The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

https://twitter.com/#!/ArmandoSalguero/status/93667250556518400

File under: you have to be fucking kidding.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/20/apparently-sun-life-stadium-is-home-of-the-jets/

I've been pissed about this for a long time.  But to be fair...  They sell merchandise of all teams in that store.  Not just the Jets.  I hate that they do that.  Its a management decision, and its piss poor.  You go to the souvenir stands on game day and you can buy stuff for the visiting team. 

This team has no identity except to make money.  I get that its a business and selling $30 T-shirts to Jets, Steelers, Raiders, Bills, Patriots fans is one thing, but they shouldn't BE AVAILABLE to buy (or should be $100 per shirt).

If they sold shirts that say "F the Jets" it would sell like hotcakes.

IMHO. They should not be selling merchandise for 31 teams at the team store.  Just the home team.

I don't know why,but this doesn't shock me at all :-\ 

The Dolphins responded on Twitter:

"For all those asking about the shirts being sold at Sun Life Stadium: this off-season, fans asked us to no longer sell opposing teams' apparel at Sun Life Stadium. We have decided not to & so we are selling off all of our remaining inventory prior to the start of the NFL season. We always appreciate your support and feedback! Go Fins!"

http://twitter.com/#!/MiamiDolphins

Lame, if you ask me.  I don't care what the reason is, you should never have had them to begin with.

They could make money if they had a pep rally, cheerleaders and players signing autographs, charge $10 admission, and a huge bonfire to burn all these t-shirts.  Or, Stephen Ross could donate them to homeless kids in Guatemala or something.

Get them out of the store, no matter what....

Well, once a research writer, always a research writer...

When I saw this thread and read the PFT piece, I did a little digging and made a few calls to see if this sort of "selling the enemy's colors" situation was normal.

The answer seems to be "no." Now, granted, I only called three organizations, but I got the same answer, in no uncertain terms for all three.

First call:  The Boston Red Sox team shop on Yawkey Way (manages all inside-Fenway gift stores)
The manager of the Yawkey Way store let me know that they do not carry any of the New York Yankees shirts/jerseys in their gift shops.

Second call: New York Yankees gift shop at the Great Hall near Gate 6. The employee there (Lisa), informed me that the Yankees gift shops inside the stadium do not carry any Boston Red Sox gear, even when the Red Sox are in town for a series.

Third call...the "reciprocation test": The New York Jets Official Team Store.  I wasn't able to actually call the gift shop directly, but I found out who is in charge of running the retail merchandising for the Jets (The Delaware North Companies), and after a couple of calls, I finally spoke to Bill, who runs all retail operations related to the Jets Team Store inside the Meadowlands. He explained to me that they don't sell any Dolphins team shirts or jerseys, though he explained that the reason for this wasn't the divisional rivalry, but the limited space available, as those shops have to carry both Jets and Giants gear at all times.


So, Miami selling Jets gear inside our stadium appears to be a traveshamockery of the first order. Obviously this is a very small sample size, but it does seem to point at Miami's situation being "outside the norm."

Who gives a shit what they sell, really?

If I were in charge, I wouldn't sell the stuff, but only because I would expect overreactionary fans to flip out over it.  ...but really, what does it matter?

The Dolphins' team store is also the Marlins' team store.  Magically they have "enough space" for both team's stuff, AND other teams' stuff.

Its no wonder why sports in Florida sucks, because even the team doesn't force fans to build allegiance to the local teams.  Hell, let these people buy Titans jerseys and Yankees hats at the Dolphins/Marlins stadium. ::)

The Panthers' team store inside the Bank Atlantic center sells gear from all NHL teams too.  Hell they have an entire 30% of the store dedicated to "non-Panthers" gear.  Lame. ::)

Nice job, Stroke!

This is the best Anti-Dolphin scuttlebut that I've ever read.  >:D

Booo - you're going to STOP selling Jets jerseys!!!  Boooo....wait what?

Yeah that is pretty shitty.....even a crappy team with a mojority of it's time here being in the cellar like the Cardinals they do not sell mechandise for any of the other teams. That seems very odd to me that any organization would do that.

Priorities. It's all about the money on our team. Who cares about respect and dignity of the team and the fans?

^^^
The question being how long has this gone on? Do the Phins fans in the stadium just think this was a normal procedure that all teams practiced, otherwise why wasn't this brought to the spotlight much earlier?

