The Anthropology of Dolphin Fans

Grew up knowing nothing other than the Phins. Even with a Bears fan father, my Mom’s passion for the Phins radiated through my whole house.

Seasoned vet of the Phins here!

I remember the first time I saw The Phins play cant remember the year either 72 or 73 but they were playing Pittsburg in the AFC championship game(I think) I grew up in WVA and my dad was a Steelers fan so I rooted for the other team and have bled Aqua and orange ever since.

I developed into a Miami Dolphin fan independently of my family or surroundings. I grew up in Virginia, but my father is a Detroit Lions fan and my brother a follower of the Philadelphia Eagles. I think I’ve mentioned this once before on this site, but my first recollection of the Dolphins came from the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. I loved the movie, and subsequently fell in love with the team (which would put my entry into fan hood sometime in 1994?). Somehow, I thought I had a special connection with the team and #13 because my name was Dan. I vividly remember getting the entire set of NFL pencils every Christmas in my stocking and saving the Miami one for last. I had my set of 50-cent mini helmets, too. I was a one-of-a-kind fan for my young life, but it was sweet.

The past decade of my life has been spent up in New England and it has been, to say the least, difficult. 2008 has gone a long way to repair my broken spirits, though.

My dad was a Redskins fan and I liked the Dolphins. We always had that to talk about. We had a great relationship already but football just added to it. Dad passed away a few years back but theres always that tie, that football talk before game day I miss..

my first memories of the Phins are of a young Dan Marino slinging passes against the Jets and playing 50-49 games. we had no defense..but man could we score. Still have never seen a title…but that just makes the upcoming one even sweeter. My father is a Phins fan….but not like me…i would credit him for putting it on TV though lol…..

even though I was born in ‘86. Don’t really remember anything football related until the ’90’s. First Dolphins memory was meeting Dan Marino one Halloween dressed as a firefighter, and he took my walkie talkie and tried to call Don Shula with it. Favorite player from that moment on. I think I was 4.

it was simple for me… i had an obsession w/ the color ‘green…right up until i saw the colour ’teal’… i’m not sure exactly when i became a fan, [around age 4] but i do remember well into my ‘fin-fandom’, [already having my dolphin plastic-helmet collection… i still don’t know why i wanted more when i had some already] asking my dad how the dolphins did this yr, and him replying,‘they didn’t lose any’ … and i was like " well, that sounds pretty good…" haha… i was around 6 yrs old at that time

I have been a Dolphins fan since the 90’s and I’m definitely proud.

I could have voted Veteran, as someone else mentioned above, this was when Ace Ventura came out. None other than Dan Marino himself was in that movie made me a semi-Fin fan at the time. I was also born in So. Florida in the late 80s… so I could have voted Seasoned vet, my step-dad is a big Fins fan which had some influence on me being a Miami fan. I went to some of the games as a kid, had pretty good memories watching them play.

Through all that, I never became a real devout followed of the Miami Dolphins until… 2007. Yes, the 1-15 season. That is when I started following every game, stat, player, etc. Going to a sports bar in my orange 54# jersey sucked at time (until we beat the Ravens), but I still did it and people respected representing your team even when they sucked that bad. Made me learn a lot about my fanhood at that time. Fun at times, sucked at others, still a good experience.

I was born in 79’ and my earliest memory of watching a Dolphin game was in 85’ in an overtime game against the Rams. Marino threw a game winner to Mark Duper. I still remember those classic games against the Jets with Marino and O"Brien going at it. My dad moved to Miami in 1970, right in time for the glory days. He became hooked. Our family lives in LA, and we’re all HUGE Dolphins fans because of my dad’s experience. I’ve been a diehard since the 80’s. Thank god for the Sunday Ticket so I can watch all the games in peace. Go Fins!

Started watching with my dad here on the east coast of central FL in 1970…been hooked ever since.

was magic

Started going to games when I was too young to remember. My Mom tells me stories of me as a toddler, and people taking turns walking me in the hallways (it’s hard to call them concourses, for those of you who remember) of the Orange Bowl if I got fidgety. My family had season tickets from 1965 – 1995, between the 20-25 yard line about 17 rows up from the field. We were behind the Dolphins bench, on the east side (open end) of the stadium, not too far from Snowflake…I mean Flipper. I have great memories of the ‘72-’74 seasons. I remember very clearly the undefeated season, the ’73 AFC championship game (we beat the Raiders 27-10 and as time ran out, all the men around me were shaking hands and saying “see you in Houston”, as if they were going to the game). As I got older, I was allowed to bring a friend to some of the games. My best friend and I would challenge each other to watch every play, to not miss one single down.

It was amazing how dominant the Dolphins were in those days. You just took it for granted that they were going to win almost every time, and they did. I can still remember how shocking it was in ‘76 (or was it ’78?) when they went something like 6-8. Of course, the next year Shula had turned it around again and we were back in the hunt. I still remember seeing Walter Payton as a very young running back for the Bears, might even have been his rookie year, during a preseason game in the Orange Bowl. You could see right away how special he was. I remember watching Namath play QB for the Rams (pathetic). We swept the Bills 20 straight games, 10 years in a row. I was also at the playoff game against the Chargers in January of ’82…what a game. After the hook and lateral (Strock to Duriel Harris to Tony Nathan) that ended the first half and brought the Dolphins to within a touchdown after they had trailed 24-0, the entire crowd was on its collective feet, cheering through halftime until the second half kickoff. Guys, I could go on and on, but I think I’ve already taken up enough space.

Go Dolphins.

especially since Anthropology is such a large, impressive word..

