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We have a problem. No, not the problem that is the Miami Dolphins – and there are plenty of problems with the team, all of which deserve discussion. We have a problem as a fan base. And, it only gets worse and worse as time goes by.
We cry about how much of a joke the Dolphins are, and how we are ashamed to love this team. We talk about not wanting to buy jerseys, or go to games, because the team is losing. We complain that we are the butt of jokes on late night shows. We complain and complain that we are a joke.
Yet, we do it to ourselves.
This weekend, another plane will fly over the stadium. A plan carrying a banner bragging about how a bunch of fans spent money two years ago to fly a banner over the stadium saying the team needed to fire Jeff Ireland. So, what did that banner do? Oh, it let people point and laugh at the Dolphins fan base.
Guess what will happen when the banner flies this weekend? It won’t be Jeff Ireland losing his job.
We can organize a “protest” in front of the team facility, make sure the news media knows it’s about to happen, then have 12 people show up. Yep, that didn’t lead to any jokes.
Apparently, Twitter decided to pass around a business card from Jeff Ireland. So, what did fans do? Fill up his voicemail and email with messages about how bad a general manager he is. Then, they did things like brag about how funny it is. Guess what they will do?
Nope, it’s not going to cause Ireland to lose his job.
I get it. Everyone wants to see Ireland fired. But, do we have to do things like turn ourselves into the punch lines for Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien?
The 1-8 Jacksonville Jaguars are a miserable team. They are a miserable fan base. But they aren’t making themselves into a joke. But, down in South Florida, with a 4-5 team, a game out of the playoffs, we sure want to make sure everyone notices that we can waste money on a plane to fly a banner over a stadium on Sunday. We can sure make sure we get out the YouTube video of the voicemail message we left for the GM.
We’re awesome.
I really do get it. Everyone has the right to complain. Write a letter. Send an email to the team. But, do we really need to brag about how cool we are that we can spend a grand to fly a plane that has zero chance of changing anything, but sure will be funny when it lands on SportsCenter Monday morning? How funny that we can call the GM’s voicemail – a voicemail he won’t even check – to say that he should fire himself.
When a fan “visited” Matt Schaub’s house, everyone laughed at how dumb that fan was. How wrong that fan was. Oh, but let’s make sure we can harass our general manager as much as we want because someone got his business card.
The Dolphins are the butt of jokes right now, and we have a right to be upset about that. But, does that mean we need to turn ourselves into the joke?
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