What's in a Logo?

If you are reading this, then you have probably already heard that the new logo has leaked out. Given how good the Dolphins are about keeping things quiet (Interest in Mike Wallace, Manning, Harbaugh... there is no point in even going on. Suffice to say they leak everything) it was not surprising to find out the new logo leaked a month early and the Dolphins officials have now confirmed it.

Before I go into how I feel about the logo, let's take a stroll down memory lane.

I've always lumped the first three logos together, because they are all pretty much the same. This was the logo I grew up with since I moved to South Florida in 1992 (3rd Grade).This logo with a dolphin wearing a logo is kind of silly, but having a dolphin as a mascot in general is also kind of silly. The whole logo and color scheme was all a little silly, but to me it always represented the weirdness of South Florida. South Florida is an incredibly weird place and if you grew up there like I did, you don't really fully appreciate how weird until you leave. If you haven't noticed from reading this blog, I am also very weird and I love South Florida in all it's weirdness. To me, that logo was a perfect representation of the city it represented.

Sadly, all of this goodness came to an end in 1997. I'm not going to lie and say I know anything about the history of what led to the decision to change the logo, but I do remember what 1997 was like. 1997 was a year when everything was getting obnoxiously more "extreme". Surge soda was on the shelves, X-Games was on the TV, The Prodigy was on the radio and every company in America was asking "How can we make our oatmeal seem more extreme?". 

In 1997, someone in Davie got the bright idea to change the logo from what it had been since 1966 to the strangely pissed off cartoon dolphin it's been ever since. This was a dolphin and he still had a sunburst around him, but now he had an an extreme attitude. He was still wearing a helmet, but probably just because they required it at the skatepark when he stopped by to lay down some 900s. 

When you choose a dolphin as your mascot and you choose team colors of aqua and orange, you are accepting that any intimidation your team has will have to be established on the field through their play. Much like Jaws ruined the reputations of all non-dangerous sharks, so too did Flipper ruin the street cred of all the tough badass dolphins. Dolphins can be scary animals. I even have a joke about how they can commit the act of rape (It's the last joke in the video), but try as you might, people will never accept dolphins as scary animals. That was always my biggest problem with that logo was that by changing the logo to this "scarier" dolphin, it seemed like the Dolphins were trying to be something they weren't. Whether it's your fat friend buying skinny jeans or your dad deciding to become a biker and get his first tattoo in his late 40's, there is something painfully unappealing about someone trying to be something they're not.

This terrible logo is one of the reasons I have given hundreds of dollars to Mitchell & Ness so I can wear Dolphins apparel with the old logo instead of the 1997 one. Obviously I have a ton of stuff including jerseys with the newer logo (I just got a Tannehill jersey a couple months ago. Damn you Dolphins for changing the logo now!), but I never really liked it as much as I preferred the original. In fact, the whole reason I made my logo for this site the way I did was to parody that logo.

So given that backdrop, obviously I'm not all torn up that the Dolphins have decided to change the logo. There are a few things I like about the new logo. I like that the design is cleaner and that they did away with the dumb angry facial expression which is good. But where is the helmet? Is a dolphin without a helmet really that much less silly that one with a helmet? That is what bugs me the most about the new logo is that it is completely devoid of any character. While the last logo had character in a very bad way, the new logo has none at all. Even the pose of the dolphin seems to be meaningless. He's just swimming around, as if he didn't know they were going to take his photo or something. The last two logos were a dolphin swimming through a hoop, which dolphins do, except for this bland boring dolphin, he's just hanging out.

To me, this new logo also represents the Dolphins again trying to be something they're not. It seems like they are trying to divorce themselves from this silliness inherent to having a football team with a dolphin mascot by sterilizing out all of the character. Having these colors and this mascot with a helmet is a little quirky and to some people it will always be a punchline. To me that quirkiness is something I've always loved about this team. When you walk around New York or any city for that matter, when you see people wearing Dolphins gear, it's because they actually love the team (Except for the rare hipster who may be wearing it to be ironic. God I hate those people...). It's not like the Yankees or Cowboys where you wear the hat because it happens to go with your outfit. The only thing aqua and orange matches with is more aqua and orange!!! And white... And grey. And maybe navy.. but not much else!!!! Obviously, those colors are staying the same, but I'm not crazy about them making the logo so sterile. I like my Dolphins logo the way I like my South Florida; a little bit weird.

P.S. I also made this with the new logo. I'm not going to get into politics, but if you like this, awesome.

Ryan Tannehill Needs Stilts

On Sunday I watched the Dolphins continue their Globetrotters-Generals rivalry with the Texans. We have never beat the Texans a single time, which would be embarrassing even if they had a ton of playoff wins, instead of just one ever.

