I bought a Ted Ginn, Jr. jersey before the start of the 2009 season and targeted him in the middle rounds of my fantasy football drafts.

It’s easy to forget now, but after Ginn’s terrific sophomore campaign, he had “third-year breakout” written all over him.  In 2008 — when the Dolphins went 11-5 and won the AFC East — he led the team in catches (56), receiving yards (790), return yards (711), and all-purpose yards (1,574; 18th in NFL), while scoring four touchdowns (two receiving and two rushing).  Those numbers may not jump off the page, but they stacked up very favorably to several All-Pro wide receivers who blossomed after their second seasons, including Steve Smith (1.0) and Santana Moss (not to mention, Steve Smith (2.0) and Sidney Rice last season).

Of course, Ginn didn’t come close to living up to the expectations thrust upon him as the Dolphins number one WR, taking a major step backwards to the point of being benched in favor of rookie Brian Hartline.  Ginn had only 38 receptions on the year, tied for 69th among WRs, and his 11.95 yards per reception tied him for 68th with 74-year-old 32-year-old Laveranues Coles.  He dropped nine passes — Dolphins fans would argue that’s actually being generous — which tied him for fourth in the league behind Dwayne Bowe (11), Vernon Davis (11), and Santonio Holmes (10).

Despite his struggles on offense, however, Ginn was sensational on special teams.  While his critics often lamented him for avoiding contact by running to the sidelines, Ginn led the league in yards per touch (17.9), ranked fifth in kickoff return yards (1,296), fifth in yards per return (24.92), 10th in all-purpose yards (1,826), and tied for fourth in non-offensive touchdowns (2).

He single-handedly led the Dolphins to a road victory against the New York Jets on November 1, 2009, becoming the first player in NFL history to record two 100-yard return TDs in the same game (and in one quarter, no less), on a day when the Dolphins mustered just 104 total yards on offense.  I proudly wore my Ginn jersey, just as I did on every other game day, and heard his name praised for perhaps the only time that season.

The very next week, the Dolfans’ love-hate relationship with Ginn was right back on, as he was yet again getting blamed for a loss to the New England Patriots.  He managed just one catch for seven yards, dropping several passes late in the game, and wasn’t as dramatically effective in the return game.

Once the Dolphins acquired Brandon Marshall from the Denver Broncos last week, Ginn became immediately expendable.  The San Francisco 49ers acquired him for a fifth-round pick (145th overall), hoping to use him as a situational deep threat while reviving one of the league’s worst return games.  Still only 25 years old and among the fastest and most athletic players in the league, he leaves Miami with 128 catches for 1,664 yards, a modest 34.7 receiving yards per game average, and five receiving touchdowns over three seasons.

For Ginn, it’s a fresh start in a place where he doesn’t have to deal with the giant shadow of being selected ninth overall in 2007, and hearing the boos that have haunted him since draft day, when fans were hoping to land Brady Quinn (how did that one turn out?).   While he certainly didn’t produce as well as expected, he was routinely forced to play a role that wasn’t suited to his strengths and became the scapegoat for the team’s offensive struggles.

Could Ginn have been better utilized in the slot and opposite Marshall, a true number one possession receiver?  Could he have stretched the field and found himself wide open down the field when Marshall faced double teams?  At the very least, could a proven return specialist, whose role will now need to be filled by the undoubtedly slower Davone Bess, Patrick Cobbs, and Brian Hartline, have made the offense more productive and dangerous than any player the Dolphins can draft in the fifth round?

“I wouldn’t say a sense of relief, but it’s always good to have a new start,” Ginn said. “Leaving Miami, I don’t hold any grudges, no bad feelings about anything. My time was up there. I enjoyed it there, and now it’s time to move on.”

I truly hope that he does well in San Fransisco, and while I’ll always cheer for Miami, I’ll be sure sure to wear my Ginn jersey the next time he plays against the Dolphins.

