Just want to get this up quickly before the game and then I will come back and update with some more info. Just wanted everyone to know we are having a party next Saturday at Slattery’s Midtown Pub (8 East 36th St in Manhattan) from 4-7pm the night before the #MetLifeTakeover! We will have some really serious raffle prizes, tons of Dolfans NYC merch for sale and a live performance from Solo D. DJ Tropic will be DJing all evening as well and we should have some cool surprises in store.
It’s a great chance to meet fellow Dolfans before the game. Last year’s pre-party was a blast and Jay Fiedler showed up and signed some autographs. Don’t miss it!
Lastly, we are doing a toy drive so bring an unwrapped toy and we will give you two free drink tickets for the #MetLifeTakeover tailgate thanks to Pabst Blue Ribbon!
The line snaked around the charcoal Hugo Boss mannequins, extended past the neatly-arranged display of striped Lacoste polo shirts and tucked between the Calvin Klein and Michael Kors autumn apparel collections.
As cardboard posters bearing Dan Marino’s likeness and career accomplishments padded a makeshift stage on the second floor of Macy’s in the Dadeland Mall, one night before Halloween, hundreds of shoppers dressed in their favorite Miami Dolphins throwbacks and dug out beloved No. 13 memorabilia in hopes of snagging a priceless memory with the greatest player in team history.
Nearly an hour before the meet-and-greet was scheduled to start, a DJ began blasting remixed versions of familiar ‘Jock Jams’ through the department store speakers – Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” was a particular crowd-pleaser – while a fellow employee in an eggplant suit jacket tried to hype anxious fans by rattling off Marino’s impressive highlights.
None of the excitement appeared to faze our 20-month-old toddler, Charlie, who – with his bedtime on the horizon – began acting like a cranky, restless 20-month-old toddler, sprinting in the opposite direction, intentionally grounding crackers and spiking cubes of cheese in protest rather than celebration.
Considering we’d already waited in one line to make a qualifying purchase, followed by another to secure a color-coded wristband that corresponded with our place in the autograph queue, it was hard to blame him. Luckily, with most Macy’s clerks focused on instructing customers and curious onlookers, an unmanned cash register served as a welcome distraction, as Charlie pushed buttons, giggled at the cacophonous beeps and error messages, and quickly discovered how to print blank paper receipts.
Although Marino arrived a half-hour late, to his credit, the Hall of Famer – decked in a slim-fitting black suit and matching tie – made sure to shake each fan’s hand and personalize autographs, listening intently to variations of similar anecdotes he’d undoubtedly heard for decades.
Charlie could barely keep his head up and eyes open by the time it was our turn to meet his our Dolphins hero, gazing silently as an event staffer handed us a trio of black, Hugo Boss embossed footballs and borrowed my iPhone to snap nearly two dozen photos.
After we shared a few kind words with the former NFL MVP – informing him of DolfansNYC’s growth and proud commitment to charitable endeavors – a smiling, nodding Marino high-fived Charlie and gently patted him on the head, penning ‘Go Deep’ above his signature with a silver sharpie.
Photo: Alex Kramers/DolfansNYC
Charlie may be too young to realize the significance of that moment, but one day, he’ll understand not only the meaning of the inscription, but the sentimental value of joining his parents and grandfather in a snapshot of three generations of Dolphins fans alongside their football idol.
And Dan, when that time comes, he’ll be sure to take you up on your offer.
Hey guys! It’s not too late to sign up for the #MetLifeTakeover! I just wanted to post the info again so that people would see it right when they went to our site. We have over 600 people who have paid for tickets already! Should be an amazing time when the Dolphins come up to play the Jets!
We are also going to be doing a big tailgate and tickets for that will go on sale very soon. It will be $25 for food, water and a booze thanks to PBR, Sailor Jerry and Aqua Hydrate water. But more on that soon.
We are also going to be having a party the night before at our bar Slattery’s Midtown Pub, but more on that later as well. We are behind on everything because of Michelle’s move but don’t worry, we are on top of everything. See you guys soon.
Sign up here and get your money in as soon as Michelle emails you. Thanks & Phins up!
Last weekend we headed down for Miami for a convergence of two events. First we had the annual Web Weekend which is a conference of people who run Miami Dolphins web sites that has been hosted by the Dolphins for the last 12 years. Michelle and I became friends there so the birth of Dolfans NYC came out of that event. The second event is the Dolphins Fan Club Weekend which is a gathering of fan clubs from around the country for a home game. Unfortunately since we are part of both weekends we can’t go to all the events but we had a great time anyway. Oh and the game was pretty good too…
Let’s see if I can give you guys a quick rundown of the event.
FRIDAY:
On Friday we went to the team training facility and got to listen to a bunch of people talk and we did a little Q&A with everyone. The highlight was of course Coach Campbell but we also got to talk to Matt Darr, Rishard Matthews and Mike Tannenbaum which was pretty awesome. Darr might have been the most interesting speaker actually because he talked a lot about what it’s like being an undrafted free agent with almost no hope of making the team, but it was all pretty great. Fortunately our resident journalist, Alex Kramers, wrote up the Campbell talk and he got a few moments to himself with Rishard Matthews!