I haven't walked into any "stores" at the stadium. The only time I purchased anything was from like a kiosk. That was only Dolphins gear. I had no idea this was happening until the post came up.

I seem to remember Brian bitching about it for years.

I'm confused.  I thought the story here was that the Dolphins were NO LONGER selling Jets gear in the team store.  It was on their Facebook feed earlier today.  Did they just start selling it and now they're backing down from the ridicule?

Phish - not sure when the last time you went to a game, but last season I saw Patriots' gear in the little merch trailer ("kiosk") inside the stadium.

It ticks me off, because I hate getting berated in my own stadium by fans of the visiting team, and this makes them feel more welcome and at home.  It gives fans the feeling of "its OK to like other teams that aren't the home team."  And with the lack of support teams get, particularly in baseball and hockey, it irks me extra because the fan base is mostly fans of other teams.  They should not feel welcome to wear their gear in our stadium, let alone to BUY it there!

Dave, the post on Facebook is a direct response to this story.  They ARE selling it, HAVE BEEN selling it, but today there was a story on PFT about it, and people all around the league are laughing at the Dolphins again.  The Facebook post (and matching tweets) were to address the outrage launched by PFT's story.

I didn't go to any games last season and it has been longer than that since I went up to a merch booth at a game.

To me, this is all distraction.  It's like politics.  I say again -- who gives a shit?  "Other teams are laughing at us?"  What does that even mean?  Who cares?  Win games and you can sell whatever you want.  That's all that matters.

What we're selling in the stadium is meaningless.

Put a good product on the field.  Nothing else matters.  Not orange carpets or celebrity owners or merchandise in the store.  Nothing.  Fans are outraged over issues that don't amount to a hill of beans.

I think this story blew up because one of the many other items of merchandise for sale (from other NFL teams) said "New York - Home of the Jets".   Someone took a picture of it, then captioned it "Sun Life Stadium is 'Home of the Jets'?"

Cue outrage.

I agree with Brian.

When I saw your post, I did a little digging myself.  I'm good friends with Guy Moore, the owner of Garnet and Gold, who is in charge of all local retail operations for FSU memorabillia.  He's got a main store in Governors Square Mall in Tally, plus a smaller one two blocks from the Doak, not to mention two little shops inside the Doak. 

I gave my buddy a call to see if he sells memorabillia for the other team, specifically Gators and Hurricanes attire, and he gave me a big HELL NO.  While he does understand that he could make more money doing that, he feels that being loyal to FSU trumps making extra profits.

Well of course they are going to highlight the Jets as opposed to say a Bucs tee shirt.  But still neither belongs in the teams pro shop. 

They sold Gators stuff on campus at the FSU bookstore, when I went there to drop off my niece for her first semester.  Most of it featured both teams or "A House Divided" type stuff, where it said Gator Mom/FSU Dad or something like that.

Dave. the outrage isn't because of the sale of stuff in the store, its more the general mentality that it represents - we welcome fans of other teams.  There's no fear associated with our team cause (a) we suck and (b) people can just walk into our home stadium and abuse us.  Its about the mentality.

You wear a Yankees hat to Fenway, let me know what happens.

Wear a Giants jersey at Dodgers Stadium.  Same thing.  A guy DIED earlier this year for this.

Visiting fans are not supposed to be welcomed, they are supposed to be humble.

I'm really just sick of the Florida sports fan-base, in general.  There's nothing worse than going to a Dolphins game and being outnumbered 12 to 1 by Steelers' fans.  I would like this to stop.

I admit, I don't see as many games as you guys, but 12-1 is such an obvious overreach that it makes it difficult to take your post seriously. The worst numbers I ever saw was a Tampa game I attended and Miami fans still weren't outnumbered.

That said, we need to find a happy medium. I know many of you guys are not college football fans, but do some searches and see what people say about visiting WVU. It is both a proud spot to be as well as an embarrassing one. Personally using the Dodgers example of team spirit is a poor one Brian. We are going to watch a game, not there to incite riots. Personally I think it would be worse to be associated with an atmosphere like they have at Dodger games (at least the picture they paint of it).

I won't go as far as you.  I think the hostile nature of many stadiums is a shameful problem not something to aspire to. 

