Off season blues ? Well let me tell you a little tale about my latest Dolphin adventure. It really started a few weeks ago. The Wifey and I decided we were going to surprise her kid Brother with a trip to South Beach when he came for a visit from Ohio. Now, I knew the Dolphins were having a charity event but I didn't commit the date to memory and I had no plans on attending as these things are very pricey to get into. Anyways,...our trip to SoBe coincided with The FinsWeekend, a golf outing and a fishing tournament that concluded by what they called the Capt's Party. Well, while checking Facebook I saw some posts from The Phin Addicts about how they were going to attend some of these events. Since I was in the neighborhood I threw out a phone call and as fate would have it our hotel was a whopping .7 mile from the Miami Beach Marina where the party was taking place. I called Friday night and after a little conversation I was told to call back on Saturday, then he would know if he could get me into the party.  I gave Stripe a call and almost instantaneously he said " you're in". As it turns out Stripe is part of a family business that is one corporate sponsors for this event. Who knew ? Not me. Anyways,...I was told to show up at 4PM. 

Enough talk,.....let me do what I do, bust out them pics !

4:01 PM at Miami Beach Marina

Stripe doing his best Willy Wonka impression and presenting me with the "golden ticket" !

Love him or hate him,.......here's Chad Henne !

Not quite the top of the Dolphins food chain, but pretty close ! Dolphins CEO Mike Dee. 

Nolan Carroll,...

Enough with the multiple "mancrushes" for a minute. What about some eye candy ?

Once inside, the food was incredible ! Nick ( one half of the Phinstones), Jeff ( Stripe from the Phin Addicts ), and I were loving life. The open bar didn't hurt either !!!

At every game I was throw down on the charity wheel in hopes of winning more swag,...why tonight be any different. 

Yeah,..I won. A single, size 14 cleat. I need that like I need a hole in my head. Lucky for me Stripe has pull. Later on that night I got to swap it out for a more functional piece of Dolphin gear. A high end Dolphin backpack,...SWEET !

I tried, but TD wouldn't hold my beer in the pic : (  TD is so PC,...

It's been awhile since I've been to a game, but here are some great guys I met this year. Ralph, Nick, Jeff, and myself,....a small contingency from The Deep Crew. We had a blast ( understatement ) !!!

Lousaka Polite

Brian Hartline and I confirmed Buckeye Nation is strong,......and filled with good looking studly types (sarcasm). 

When Jake Long showed up I wanted to ask him something that had been on my mind for a couple of years now. You see I travel the country with work and the year he got drafted I was out in Seattle. Well, one day I was at one of the local malls and I noticed this guy eyeing up a Dolphins hat. So I asked him if he was a fan because I didn't run into many Dol-Fans out in the Pacific Northwest. He replied "no, Jake Long is my nephew".  I thought that was odd, but always wanted to ask him about it. Well, as the story goes,.....Jake has family out there. Here's a pic of us sharing some small talk about it. 

One about Jake,...he IS huge ! And likes Bud Light. But, I'm a quick thinker. Standing on a chair seemed like the thing to do,....

When you think of great Dolphin DB's, Sam Madison is right up there. 

How about another break from the Dolphin "man crushes". I love Hooters ! No, really....I LOVE hooters !!!

Now toward the end of the night I looked over at Nick and he looked kinda sad. He went to charity wheel and only came away with the FinsWeekend baseball hat. I said to him, " that's pretty cool, but would totally bad ass with some signatures on it', as I pulled out a sharpie out of my pocket. He lit up like a kid on Christmas saying "you're a genius". Talk about an overstatement. I'm just glad I could help,...

As I was about to leave, I noticed Kendall Langford. He's big too ! And here you can see my backpack made it into the pic as well. 

What a night, although I missed a few photo ops. Devon Bess and Keith Byars were in the house. And I heard the MC say that Jeff Ireland also made it there, although I didn't see him.  The Dolphins threw one hell of a party and they raised more money than ever before ! $600,000 !!! F'n awesome !!!!!!!!

In closing, I have to give a special thanks to Stripe. Without him I would have never have had this experience and be able to share it with extended Dol-Fan family. Hope you enjoyed it,....

I am Ohiofinfan4life and I swim in The Deep End !