Wow. We just traded two 2nd round draft pics to the Broncos for Brandon Marshall. That is nuts.  I went to bed and when I woke up we were suddenly a much better football team.  And yes, the pics are worth it.  Marshall has had domestic violence issues and problems with Josh McDaniels in Denver, but as far as I am concerned he is well worth the risk.  He is going to make Chad Henne so much better, he is going to spread the field and make the run game so much better, he is going to make the recievers so much better.  The Phins are evidently trying to trade Ted Ginn, but with Marshall there is no way you can double Ginn, or Bess or Hartline or whoever is on the other side.

Someone pointed out on a forum that this trade could be a good PR move and mabye lessen the hurt of Jason Taylor going to the Jets, but to me this is a response to the Jets trading for Cromartie and Holmes.  It also takes away a second round pick that could have been used to fill the whole that JT and Porter left.  If we resign JT we can wait another year to see how Cam Wake pans out before drafting an ouside linebacker early.  We can focus on nose or safety with our first round pick and spend the rest of the draft trying for the other.  OUr offense could use another guard and maybe a TE, but other than that, it’s really all defense in the draft. I can’t wait.

Speaking of the draft, Dolfans NYC is making a group trip to Radio City Music Hall for the draft.  You have to get in line at 10pm on Wednesday night to get a wrist band and then come back the following afternoon to get in line for tickets.  DolfansNYC is going to meet up around 6pm at a near by bar and send scouts out to see if they are giving out tickets before 10pm like they did last year. We will be sending out a Facebook message and email with all the details, so make sure you join our Facebook group.

Also, Michelle is going to be filming the Draft and our meet up for MiamiDolphins.com so anyone who comes out can get in the video and see yourself on the Phins official web site.  That should be big press for the club!

Lastly, we have some more exciting news!  We will have DolfansNYC T-shirts for the draft.  They are aqua with the DolfansNYC logo printed on the front.  They are insanely bad ass.  They will be on sale at the draft meet up and at games next year for $15.  I hope you pick one up so we can really represent at the draft.  We spent a good deal of money on them, so we need to sell a bunch of them to break even.  After that the money will be used for promotional stuff for the club, raffle items and other club expenses. Last year Michelle and I dropped a lot of money on this club, and it would be nice to at least break even this year. Anyway, the shirts will be amazing so I don’t think I am going to have to guilt anyone into picking them up… heh.

The shirts won’t be ready until next week, but to see the logo in action, check this picture Michelle took of the DolfansNYC banner her friend printed up for us. This will be hanging out front of Third and Long every Sunday.  Get excited!

The Dolphins are planning big things for the fans for the upcoming draft.  I just got this in my inbox from the Dolphins.

MiamiDolphins.com will provide live video coverage as General Manager Jeff Ireland hosts his annual pre-draft press conference on Thursday, April 8, 2010, at 12:30 p.m. After the press conference at 1:00 p.m., Ireland will take part in a 30-minute Live Video Chat with Dol-Fans. We ask that fan please be sure to submit your first name, city and state with their question. To submit a question for the Dolphins General Manager, please go to www.MiamiDolphins.com/AskJeffIreland.

Its not often that the Dolphins give access to Jeff, much less fan access, so I hope you guys take the chance to send in a quesiton or two.  I know I have a lot to ask… although very little of it has to do with the draft.

I think my first question might be HOW THE HELL DO YOU LET JASON TAYLOR VISIT THE STINKING JETS!!!?!?!!!??

Good lord, my heart is breaking today.  Let’s just hope this is a smoke screen that actually works in getting JT signed for another two years.  I want him to retire a Phin and it’s not like we are swimming in pass rushers…

On a club update, we are trying to organize a trip to watch the first round of the draft live.  We wanted to do a draft party, but I think we instead are going to bring out a group to the draft.  Hopefully we will have t-shirts by then! Get excited.

And lastly, remember to check out Run Ricky Run on ESPN on April 27th.  It should be really intresting.

Go Dolphins!

[Editors Note: Sadly Nate Jones has left the Dolphins to sign with the Denver Broncos.  Nate Jones was fantastic for Miami as a Nickel Corner who loved the role he played. We wish him well in Denver reunited with two other former Dolphins DB’s Renaldo Hill and Andre Goodman.]

