Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins is a professional football franchise located in Downtown Miami. It was established in 1965 and joined the American Football League next season. After merging with the NFL, this team joined the American Football Conference.

Franchise history

The franchise is awarded to lawyer Joseph Robbie and actor Danny Thomas for $7.5 million. Its first practice locations were St. Pete Beach and Bocca Ciega High School.

The Dolphins were AFL outsiders. Their record was 15-39-2. These results made the owners replace the first coach George Wilson in favor of Don Shula. He changed the game algorithms, and it became an effective measure. Dolphins regularly jumped to the playoffs in the NFL. 1972 and 1973 were golden for them. These Super Bowls are single in Miami history. Shula coached the team till 2009. He raised several football stars like quarterback Dan Marino who has broken numerous league records. Their latest AFC Championship happened in 1984 despite their regular playoff appearances.

Rivalries

The team has strong rivalries with its divisional opponents in AFC East. These are Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots and New York Jets. They refresh two times per year. It also participates in Florida derbies with Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars, but the latter teams relate to the different divisions. Buccaneers is the single interconference rival of the Dolphins competing in the NFC South division. The Jacksonville Jaguars are part of the AFC South.

The Dolphins share a historic rivalry with Indianapolis Colts. They competed twice yearly when the Colts represented Baltimore and shared the same divisions. Then they became the regular playoff opponent of the Dolphins during the Shula era. One of the games between them got the name The Sea of Hands. Its winner was determined in the final seconds of the 1974 Divisional Round game in Oakland. Raiders’ running back Clarence Davis scored the decisive TD.

Another notable game happened in 1982. That game against the Chargers at Orange Bowl was one of the resultative ones. Both teams scored 79 points. The winner is determined in overtime. According to the rules, the Los Angeles Chargers must score the field goal to win the game, while the hosts require only a touchdown. Rolf Bernischke executed the 41-38 game-winning field goal after 13 minutes and 52 seconds of the overtime.

Fight song

The team has its fight song. Its author is Lee Ofman. The musician used instrumentation and words similar to the Houston Oilers’ one. He wanted to inspire his favourites for the 1972 season, and as we know, that approach helped the Dolphins to win the 1972 season. It was popular in the fan society because it brought positive energy. The team appeared in playoffs almost yearly and even qualified for the Super Bowl.

2009 T-Pain and Jimmy Buffett introduced a new fight song, but the Dolphins’ fans booed it immediately after the first preseason game against Jaguars. Thus, the team preferred Buffett’s song “Fins” to celebrate their scores instead of that fight song.

Cheerleading team

Despite discussions about this sport’s future, Dolphins support the cheerleading group. It consists of 45 members. As with any support group, the girls entertain the fans at halftime. Besides, they take part in different contests plus voluntary and charitable programs. Its original name was Dolphins Starbrites to honor Starbrite as the team’s official sponsor. Since 1983, the group rebranded as Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders.

The group awarded brilliant careers for some of the notable contestants. For example, Suzy Talvarez, a member of Cheerleaders between 1998 and 2000, has built a career in radio as an on-air personality. Nathalie Vickers is an announcer on one of the sports networks in the USA. Some others, e.g. Hennely Jimenez and Brenda Lowe, became actresses or models. What names will we hear about after this NFL season?

Mascots

The first mascot was a real dolphin Flipper. It gifted positive emotions for the first seasons, but the club removed Flipper to reduce exploit costs. Denny Sim cheered the fans up to support the Dolphins for a long time until the 7-feet T.D. (the Dolphin) mascot appeared in 1997.