I’m
torn between how much fun it will be to watch my Miami Dolphins on Hard Knocks
and WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING! When Philbin says, “No. 1, it was a football
decision, it was made by the football operations staff. Our owner supported
this decision, but in no way shape or form forced us to make the decision.” All
I can think is Bullshit!
Man,
it will be so cool to see the Fins finally getting a little national exposure,
wait let me think about this, first time head coach, new coaching staff, new offensive,
new defensive and a rookie QB! Well if Merriam Webster ever needed a scenario
to describe the word “distraction,” YouTube meets the dictionary. (hummm that’s
an interesting idea!)
There
is no person on the planet that can make me believe Joe Philbin was not out muscled
on this decision. Which means, when he said the words, “I’m personally very
excited about it,” he was being much less than honest. So, Joe is a company man
and I would venture guess, he had absolutely no choice, which means Boss Ross
made this decision.
Maybe
we could think Jeff Ireland was behind it, but I don’t see that either,
Ireland has too much to lose from losing this season, maybe even more than
Philbin. Jeff is just not the kind of guy to put himself out there voluntarily
so he was subjected to the same arm-twisting as Philbin. Certainly, the Boss
would listen his football people, over the media relations staff that got his
prize possession in the national media void, where the Dolphins currently
reside.
It
all leads to Harvey Greene and the media relations staff with another desperate
attempt to regain national recognition by attracting attention, off the football
field. The question we have to ask is, does more harm than good come from this
decision. From the fan perspective, it is
difficult to frown at the thought of going inside the Dolphin training camp, from
the football perspective; it seems like a very foolish idea.
Another
thought influences my personal perspective; it could be a good thing to have
the pressure that comes with the spotlight squarely on the team. Think of the games
last season where an opportunity to win was squandered by a team, that has
forgotten how to win. The Jets and Bengals were able to use the exposure as a springboard
to the playoffs, why not Miami.
Winning
is an attitude that must be cultivated and it comes from functioning at peak
performance in the heat of the moment. That moment cannot be experienced on the
practice field, which is why teams scrimmage against each other in the
pre-season, but this form of the spotlight intrigues me. Could the Dolphins
actually practice a little harder, pay a little closer attention to detail, learn
how to act in the bright lights?
Being
in the initial camp of thinking this was a stupid idea, the second thoughts are
beginning to look better than the first. The cameras will keep the team on
their toes, I highly doubt any player will want to be exposed on national TV by
showing up drunk, like Vontae Davis did a couple years ago. We won’t hear Joe
Philbin tell everyone it’s time for a “God damn snack!”
Okay,
I’m in with it, but the question is, what do you think?
