Thanks you all for coming out to the 2021 #MetLifeTakeover. What an absolute blast! From the party at Slattery’s to the tailgate to the Dolphins play on the field everything went off without a hitch. Despite a slightly less than normal turnout (the team’s record, the pandemic and the Jets only selling us 700 tickets didn’t help) we still had one of our most successful years. Thanks to you guys we raised over $6000 for charity between raffle, auction and merch sales. And that doesn’t even include the money we made off the tickets sold. That money is going back into our war chest to make new merch, raffle prizes and other expenses for next season, but it will all eventually be turned into even more money that we can use to do more good. The merch/raffle/auction money will be going to the Miami Dolphins Foundation, The Dolphins Cancer Challenge and the Jason Taylor Foundation.

So here’s a quick breakdown on the weekend. On Saturday night we had a great crowd at our bar Slattery’s Midtown Pub. We had DJ Syckturtle spin both that night and the tailgate the next day. We had a live auction that raised over $1000 on just three items and we had a big raffle as well for a bunch of great signed stuff. One of our members even brought a team signed ball from the Philbin era that had some great signatures on it despite how we may feel about those years. Another one of our members donated a Marino jersey that raised $275 in the live auction. Special shout out to Robert who bought it AND the Christian Wilkins signed jersey for $500!

One of the coolest parts of Saturday night, and the tailgate, was that the Miami Dolphins entire podcast network came out. We had Dolphins legend OJ McDuffie and his The Fish Tank co-host Seth Levit (and DJ DJ Prēc), Drive Time’s Travis Wingfield and Dolphins Today host Johanna Torres all come out and party with us both days. Nat Moore and Jason Jenkins also came out during the tailgate… those guys never miss one. Want to give a special shoutout to OJ who signed autograph after autograph and posed for picture after picture the entire time he was there. And another shout out to Seth who also runs the Jason Taylor Foundation who donated the Jason Taylor jersey to our game day raffle. He told us to give all the money to the Miami Dolphins Foundation in the DCC but we raised so much that we had to surprise him with donation to the JT Foundation as well.

The tailgate itself was an absolute party. We took over the entire parking lot between L4 and L7. It was massive. Our partners at Urban Tailgate killed it again. They were a little understaffed at the last minute and that led to some long lines, but the food was incredible. We will get that worked out for next year and make sure the lines aren’t nearly as bad. Huge shout out to our friends at Sailor Jerry for providing not only Sailor but also some bottles from their sister brands Reyka Vodka and Fistfull of Bourbon.

The game couldn’t have gone much better. The Jets hung around for a bit, but in the second half the Dolphins put them to bed and you could hear our “Let’s Go Dolphins!” chants on TV. Several of the Dolphins players Tweeted about us after the game and the #MetLifeTakeover hashtag absolutely exploded on Twitter. I couldn’t even keep up with it. We even got a little write up in the Miami New Times. Very cool.

So thanks again everyone for making this year one of the best years ever. I can’t wait to do it all again next year. I got a pretty good gallery of photos for you too. I have a back injury so I didn’t do a great job documenting it, but there are still some fun shots here. Also we have the 2021 #MetlifeTakeover video coming soon. That should be amazing. Now go check out the photos below! (Click here to view the gallery directly on Flickr where it looks less wonky than the embedded gallery viewer.)

In lighter news, this Monday Mercury Morris will be at Woody’s in Hartford, CT raising money for a big Christmas toy drive that Woody’s does every year! Woodie’s is a delicious hot dog spot that also doubles as a Miami Dolphins bar and was a BIG inspiration for Dolfans NYC. After Michelle and I visited Woody’s and Miami Mike’s in Jersey we knew we could start something like that in NYC. Five years later we have one of the biggest Phins fan clubs in the country!

“On nov.11th the monday night game we have mercury morris coming to raise money for our xmas toy drive for over 200 children in the city of hartford. If not for this party, these kids would have nothing for the holidays. I know you guys do a great job for your charities would you consider asking if any of your nyc fans would want to come? it will be a small group(about 50) mercury will be staying for the whole game and he loves to talk! This is having drinks and watching Miami Dolphin’s football with the great Mercury Morris! The cost is $100.00 dollars (includes food) in advance or $150.00 at door, if tickets are left.

There’s also a link on www.woodyshotdog.com where people can make donations. Not only will the cash go to toys but we will bring in teenage boys and girls to meet Mercury that night!”

So even if you can’t make it up, donate some money and help some kids in Hartford have the great Christmas they wouldn’t have without your help! DolfansNYC is all about doing positive things for this world so hopefully you guys can get on board and donate! We will be making a $100 donation as well even though we are going to be in NYC watching the game at Slattery’s! Phins up!