The game actually had a promising start. We got up 3-0. Our defense was looking pretty solid. The running game with Reggie Bush seemed to be working. I even started to get "I told you they would be good" tweets from people. Then came the end of the second half. Interception. Interception. Fumble. Ballgame. The game was never close after that.

If you did not watch the game and only saw the stat line, Ryan Tannehill played a bit better than his 39 passer rating and 3 interceptions suggest. He made a lot of tough throws, but as I'm sure you have heard by now, he had a bit of an issue with balls being tipped at the line. For some reason, Tannehill, who is 6'4, had a hell of a time getting the ball over top the Texans D Line. They were able to get their hands on 6 passes at the line, 2 of which became interceptions. Watching the game, you would have thought Doug Flutie was out there trying to throw underhand over Shaquille O'Neal.

If it was just this game, you could write it off, but he had 4 tipped balls against Carolina in the preseason and 19 last season in college, so this is kind of an issue. The O-line needs to do a better job of engaging defenders and I'm sure Tannehill will get better at seeing throwing lanes better as he gets more experience, but this is an emergency and drastic times call for drastic measures.

Ryan Tannehill Needs Stilts 

Being 6'4 should be enough to allow you to throw the ball over a D line most of the time with no problems, but apparently that's not the case for Ryan Tannehill. If we want to see the ball consistently go more than 10 feet, he is gonna need a boost. Maybe at 7'4 he can finally clear the D line to give our receivers a chance to drop some more passes.

Oh yeah, drops are still a bit of an issue on our team. If only we had a beast of a receiver who could pull down 9 catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. It's too bad that guys like that are very rare to find, and our team sure as hell hasn't been finding anyone like that in the third round.

 With trading Brandon Marshall for next to nothing and Vontae Davis, this team has essentially thrown in the towel for this year, to try to build picks for next year. Even if Tannehill turns out to be a Hall of Famer, the GM who should be using those picks is sure as hell better not be named Jeff Ireland. But I don't want to leave on a downer so here's a nerdy Dolphins poster. Enjoy.

Podcast Episode 2: Adios Ochocinco

The second episode of my podcast is up here

The podcast can also now be found in the iTunes Store and you can check it out and subscribe to it on iTunes with this link. Also, all of my iTunes links will now work on all Apple devices.

I had guest comedian Jeff Cerulli on to discuss the second episode of HBO Hard Knocks, Chad Johnson's departure, the disastrous preseason game against the Bucs, the fall of Garrard and the rise of Tannehill, and the question marks at wide receiver and tight end. I also did my best to explain to Jeff why Dolphins fans hate the Jets and we both made predictions for both teams.

The sound should be much better than last week. Let me know by email or Twitter @SavingThePhins what you liked and didn't like and also send me some questions by for next week's episode.

Saving The Dolphins Podcast: Episode 1: A New Hope

The first episode of my podcast is here

I've submitted it to iTunes, but even before they approve it, you can subscribe to it on iTunes with this link

I sat down with guest comedian Brian McGuinness to discuss the premiere of HBO Hard Knocks: Miami Dolphins and our thoughts on Joe Philbin's coaching style, Chad Johnson's awesomeness and The QB Situation with Tannehill, Garrard and Moore among other things. Let me know what you think of the first episode.

I am aware that while the sound is decent, it needs to be a bit louder. Let me know by email or Twitter @SavingThePhinsTwitter what you liked and didn't like and also send me some questions by for next weeks episode.

Hard Knocks is finally here! Plus a podcast soon!

I have been counting the minutes until the premiere of HBO Hard Knocks: The Miami Dolphins. I love that show enough that I have watched every episode in every season, including the seasons with the Chiefs and Bengals and they're finally doing my team! Will Tannehill emerge as the greatest Dolphins rookie QB since Dan Marino (Not a ton of competion)? Will Chad Johnson return to his former greatness? Will I already be sick of Lauren Tannehill before the end of the first episode? So many questions!! I'm going to be live-tweeting the premiere tonight @SavingThePhins if you want to check that out.

Also I have a big announcement.

Saving The Dolphins Podcast Premieres this Thursday, 8/9!

In the first episode, I'll sit down with comedian Jeff Cerulli and discuss the first episode of Hard Knocks, The Dolphins' offseason and why he likes the worst team on the planet. I'm going to try to get it up on iTunes and the Android store as quick as possible, but it will definitely be on my site Thursday.

Joe Philbin Doesn't Yell

We are in the dog days of summer football. Last week was the first real training camp, which is always prime time for knee-jerk reactions.

