So yeah, the Dolphins season ended officially last week. It was a blower and it sucked losing to an AFC East rival and a team that is well… not very good. This season has been very trying for Dolphins fans everywhere but I think we at Dolfans NYC have had it a bit easier than most.  We have each other.

As much as the game sucked last week I think we as a group had a lot of fun.  Buffalo Trace Bourbon threw us a party with a “Shoot the Buffalo” theme.  They had 300 wings on hand and a lot of free and cheap Bourbon for everyone.  We raffled off a Anthony Fasano & Joey Haynos autographed football and a Larry Csonka autographed football.  Along with donations for the food we raised $200 for the I Will Foundation and had some money left over to add to our Dolfans NYC war chest for the off season.

Now this weekend coming up we have the Detroit Lions. This is our chance to get at least one more win at home and make all the Dolfans NYC fans back in Miami for Christmas happy.  This is a try out for all the players on this team that are on the borderline of returning next year.  Henne is going to continue to start the next two games so this will be a big test for him to see if he can show at least something that will make us think he is worth keeping around.  These games are important even if they won’t help us play past January 2nd.

We are out of the playoffs playing an NFC team, who is terrible, the day after Christmas.  I have a feeling Third & Long is not exactly going to be packed.  I know Michelle, Alex and I are all going to be out of town.  Still I know there will be some people in town for the holidays who have never been to Third & Long looking for some people to watch the game with so I hope a lot of you come out. I know the die hards will be there and hopefully there will be a decent crowd anyway.  I’ll be back for the Patriots game to end the season and I don’t want to hear from Curtis that the bar was dead!

So that’s all I got for you this week.  Check out the photos below and I will see you guys next week.  Go Dolphins!

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Dolfans NYC rode in to the belly of the beast last weekend.  It is our third group to the Meadowlands to watch our Dolphins take on the New York Jets.  The first year there were only a few of us.  Last year we had about a dozen… This year we bought 63 tickets to the game and held a huge tailgate with tons of Dolphins fans from all over the greater New York area.  The size of the group may be different but the results have been the same time. Dolfans NYC has walked out of that stadium with a victory.

When we showed up to Giants Stadium at 11:30 in the morning it was pouring rain. We had bought a little tent but the wind was blowing so hard we didn’t have any idea how we were going to set it up.  We had a bunch of meat in the car that was getting warm so I got out and put everything into these cheap coolers we bought.  The first cooler ripped to bits when I dropped the ice in and started blowing away. After a fierce struggle I got everything into the other cooler and returned to the car freezing and completely soaked.  Around 12 another car showed up and the rain had let up a little bit.  They were ready to face the elements so we tried to set up this tent tying the thing to the cars with ribbon that Michelle bought to hang up balloons. It was a very haphazard set up but it was good enough to get the grill set up.  When the wind picked up a few minutes later the tent almost blew away but we held it down until the wind actually bent the poles so badly that we had to throw the thing away after the tailgate. At some point the rain slowed to a drizzle and a bunch more Dolphins fans showed up and we had ourselves a party.

Thanks to Buffalo Trace Bourbon for providing us with a lot of free booze for the tailgate!

The game itself was a mess but I had 16 tickets in my section and we just happened to luck out and were sitting with another handful of Phins fans.  We had some very big dudes with us and some very drunk dudes with us and we just ruined the game for every Jets fan around us and that is exactly what we came to do.  In the end the Dolphins won and we were completely drenched and freezing, but we couldn’t be more content as we walked out of Giants Stadium singing the Dolphins fight song.

I uploaded all the photos to my other website.  So click here to check out all the pictures from the Dolfans NYC tailgate.

Ps. Check back tomorrow for info about the big party this weekend at Third & Long!  Raffles, free Buffalo wings and serious drink specials from Buffalo Trace!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I was having a Happy Thanksgiving until the Jets just scored in the Thursday night game against the Bengals…

Anyway, last Thursday the Dolphins played a game that I don’t think anyone wants to remember.  What I do want to remember is that Dolfans NYC threw a really fun party at Third & Long and raised over $500 for the Miami Dolphins Foundation. The bar was completely packed and up until the Dolphins actually took the field we were having a blast.  It sort of went down hill after that….

At least the week ended on a high note with us getting to meet Dan Marino…

Enjoy the photos of the party below and click the gallery to open them in a new window if you want to save any of the shots.  Go Dolphins.

