Cheerleader voting - next round

We had a couple of close matches among the last grouping, but we were able to call winners.

And the voting continues with a new group of ladies:

http://bitchindave.com/cheer/cheer.asp (web voting)
http://bitchindave.com/cheer/vote.asp (mobile voting)

Enjoy!

A couple of notes

Sean Smith's offense was ariving late to the warmups (players have to be at the stadium at a specific time). I suppose that was typical of all the dbs last night - they were always late in coverage.

Coach said after the game that he anticipated that about 40ish players are locks to make the team, but there are about a dozen slots still up for grabs, and he will look at the game film, and use the last game to fill out the roster.

Pat White had been referred to as "the 4th Qaurterback" by coach Sparano. And he was not expected to play. And there he was in the 4th showing *some* running ability, but he still wasn't able to find many open receivers. He is probably one of those who will probably not make the roster...but Sparano wants to be sure, and I suspect he's thinking there's always a chance someone might want him in a trade (though I highly doubt it!) so you want to get him a small showcase.

Brandon Marshall and Chad Henne ae not on the proverbial same page. When you watch them out there, you'll sometimes see Marshall make a cut and look for the ball over, say, his left shoulder, and the ball comes in over his right.

As the game started, the scoreboard showed the score "Dolphins 42, Falcons 0." This was up there for the entire first series. I was amused.

I would argue the 4th and 5th receivers will come down to Marlon Moore, Patrick Turner, and Roberto Wallace. All signs point to Turner making it regardless. The third guy will show up on the practice squad.

Micah Johnson played well enough to probably secure a roster spot.

Not the greatest effort...

Preseason game 3 is the one you circle on your calendar. Its the one where the team actually game plans, and the starters play into the thrid quarter. You expect that your team will go all out and do something to show what kind of team they are. And when you happen to be squaring off against a good opponent, that raises the stakes.

And the Dolphins fell flat.

We saw literally nothing from the starters on offense. They had less than 200 yards passing and under 100 yards rushing. Marshall came up with, what?, 2 catches. Brown and Williams were held in check. You had some silly mistakes, and a sack in which three defenders were on Henne and no offensive linemen were nearby. That's a huge breakdown.

On defense, Mike Nolan still played it vanilla. There was nothing to latch onto. No moments when you said "hey, we might actually be good!" Nothing. I was hoping to see something that inspired. I didn't. Coverages were weak, pass rush was nonexistent. It was sad. And it started before the game as Sean Smith was demoted for "violating a team rule" leaving the much-maligned Jason Allen as the starter. He played pretty much as I would have expected, but that's not going to be good enough.

Special teams got a lot of work, naturally, and there wasn't a punt blocked. Carpenter hit a 53-yard field goal, and made a nice tackle on a kickoff. But if that's the best I can say, that's pretty sad.

Hey, but at least they were injury free! Oh wait, that's not true, either. Jake Grove, Joey Haynos, and Brian Hartline left the game. And of those, it seems that Haynos' injury is the most serious. We'll see soon.

As for performances, well, I thought Vontae Davis played well. I still think he's the real deal and will be a solid starter for years to come. Paul Soliai was actually a factor in the game, and clogged the middle well. Dansby played well, as did Bell. On offense....I can say nice things about Vernon Carey, and....end of story. Everyone else seemed to have rocky performances.

I did enjoy watching John Jerry matchup against his brother. But it was nothing special and no one clearly won. Mom's probably happy.

Is all of this cause for concern? Maybe. It might mean the Dolphins start off slow *again* this year (they are 1-6 under Sparano in September), and that leaves me feeling like another 8-8 (or so) season is in the offing.

I just really would have like to have seen more. As a friend of mine at the game with me said "If I had been at home watching this, I would have fallen asleep in the second quarter." Yes, it was that dull.

The largest cheer of the night came when they played the Dolphins fight song at the end of the third quarter. Ah yes, the glory days...

I wonder where that goes?

There's cabling in the row behind us. I have no idea where it goes. It looks like it stretches through several sections.

Maybe it powers miamis defense

Just for fun

Almost gametime

Miami Dolphins sports bar is a finalist for ESPN's best sports bar in America

A fellow Phin Fan is asking for help...

 

Vote for Miami Mike's for the best sports bar in America:

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/hotcorner?w=19ts9&i=HOT&id=5459332

 

Read more about Mike's here:

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=5499348&hcId=5459332&topId=null

---------- Forwarded message ----------
I nominated Miami Mike's Sports Zone in ESPN Mobile's contest for the best sports bar in America, and it made the finals.  This is the bar I go to up in New Jersey to watch all the Dolphin games, and it's a Dolphins bar near the Jets practice facility.  So we need votes from people so we can win, showing that Dolphin fans are everywhere.

