Memo to 1972 Miami Dolphins: Go Away
Christopher Gabriel | Dec 10, 2007 | Comments 11
Let’s get one thing out in the open right off the bat: I have no bone to pick with the Miami Dolphins football organization. None whatsoever. Although I’ve never been a Dolphins fan, I most certainly am not a Dolphins hater. Although I’m a passionate pro and college football fan, I care no more or less for the Dolphins than I do the Seattle Seahawks. Until now.
Thanks to Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka and the ever-growing collective arrogance of that 1972 team, I have now become a die-hard, one season only, New England Patriots fan. Mind you, I’ve never been a fan or detractor of the Patriots, either. Bill Belichick, for all of his greatness as a head coach, is perhaps more full of himself than the entire ’72 Dolphins team combined; that alone tends to make me favor whomever the Pats are playing. No matter. What’s gotten my immediate attention is the almost juvenile commentary flowing out of the mouths of some of those old Dolphins thereby putting even the slightest anti-Pats sentiment into a holding pattern until next season . . . or until their first loss. Which, I’m hoping, won’t be until next season.
In the event you’ve come to the NFL party late, a quick reminder: The 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only NFL team to ever finish the season champions and undefeated. And let’s face it, they were without question a marvelous team in every facet of the game.
Now, since that season, there has long been the idea that many, if not all, of the surviving players from that team have a celebratory toast of champagne as soon as the final, remaining undefeated NFL team in any particular year takes their first loss. Their coach, Don Shula, has insisted to a certain extent this simply isn’t true. However, some of the players, notably Larry Csonka, Nick Buoniconti and Mercury Morris have directly and indirectly suggested otherwise. Regardless, the point of this isn’t their alleged little toast. No, it’s the rhetoric; the constant drumbeat of nauseating verbosity from some of their players that begs for an NFL team, any one of them, to finally go undefeated and win it all so that members of the ’72 Dolphins team shut the hell up, once and forever.
Over the years, when a major record in sports is about to fall, be it from a team or individual sport, the overwhelming majority of the time the holder of the record is gracious, offering a class-laden statement on the thrill of holding the particular record for so long but that it was inevitable it would fall, sooner or later. Not the Dolphins. No sir. Year after year, if a team begins to emerge from the pack as having a legitimate chance to go undefeated, several Dolphins players begin finding their way in front of microphones and notepads droning on and on about how they do not want their record to be broken. A few thoughts here . . .
While it was a terrific accomplishment, it is hardly the only noteworthy record in sports. Apparently, though, most of the Dolphins players still believe pro football is the only sport on the planet. Has anyone ever pulled aside, say, Mercury Morris and told him there really are other sports with some incredible records that just might be as impressive, if not more so, than theirs? And could someone whisper in their collective ears that they are not the only team to finish undefeated in winning a championship. The 1976 Indiana Hoosiers went 32-0 in winning their NCAA basketball championship, UCLA did it four times, San Francisco went undefeated in 1956 followed in 1957 by North Carolina. College football has had numerous teams finish the season undefeated and “win” wire service and/or coaches poll national championships.
Many will argue those examples define apples and oranges; that nothing is harder than going undefeated in pro football. Really? Was the ’72 Dolphins season of going 17-0 really that much more notable than when the Hoosiers won all 32 games in ’76? And I would hasten to add, I’m no more a fan of the Hoosiers than I am a Dolphins-hater.
I single out Indiana because at last check, when any college team starts out a season ripping off 10, 12, 15 games in a row without a loss, you don’t hear standouts from that IU team like Quinn Buckner, Scott May or Kent Benson running to the champagne bottle as they thank the basketball gods for continuing their title of The Last Undefeated College Basketball National Champion.
Of course, the Dolphins will counter that they are the only undefeated NFL champion and that’s what makes them special; that’s what singles them out above all the rest in any sport on any level. Well, that might well be true. But there’s one other factor that singles them out: Their mouths.
Some of these guys never shut up. Year after year, if a team even gets to five wins undefeated, they come running out of decades-old fog preaching to us about their glorious 1972 season. Fellas, 1972 was 35 years ago and I hate to break it to you but most of us don’t give a damn about your undefeated season. Honestly, it really is true. Let me say it again: We’re all happy for you and your undefeated season but 35 years have passed. In those years, there have been some remarkable sports feats by teams and individual players that have left a far more indelible mark than did your season. Ok look, can we put it into really simplistic terms for you? Let’s wager on which DVD would sell more: The 1980 USA-Soviet Union hockey game in Lake Placid or your 1972 highlight reel illustrating your great season. It’s no contest, and we could do that with about 30 other examples.
I submit that great 1972 Dolphins team would be viewed as sports royalty in every corner of America if many of their players didn’t run to the media crying about how special they were and how they never want their record to be broken.
So, here’s my own, similarly juvenile champagne toast to my Team-for-a-Season, The New England Patriots: May you indeed go undefeated, sweep through the playoffs, win the Super Bowl and finally, thankfully, mercifully put an end to the yearly, nausea-inducing commentary from former Dolphins who still think pro football fans wake up and go to bed admiring their 1972 season.
Messrs. Brady, Moss and Belichick, can you help us out a little here?
Filed Under: Football • Media • New England • Pro Football • Sports
Are you kidding me??!!
I no way, NO HOW, support an “asterisk” team beating the record! B Bonds will go to jail (if not for the cheating, at least for the lying about it). That is the solitary reason I cannot support you my friend on this one. Messrs. Brady, Moss, & