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!

With cut day in full swing we know one football player who is not going to be cut by the Dolphins. Mike Wallace should change this team dramatically this year even when he’s not catching the ball. Our biggest free agent move should be pulling in touchdowns and freeing up space for our other receivers and running backs.

DolfansNYC has partnered up with Mike Wallace’s exclusive memorabilia dealer to give you a chance to preorder signed Wallace memorabilia in advance of his first autograph signing as a Dolphin. You can preorder stuff that will be shipped to you after he signs everything on September 21st. This is a great way to get some signed Dolphins gear that you know is going to be 100% authentic.

On top of that DolfansNYC gets a cut of every sale and that money will go directly to the DolfansNYC war chest which helps us do fun stuff at our bar and any money left over at the end of the year goes to charity. Last year we donated nearly $5000 to charity and we are hoping we can beat that last year so this Mike Wallace deal seems like a win-win.

So check out the site and get your signed Mike Wallace gear now! 

Are you guys as terrified as I am about our offensive line? Mike Pouncey is one of the best linemen in the NFL and Richie Incognito is the man. I feel like Tyson Clabo will hold is own but the rest of the line frightens me. With the mediocre John Jerry injured the team seems to be in panic mode trying out a bunch of different linemen in different spots. Pouncey can play guard, he did in college, but why would you move one of the best centers in the world? Last years undrafted free agent Josh Samuda is getting a lot of reps all over the line and rookie G Dallas Thomas is seeing a lot of first team snaps. Lance Louis is gimpy and Nate Garner is a great versatile back up but I don’t want him starting any time soon. With all this interior line transition the tackles seem fixed and the most worrisome bit about all this is that Jonathan Martin is our starting left tackle. We are trusting the most important position on the line to a second year player who was absolutely horrible last year. He was playing out of position on the right side but when Jake Long got hurt he didn’t do much better on the left going up against better talent. I don’t need to quote statistics and Martin seems in better shape than last year, but every camp report talks about how dominant our defensive line is and how many sacks they are getting. You have to think that part of it is how terrible our offensive line is.

During the scrimmage the defense beat the hell out of the offense, but we have a great defensive line so maybe that’s expected and we hope they will look better against other teams. Unfortunately the Hall of Fame Game won’t show us much because Dallas has a one of the best defensive lines in the league. (Speaking of lines if you are curious about how sportsbooks are considering these early match-ups may want to refer to NFL lines on the matter.) The second preseason game is when I really hope the line comes together. The Dolphins need to find a line up and stick to it and let the guys on the line gel. Other than a QB and his receivers the offensive line is the position where chemistry is most important. These guys need to know what it’s like playing next to each other and if Mike Pouncey ends up playing guard somehow none of the guys will have been next to each other last year.

As I type this Dion Jordan blew right past Jonathan Martin in practice and Twitter exploded with beat writers talking about how bad Martin is. I just really hope he can get it together and we don’t regret not resigning Jake Long or trading for a veteran offensive tackle.

Are you guys as worried as I am about the offensive line or is it way too early to panic. Let me know in the comments. And don’t forget our Hall of Fame Game meet up on Sunday!

We have been suspiciously silent over here at Dolfans NYC and I figured I had to write an update of sorts. There has been so much Dolphins news of late it’s hard to keep up! I could talk to you for hours about the exciting new offensive acquisitions of Mike Wallace and Dustin Keller or the revamping of the linebackers or my disappointment at losing both Jake Long and Sean Smith. But all that stuff has been covered to death.

I could talk about our needs but I think it’s pretty obvious to everyone that we have big holes on the offensive line and in the secondary and if you guys are paying enough attention you know the names that are still out there in free agency (Winston & Grimes come to mind). I could talk about the draft but I watch about three college games a year and could bring nothing to the conversation. So what can I talk about? How about some Dolfans NYC business!

We have some big things planned for the draft. We are going to do a huge meet up and roll to the draft in force. Last year we got on TV when Tannehill was picked and hopefully we can do it again this year. Show the Dolphins that they have love in Jets country. We will of course update the site when we have firm draft plans, but if you want to get notified about the draft send us an email at dolfansnyc@gmail.com and we will put you on our draft mailing list. We also might be trying to organize something with Mike Wallace for the weekend of the draft but we have to keep all the details top secret for now but if that’s something you would be interested in, email us about that as well.

I also should probably say something about the new logo rumors. Everything I have heard from my source leads me to believe that this could in fact be the logo. I got two messages the day of the leak that lead me to believe the Dolphins are upset that it’s out there. I never thought our leaking what we thought was a draft of the Dolphins logo would turn into a big thing, but whatever the case I hope it doesn’t hurt any of the Dolphins plans.

Speaking of the logo, we need to make new Dolfans NYC shirts and although I wanted them for the draft, I think we might have to wait until after. I want to do a new Dolfans NYC logo when the new logo comes out. That way people who have the old shirt might want to buy a new one with the new logo. Logo changes are all about selling merch and since we are always trying to raise more and more money for charity this seems like a perfect opportunity. If anyone has any new ideas for raising money for charity let us know. We are always looking for new fundraising ideas. Raising money for the Miami Dolphins Foundation is not only a good cause, but it shows the Dolphins we are doing positive things and it makes them want to support us as a club. It’s a win win for everyone.

Anyway, that’s it for now and I hope to update the site more often as we get ready for the draft! Go Dolphins!

I know most people don’t care about the Pro Bowl and honestly I think the last one I watched featured Ricky Williams as the MVP but I haven’t updated Dolfans NYC much recently so I figured I should try to pretend to be interested in the Pro Bowl.  The Dolphins have a few players on the roster and as always I find the choices super questionable. So let’s talk about it.

Who made the team and who SHOULD have made the team?

Cam Wake is our only starter with John Denny the only AFC long snapper. Randy Starks and Richie Incognito also made the team as alternates after other players backed out. Reshad Jones, Mike Pouncy and Brandon Fields all should have made the team. Jones was one of the best safeties in the NFL this year much less the AFC. Pouncy out played his brother who is a Pro Bowl starter and Brandon Fields averaged over 50 yards a punt and was probably the best player on the Dolphins.

What happened?

The problem is that the Dolphins are not a great football team. Even with all their cap room and draft pics I doubt anyone has bet on the Miami Dolphins to win the Super Bowl next year. When you are an under .500 team you aren’t going to get any love from the Pro Bowl voters even if you have some really deserving players on the team. Hopefully our players will get a little more recognition next year when we finally make the damn playoffs. At least Fields was rewarded with a new contract.

Should you watch the Pro Bowl?

Eh, probably not. At least we are only three months from the NFL draft… sigh…

Now that the Dolphins are officially out of the playoff hunt we can start looking forward to the future. After we beat the Pats next week and before the draft one big item needs to be talked about… the new logo. Mike Dee promised to make an announcement on the new logo soon and I know the Dolphins nation is very worried. There has been so much speculation and concern, but let’s talk about what we know for sure.

During the Miami Dolphins Web Weekend Mike Dee talked to a group of Dolphins webmasters about the logo. He gave us three bits of information:

1. The new logo would be a mix of modern and retro.
2. He implied that navy would still be an accent color.
3. He showed the logo to Dan Marino, Bob Griese and Nat Moore and they all loved it.

Recently I was presented with some new information about the logo. If I hadn’t been in the exact place and time this would have never come together. The first bit of information is that a Dolphins fan and friend of mine has been showing off this logo that he swore was a sketch of a design for what would become the Dolphins helmet. I didn’t put too much stock in it because it didn’t look anything like any logo I had seen and the Dolphin looked a bit too much like a whale.

Fast forward to last Sunday and I was talking to a friend who happens to work with Nike and was bragging about how they had seen the new uniforms and logo. I don’t want to say too much but their job requires seeing new uniforms well in advance of most people. They of course have to sign a non-disclosure agreement and couldn’t tell me anything except that they didn’t love the logo because the Dolphin looked too much like a whale. That seemed like too much of a coincidence and my friend who had showed me the logo happened to be standing right there. He showed my Nike source the photo on his phone and they flipped out. “How did you get that?!” the source asked. Evidently the logo he has had this whole time is “very very close” to the new logo.

Today I saw my friend again and asked to see the logo again. I took a photo of his phone with my phone and although it’s a terrible picture I am VERY confident that this is a rough draft of the logo. If you look carefully the fins are navy and there are sort of navy accents on the Dolphin. This is a sketch but like I said, I am 95% sure the Dolphins new logo is going to look a lot like the photo above.

Other bits of information I got from my source is that the Dolphins will not have an orange jersey next year and that the Vikings new uniforms are retro and “awesome”. The  source seemed to like our uniforms more than the logo and hinted that they were retro, but wouldn’t say much more than that.

Now as a very loyal Dolphins fan I was conflicted about leaking what I believe to be the new logo, but I don’t think any news source would take my friend of a friend story seriously and I don’t think many people will pick up on this. But when the logo comes out I can point to this and say that DolfansNYC broke the logo first! Then again there is a small chance I am totally wrong too. So I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Lastly, I don’t hate the logo. I am a big fan of the stupid helmet on the Dolphin so I will miss that, and yeah it looks a lot like a whale, but it could be a lot worse. I am still pretty excited to see the new uniforms that my source seemed to think would be revealed at the NFL Draft. Ross had to put his stamp on this team and I don’t hate the logo and I am sure five years down the road no matter what the logo looks like we will still all love it. Go Dolphins!

The Miami Dolphins are about due a victory of the Patriots – in the last 4 meetings between the two teams, the Patriots are 4-0. This simply will not do. They are travelling to our turf; and if what I am hearing around the interwebs is true, then home field advantage is unlikely to be in effect, as it seems that they will have just as many of their supporters present, if not more. One report I read suggested that the Dolphins’ offense have been practicing with loud crowd noise blaring away this week in preparation for just that scenario. It’s embarrassing but it seems that that’s just the way it is.

The Brady-lead Patriots are just as good as they have ever been with the sixth round pick out of Michigan at the helm. Since taking over the mantle, Brady has made New England a perennial playoff team and a force within the AFC and the AFC East. He is to Patriots football what Marino was to Dolphins football. They will sure miss him when he is gone. Look, this isn’t me just paying lip service to the guy – the fact of the matter is that the Patriots’ success hinges on Brady. The facts are that this Sunday we face a team that is 1st in scoring, 1st in offensive yards and 4th in passing yards, on the shoulders of the QB. Brady is putting together another MVP-calibre season having thrown just the 3 interceptions and currently holding a QB rating of 105.2. They are good, but Brady is the cog in the machine that keeps this team ticking over so nicely, disrupt his game and the whole thing kinda doesn’t work so well. Yeah, the running game currently ranks 6th in the league, but make no mistake, many of those are Brady’s yards as as well, he just now has a running back who can make the most of a great passing game.

(more…)