Would you consider writing about this, and see if we can get a Dolphins bar to be the best in the country?  I need the support of Dolphin fans, and you can help promote the efforts.

Thanks in advance!

       -Irv Lustig
       Short Hills, NJ
       Phin Phan since '66

Ever wonder what the dolphins financial picture looks like?

Wonder no more. 

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/30/football-valuations-10_Miami-Dolphins_303017.html

Interesting article

This article talks about fan-sided technology such as fan vision. I did not realize that Stephen Ross owned the company. 

http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/2010/08/24/nfl-experiments-with-fan-controlled-in-stadium-technology/?partner=contextstory

A trade?

Miami traded Greg Camarillo to the Vikings for a db.  I suppose its good because the Phins have some depth at wideout (that still seems odd to me!), but could use some help in the secondary.

But, we'll always miss Camarillo for his contributions to Hispanic Heritage Month in the NFL, since he was the Dolphins' "poster boy"...

...oh and there was this one play that I'm told he made: it turned 0-16 turn into 1-15.

Hunh?

The NFL fined Chad Ochocinco some ridiculous amount of money because he used an electronic device to tweet from the sidelines of the preseason game last week.

I'm not sure what to make of that since electronic devices are *everywhere* and you can literally tweet from anywhere.

That's the No Fun League for you.

Financials in big-time sports

Deadspin.com got a copy of the Florida Marlins financial statement.  It showed basically their balance sheet: how much they made, and how much they paid out.

In effect, it showed that the owner has been distorting reality - oh woe is us, we're losing money! - and it goes to show that the owners of any sports franchise can't be trusted.  Their books are closed, so you have to *trust them*.  There's no accountability there.

Anyway, what did the Marlin's owner do?  He immediately said that it was a criminal act to release that info and he wants the person responsible prosecuted!  Now I don't know if its criminal or not, but its amazing how he simply wants to keep it a secret, and to be sure that the entirety of sports book-keeping remains that way. 

Trust them.  They know what they're doing.  Now please give them a tax subsidy and buy their merchandise and tickets to their sport.

Yeah, I hate the Jets, too

I can not believe that I'm saying this, but I actually have to agree with Tom Brady on this one...
 

Honestly, I haven't turned it on. I hate the Jets, so I refuse to support that show. I'm sure its great TV. I'm glad people are liking it. But that's just something that I have no interest in watching. Id love to say a lot of mean things, but I'd rather not do that, either.

Fwd: 5-time Super Bowl scout thinks improved Dolphins can compete for AFC East

Dave Razzano, the 5-time Super Bowl scout (49ers, Rams, Cardinals) and three-time winner, broke down the rosters of the AFC East for Playmaker Mobile and thinks the Dolphins have enough talent to make it a three team race for the division crown. He thinks the front seven got stronger with Karlos Dansby, thinks Davone Bess will have a solid season and calls Ricky Williams "ageless." The link to the Dolphins post and his bio are below - thought you might be interested.

http://blog.playmakermobile.com/blog/2010/08/miami-dolphins-20102011-scouting-report.html

http://blog.playmakermobile.com/blog/dave-razzano-nfl-scout-for-playmaker-mobile.html

The Jags

Now I know (a) it was a preseason game, and (b) there was lightning. But did anyone see the promotion they were running in Jacksonville last night? "Buy a seat, get a whole section!"

It was empty in there.

And that's something the NFL needs to - and will - address. The commish visited there during training camp and re-iterated the point that fans need to turn out, or the team will move.

And where will they move to? LA, probably. Now we hear that the sentiment in LA is "whatever" when it comes to a pro football team. But the NFL wants the second largest market back. And there is a group that has done almost all of the pre-work to build a stadium....they just need a commitment from the NFL before they break ground.

I suspect that these talks will heat up as we head into the CBA discussions. This is something that the NFL really wants, and there is a team available - without expansion.

We'll see.

This is a winner

This week in crazy: Dorothy Davidson -- A mayoral candidate in Alabama won the coveted (and imaginary) Nick Saban endorsement, with help from Photoshop

Salon.com article

Now why anyone would think He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is a positive endorsement is beyond me.

Followup from the game

Running QBs against Miami's defense scare the bejezzubs out of me.  Last week it was Freeman, this week it was Garrard.  I suspect that this will be an area of concern for the Phins.  It causes containment issues, and the secondary has to cover longer.  That was at least partially to blame for the long gainers last night.