SATURDAY:
Web Weekend on Saturday always starts with a community service event with the Dolphins “Special Teams”. This particular Saturday we helped Feeding South Florida pack up expired but still good food to give to families in need. And by “we” I mean everyone else because I slept 90 minutes the night before and was dead to the world. Luckily we made a $250 donation Feeding SF so I feel a bit less guilty.
Saturday afternoon was our chance to tour the practice faculties, check out the Nick Saban Memorial Bubble, and eat in the team cafeteria. After that we had the Miami Dolphins Webbie Awards that are given out by the team and voted on by other Miami Dolphins sites. For the third or fourth year in a row we won the Eddie Jones award for community service which is what we strive for. So I want to thank everyone who has helped us raise money for charity ever year. Speaking of which we donated $5000 to the Miami Dolphins Foundation which was a great thing to be able to do. Thanks again! (Oh we also won the Webbie for best use of social networking which I got to keep cause I run all that stuff! Woo!)
Between Webbies we got to talk to some more people including CEO Tom Garfinkel (who is always incredibly interesting to talk to) and Dolphins legend Tony Nathan who has a movie in theaters now about his life! I cannot wait to see Woodlawn now that I know it’s about him. Tony was wearing an Alabama hat so we had to give him a Dolphins NYC hat and he actually wore it to the Dolphins game the next day when has an honorary captain! Amazing! The webbies ended with a media roundtable where we got to ask of Dolphins journalists a bunch of questions. The roundtable featured Adam Beasley, Andrew Abramson, Andy Cohen, Alain Poupart and Dolphins great Kim Bokamper. Afterwards we gave Kim a Dolfans NYC shirt which makes up for the time that he let me take home a menu from his restaurant… speaking of…
After the webbies we went over to Bokamper’s to meet up with the Fan Club Weekend crew. We had about 25 people in Miami for the game so it was good to see Crazy Uncle Billy and the crew. We just missed Solo D’s performance but I think he is gonna play both the #MetLifeTakeover AND the Takeover preparty so I wasn’t too upset about it.
SUNDAY:
What can I even say about Sunday? It was the best first half I have ever seen in my life. There was even an insane storm during part of it but I just stayed in my seat and got wet. What a blast that was. The second half wasn’t quite as exciting but it was still a great time and honestly I thought I was going to pass out if I had to sing our fight song again!
So yeah, amazing weekend and it was awesome to see everyone and be in Miami. Big extra thanks to Scott Stone and Sergio Xiques for throwing the Web Weekend and Fan Club Weekend for us.
Oh and see you guys tonight at Slattery’s for Thursday night football!!!
So the Dolphins play at 9:30am on Sunday and we are gonna have a party. Slattery’s Midtown Pub will be open at 8am and will have some breakfast food options, a lot of coffee and of course some appropriate drinks. Fortunately for us before Slattery’s was our bar it was a soccer bar and they are used to opening at weird times for games. Despite the unfortunate few weeks the team has had this is Jets week and I wanna see everyone out at the bar.
On top of just a big game and the weird timing, this is going to be Michelle’s last game as a New Yorker. As per her last post, she is moving to Miami and taking her husband and Dolfans NYC blogger Alex with her. Everything we do would be impossible without Michelle and we are all fortunate that she is still going to be working on the #MetLifeTakeover and helping out as much as possible from Miami, plus I know she’s gonna be coming up a few times a year to party with us.
So come out early and let’s get some anger out on these Jets and give Michelle a hug because you won’t see her in NYC again until the #MetLifeTakover. Let’s pack the bar and have some fun at a totally unreasonable hour.
As many of you already know, I am moving to South Florida in a few weeks. It was a bittersweet decision because while we are thrilled to be moving closer to my family (and the Dolphins!) we are also sad to leave the city, our relatives here and of course, DolfansNYC.
We are working on a new About Us section for our website, so I won’t go into the whole history of the club, even though I really want to. It’s honestly one of the things I am most proud of in my life. What this club has turned into is so incredibly awesome and I still look around on game days in disbelief at what it’s become.
The fact that we have donated over $20,000 to charity in 7 years is nothing short of amazing.
The fact that the Miami Dolphins organization has taken notice and are actively in support of what we do is incredible.
The fact that Jets fans can’t walk within a 5 mile radius of Slattery’s without hearing us singing the Dolphins fight song warms my heart. 🙂
The fact that we have turned MetLifeTakeover into a huge annual event that gives our team home field advantage in another city makes me so happy.
All of this is thanks to you guys.
For showing up.
For bringing your friends.
For buying raffle tickets.
For tailgating with us.
For sitting with us in the cold in the 300 level section.
For posting, tweeting, sharing, tagging and blogging about DolfansNYC.
And much, much more.
You guys have made this club what it is today and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of such a remarkable group of fans. The rest of the league should be jealous.
I will miss everyone so much and will forever look back on all of my wonderful memories of spending game days with my DolfansNYC family.
Love,
Michelle
PS…This isn’t officially goodbye. I will continue working on MetLifeTakeover and will contribute in any way I can to the club. I’m also planning lots of visits! 🙂