Hey guys!

Hope you’re all having a great off-season. I recently filmed a fundraising event hosted by Cincinnati Bengals Running Back, Brian Leonard. NFL attendees included Cedric Benson, J.P. Foschi, Ray Rice; Shaun O’Hara; Anthony Fasano; Nate Jones;  Jeremy Zuttah; Derrick Roberson; Jamaal Westerman; Manny Collins; Brandon Renkart; Courtney Greene; Gary Gibson; Kevin Malast; Kevin Brock; Jason McCourty and retired NFL veteran Marco Battaglia. Rutgers head coach, Greg Schiano; Chris Quinn of the New Jersey Nets; and Matthew Berry of ESPN Fantasy.

The players who were unable to appear in-person sent autographed and game-used memorabilia for the silent auction.  Among the numerous signed items were a Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Oilers jersey, Chad Ochocinco and Carson Palmer footballs, and helmets from past and present Rutgers and NFL greats.

The efforts of Brian and his fellow athletes and friends helped raise money for Embrace Kids Foundation, a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based non-profit organization servicing children with cancer and blood disorders.

I had a chance to chat with Nate Jones for a few minutes and told him about DolfansNYC. He was really happy to hear about the club and was very appreciative of the support from the fans. Check out what he had to say.

Go Dolphins!!!

Free agency is just a few days old and it has been an exciting one for the Dolphins!  We cut Joey “Bitch, Moan and Won’t Play The Run” Porter,  “Garbage” Gibril Wilson and Akin Ayodele.  We also let unrestricted free agent Nate Jones leave for Denver. In the process we resigned Chad Pennington as a back up and paid former Cardinals inside linebacker Karlos Dansby a dump truck of money to come play for us.  And as we speak we are trying to hammer out a deal for Steelers safety Ryan Clark. One of my best friends is a Steelers fan and spoke very highly of Clark.  So did Peter King in this weeks MMQB.

I am extremely happy we resigned Penny and and pretty upset we let Nate Jones go.  Rarely do you get a player so happy to be a role player and Nate Jones loved the nickle.  He always made plays when he had to and he played is ass off on special teams.  The only problem is that Will Allen is probably going to be playing nickel next year so we had to let somebody go.  Speaking of Nate Jones, Michelle met him last week and has a video message from him that will be going up on this website so check back then.

Lastly, I wanted to tell you guys a funny story.  Saturday night a friend of mine texted me at 330 in the morning to tell me he was hanging out with a Dolphin.  He is a pretty well known musician but doesn’t know anything about football.  He didn’t know who the guy was, but he knew I was a Phins fan so he texted me. Turns out the guy he was hanging out with was Ted Ginn.  He told me that Ted Ginn called me a bitch because I didn’t want to go hang out.  I texted something about dropped passes, but then I sucked it up and met them out.  It turns out that it wasn’t Ted Ginn at all.  I mean, he looked vaguely like him, but he was too short, fat and old looking to be one of the fastest men on Earth.  I decided not to call this guy out, so I posed awkwardly for some photos with him and played a long.  At one point he pulled me aside and thanked me for not blowing his cover.  It was pretty funny.  I had a good night hanging with them anyway, so it wasn’t a total bust.  I even got a fake autograph!

Anyway, here is a pretty funny picture of me and the fake Teddy Ginn.  And remember, come back on Wednesday to check out the Nate Jones shout out.  Probably one of the last things he ever did as a Dolphin. See you soon! Go Dolphins!

Hey guys.  It’s been a bit since I updated.  I just wanted everyone to know that I am going to try to update this site about once a week during the off season.  Maybe a little round up of Phins news or some videos or something.  I just want to keep the momentum going.

I collect Miami Dolphins related records and I made a few recordings of a couple of things I have.  I will get those up here periodically over the next few weeks and months.  They should be pretty cool, stuff not a lot of people have heard, including the original recording of the fight song which sounds completely different from the one they play at Dolphins Stadium.