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So last Sunday was a great win and I think we had a lot of fun at the club. We finally had a game we could enjoy because we actually got up on them and could relax for almost a quarter. Unforutunately the injury news was grim and watching the Jets steal an overtime victory made the taste of the win a little bitter. The Jets keep winning games they should not win and it is insanely frustrating.  Chad Pennington is done for the year and we are going to be sending a severely banged up team into battle against a pretty decent Chicago Bears. I have a ton of friends from Chicago so I am hoping we can win to shut these guys the fuck up. I have a feeling some of them are going to show up at Third and Long but I’ll make them sit by the door…

I will make the announcement tomorrow or Wednesday but we have some surprises in store for you guys on Thursday. It will be a big party and we will be raising money for charity and hooking you guys up in the process so get excited for Thursday night football.

And let the football gods shine on Tyler Thigpen. Enjoy the photos from Sunday and double click the slideshow below if you want to save any of the photos.

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So what can I say? Last week was a disaster and I spent over $200 to attend the game in person. I watched it with a bunch of great DolfansNYC members that responded after I sent out a message last week so I am thankful for that, but being embarrassed at the game was not something I will soon forget. We got beaten in all three phases of the game and even the security guards were making fun of us. It was bad… but not as bad as the Dolphins.

Personally I cannot understand how we could not stop them from running running back dump off after running back dump off. At some point you would think Mike Nolan would have had someone mirror Rice after we got burned.  I have no idea what happened after we have been playing such good defense of late.
On special teams how could we possibly leave a gunner open and allow a punter to complete a damn pass? It was the only time all game we had forced them to punt and we blew it.

And our offense? Now that was something. After a fantastic drive to open the game we decided that we wouldn’t run the ball again. Dan Henning called one of the worst games of his career. We were empty back field half the game. We through something like 50 times and we didn’t start running play action until we were down by 16 with 2 minutes to go.

And the Dolphins solution to this? Bench Chad Henne. To me this is absurd. Henne missed an easy touchdown and he three 3 interceptions, but honestly two of those weren’t even his fault. Evidently he has 7 interceptions on the year that haven’t been his fault.  That is absurd. With the 8 would be INT’s that our defense has dropped we are talking about a -15 turnover margin caused by drops and miscues.  This team has a lot of problems but in my mind the answer is not benching Chad Henne.

That being said, I do think Chad Pennington can come in and lead this team. Henning’s horrible offense is built for Pennington and I think Marshall is going to love him.  Marshall and Bess are both the type of players you can dump short passes off to and Pennington is just the type of guy to throw to him. I think it will turn this team around.

Of course it will probably be the end of Henne in Miami and Pennington will get injured again or just get too old for this and we will have to start all over again trying to find a new guy when I wasn’t ready to give up on Henne.
And lastly the idea to bench Sean Smith for Jason Allen has turned out even worse than planned. Not only did we have some serious coverage issues with Allen in the game but after he got re demoted evidently he started complaining and asking to be released. So now he is playing for Houston and old man Al Harris is having to learn Mike Nolan’s defense.  I don’t exactly see a 35 year old man being a core four special teamer do you?

Anyway, I am going to stop bitching about this team. I love them and I really think they are going to win a bunch of games in a row starting with the Titans.  Yes, the Titans are coming off a bye but Vince Young is still banged up and Moss could just cause havoc in Tennessee. I really think we are due to win one at home and then our schedule gets a lot easier from here on out. If we can go 6 and 2 maybe we are back in this and I think Pennington if he stays healthy might just be the guy to take us back to the playoffs… but we are going to need some luck.

So, I hope to see everyone out at Third and Long this week. We need a big crowd to keep everyone in this. I don’t want to see the place start to thin out because we have lost a few games.  I know the die hards will be in the back with me, but we need to keep that place packed.

Next Thursday we are going to do some special event for the Thursday night game against the Bears… so put that on your calendar and get excited.

See you guys Sunday. Go Dolphins!

The bar started out a little bit empty on Sunday but it was Halloween and everyone was partying the night before, that being said, by the end of the 1st quarter the crowd was bumping like usual. Five field goals was very frustrating for everyone, but signing the fight song after that touchdown was worth all the anguish.  We took another game on the road and hopefully we will do it again next week and hopefully I will be at the game. I grew up right outside of DC and I spent a lot of time in Baltimore as a misguided teen. I love the city but hate the Ravens. I can’t wait.

