Normally you guys would see a video from Third and Long here, but this week we have something a little different for you. I kept meaning to take out the video camera and film all of the awesome people of DolfansNYC, but the Miami Dolphins kept the game very interesting today and I just couldn’t bring myself to move my attention away from the TV. But, I can tell you that the energy at the bar was amazing, the celebrations were huge and the singing was LOUD!

Last week was a tough loss and it might have killed our chances at the playoffs, but at least the Patriots lost and if we beat them today everything gets a lot more interesting. Despite the loss everyone had a lot of fun at Third and Long last week and we hope to see everyone back out again this afternoon.
Remember, the game was flexed from 8PM to 1PM so make sure you are at the bar by 1245 anxiously awaiting kick off!

Also we wanted to mention a few other things:

Short Michelle has been taking drum lessons and on Wednesday she is going to be performing the Monday Night Football theme decked out in Dolphins gear as part of her drum schools student showcase. Come out and support her.

Wednesday, Dec 9th
7pm – 9:30pm
Arlene’s Grocery @ 95 Stanton Street
$12 cover

Also the Miami Dolphins sent us an email asking us to plug their new web show called the 5th Quarter Show. Every week after the game they are going to be doing a live post game online featuring Bary Buetel and Nat Moore. Already they have a bunch of videos up and you should check it out. It seems like it should be pretty great.

Lastly if you have anything Dolphins related you would like to see in the weekly email or on the DolfansNYC website, please let us know. We would love to get more people involved!

Thanks a bunch! Go Dolphins!

During Short Michelle and my trip to Miami we celebrated the Tampa Bay victory at Kim Bokamper’s sports bar.  On the menu was a 3lb buger called The Beast.  If you ate the whole thing you got the $30 burger for free.  Watch my attempt at the unthinkable, all while the Patriots lost to the Colts. Thanks to the Shed Dawgs for cheering me on and of course to Michelle for putting the video together.

It’s Week 13 of the NFL season, which doubles as the final week of the regular season in most fantasy leagues.  I’ve got all of the matchups to exploit to help you secure a playoff spot.  This week’s recommendations include starting a couple of familiar names, benching a top-tier WR, and picking up a few risky and underrated players who could end up making a big difference.  As always, we’ve got plenty of music, photos, and jokes for your viewing pleasure.  Go Fins!!

Here is a video that Michelle put together from the Panthers/Dolphins game two Thurdays ago at Third & Long.  Everything seemed so possible then… sigh… The video is great, I didn’t have time to get it up last week and I have been sulking this week, so here it finally is.  If you haven’t been out to Third & Long yet this video shows you what it’s all about.

I don’t even want to talk about it.  I am not sure if it’s better or worse that New England got killed today. We should be playing for first place next week.  Kill me.

Double click the slide show to get to the gallery on Flickr so you can download the pictures.

[tylr-slidr userID=”” groupID=””]http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolfansnyc/sets/72157622909471132/[/tylr-slidr]

We finally have a chance to have a winning record this week.  We dug out of a deep hole and find ourselves in a great spot. If we can beat the Bills this week and the Patriots lose to the Saints, next week sets up to be a battle for first place in the division. But before we can get ahead of ourselves we need to take care of these Bills.  They are falling apart but they played a lot better last week under a new coach.  They held Mo-Jo Drew to under 100 yards and TO had nearly a 200 yard game for them with Ryan Fitzpatrick replacing Trent Edwards. We can’t take this team lightly.  Should be a fun one.

Now, I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving wherever you may have had it, but I hope you will be back in time.  I am in DC myself right now, but I will be taking a train first thing in the morning to get to Third & Long in time for the game.  I hope to see as many people out as we had last week, that was a fantastic experience. And to keep things interesting, check out this video of Dolphin great Kim Bokamper giving DolfansNYC a shout out from his restaurant in South Florida.  If you are in town for a game, you have to stop by Bokampers.

Go Dolphins!

Last Thursday was one of the craziest nights we have had. If you were there you know how packed it was. At the beginning of this clip I mention that we have interviews with 4 new DolfansNYC members… well it turned out we shot 5 videos and interviewed 7 people! You clearly have to check this video out because it includes a pretty amazing Dolphins tattoo. You have been warned.

