Super Bowl 54 In Miami

Following a thrilling Sunday of championship football, the 100^th season of the NFL now has a Super Bowl Match-up. In just under two weeks, Super Bowl 54 will kickoff in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, just a quick Uber ride to the waters of South Beach and the glitz and glam of Ocean Drive.

While the Miami Dolphins Organization has been renovating their team, as well as their home to play hosts to this momentous event, of course we all know they will not be participating in this game. However, while the Hard Rock is the epicenter for all things NFL for the next two weeks, the Aqua and Orange colors of this franchise are plastered all over this international extravaganza.

Allow me to explain.

First and foremost, the obvious that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, is a development master in the Real Estate world and for someone who attended games in the months of September and pair in December, each trip showed new additions to prepare for the onslaught of football crazed fans taking exit 2X on the Florida Turnpike. A fun few sidebars on that strategic city planning; 2X is clearly a reference to their pair of Super Bowl wins in the 1972 and 1973 seasons, and the exit ramp leads you to Dan Marino Boulevard.

That leads me to my next aqua and orange stamp on this event, that being good ole’ number 13 being an official ambassador to the game. Let us all face the facts that when it comes to Football in Miami, it’s Mayor Marino to all.

Before even getting to the match-up of, oh by the way, the San Francisco 49’ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, we have more fun “Phin-ties.” The NFL can be a collective genius in terms of planning and scheduling and there are certain situations where timing is just, well, “Perfect.”

The host city of Miami is also the proud home to the greatest team in NFL history, the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins as part of a year long NFL 100 celebration culminating on February 2^nd. It is clear that the Miami legends and condo association members of Perfectville, will be on display in full force and hopefully in those aqua blazers.

Speaking of blazers…

Timing in life is everything, the NFL knows this. And in Mr. Ross’s world of Real Estate, location is even more important.

How about both.

2020 is the year the stars align in South Florida during Super Bowl 54, the weekend of the announcement of the next five modern era NFL Hall of Famers. The stage is joyfully and literally set for Miami Dolphins legend Zach Thomas to official hear that he is going to be getting a gold blazer to match his aqua one, and become a life-long resident in Canton, Ohio.

He will be announced, at home, during Super Bowl 54.

Robert Duyos/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

You can’t make this stuff up.

A situation like this calls for plenty of loved ones and teammates on hand and certainly you can expect plenty of those in droves with Marino, a potential Jason Taylor sighting which is all but certain as well as the next chunk in this piece…

The Super Bowl participants each have their Miami ties and one being a cohort to Thomas on Miami’s vaunted defense of the late-90’s and early 2000’s. Cornerback extraordinaire, and 50% of the best tandem the position ever saw, Sam Madison, coaches the Kansas City Chiefs defensive backfield.

Madison and “Splash Brother,” Pat Surtain were defensive mates of Thomas’s and hopefully a reunion is in the cards at Hard Rock.

On the other side of things, and lest we all forget that the Niners themselves employ a former Dolphin. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Wes Welker is their wide receivers’ coach. Not to get you all angry, but a trip down memory lane remembers Welker as a swiss-army-knife type player for the Dolphins from 2004-2006 and another Thomas teammate.

Of course, Welker was traded to the Patriots in 2007 for draft picks; players that combined for as many Pro-Bowls for Miami as I have had in my life.

No need for a trip to google. It’s zero. And to save you another search, those drafted players turned into 3-year Dolphins center Samson Satele as well as a 7^th rounder in Abraham Wright who never played a down in the league. So, we have a former Dolphins receiver, coaching-up a crew against the cornerbacks and safeties of another ex-Fin. Welker versus Madison in Miami through their on-field pupils.

Moving towards the running backs each team will throw out to feature as lead ball carriers, the Chiefs and Niners each have a former Fin. Damien Williams and Raheem Mostert combined for five scores during Championship Sunday and each could find pay-dirt in Miami after they didn’t get their contracts in the host city. Fan favorite quarterback for Kansas City, Matt Moore, also returns to Miami as he backs up Patrick Mahomes.

Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

This all seems rather cinematic if you ask me, and to be very honest with you all, the NFL owes us all a terrific Super Bowl after last year’s stink-fest with the Rams and Patriots.

And what grander way is there for a community of Dolphin fans craving for what the Kansas City and San Francisco 49’ers fan bases has then witnessing what we are all about to see? A franchise and league on display to honor two teams and in part of the weekend, five new immortals which will likely feature a host-city favorite son, taking their places in football’s greatest fraternity.

It is all set up for a Super Bowl for the ages, during the NFL’s 100^th anniversary. It’s almost like there is only one place on earth that a script like this can be written and it’s not Hollywood in California. It happens to be a bit south of Hollywood, Florida…Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens.

Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images