But the good news is that Miami is running about as bland and vanilla a defense as you can imagine.  No unusual blitzes or coverage schemes.  I would *hope* that the installation of those things will help guard against that.  Plus, I think you can do some things schematically, like they did last year once Gibril Wilson got exposed.  The jury will be out on the defense until the proverbial lights come on.

As for Soliai, he did play - albeit sparingly.  I think the last few games last year and his work ethic in training camp have let the coaches know what they have in him.  They wanted to get Starkes a little more work with the first team, and see how the depth worked after that.  I think they also tried sliding the line around a little to take advantage of other player's strengths. 

Crowder, on the other hand, was held out of all but a handful of plays.  The coaches really wanted to evaluate Dobbins, and I think they got a good, long look at him.  I think each of them brings something different to the game, so I expect they will each play a lot.

One other point of concern that I have: has this team become pass happy?  Or was that an aberration?  I certainly hope we get back to what works for us.  I don't mind having an effective passing game, and sometimes throwing a deep ball.  But I still believe the run wins championships.

From the game

Coach Sparano likes his teams to play smart, disciplined football. He
strngly believes in preparation, and values that immensely.

The rains (and more importantly, lightning) came, and there was talk
of the game might simply be cancelled. Bob Griese was saying he
thought that would be awful from Sparano's point of view because he
knew how important this game was to him.

But the show must go on, and Miami came out on defense. They stopped
the Jags, but then were pinned insdie their own 5. It was a bad
series of 3 plays that nearly resulted in a safety - twice - and
that's when [edit: Brandon Fields] had a punt blocked. Now I'm not 100%
positive because of the camera angle that was used, but I think Miami
had only 10 men on the field. But whatever, it was a gaffe, and
Clemons didn't pick up his guy and for the second week in a row, we
had a block.

Jason Allen forced a fumble on the kick, and Miami got another shot.
And this is where things turned around. We started seeing more
production on offense; and the defense held the Jags mostly in check
for a spell. But special teams were still a bit of a thorn, because
they kept giving the Jags good field position.

Then, for a while, I was wondering if Brandon Marshall was going to do
anything. To this point, we had seen two dropped passes, a pass
interference call *on him* and a throw to him in coverage. But the
effect he was having was obvious - teams were taking his threat
seriously which meant that others had to be open; Miami just had to
figure out how to leverage that. For example when Henne threw into
Marshall at the goal line, 4 players were around him. But Martin was
open in the end zone. Then, a while later we saw Marshall's value.
He had a couple of nice catches, and he drew coverage down the field
leaving Fasano covered by a lineman; then Marshall threw a block that
sprang Fasano for a 55 yard TD.

And so it went. We did see some of Pennington, and he looked good for
a guy coming off shoulder surgery. The question for me is whether he
was being showcased for trade value. Remember Miami still has 4 QBs,
and Pennington has the most value in a trade from the GM perspective.
But he also has value as a player....I guess we'll see. Thigpen had
an up and down outing...

Nolan Carroll had been praised all week, and was brought back to
earth. The TD he allowed in coverage - and there were 12 men on the
field - was embarassing.

I think we finally have our starting offensive line - Long, Incognito,
Joe Beger, John Jerry, and Carey. So that means three new starters
from last year on the inside. Hey, if it works, I'm all for it. I
also think that Patrick Turner hasn't done enough to get that 5th
wideout spot, but Marlon Moore has...though it is possible that Miami
might look elsewhere for another guy.

Over on defense, I think your down lineman are set. It will be a
rotation between Odrick, Langford, McDaniel, Grant, and Dotson at the
ends, and Starkes and Soliai at tackle. And then out OLB we have Misi
and Wake as the starters, with Anderson and Moses backing them up.
Inside its Dansby and Crowder, with Dobbins probably getting a fair
amount of playing time.

In all, I would say this was a mostly satisfying performance. The
first half was very good - save for the couple of miscues on special
teams - and the reserves played an adequate game.

What's that say?

What were those things on Brandon Marshall's arms? And does it say "this space for rent" on it?

Quick take

After a long "rain delay" (and I thought those only happened in baseball!), the Dolphins had a pretty good first half against the Jags.  With the exception of special teams, I would argue they did an effective job in the game.   Henne looked good.  Fasano looked good.  Misi looked good.  Dobbins looked good.

 

I'll provide more details after I compose my thoughts...

 

But for the moment, the Dolphins won and that makes them state champs!