I’m Sorry… There were no major screw-ups last week, and Ricky Williams even exceeded the 100 yards and two touchdowns I predicted.  So instead, I’ll use this space to apologize for the lack of video this week due to my incompetence with a video camera and without the assistance of Short Michelle.  Just imagine me reading the following notes, and fumble a name or two in your head to get the most realistic effect.  To make it up to you, I’ll list a few additional players in each category.

Players to Start: I’ve mentioned Matt Ryan as someone to bench several times this year, but after netting two TDs against the Giants last week, he gets to face the Tampa Bay Bucs, who give up the fourth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.  Consider him a QB1 this week.

Just in case you’re thinking of being cute and benching Ray Rice against the Steelers, remember that he’s averaging over 120 total yards per game and that Pittsburgh has been burned by pass-catching running backs in recent weeks.

With Kyle Orton back healthy — I can’t believe I’m using this as a positive — Brandon Marshall goes back to being a WR1 against a susceptible Giants defense that has given up multiple TDs to wide receivers in four of the last five weeks.

Other Starters: Joe Flacco, Thomas Jones (pains me to write it, but he’s facing an awful Panthers defense), Michael Crabtree

Players to Bench: Despite his career game last week, Eli Manning should be on fantasy benches.  No quarterback has thrown for 300 yards against the Broncos, and only Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger have thrown more than one TD pass.

Pierre Thomas is continuing to split carries with Mike Bell, getting only 11 rushing attempts in each of the last two weeks.  Facing the Patriots, and with Reggie Bush likely back to steal goal line carries, Thomas should only be seen as a flex option.

Miles Austin’s numbers have taken a tumble in recent weeks as opposing defenses have made adjustments to cover him.  He’s barely reached 100 yards receiving in his last three weeks combined, and it won’t get much easier against the Raiders and Nnamdi Asomugha (and since it’s Thanksgiving and all, I’m thankful this isn’t recorded and I don’t have to pronounce his name).

Other Bench Warmers:  Brady Quinn (I’m willing to bet he won’t get four TDs during the rest of the season combined), Matt Forte, Steve Smith 1.0 and Steve Smith 2.0.

Players to Think About: If you have an extra spot on your roster, you might want to use it on everyone’s favorite party boy, Matt Leinart.  Kurt Warner is tentatively slated to start this week, but should the oft-injured QB miss any time, Leinart has the weapons (and ridiculously easy schedule) to be a viable fantasy starter.

Rock Cartwright is the newest starting RB in Washington after Ladell Betts was placed on IR.  He picked up 140 total yards against a tough Cowboys defense, making him, well, um, solid as a rock (note that we would’ve also accepted, “Can you smell what the Rock is cookin'” if this were 1998).

Brandon Gibson has caught 12 passes for 154 yards in the last two weeks, though unfortunately, he has Kyle Boller throwing to him this week.  And I’m using the word “throwing” very loosely.

Other Sleepers:  Vince Young, Fred Jackson (just not against Miami this week), Laveranues Coles

That’s it for this week.  Remember to keeping checking DolfansNYC.com for all of the latest Dolphins news, and send us an email if you’d like to be included in next week’s video.  If you’re in the New York area, stop by Third and Long on 35th Street and 3rd Avenue to watch the games with the rowdiest fans around.  Until next week, I’m Alex with “What’s Your Fantasy?”  Go Dolphins!

As I mentioned before in my pictures from Web Weekend, Michelle and I went down to Miami for a gathering of people who run Miami Dolphins websites. It’s great to see everyone every year, but this year we were missing someone.  Our friend Jim Miller had to miss this years event because he was overseas in Iraq. Michelle decided to make a tribute for him while we were down there and I am posting it in two parts below.

Now while a lot of this stuff is directed at Jim, there is tons of footage from our trip including shout outs from players, shots of Tony Sporano speaking to us, and pregame warm ups from the field.  I think you will want to watch it.  Also, if any of you have Dolphins fans overseas you might want to send them to them to let them know how much they mean to the Dolphins nation. And let’s bring em home soon.

Go Dolphins.