Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies from Dolphin victories in Super Bowl VII and VIII.
April 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez taken at Miami Dolphins Headquarters, Davie, Florida.
Sports Illustrated January 21, 1974
Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota
Larry Csonka
It's why you play the game.
For more on this longstanding wistfulness, see my Super Bowl blog post from last year, February 6, 2011, "Lombardi. A certain magic still lingers in the very name. It speaks of duels in the snow and cold November mud..."; Packers will win by at least 8!
Madcon - Glow - 2009 Eurovision Song Contest Flashmob Dance Finale (HD), Oslo, Norway. May 2009. http://youtu.be/32lpdFS7rPM
It starts a little slow, I'll grant you, but at 2:19, as the cameras leave the arena, then, serendipity...
After watching this, I'm convinced that a televised singing and dancing flash mob across the U.S.A., during the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, would be MUCH MORE FUN to see than simply watching Madonna perform a medley of her well-known songs in Indy at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Or, perhaps more interesting than even that, would be to have it televised from the two cities which have teams playing, as people sing and dance wearing their -quite likely- Green Bay Packercheeseheads and Baltimore Ravens purple jerseys and gear.
Me,I never watch the Super Bowl pre-game programming anymore, as there are far too many 'human interest' stories with female reporters trying to look empathetic as they interview some special-team player's sister's husband's barber with cancer, or the like.
I usually mute the TV during Super Bowl halftime anyway, and flip on the radio telecast to hear their analysis, so this would actually be more fun and amusing to watch and see how each city tries to top the other somehow. And it would be easy to find a commercial sponsor, too!
Whatever happened to all the genuinely dangerous flash mobs, anyway?
Like the ones that terrorized Chicagoland and Philadelphia this spring and summer, which I wrote about here, along with some startling videos?
They seem to have stopped in their tracks once 'Occupy Wall Street' came on the scene. Hmm-m...
Then again, maybe it's just a spring and summer phenomena...
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In case you forgot why the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest-above- was being held in the Oslo area in the first place, it was because Norway's Alexander Rybak had won the 2009 competition in Moscow with"Fairytale", and the next competition is always hosted by the winner's home country.
"...He stood for everything that was solid and successful in American sports. He remains for many, the very heart of pro football, pumping hard right now. Every year the winner of the Super Bowl is awarded the Vincent Lombardi Trophy. His legacy is the greatest prize the game can offer." -John Facenda for NFL Films The Sport of the '60's
Green Bay Coach Vince Lombardi; December 21, 1962
Seven years later to the date of this cover, Lombardi coached his last game, a losing effort for the Redskins. Nine months later he'd be dead of intestinal cancer at age 57. The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University is named for him. See http://lombardi.georgetown.edu/
The first sports-related piece of clothing I ever had was a shirt that I wore in the Fall as a kid living in Memphis in the mid-sixties, age five or six, which my father had bought at a Dept. store. It was made with what I'd now call sweatshirt-quality cotton and was certainly far too heavy to wear in the oppressive summer heat that Memphis excelled in producing -with no sweat!
It was sort of an oatmeal/mustard combination of a color with green stripes on the shoulder, with a big green 5 on the front and back. Yes,The Golden Boy, Paul Hornung! http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/paul-hornung-5/ I wish I still had that shirt now!
Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies
"It's why you play the game!" -Herm Edwards Vince Lombardi Championship Trophiesfrom Miami Dolphin victories in Super Bowl VII and VIII, at Dolphins HQ, Davie, FL; April 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez
Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota
Larry Csonka, January 21, 1974
Miami All The Way
Bob Griese, January 22, 1973
1972 Miami Dolphins team photo at The Orange Bowl
This is identical to the photo of the 17-0 Undefeated Team that for six years, rested in a frame on top of my bedroom dresser at my home in North Miami Beach. There it stayed 'till that fateful day in August of 1979, when I began packing for my new life in Bloomington. The photo made the trip to Bloomington intact, where it remained on my desk in my room, Briscoe Quad 427-A, for two very eventful years at IU, the latter being 1981, the year we beat North Carolina for the NCAA basketball title. I placed it right below my 8'' x 11'' b&w glossy of the Miami Herald'sAll-County Gymnastics team. That squad was a tremendous team that featured many talented friends of mine from all around Dade County, as well as my own talented friends and classmates at North Miami Beach HighSchool, where my senior year, under the leadership of our beloved head coach, Peter Saponaro, we won the Florida state championship. Even today, I can still name every player and coach on that amazing Dolphins team.