If you check out the pictures below you will notice a few things.  1) It was Curtis the Third & Long bar manager’s birthday and Michelle got him a cake. That made for a fun and delicous two minute warning. 2) I have noticed that the Last Rights Mac 10 T-shirt is becoming really popular. People ask me about mine, so check their website if you want one.  3) We got new shirts in and the logo is bigger. Michelle should have them next week as I will be out of town but we should have every size now.

Anyway, check the slide show below and double click if you want to download a picture. Go Dolphins!

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Normally when I post picture I talk about last weeks game. I will not this week. I have no comment on the Steelers tragedy so please don’t talk to me about it. Moving on…

This week we have to play the Bengals and the TOcho show.  The game is away so all the pundits are picking us based on some stupid coincidence.  The reason we are 0-3 at home and 3-0 on the road is simply because we played better teams at home than on the road. I have no idea why people are making a big deal out of that irrelevant statistic. Going into Cinci is not going to be an easy game but I really do think the Dolphins are the better team and that we can win this game. The Bengals have a tough defense, but we played pretty well against the Steelers and Jets defenses… we just need to get in the damn endzone.

As always we will be watching the game as a group at Third & Long (35th and 3rd) and win or lose we will have a good time.  We always have drink specials for Dolphins fans and now we have our own Dolfans NYC IPA that is only $4 a pint. We should be doing some sort of raffle this week and we finally got new large and XL t-shirts in.  We got the logo printed bigger on them this time too. They look really good.

And lastly if you have questions about group tickets to the Jets game you should email DolfansNYC@gmail.com for details.

Thanks guys, see you Sunday. Go Dolphins!

Oh.. and pictures below.  Double click if you want to save an image.

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Well that was awesome. An overtime win in Green Bay? Perfect.  On top of that their were no injuries and we get John Jerry back this week. Unfortunately it looks like Odrick is out for the year with a broken leg, but he has only played 3 quarters all year so I am not too stressed out about it.  Anyway, the game was great even if it was a bit too close for comfort, but then again every Phins game is like that so I guess I should be used to it. Henne played great, Marshall was in full Beast Mode and Cam Wake was dominant. He had three sacks and three more hurries. He played out of his mind.  Cam Wake and I both went to Penn State so I have been trying to get people in the bar to chant “WE ARE…. CAM WAKE!” whenever he has a sack. Penn State does the “WE ARE… PENN STATE!” cheer so I thought it would be appropriate. It hasn’t really caught on yet, but maybe we can run with it…

Anyway, I got a new camera this week and it is very small but still high quality so I don’t have to lug my serious camera around with me anymore. I didn’t take a lot of shots on Sunday but there were some good ones. Check the slideshow below and as always if you want to download a photo just double click on it and it will take you to the Flickr page.

Go Dolphins!

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So I don’t even want to talk about the disaster that is last weeks MNF game against the Patriots other than to say I have never seen a game where a team is clearly beating another team on offense and defense and then lost by 27 points. It was crazy.  Last year when we beat the Jets when Teddy Ginn had 2 TD’s we were clearly playing worse football than the Jets, but we won.  That type of thing happens, but never by four fucking touchdowns. Insane.

Anyway, just because I am in hiding and super glad there is a bye week so I can ignore football for another week, I do have to post the pictures I took at the Third & Long meet up on Monday. We had a great crowd and we suffered together.  We had some new people out and it was good time.  I think we have got to have the cutest girls of any sports bar in the city. We also payed Michelle back for the 44 Jets/Dolphins tickets she put on her credit card and we raised a few hundred dollars for charity.  In total, along with ad revenue from the site we have raised well over $1000 dollars for charity. It’s pretty impressive guys.  Thanks.  Anyway, here is a slide show of the pictures from Monday.  As always if you want to download a photo just double click the slide show and it will take you directly to the Flickr page.

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I really don’t have anything to say about the horrible tragedy that befell Dolphins fans everywhere on Sunday.  The defense embarrassed the team and the fans and the Jets are getting three Pro Bowl type players back in the next few weeks. So I am going to cry myself to sleep and you should check out the photos from the meet up at Third & Long below. If you want to download a photo just click it and it will take you to the Flickr page.

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