Shaun Alexander won't be playing tonight. It would have been nice to see a full Seattle offense go up against this great Chicago Bears defense. Anyways, game is on. By the way, what do you think of the Madden Football cover curse? Is it real?

Watching Week 4 - 2006, Second Post

The Dolphins lost. This is just not a good team right now. To lose to the Texans and allow DE Mario Williams to get his first career sack just doesn't bode well heading to next week's game with the New England Patriots. The combined records of the teams the Dolphins have played so far - 4-11. This was the "easy" part of the schedule. Not good. Not good at all.

Watching Week 4 - 2006, First Post

How is it possible in this day and age, with the NFL trying to lead all American professional sports in technology, that there are still non-HDTV games being broadcast? And no, I'm not complaining about this simply because the Dolphins game is not being broadcast in HD. I'd complain if it were some god-awful matchup.

I don't know if I want Bad Gumbel to be associated with the NFL Network broadcasts. Good Gumbel, fine. But Bad Gumbel is just too much. Is he actually going to call the games? That's not something I'll be able to deal with. I may just have to listen to the local broadcast of the game on Sirius.

Anyways, I'm home all day, watching the games. I should be able to post some thoughts throughout the day. Hope your teams do well.

Atlanta / New Orleans Game Wrapup

Definitely not a good game to watch. And Saints owner Tom Benson! What a wacko! Well, it's time to wait for the NFL to publish the gamebook from tonight's game. Have a good one.

Saints History

A Bobby Hebert mention! No. 3 in the program, but no. 1 in your Cajun heart. That was a fun Saints team, with Dalton Hilliard as the RB. And that linebacking corps, whoa! But why no mention of that other great Saints QB - John Fourcade? He of the Arena Football League, when it was such an oddity to even talk about that league. Ah, the good old days!

Avery Johnson

The Saints brought in Avery Johnson as a motivational speaker? What did he say to the Saints? "Don't let D-Wade beat you!" And that voice! Enough said.

Atlanta / New Orleans Pregame

Has U2 supplanted the likes of the Rolling Stones or the Beatles as the greatest band ever? And how about Bono? Has he become a transcendent cultural figure? What are your thoughts?

As for the game, definitely this should be something to watch on so many levels. I'm hoping the Saints are able to pull out a win. Sure, it'll be emotional, and the Saints will probably lose focus throughout the game, but it'd be a heartwarming result if the Saints were able to earn a victory. So far the crowd has been electric. This is going to be an event tonight. Sure, it's a football game on the literal level. But it can mean so much more. It's about putting New Orleans back on the map, front and center for everyone to see on national TV. To remind everyone the Crescent City is slowly but surely on its way back.

More later...

Miami Dolphins - Week 3

Well, it wasn't pretty, but the Dolphins got a victory yesterday against a rather game Tennessee Titan squad. It took way too much effort for the Dolphins to beat the Titans, who are in the bottom 1/4 of the NFL in defensive statistics. The O-line play was serviceable at best, still allowing 5 sacks. All of 2005 the Dolphins allowed only 27 sacks. They're more than halfway there through three games! This is Texanesque! Sure, not all of the fault is with the O-line. Culpepper and the receivers have their share in the blame.

All in all, this is a good team. That's it. And even that's a stretch. If this team can't score more points against the supposedly lower-tier teams, how do they expect to compete against the so-called elite teams?

One thing for sure - there definitely was a lot of support and passion from the Dolphin fans yesterday at TSFKAJR. It's a fanbase that wants to believe, believe in the process of building a winner here in south Florida. Can it finally happen? Will it happen?

Here @ game. More Bills

Here @ game. More Bills fans than I expected. But Miami enthusiasm abounds. We'll see in 6 hours.

NFL Week 1 Wrapup

I'm still to wake up from the god-awful Chargers / Raiders game last night. Man, that game was dreadful, and that was the late game! To have to stay up and watch that was utterly painful. Not that hitching your wagon to Aaron Brooks is going to take anyone far, but I really felt bad for him behind that simulation of an offensive line. A line that is coached by Jackie Slater! I mean, come on!

But at least the first Monday night game on ESPN was good. I have to agree with Steve Young in his assessment that the Redskins, with all of that talent on both sides of the ball, are really underachieving. I really expected the Skins defense to shut down that popgun offense the Vikings were throwing out there for the whole country to watch. Please, Chester Taylor, Travis Taylor? Brad Johnson one day younger than God. But, it was that Viking offensive line. Man, did they play well. That was one of the big reasons, in my opinion, the newly-clad Vikings won that game.

So what's the over / under on Terrell Owens' first not-so-subtle remark about the inadequacy of Drew Bledsoe as the starting Cowboys' quarterback? 1 week? Bledsoe's one of those QBs you really have to protect with solid O-line play, and that's something that didn't happen on Sunday. And it's too bad because that WR corps for the Cowboys is really good, at least on paper.

I'm so glad that the next Manning Bowl can only happen either of two ways: in a Super Bowl or four years from now. The hype of the NFL's version of the Kennedys playing in this game was to the point it was sugary sickening. It turned out to be a decent enough game. Clearly the Colts need to find the replacement for the recently departed Edgerrin James. That running game powers the Colts' offense, and not having one could severely hamper what the Horsies can do in 2006. As for the G-Men, maybe it's just me, but I don't see Eli reaching the same quarterback level as his older brother. I don't know, but there just seems to be something missing. I'll keep an eye on this one...

Well, those are my thoughts on Week 1. Yes, I know one of the big headlines this week is the Patsies trading one of their Super Bowl MVPs away for a first-round draft pick next year. I have to think that at some point this team will have a drop-off after enduring these free agent departures and more, right? That's yet another key player from the Super Bowl years that's left the organization. All good things (and this is, of course, a relative term) must end...

I'll be at the Dolphins home opener on Sunday. So I may not get to blog until I get back home. Until then, as the famous radio philosopher once said, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars...(oh, that just sounds so bad and tacky!)...