A different view on this team.

[Dave Gray]

I bought season tickets this year.

Part of it was my experience with having HEAT tickets and realizing that I can sell them when I don't want to go.  Part of it was potential Peyton excitement.  Part of it was that I felt I got pretty good seats for an OK deal.

Since I purchased, we lost out on Peyton, didn't upgrade QB, all that stuff about players not wanting to play for us, protests, etc.  The guy I got tix with (username: Brian) has been super pissed off and hating himself for being so stupid as to get tickets.

However, my position has shifted.  I don't like being pissed off all the time, so I kinda just stopped thinking about it.  Rather than questioning every move, I'm just like "meh....we won six games down the stretch last year...maybe we'll do better."  I'm just hoping we get a few early wins to make it intersting...nothing much more than that.  It's perhaps the most detached I've been about the team in decades.  I still care, but I just don't really have an opinion.  I'm just floating along with the current, seeing how it goes and hoping to have a good time when I go to games.

I've never felt this way before.  It's almost liberating.

[Brian Fein]

^^ agreed on many accounts:
1) I bought Marlins tickets, only a 20-game pack, but still cost me probably as much as your Dolphins tickets, maybe more.  I got caught up in the whole new stadium big name free agents hype, and thought it would be fun.  After 2 games experience at that stadium, I can't wait to get rid of the next 20-games.  I imagine you have a similar feeling about your Dolphins tickets.

2) I used to get pissed off - like don't-talk-to-me-for-the-rest-of-the-day pissed off, if the Dolphins lost a game.  Lately I just don't care.  Its disappointing, sure, but now people come to me on Monday and say things like "You must be in a bad mood, the Dolphins lost yesterday" and I am not.  I just don't care.  The detachment is, as you said, liberating.

All that said, I still don't think I would pay to go to any Dolphins' games.  The experience has become less fun for me, on a regular Sunday.  I look it it much like you look at baseball games - I'd rather go with a group of friends and have a good time.  Spending all Sunday to go to a game, spending hundreds of dollars on that day, and not tailgating, fighting the crowds and the hassle, just doesn't seem worth it to me anymore.

(With all that said, if ever Brian can't, or doesn't want to, go to a game, let me know)

[MikeO]

Congrats on buying tickets. As much as I get why fans have stopped going to the games. I really think the South Florida Dolphins fans need to realize that taking this team for granted and assuming they will always be there is a mistake. If Baltimore and Cleveland and just get up and move, so can Miami! Do not take NFL football for granted.


Plus remember, Stephen Ross likes hanging around celebrities. There is a city filled with celebrities with NO NFL team currently.  If given a sweetheart deal do not think for 1 second that he wouldn't pack up and move! I am not saying it will happen. But would it shock me if it did, no way in hell! Not with Ross!

Ross isn't Robbie and Huizenga. His ties to South Florida aren't as strong as previous owners this team has had.

[Dave Gray]

If they moved the team, I don't know what I'd do.

I don't know how I'd feel.  I don't know if I'd continue to support them, if I'd support another team that came here in their place, or if I'd just stop caring about the NFL altogether.  Probably the latter.

[MikeO]

If they moved the team, I don't know what I'd do.

I don't know how I'd feel.  I don't know if I'd continue to support them, if I'd support another team that came here in their place, or if I'd just stop caring about the NFL altogether.  Probably the latter.

I am not saying I expect them to move or think it will happen. I am just saying with season ticket sales at 33,000 (one of the lowest in the entire league). If the city of LA (or any city for that matter) came to Ross gave him a state of the art stadium, promised him he would host a Super Bowl every 3 or 4 years, told him they could double his season ticket sales off the bat....would you blame him for leaving? I wouldn't. I would leave if I was in his his shoes!

Ross has made his mistakes and has been a bad owner thus far. No two ways about it, but not going to games to show him or because you don't like Ireland is the wrong way to go about it.

I am glad you bought tickets and I hope many other disgruntled Fin Fans do the same!

[Thundergod]

I've been "meh" since the mid Wannstedt years. Just hasn't been the same, and it shows.

If they moved the team, I don't know what I'd do.

I don't know how I'd feel.  I don't know if I'd continue to support them, if I'd support another team that came here in their place, or if I'd just stop caring about the NFL altogether.  Probably the latter.

Yeah, if it that ever happened, I'd turn 49ers fan until Miami got another team.

[Tenshot13]

If it ever happened, I'd probably be a Bucs fan and never look back...I have no ties to the city of Miami, only the Dolphins.

[Landshark]

If it ever happened, I'd probably be a Bucs fan and never look back...I have no ties to the city of Miami, only the Dolphins.

Same goes for me.

