Since the Dolphins are asking fans to tell their stories about how they became a Dolfan, here is my story:
It was Christmas Day 1971 and my Mom's side of the family was rolling into New Jersey from Pennsylvania for Christmas dinner.
Our holiday plans were the same as most football fans across the country: Watch the Kansas City Chiefs host the Dolphins in the NFL playoffs. Then eat dinner.
My Dad hailed the Redskins, my brother rooted for the Raiders and my Uncle and cousins were all Eagles fans. At 13, I watched a lot of football but hadn't picked out a team yet.
Since the Chiefs were loaded and had won the Super Bowl two seasons earlier, my family decided to root for them figuring they should easily handle these upstart Dolphins.
So just to be antagonistic, I cheered for the Dolphins. That's how it all started. The youngest boy sitting on the floor since there was no room on a couch or chair, taking on the rest of his family.
Throughout the game there were plenty of big plays and lots of ball busting and banter going back and forth between my brother, my cousins and myself.
Well the game went into overtime. My Mom is yelling from the kitchen " Dinner is ready!" We are yelling back "Hang on they are kicking a field goal. Oh no he missed."
Back and forth, wasted drives, missed field goals, plenty of bantering and yells from the kitchen.
The Dolphins finally won in double overtime. The longest game in NFL history left the entire country sitting down to some good old fashioned dried out turkey.
As everyone else struggled to chew, I had the biggest turkey eating grin on my face and the love affair began.
I was so lucky. For the first 107 weeks as a Dolfan, we went to 3 Super Bowls, won two and finished my first full season at 17-0!
It was and still is, the best Christmas gift I ever got!!!
Phins Up!!!
Carl Leone
Dolfan since 12/25/1971
Saturday, June 24, 2017
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8 comments
Similar, my older brother was a huge cowboys fan and I wanted to root against them in SB VI.
My mother thought Dan Marino was hot.
He got the better of that one. But you more than one upped him the next season.
Probably still does. Every wonder why your Dad wore his Jersey to bed?
As an 8 year old growing up in Queens NYC, "JET WORLD", i was a big fan of the "Flipper" show. At 9, we all made a trip to Florida and I loved the sunshine and different lifestyle. When we returned, it was full blown NFL season and it seemed that every channel had something on that had to do with the NFL. I succumbed to picking a team and learning about football. Once I saw that Phin helmet, I was hooked and convinced myself to follow that team. Low and behold, week in and week out, they would win, never losing. My first year as a fan, the Dolphins go undefeated. I was bragging up and down the neighborhood about my team from Florida. You can only imagine the look of on my fellow NY's faces..! By the next year, I knew every player, position, stat, etc, etc, and they win again ! That game against Oakland in 1974 'Sea of Hands", I was 11 and cried like a baby when they lost, but all it did was solidify my fandom to Miami.
We scored too fast late in the game down 21-19. Benny Malone sweep got first down inside the 10 but scored with 2:08 left. In hindsight, he should've fell down and we could've ran the clock down and kicked a FG. But we shall never know.
I'm originally from Lexington, KY, but I had family in Cape Coral, FL and would often go down to visit for holidays. They were Dolphins fans and the first game I ever watched was the 1994 Dolphins vs. Jets game. The "Clock Play." I knew I had seen something special and to this day I have still never seen a QB "flick" a football 50-60 yards like Marino could. I've been a Dolphins fan ever since. That was also the day I became interested in sports in general. I was 10 years old.
Wow. Great game to start out with