Historically Horrible

September 12, 2019

 

Michael and Howard

Historically Horrible

I am not a huge Miami Dolphins fan by any stretch, though I do like to attend NFL games and since I found myself in Miami on the opening Sunday of the NFL season, and the Dolphins were playing at home, hosting the Baltimore Ravens, I decided to check out the game at the Hard Rock Stadium. The Dolphins are in what is generally called a rebuilding year, but after watching what happened to them, that may be the understatement of the year.

 

Before heading to the stadium, I took the opportunity to visit my friend and co-worker Howard and his family in nearby Miramar. Howard his wife Najada and their two sons have lived there for a couple of years, but it was my first time is stopping in to visit them since they moved from Key West. Howard recently got back from spending the summer working aboard RPM Nautical’s research vessel the “R/V Hercules” over in the Mediterranean. 

He spent the summer working in Malta, Albania and Sicily and was happy to finally be hone to see the family, who were equally thrilled to see him. It was fun catching up with Howard and Najada and seeing the boys, who continued to grow unabated. We took a nice walk around their neighborhood so they could show me all the fun places near where they live and basically just had a fun morning hanging out.

 

  

The stadium is only a couple of miles from where they live so it was an easy drive for me to get to the game prior to the official kick-off and settle in to my lower level club seats on the visitors sideline. The seat was fantastic with the exception that it was in the direct sunlight and the temperature was in the mid-90s with a heat index well over 100. Thankfully I could escape the heat by ducking into the air conditioned sideline club where they had massive tv’s set up as well as delicious food and drinks.

I have been to a lot of NFL games in my day, but this was easily the worst performance by any NFL team that I have ever witnessed. The Dolphins were absolutely pathetic at all aspects of the game. By the end of the first quarter the Ravens were up 21-0 and their qb Lamar Alexander was on his way to a record breaking 17-20 completions for 324 yards and 5 touchdowns all while playing only 3 quarters of the game before he was replaced by RGIII.

 

By the final whistle the Dolphins were crushed by a score of 59-10 in what really could have been much worse. The Dolphins made the Ravens look like the absolute best team in the NFL when in reality, I think it is just that the Dophins are a historically awful team. The understanding was that they were going to be bad, tanking this season to  get the number 1 pick in next year’s draft, but I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the level of awfulness that they displayed.

The good news is, that I had a fun time anyway, getting to watch Alexander and the Ravens put on a spectacular show and even getting to watch the Dolphins play second year back-up QB Josh Rosen for the first time, though his effort was just as futile as the rest of the team. I have serious doubts if they will win a single game this season and I would hate to be the team that gets beaten by them.

Back in Key West, I had the chance this week to meet our friend’s Effie and Cale’s new dog, Chiquita. They just acquired the adorable 3 year old puppy from the SPCA and she is really sweet and adorable, though still a little shy meeting new people and adjusting to her new home. Chiquita is a pretty lucky dog though as she has a fantastic new home and wonderful owners who are already smitten and busy spoiling her already.

Cale

Chiquita

Effie