[MaineDolFan]

If they moved the team, I don't know what I'd do.

I don't know how I'd feel.  I don't know if I'd continue to support them, if I'd support another team that came here in their place, or if I'd just stop caring about the NFL altogether.  Probably the latter.

I was still living in Oakland when Al Davis moved the team to L.A.  I was not a Raider fan, however 99% of my friends and family were.  They all TRIED to remain fans of the team and simply couldn't, it made them sick to their stomach to see the team on TV.  Yes, there were exceptions to the rule (of course).  The people I knew stuck it out for a while and turned their attention to other teams or, as Dave suggested, lost interest in the league altogether for a while.

[bsfins]

As for the if the Dolphins moved to L.A....I'd probably get more things done before on Sundays before the game starts being playing more late afternoon games...I'd quickly tire of missing the first few minutes of the game,because of a 13-13 Titans- Jags tie going into overtime... I think I'd miss alot of the people I'd met through following the Dolphins in Miami the most...

I'll be back,to finish my answer later....

[Fins4ever]

If they moved the team, I don't know what I'd do.

I don't know how I'd feel.  I don't know if I'd continue to support them, if I'd support another team that came here in their place, or if I'd just stop caring about the NFL altogether.  Probably the latter.

Even though I am 3000 miles from Miami, the thought of them leaving the city is "numbing". This once proud franchise is teetering on being a laughing stock. The only thing they have left at this point is the legacy of Shula, Marino and the undefeated season.

Although it is hard to say with certainty, if they moved I would be inclined to support my local team, which is the AZ. Cards. Like others, I have no ties to the city of Miami and the people I fell in love with playing for and running the organization are all gone. 

[Brian Fein]

I feel like it would be easier for people like Maine and Lil B to stay with the Dolphins if they move.  They are already out of the area.  Most of us here in town like the Dolphins because they are the home team.  You guys must have other reasons, since you're not in the area.  So, I would guess that you'd still be a fan if they moved to LA and became the LA Dolphins.

[MaineDolFan]

I couldn't do it, though.  Miami leaves, I really have no reason to still support the team.

I have to admit this, 100% disclosure, I'm still a fan right now but the team is walking on egg shells with me.  The older I get, the harder it gets to justify my one largest resource to dedicate to this team:  Time.  I don't know how many more "fresh starts" I can take!

I know one thing, though.  If I haven't become a Patriots fan by now I never will.  I can't do it.  The "local" thing won't fly for me with NFL.  I tried to pull for them in the Super Bowl and couldn't even do that.  I grew up loving the Dolphins and enjoying the 49ers and Chargers, I would probably default to one of those two teams.

Oh, and my new favorite team the Cardinals! 

[bsfins]

Sorry new washer showed up,I had to tear up the house,install it,repair the house...

If the team moved- (thought continued) I feel for me,if they moved to L.A. as the L.A. Dolphins and kept the colors an logos,would be very little impact on my loyalty.(IE the Colts,Cardinals,Rams) I'd have much harder time if they did a Cleveland browns to the Baltimore Ravens,or Houston Oilers to Titans...

On my state of the team - In my pre-internet days, I'd watch ESPN,Espnews,ESPN2,Foxsports,whatever for hours upon hours just for a blurb about the Miami Dolphins...I craved any little tidbit,in the newspaper,magazine,whatever.The Draft was a good catching up,what the team has done,what they're doing etc.etc.I was always left wanting more...

Now I've got the internet wall to wall 24/7/365 coverage,of every rumor,thought,someone isn't 110% committed,sold the farm on anything to do with the team, I've got 3 articles on it...I think in a sense it's hurt my fanatic feeling about the team..I love to watch the game,but the wins aren't as high,and the loses aren't as bad.There are only 16 of those bad boys,and hopefully more with the playoffs to be pissed at every loss. Too much coverage,causes too many farts,being blown up to the coming of World war 3.That side effect has made me not give a shit about what 97.6% of other fans think or want.I read it when I'm in the mood with a Meh,whatever...As Maine mentioned,my time is more important to me...

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I am not saying I expect them to move or think it will happen. I am just saying with season ticket sales at 33,000 (one of the lowest in the entire league). If the city of LA (or any city for that matter) came to Ross gave him a state of the art stadium, promised him he would host a Super Bowl every 3 or 4 years, told him they could double his season ticket sales off the bat....would you blame him for leaving? I wouldn't. I would leave if I was in his his shoes!

That is only one of two ways it could go down -- Ross is enticed to move the team.

The other way (and the one I would consider more likely than Ross moving the team) is somebody(s) from LA comes to Ross and offers to buy the team for the purpose of moving the team to LA.  Something tells me 5-10% over what he paid for it would be about all it would take.