Miami Dolphins fans, this is what it was like before the great fall

The Miami Dolphins are not only relevant, but they are also exciting to watch. This is a fun football season and one that should be absorbed.

It’s third and long and you aren’t sitting in your chair or tensed up enough to turn coal into a diamond. You’re screaming at the game, cheering on the Dolphins, and you’re oddly not feeling sick to your stomach. You know that there is a good chance that you are going to watch Miami pick up the first down. At the very least, they are going to try to.

This is what it was like under most of Don Shula’s coaching career. This is what it was like even with David Woodley and Don Strock running the show to say nothing of the Dan Marino era. For many of today’s fans, this is a first. It’s something that the older guys and gals only talked about and you wanted us to shut the hell up about it.

Living in the past you would say. We’ve never seen them win a playoff game and have only seen them go to two or three at most depending on your age. We don’t want to hear about how great Dan Marino was because we endured the stream of 18 starting quarterbacks that followed him.

We don’t care, you would tell us, that Don Shula faded at the end. You love the Jimmy Johnson Dolphins logo because it is all you knew. It represented Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas but you didn’t know. You didn’t know what success felt like. You didn’t know what it meant to be truly excited.

When the Dolphins ran the Wild Cat formation, you thought it was a corner-turning system and not a gimmick. That’s understandable. It’s what we all know as hope. When Miami won their only game in 2007 you couldn’t understand why older fans were so thrilled to not be one of those teams and when the proverbial champagne pops when the last unbeaten team falls, you couldn’t understand the history we were celebrating.

You are starting to now, however. This team is just as exciting as watching Mark Duper and Mark Clayton race down the field. This team is just as exciting as watching Dan Marino’s quick release and step up in the pocket to avoid a sack. Maybe in some ways, this team is more exciting. Especially as we are seeing the emergence of a bonafide rushing attack. Something even Marino rarely had.

This team is special but it is also a team that is being built for consistent success. That makes it even more fun because we see what this team does on Sunday and we realize that they are only starting to touch what they are capable of. We are seeing Mike McDaniel succeed while making rookie HC mistakes.

Being a Dolphins fan hasn’t been easy and for those fans who only were able to feel relentless losing seasons and heartbreak, this is a toast to all of you for staying the course and not jumping ship. You are the torch that us older fans will pass fandom off to. You in turn will pass it to your children and hopefully, this all continues so they don’t know the misery of the last 20 years or so.

This may not end with a Super Bowl but Marino’s playing career only brought one. Those were still exceptional seasons and this is becoming an exceptional season. Enjoy it young-uns, enjoy every minute of it, and with the rest of us older guys, know that we are all finally having fun again.

This is what it is like to be a Miami Dolphins fan. This is what we have been telling you about the old days. This…feels so freaking awesome!