This is a very different Miami Dolphins team from the last time we updated our website. The Dolphins have had a full 25% roster overhaul in the short time since we first put #MetLifeTakeover tickets on sale. The team that is suiting up this Sunday vs the Ravens is going to have a lot of new faces and may not be the juggernaut we expect from the Miami Dolphins, but we’ve been through tough seasons once or twice before and I am hopeful that looking back in a few years this will be the best thing to happen to us since we drafted Dan Marino.

The reason we started Dolfans NYC is because football is more fun when you are watching it with other people. The wins are better, but maybe more importantly, the losses are a lot better. You get to commiserate (and perhaps get very drunk) with people who know what you are going through. There aren’t a lot of places where you can make new friends as an adult but I know there are Dolphins fans that I will talk to for the rest of my life because of this club.

10 years ago when we founded Dolfans NYC we expected a few dozen people to walk into our bar Third & Long but by kickoff there was a line out the door. A few years later Third and Long sadly closed and we moved to Slattery’s Midtown Pub and once again on week one we packed the place despite being three times the size of our old home. The #MetLifeTakeover started with 35 people and grew to 70 and then 200 then 750 and it’s averaged over 1000 for the last 5 years. It’s been one hell of a ride and despite the team on the field I am very excited for our 10th season.

To celebrate our 10th season we have a BUNCH of new merch designed by one of our members Jackie who moved upstate and as a going away present made a bunch of stuff for us. You might have seen our 10 Years logo already but you haven’t seen these new shirts. We created a MIAMI NORTH shirt and tank top in the Miami Vice colorway that will look as good in your all white Air Force Ones in NYC as it will walking down South Beach in flip flops. We also have a 10 Years iron on patch for your jerseys and we have two new hats that are in the works.

For one week only (well more like 10 days) this stuff will be available to purchase online. Our regular merch store is closed while we are selling #MetLifeTakeover tickets because it’s impossible for us to deal with both at once, but next Sunday I am going to bring everything I need to ship home from Slattery’s and mail it out the next day. I don’t have time to be shipping constantly, but I can dedicate and afternoon to it. So if you want some of our new merch and you don’t live in the area here’s your chance to get some of our merch. We have our normal Dolfans NYC stuff in the shop as well. And remember, all proceeds go to charity. SHOP HERE.

Speaking of charity, for our 10th anniversary season, our goal is to donate $10,000 to charity and we will be making a donation to a different charity every week of the season. This Sunday we are doing a huge fundraiser for the Jason Taylor Foundation. They sent us a full sized Hall of Fame helmet signed by Jason that we will be raffling. We also have a signed ball that we will be auctioning off at Slattery’s. If you can’t make it to Slattery’s we are selling raffle tickets online as well. If you want a chance to win the helmet send $20 for every 5 tickets to DolfansNYC@gmail.com using PayPal. We will be drawing tickets during the 4th quarter of the Ravens game live on our Instagram so you can watch at home to see if you win.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that after emailing them for months we finally heard back from the Giants about trying to buy group tickets. We don’t have anything set in stone because they have been very slow responding, but it looks like we are going to be able to buy a small block of tickets in the lower level. We will be selling them for $150 which is a lot more than our Jets seats, but at least we get to be near the field for a change. If you don’t have your Giants tickets yet, you might want to hold off for a bit. Feel free to email us (DolfansNYC@gmail.com) to get on our email list when the tickets go on sale. For now, get your Jets tickets here!

Okay, that’s it! Sorry for the longer than normal post, but just so excited for our 10th season of Dolfans NYC! See you guys on Sunday! Phins up!

The first game of the year is tomorrow and I know everyone could not be more excited. I will probably get about two hours of sleep tonight. It’s like Christmas morning for adults! Slattery’s is going to be rocking tomorrow so make sure you get there early! The bar will be open at 11! It’s going to be amazing and in celebration of opening day we are launching the Dolfans NYC E-Shop!

As long as there has been a Dolfans NYC logo people have wanted t-shirts with that logo on it so of course we made t-shirts. Of course when that happened people who didn’t live in NYC wanted the shirts. For years we have said that the shirts were only available at Dolfans NYC events because we wanted people to have a reason to come to our watch parties. That was partly true, but the real reason is that I hate going to the post office and didn’t want to deal with any of the shipping. Michelle has a full time job and a baby and I run my own business. We just simply don’t have time to ship stuff.

Fortunately we found a solution! A friend of mine for nearly 20 years runs a small record label and record distribution company called Handstand Records and I pitched him the idea of selling some Dolfans NYC stuff for us. He is sending out shipments every day already and was open to the idea of selling our gear. Not only that but he built the web store for us!

So now you can get Dolfans NYC T-shirts anywhere in the world! (Looking at you Belgium!) Plus we have some new stuff this year like tote bags! Ooh! When it gets a little colder we plan on making some sweat shirts and reprinting the very popular Dolfans NYC beanies, plus we have some surprises in store! So keep checking back!

And remember all the money we make (after Handstand’s cut) goes back to the Dolfans NYC war chest which is used to buy more merchandise, throw bigger and better events and most importantly donate money to charity! We have donated nearly $10,000 to the Miami Dolphins Foundation alone! So spend some money, get some cool stuff and do some good!