And I wrote what I meant to write here in the wrong post haha. I’m 20 and began around 1994, mostly because when I was a kid I liked the animal Dolphins and because of Ace Ventura, when I also liked Dan Marino. I live in New York, in Giants/Jets country, but no Jets fans in my house. Though there are a nice amount of Phins fans in NY. Let’s just hope the Phins beat the Jets on Dec 28th so we dont have to wait a year to shut them up. I have a good feeling. Any other Dolphin fans in Jets area?

I think I was around seven when I went to my first game. Rainy, muddy Joe Robbie, fugly hockey score loss to the Bears, 6-3 I believe it was. My father’s best friend was Floridian born and raised, so thankfully, he schooled me on the Fins and his alma-mater Noles before my mind could be tainted elsewhere.

Marinolithic should be in the dictionary. Great stuff.

Modify the Sphinx; I mean, it already contains the word ‘phin’, right?

I have been a Fin Fan since I was about 9 or 10 yrs old. I was born (Pahokee – this is the only place I ever admit that). and raised in south FL (Hialeah, North Miami, Hollywood). As a boy, I got to play ball with many of the ‘72 Fins, as part of the Big Bros organization (just a little game of catch with those guys, but when you are that age it really means something). I have almost all of that squad’s autographs on my old Dolphins hat. The first game I ever went to was the Baltimore Colts vs. Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl.
While many people look upon the Marino years as “good times”, for me they were frustrating. The lament of my generation is that we could never really find Danny a running game, and that is the biggest reason we could not win all the marbles. It is really tough to watch the greatest QB in the world fail time after time because we could not PTR when we needed to. That being said, I feel like we are finally on track.. for the first time since the Zonk, Kiick, Morris days. We might not have Dan Marino, but we have balance, and IMhumbleO, that is going to carry us further than Danny could on his arm.

Old Guard here. Oh and rec’d… Great idea HuskerD! :)

but was born into a Finatical Phamily. I used to have a Marino onesie lol

Where do you fit in the scheme of things?

the year 1989………the RB “THE” Lamar Smith…………

making a serious run at the Goo Cannon Award.. this is the second post of yours to surpass 10 recs lol

good job buddy, seems like everything you post here brings fans together and brings out some really cool stories..

Although there has been a bit of lapse until recent years.
Born in the late 70’s, we were at a Sports Shop in the mid-late 80’s and it was about the time when the NFL was making a grab at the UK market. My brother both got tops and I picked a Dan Marino Dolphins top the aqua one. I’ve followed the Dolphins as best I can pre internet and the rise in blogging.
Back with avengence now though. Hoping that I can combine a trip to the states with a game or two if possible, but that’ll be a few years away.
But the UK is geared towards Soccer so its been difficult. Occasionally one of the channels over here does a weekly show, but they get dumped off the schedule or pushed really late at night, so its a bit hit and miss.

Born in West Palm in 1979, my bloodline is 100% South Floridian. No New York about me. Whatsoever.

Growing up watching the Marino/ Shula era fortified this genetic inclination even further and is what keeps me warm on cold, Pennsylvanian nights. That and any sample I can get. :-)

In my immediate circle of friends I have two fellow Dolphins fans. Both are in their thirties and both decided at an early age that the Dolphins were their team. One is from Texas and the other is a PA native. In fact, the school he went to is rivals with Wilson Senior High, the school where Chad Henne went.

Despite my genetic purity, I understand and accept all converts and less pure Dolphins fans as equals.

Ahem….

born in 1990. loved them since the day before i was born, lol if thats possible. parents not really too big on them, my dad started liking them recently but only because of me. guess i got it from tv and friends. o and growing up 15 min from the stadium helps a little also lol. wish i could have experienced the shulassic period as it was happening but i’ll be here for the parcellassic(?) period.

I was a Shula fan and followed him over. The game that absolutely sold me on him (was played in the Orange Bowl(how coincidental) If you are old enough to remember, there used to be a 2nd place game for teams that came in 2nd place in each division(pre-superbowl) Baltimore was playing and Shula was the coach. He had lost both his quaterbacks to injuries(Unitas and Morrall) He got his do everything back, Tom Matte ready to play the game and taped a list of plays to his wrist to help him with playcalling..they won the game .

Just posting because no one else seems to be around, and I am bored right now.

I wasn’t raised into a Dolphins fan though but I was raised in a Buffalo Bills household as my family is from there and I hated that damn team when I was younger and my parents hated the dolphins so I resented my parents and began my wonderful journey as a dolphin phan forever.

I knew there was something special. Cheered for them vs 49ers in XXVIV, lost bet but I remember my picture book with Dan Marino I got from the Scholastic Book Fair.

I knew he was the QB of the future! So I became of Dolphin fan.

Started to follow the Dolphins in 1987, i was 18 years old. You see, down here, the football game was not huge at that time. A friend of mine asked me if i wanted to see a football game & i accepted. The game was The Miami Dolphins vs the skinless. Miami won something like 21-20. The Dolphins were allover the air(somebody can said Marino?) it was exciting. After that game, it was over for me, i became a Dolphan. That year the skinless won the SB & we didn’t make the playoff, but i always said to myself tthat we beat the champs that same year.
A couple of yours ago, i told to my fiance, at the time(now wife), that we couldn’t get married before Feb, cause the Dolphins might be playing. We got married in March 17 ; ) No she is and avid Dholfan and we have went to atleast one Dolphin game every year. This year is for the SF 39’rs game.

Born in 1999 but Dolphins was in my blood since I was born.

Thanks to everyone who posted their stories! They were really cool and I personally love reading stuff like this, I hope others do as well. Thanks again for taking part in the poll and the post!