A Rebuilding Season for David's Team - The Miami Dolphins

By David Israel, Business Manager

(Please Note: Andy Hodes and the Scenic City Team does not formally endorse any specific football team, despite David's wishes. This article reflects the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of the other members of the Scenic City Team.)

Okay, I have taken enough grief about my Miami Dolphins trading away Jason Taylor to the Washington Redskins this past week. As a die hard Dolphin fan, I wish him well and look to the future for my team, which starts training camp this weekend. Living in Chattanooga for almost four years, I have actually found a ton of Fin Fans living in the area. So, I finally asked a fellow Dolphin Fan why they were a fan growing up in Chattanooga and the answer I got really made sense.

It seems that before the Tennessee Titans moved from Houston several years ago, the local television coverage for the NFC was the Atlanta Falcons, made perfect sense to me, but the closest AFC team was the Dolphins and they were on TV every week; once the Titans came to town, the Dolphins were knocked off the air. It seems that there was lots of upset Fin Fans when this happened, and they've remained loyal to the Dolphins ever since.

So, as a die hard fan, I am looking forward to a "re-building" season for my team who finished 1-15 last year, the worst record in the NFL, and the worst record in franchise history. My expectations for this year are not high at all, this way I won't be disappointed when my team does not win too many games. However, there is excitement in the air over a new team with a new coach, probably one of the best minds in football at the helm. Bill Parcells, "The Big Tuna" has certainly brought in a new whole new coaching staff and a new philosophy. With Jason Taylor being traded this past week, "my" team is very young and inexperienced, but there is excitement over new players getting an opportunity to play along with young veterans getting the opportunity to be leaders brings a smile to my face.

Us Dolphin fans were very spoiled in the 90's with many playoff appearances and a winning record, unfortunately the 00's have not been good to our team. We haven't made the playoffs in six years and have not had a winning record in a long time. Last year, besides having a terrible record, everything went wrong, we were decimated with injuries and just didn't have experience players on offense and our defense seemed to have gotten old very quickly. So, what is in store for us this year? Well, in my opinion the Dolphins got very "big" this off-season and picked up some great special teams players. Maybe this year we will not give the opposing team good starting field position.

I never like to be negative about my team; I am always the optimist and will continue to be as my team rebuilds this year. I look forward to watching them on my DirecTV and hope that in a couple years we are back in the playoff hunt. I have always been a huge fan and I will continue to proudly cheer for my team.