Dolfans NYC At The 2018 NFL Draft
For years when the NFL Draft was in NYC we used it as a promotional opportunity for Dolfans NYC. We would bring flyers and pass them out to every Dolphins fan and we would do everything we could to get on TV, not because we wanted to be “famous” or something, but because we wanted people watching at home to know that there was a place for Dolphins fans in NYC. And you know what? I think it worked!
We were really disappointed when the Draft left New York, but it’s clearly grown into a much bigger and fan friendly event. This year the Draft was in Dallas at Jerry Johnson’s monument to himself, AT&T Stadium. Since the stadium was so massive the NFL had an idea of bringing in superfans from all the teams that way when the draft picks were announced the cameras could show crazy NFL fans screaming on TV.
Each NFL team was given 50 tickets and told to invite their most diehard fans, but the way every team did this was different. I heard that some of the teams held contests to see who the craziest fans were and other teams just gave their wealthy season ticket holders the tickets. It’s why you might have noticed that the fans of the Atlanta Falcons were all dressed like insane people and the New England Patriots fans looked like a bunch of bored middle aged men wearing jersey over business casual outfits.
The Dolphins decided to invited two people from each fan club as well as some season ticket holders. This was really cool because it meant we got to go and we got to hang out with fan clubs from Atlanta, California, DC, the Carolinas and from both New and regular Mexico. It was a great time, but I think the Dolphins made one mistake which was not filling the section. There was a local Texas cheerleading team in half the seats who were wearing Dolphins gear and cheering but clearly didn’t have much of a rooting interest. Day two had even less Dolphins fans and looked pretty sad until they started just letting in Dolphins fans who weren’t in our section to begin with. I hope if they do it again the Dolphins still invite some of the fan clubs, but make sure the lunatics from the Deep End and people like the Dolphins Bandits and Poppa Pump at least get the chance to go.
We totally lucked out with the way the team sections were organized. They were in alphabetical order by division do that the AFC & NFC East were up front. They had four teams to a row so that the Bills and Giants were on the outside and the Cowboys and Dolphins were in the middle. I am sure the plan was to have the local Cowboys up front, but it was nice to benefit from that decision.
The other really cool thing was that the NFL had the draft picks come to each section and celebrate with the teams. The NFL had a selfie stick and took selfies with the draft picks and each fan group. I would love to see those photos but I have no idea what happened to them. This also gave us the opportunity to heckle draft picks of other teams which was fun. I told Sam Darnold all about the #MetLifeTakeover and I let Josh Allen know how much fun it must be to live in Buffalo.
Right before it was our turn to draft I got $14 in ones as change from one of the vendors and I started joking with the former Cowboys cheerleader named Kelsey that was in charge of our section. She dared me to make it rain on our draft pick and like any reasonable person I couldn’t say no to a Cowboys cheerleader. So when Minkah Fitzpatrick had his name called I got my ones ready and when he came over to take a photo with us I made it rain on him. Somehow no one seemed to have taken a photo or anything, but fortunately for everyone Kelsey got video of the whole thing. I realize this was incredibly stupid, but the guy is about to get paid and I thought it was hilarious. Don’t judge me.
Day two of the draft was less exciting, because it’s day two of the draft, but it was still great hanging out with everyone including the super fans from other teams. It’s nice to bond with everyone even if you are all talking a little bit of smack to each other. I got to meet Jetman and his son and told him how excited I was going to be to see him again at the #MetLifeTakeover. Day two also featured an NFL legend and a current player announcing the picks. We had Dwight Stephenson and Reshad Jones who are both two of my favorite players of all time. I hope we get to see those selfies we took with them!
Lastly I should mention that I don’t really care about what draft picks we get because no one really knows if they are going to be good or not, but I am really happy we got out of day two with a TE that can score in the red zone and a very fast linebacker. I am also really happy with Minkah because I didn’t want to draft a QB early and my favorite position is safety. I hope he can come in and play free safety and let Reshad do what he does best and stay in the box and absolutely destroy people. Hopefully all our day one and two players can contribute right away.
So thanks again to the Dolphins for inviting us out and I hope we can do it again next year! I brought my pro camera and took a bunch of photos on day one including some of stuff that was going on before the draft and of course pictures of superfans. I didn’t shoot a ton because I was too interested in the actual draft, but I think you will enjoy the shots anyway. Phins up!
Ps. I finally got on TV on day two praising the mighty Dolphins Baby!