Building For The Super Bowl
Miami Coach Don Shula, December 11, 1972As most of you regular readers to Hallandale Beach Blog know by now, the Dolphins' Perfect Season of 1972 was my first year as a Dolphins season ticket holder, and I was there for every single moment at the Orange Bowl: pre-season, regular season and playoff. The most scared I ever was of the team losing was the Cleveland Browns divisional playoff game the day before Christmas, a 20-14 win. The tension was palpable. What does everyone pictured above have in common? Correct, they're all inductees in the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, located just 49 miles from my dad's hometown of Steubenville, Home of The Big Red, the part of Ohio where my paternal ancestors have lived for over 200 years.
Worse than sad, it's true: Playboy'sHugh Hefner engaged to 24-year old Crystal Harris, a woman who has never been alive when Dolphins were playing in a Super Bowl game. Perhaps that thought will sharpen in your mind the amount of time that has transpired since the Dolphins were very relevant to any serious discussion of elite NFL teams competing for the Lombardi Trophy.
Meanwhile, in other news affecting Playboy Enterprises...
TheWrap Playboy to Go Private Published: January 10, 2011 @ 6:06 am By Dylan Stableford
Playboy is going private.
The board of directors for the iconic but struggling men's brand has agreed to 84-year-old founder Hugh Hefner's $6.15-per-share offer to take the company private.
Hefner first made a $5.50-per-share offer in July. The $6.15-per-share price represents an 18.3 percent premium over the stock price at close on Friday and a 56 percent premium over the closing price at the time of Hef's initial offer.
The new offer puts the value of the company at about $207.3 million. On Monday morning, Playboy's stock price jumped more than 16 percent on the news. Read the rest of the post at:http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/breaking-playboy-goes-private-23768 Playboy'spress release at: http://www.playboyenterprises.com/home/content.cfm?content=t_template&packet=7006C185-E06B-679F-4140890A93180DBD&MmenuFlag=news&ArtTypeID=0002043D-FF53-1C7B-9B578304E50A011A&CFID=8461596&CFTOKEN=41304166
What's my Line? Hugh Hefner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrKJJge66YI http://www.playboyenterprises.com/ See also: New York TimesOpinionator blog Last Call at the Bunny Roundup By Timothy Egan, January 6, 2011, 9:00 pm http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/last-call-at-the-bunny-roundup/#more-76009,
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/playboy-enterprises-inc/index.html?scp=2&sq=Playboy&st=cse, and http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/galleries/hugh_hefners_many_women/hugh_hefners_many_women.html
Above, May 1, 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez of Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies won by Miami Dolphins for Super Bowl VII and VIII, taken at Miami Dolphins HQ, Davie, FL.
Super Bowl Highlights, January 20, 1985, San Francisco 49ers vs. Miami Dolphins.January 20th, 1985, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. http://www.hulu.com/watch/123666/super-bowl-highlights-1985-super-bowl-xix-san-francisco-49ers-vs-miami-dolphins Ten days from now will mark 26 YEARS since the Dolphins were relevant to the discussion of elite NFL teams. We got proof positive on Saturday that this isn't likely to change with the current Stephen Ross regime in place, as Miami HeraldDolphins beat reporter Armando Salguero confirms here: The Saturday meeting with the media (w/ audio) http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2011/01/the-so-called-round-table-the-dolphins-planned-to-set-the-record-straight-for-what-has-happened-over-the-past-week-and-announ.html
36 years and counting for a 3rd Super Bowl Trophy...
"It's why you play the game!" Vince Lombardi Championship Trophies from Dolphin victories in Super Bowl VII and VIII. April 2007 photo by Mario J. Bermudez taken at Miami Dolphins Headquarters, Davie, Florida
Green Bay Coach Vince Lombardi; December 21, 1962 Seven years later to the date of this cover, Lombardi coached his last game, a losing effort for the Redskins. Nine months later he'd be dead of intestinal cancer at age 57. The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University is named for him. See http://lombardi.georgetown.edu/ It's located near the French and German Embassies on Reservoir Road.
Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota
Larry Csonka, January 21, 1974
Miami All The Way
Bob Griese, January 22, 1973 1972 Miami Dolphins team photo at The Orange Bowl
The same color photo of the 17-0 Undefeated Team that for six years, rested in a frame on top of my bedroom dresser at my home in North Miami Beach. There it stayed 'till that fateful day in August of 1979, when I began packing for my new life in Bloomington. The photo made the trip to Bloomington intact, where it remained on my desk in Briscoe Quad 427-A for two very eventful years at IU, the latter. 1980-'81 being the year we beat North Carolina for the NCAA title. I placed the photo right below my 8' x 11' b&w glossy of the Miami Herald's All-County Gymnastics team that I got from the Herald Sports Dept. That was a tremendously talented team that featured many friends of mine from all over Dade County -like the late Dee Leutner of Hialeah Miami Lakes, my charming, sweet friend and future Georgia GymDog, who sat next to me when we took the SATs in the NMB cafeteria, and smiled at me and said "Good luck" right before we opened the test- as well as my own talented friends and classmates at North Miami Beach High, like Lisa Martin, Karen Ginsberg and Linda Zobler -the best of the best.
Last year, it was a Hoosier who led the way to the Lombardi Trophy...
Above, former IU Hoosier and Saints 2008 Number Two Draft Pick Tracy Porter makes the play of the game and intercepts Peyton Manning and scores a TD against the Colts during Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, leading the Saints to their first Super Bowl 31-17, Feb. 7, 2010.
With the 11th pick in this year's Draft, if he's still available, as Charley Casserly expects him to be as of late Wedesday night,the Dolphins should take dynamic Clemson RB C.J. Spiller,the single-most exciting player I've seen in years and whoconsistently made big plays when big plays needed to bemade. Almost single-handedly last year, Spiller defeated the Hurricanes in a way that showed how woebegone the Miamidefense and special teams had become, as he seemingly toyed with them time and again.
If he has already been selected, they should select a player who most approaches Bears Hall of Famer Mike Singletary, a player who had zeal, smarts and intuition, and who plays all-out on every play and won't tolerate slacking in his teammates. That would likely be TexasLBSergio Kindle. The lack of mental and physical toughness in the Dolphins defense the past ten years has been one of the most galling aspects of their decline into mediocrity for longtime Dolphin fans like me, who have lived long enough to know what a solid defense actually looks like. It's NOT what we have now.
Their inability to consistently pass rush, tackle and field opportunistic ball-hawks just leaves you dumbfounded at times. It's nice to beat the Patriots once a year, but one good game does not a season make.
With their second round pick, if he's available -andSpiller has gone elsewhere- the Dolphins ought to select Stanford RB and HeismanTrophy runner-up Toby Gerhart before the Patriots snap him up.
At New England, Gerhart would become the latest Dolphin-killer as he becomes the player who always leads the Patriots to late-game victories, year-after-year, with his versatility: powerful goal-line plunges, scampers down the sidelines on draw plays, or swing passes where he -shocker!- beats Dolphins' LBs, and you're screaming at your TV even before he scores a TD to kill the Dolphins once again. Made worse because we could've taken him.
I suppose it's worth reminding you here given recent news that I've never been a Jason Taylor fan, and wanted him gone years ago when he could still demand something in a trade.
I remind you how lacking he was in leadership at the very end of Cam Cameron's painful one and only year as head coach, when some leadership was needed and yet from most accounts, Taylor sat by and did nothing when defensive teammates cursed-out coaches on plane flights, including Cameron, and played out-of-control during games, as if they didn't know their assignments. Or simply didn't care anymore.
His coddled status irked me to no end and probably did him no favors with Bill Parcells, either.
But what really irked me about him was the clueless rhetoric down here on sports talk radio about him and Canton, as real NFL fans around the country who know their history know that Taylor was simply not as good or dominant as former Bears great Richard Dent, a Super Bowl MVP, who twenty years later, unbelievably, is still NOT in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even though he should've gotten in MANY years ago.
If a dominant player of his era like Dent, who dominated good-to-great offensive teams like the 49ers, Redskins and Giants is STILL not in all these years later, JasonTaylor ought to make himself comfortable, as he's in for a very, very long wait -IF he ever gets in, which I think is unlikely.
South Beach Hoosier Trivia: My first Dolphin game at the Orange Bowl came in December of 1970, aged 9, a 45-3 win over Buffalo that propelled them into their first ever playoff appearance.
Many more interesting posts are soon going to be making their way off the draft page and into the blog, replete with photos to illuminate the point, but until then, please see some recent posts at parent blog SouthBeachHoosier, regarding 1. some historical perspective on the move of the U-M Hurricanes to the former Joe Robbie Stadium 2. the history of some of the City of Miami hijinks that caused Mr. Robbie to flee the Orange Bowl in the first place, and 3. the prospective sale of the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, the Alexandria Lighthouse of south Broward County. http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/pharos.html