So click here already and visit the Dolfans NYC Web Store!!

Oh man! I am watching real football as we I type this. The Ravens have a first and goal against the Broncos in the first quarter and that’s a touchdown. Vontae Leach scored the first TD of the regular season. He could have been a Dolphin.  Anyway, the Dolphins play their first game this Sunday and I couldn’t be more excited. I don’t have much interest talking about the upcoming Browns game, there are a million sites you can read about that, but I wanted to talk about the upcoming Dolfans NYC watch party.

First of all I want to remind everyone that we are now watching games at Slattery’s Midtown Pub on 36th St between 5th Ave and Madison. If you haven’t heard, 3rd & Long closed it’s doors after 22 years in business. It’s amazingly depressing, but fortunately we found Slattery’s and Slattery’s is going to be a fantastic home base for Dolfans NYC.

Slattery’s is only a few blocks away from 3rd and Long but it’s a lot closer to both Grand Central Station and Penn Station. They are giving us happy hour drink prices and designed a menu with us in mind. Everything from your standards like wings and cheeseburgers to Miami favorites like a Cuban sandwich and menu items named after the Dolphins like the Ricky Williams veggie burger. On top of that free shots when the Dolphins win. It’s also a much bigger place with a lot more seats and a lot better sound. It’s going to be amazing.

A few other notes about the bar… There is street parking on Sundays and after 7pm so we should be good as far as that goes unless we get a Saturday playoff game. So let’s hope we have to deal with that problem. The bar is also ALL AGES so if you have kids who are Dolphins fans you are welcome to bring them, but be warned, it is impossible to get certain members (me) not to scream obscenities at the TV so be warned. Also, I wanted to mention that the bar is ONLY showing the Dolphins game upstairs. Downstairs they will be playing the local game but that’s it. We are going to try to get a Redzone TV upstairs but other than that it’s all Dolphins all the time. So if you bring a friend who’s expecting to watch another game, they might be disappointed. Other than that, this place is perfect, and honestly I don’t think I am going to miss non Phins fans hanging out at our bar…

With a new bar and a new logo comes new t-shirts. We got brand new Dolfans NYC t-shirts that will be available on game days starting with Sunday at Slattery’s. They are grey tri-blend shirts that are amazingly comfy and even come in women’s sizes. We spent a TON on these new shirts so the price is gonna go up to $20 but all the money goes to charity (and to making more Dolphins stuff). We got stickers, buttons and bracelets coming soon, and hopefully they will be here by Sunday but no promises. Lot’s of cool stuff this year.

Anyway this year should be amazing on the field and here at Dolfans NYC. Hope to see you guys at Slattery’s!

About a dozen members of Dolfans NYC met up at the NFL draft. There were more of us originally planning on going but there was rain and some miscommunication and not everyone showed up. Still, we had a pretty nice group as we waited in line for 5 hours on Wednesday and 3 hours on Thursday. A few of us even went back the next day, but we only stood around for about an hour. It was an awesome time despite the lines. All the football fans were talking smack and talking football. We all love the game and it was just a great time.

I can’t tell you guys anything you probably don’t already know about our draft picks, but I did meet one of Jered Odrick’s high school coaches and he had nothing but amazing things to say about the guy. He said he will make our OLB’s so much better because the Olinemen will never be able to get past him. He talked about the guys character and how psyched we should be. My freshman year roommate at Penn State still lives in State College, PA told me a lot of the same stuff, and compared him to Pittsburgh DT Aaron Smith. That’s some high praise.

Anyway, this update is mostly just to share with you some of the pictures I took at the draft. There are some nice ones, check it out.

Ps. Check out our new t-shirts in the pictures!

[tylr-slidr userID=”” groupID=””]http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolfansnyc/sets/72157623811064019/[/tylr-slidr]

In the history of the Texans franchise they are 4-0 against the Dolphins. They are the only team in the league that we have never beaten. That ends Sunday.

We may only have marginal shot at the playoffs, but one thing we can do is finally end this Texans win streak and I can’t wait. According to Accuscore the Dolphins have a 32% chance of making the playoffs, and with the Titans losing last night that probably went up a tiny bit. We still have to have Baltimore lose both their games or the Broncos lose to the Chiefs, but we do have a shot and that is more than can be said for a lot of teams.

This is a big week for us as a club too, because we finally got a logo designed and we are going to have T-shirts made up. We will probably wait until next season unless we make the playoffs, but a lot of people have asked about them and we will be making it happen. Check out the logo designed by comic book artist Jim Callahan below.

Another link I was asked to send your way was a reminder to check out the Dolphins 5th Quarter Live show. After every game they do a live wrap up of the game live on MiamiDolphins.com. The old episodes are worth checking out too.

And lastly a little bit of bad news as far as I am concerned. Both Michelle and I are going to be out of town this week. She is in Miami for the holidays and I ended up getting stuck in DC. I actually may make it back by getting on an early bus tomorrow, but I have a feeling I will be watching the game with the Arlington/DC Dolphins Fan Club. I hope you guys still pack Third and Long. It should be a big game. Hopefully I will make it in time, but if not, I will see you week 17 and hopefully beyond.

Go Dolphins!

Ps. Hope you guys like the new logo. Let us know what you think!