Chad Ochocinco had a pretty good first camp, which means he's headed to a Pro Bowl!

Ryan Tannehill struggled to adjust to the speed of the NFL game which means he is a bust!

Reshad Jones and the defense dominated the offense so the defense will be good and the offense will be bad! Or they both will be good! Or they both will be bad!

I am glued to Omar Kelly's twitter feed every day of camp, but before pads come on, it's tough to really know anything at this point. With that in mind, I will state the only 2 things I have really taken away from camp so far.

 1. I Like Chad Ochocinco
I think my recent post about him being crazy may have made it seem like I don't like him, but I do. How do you not love a guy who proposed to his girlfriend and then went right back to playing Call of Duty? If we had to trade big draft picks for him or if we were paying him huge money, his nuttiness might be a concern, but for the veteran minimum, we can just sit back and enjoy the show.

2. Joe Philbin Doesn't Yell
I am not the first person to notice that Joe Philbin is not the yelling type, but he seems to have an almost supernatural calmness about things. To illustrate my point, below is a list of Google results. Keep in mind that Philbin's photo is the closest I could find to one of him yelling and he is probably just talking.

Obviously this isn't the most accurate way to gauge things, and I'm sure he has yelled at players before, but you get my point. When we had Cam Cameron, I wrote this post about how he needed to be scarier. Cam arrived as an offensive guru who was able to generate a huge offense in San Diego with players much better than ours, but he was also a pushover and ultimately players like Joey Porter walked all over him.


Obviously, yelling doesn't guarantee success. We just had a coach in Sparano who never stopped yelling. Eventually, the team went south and that yelling fell on deaf ears. But look at the coaches of the top 4 teams last year: The Brothers Harbaugh, Coughlin and Belichick. Which of those is the soft-spoken nice guy? There are a handful of nice-guy coaches who are successful like Tony Dungy or Dick Vermeil, but there are way more successful guys who either yell, or in the case of Mike Tomlin, give looks scary enough that they don't have to.

I hope Philbin is an offensive genius and this season is the beginning of a dynasty, but whether he succeeds or fails, people will say it's because of his demeanor. If he wins they'll say it's because of his ability to stay calm and if he fails they will say he wasn't tough enough on his players. Still, if he starts using phrases like "Fail Forward Fast", I'm gonna be nervous.

Get to Hate A Jet: Father's Day Edition

Happy Father's Day everyone. I hope you've all taken time today to hang out with your dad or at least called  to let him know that even though he's ill-tempered and emotionally absent, those mental scars have only made you into a more successful alcoholic. 

A little while ago I started a Get to Hate a Jet with my post on Tim Tebow, because I got tired of hating the Jets as a group and wanted to start hating them individually. So because it's Father's Day I've chosen a guy who is absolutely buried in Father's Day cards and macaroni art today.

Father's Day Edition:

Antonio Cromartie

Cromartie currently has 10 kids by 8 different women and he is expecting twins in November his wife bringing the total to 12. To put that in perspective, if his kids start a football team, one of them would still have to sit on the bench. In the future, no one will be able to complete passes because his army of kids will be intercepting them all. How does he remember all those kids' names? Very slowly. This is him trying to name them in 2010 when he (only) had 8 kids. (I posted this video on a Hard Knocks post a couple weeks ago but it just feels especially appropriate for today).

In his defense, that is a lot of kids and baby mamas to remember. Thankfully the New York Post made a chart to help him/us keep track.

These women have told a ton of stories to the Post that paint him as a less than ideal father. His ex-fiancee Rhonda Patterson, who he dumped a week before their $200,000 wedding and kicked out of their San Diego house while she was 6 months pregnant has said he only spent "a few hours" with their child since birth. While the Post isn't known for journalistic integrity and it's possible some of these women could be making some things up, it seems unlikely that that he is being a great dad to all 12 of these kids.

This movie was not meant to be a How-To

Thankfully, he has settled down with his wife, Terricka Cason. Well, kind of. Last month, cops broke down 2 doors at their house responding to a 911 call Cromartie placed after she texted him:
 “God forgive me, I don’t want to die. What have I done?” and “I cut my wrists. I took those pills.”
Police found no blood. It turned out she was just faking it to get his attention because she suspected him of cheating (Where would she get that idea?). When they brought her in for a psych evaluation she was surprised and said she was "exercising her First Amendment rights" which shows both her batshit craziness and her total lack of understanding of the Bill of Rights. Who knows? Maybe this is what it takes to stop him from cheating. More likely, he probably got a couple phone numbers at the psych ward because he's just that classy. Just one more reason to hate the Jets.