Now a few quick words on the Phins:

• Joey Porter is an asshole. He is going on every radio station he can find to complain about the Dolphins and to force his way out of Miami.  I can’t wait to see how Sporano is going to  handel him.  The worst part about it was that Channing Crowder got his back on the air and said that the situation was bad for the team chemistry.
• Thank God the Jets didn’t make it to the Super Bowl.  We would have all had to move if that had happened.  The best part is, because they lost in the AFC Championship they have restrictions on what sort of free agents they can sign. Amazing.
• Speaking of the Jets, seeing Rex Ryan flip off some Phins fans made my week.  I bought a copy of the NY Daily News with him on the cover. The headline read “REX-RATED”.  Next time I see him at the bank I will see if I can get it signed…
• Lastly, how sad is it that we missed out on Drew Brees not once, but twice.  The guy is one of the best in the game and he could have been ours. Instead we got Jamal Fletcher and Daunte Culpepper. Woops

Okay guys, hopefully I will be back soon. We have some off season surprises instore for you, so keep checking back… Go Dolphins!

Okay guys, barring a miracle this is the last Dolphins game this year.  It is pretty sad to bring this to an end, especially when we could have been just a few plays from the post season.  Worst of all, our errors have let the Jets climb back in this thing.

Still, what I am most sad about is Dolfans NYC coming to an end. I have never had so much fun watching games in my life. I know this game is on TV and we don’t have a lot of chances of making the play offs and it is cold outside and a million other reasons not to come out this week.  But I beg of you guys, come out and end this year in style.  Come say bye to all the Phins fans you have met this year and root our team to victory one last time this year.

We have some events planned in the off season, including our second annual draft party.  We are going to get DolfansNYC shirts made by then and we have a few other things up our sleeve.  I will update you guys more after this weekend.

So, I hope we pack Third & Long tomorrow, and if there is anyone out there who still hasn’t watched a game with us, you still have one more chance.  See you soon.

Go Dolphins!

I ended up getting stuck in DC last weekend and watching the game with the DC fan club. I will take full responsibility for the loss because I left the bar at half time to watch the game at my parents house and we immediately got back into the game. I am pretty sure if I had not been cheating on you guys we would have won the game.  My sincere apologies.

Barring a miracle this Sunday will the the last DolfansNYC meet up for a while.  We are planning two events for the off season including a draft party and another event that I don’t want to talk about until it’s finalized.  We are going to be making shirts in the off season and should have those available online soon probably.

I will talk about it more in the weekely email, but since this is probably the last game I hope everyone comes out even if there is not a lot of importance in this game. Clearly reaching .500 would be nice, but I want everyone to come out so we can say good bye for a while.  There are so many awesome people I have met a Third & Long and I hope to see you guys all at least once more before the break.

Anyway, since things are a bit depressing in Dolphins land I will leave you with something to hopefully cheer you up.  It is a shout out from Anthony Fasano repping Dolfans NYC. Fasano has been really with us and donated a lot of signed pictures for the raffles we have had this year.

Go Dolphins!

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!

Augh. The Dolphins were robbed by the refs, but it wouldn’t have been an issue if they could have scored in the red zone and didn’t turn the ball over.  The playoffs are probably out of reach now, but you never know. We still have things worth rooting for though as we have the Texans next week. We have never beat them and they are the only team to hold that honor. We need to end that.

I saw Rex Ryan at the bank on Friday and I ran into Darrelle Revis at a nightclub last night. I have yet to try to fight an NFL football player, but if I keep seeing Jets I just might.  I think I have 15lbs on Revis, although my guess is he can outrun me.

I have to give a shout out to my little brother who is a Titans fan. He came out to the game last week and didn’t talk any smack and actually bought shots for Phins fans after the game. I genuinely think he felt bad about beating us.

And lastly congrats to Hoss for winning the autographed Vernon Carey ball. We met Hoss at our first official DolfansNYC event during the draft last April and he has been out pretty much every week.  This year we raised over $300 for the I Will Foundation doing raffles. I hope we can double that up next year.

Enjoy the photos below!

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