I firmly a believe that a Dolphins fan should be able to bring his 9 year old daughter to Giants stadium for a Jets game without fear she will be exposed a negative experience.  The fact that he can't is sad commentary on the Jets fans.  And most stadiums are like this.

I really think we should have stadiums where opposing fans can cheer their team without any fear of violence.  And stadiums where children can enjoy the game.   

But I don't think a team should be selling tee shirts of opposing team, for those opposing fans who might have forgot to buy one in advance. 

I think that any time you have something that humans get emotionally invested in, whether it is religion, politics, sports, et al, you will always have a fringe group that slides far-right to extreme zealotry (and accompanying poor impulse control). It's sad that it affects something like sports...but not surprising.

If it was just the fringe it would not be a problem. 

E.g. if when one drunk fan started shouting obscenities at a 9 year old girl wearing the opposing team jersey the 99 fans around him told him to shut the fuck up.  Or if when an opposing fan was attacked others came to his aid.  But alas it not fringe behavior in many stadiums but the norm of accepted and expected behavior. 

When viewed with a realistic eye, rather than cynical, it really is just "the fringe."

The behavior you describe in both of those reasonable hypothetical situations doesn't point to the group of overzealous fans being any larger than "fringe," as much as it points to the fact that a large number of the normal fans don't have the nerve to stand up to the small group of overzealous fans.

That's Bill's Bookstore.  You're right, they do sell Gator memorabilla there.  However, it's not under the Garnet and Gold umbrella. 

As for the house divided stuff, that's a niche market in itself.  My little brother has one of those as one of my neices went to Florida State and the other to Florida.   

House divided is different.  If the Patriots proshop were selling a flag that said a "House divided Dolphins/Patriots" or a chess set that had Jets as one side and Patriots as the other side, I would not consider that selling opposing team merchandise.  Being able to buy a Marino jersey the Patriots proshop would upset me and is much different than being able to buy a flag that indicates that half the house root for the Dolphins and the other half for the Patriots.   

Also I would not consider it selling opposing team merchandise if they sold set of 32 pencils, stickers, crayons, mini hats etc, with each one being for one of the teams in which you needed to buy an entire set of one for each team. 

^ I agree.  I don't have an issue with it or consider it the same as what the Dolphins are doing.  I was just adding to the conversation based on what I remember seeing when I was there.

I wish it was an exaggeration.  I took these pictures right before the start of the January 3, 2010 game vs the Steelers.  The game where Pat White got killed.

(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/IMG00049-20100103-1252.jpg)
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/IMG00048-20100103-1252.jpg)
(http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c69/b-rock19/IMG00047-20100103-1213.jpg)

I dare you to count the black jerseys...

^ That's pretty bad.

But it's not really a telling photo.  The Steelers are very popular nationally, probably coming off of a Super Bowl win (I don't know the year).  The Dolphins were awful, and it was pregame.  Opposing fans always show up earlier. 

That was taken during player introductions. 

Point is - why doesn't the team care WHO buys their tickets, rather than just the fact that the tickets are sold?

Those pics make me sick.  South Florida is full of unappreciative douches.   >:(  ... and bandwagonners.  Wait until the phins are playoff contenders and make a legitimate run at the Superbowl.  They're gonna come out like roaches.

Agreed, the Steelers have a fan base that travels very well, and is not the norm.  I went to the Buffalo vs Steelers game this past year and there were probably more Steelers fans than Bills fans at the game.  I also went to the Dolphins vs Bills game in Buffalo last year and the crowd was probably at least 30% Dolphins fans, which was much higher than prior years...and probably has more to do with the cost of tickets and how bad the Bills were last year.

I could care less what they are selling at the stadium.  Seems like a waste of shelf space, as I doubt they would be selling many opposing shirts.  I would think adding a different style of the home team would sell more than an opposing team.  As for fans of the opposing team buying shirts at the stadium I doubt they are putting them on to wear that day.

I don't have a problem with it. Let the fans of another team put their hard earned money into the Dolphins for a way overpriced shirt if they want. ;)

Went to the Marlins game tonight.  Sure enough, in the Marlins team store, FRONT AND CENTER, three different Mets' shirts.  Marlins shirts were off to the side...

What was that about "not selling them anymore and trying to clear them out?"

Right. ::)

That is a true statement for all Florida pro teams.

I purchased Dolphins gear at Paul Brown stadium.  As a displaced fan, I was happy to find some Dolphins gear that I did not have to mail order.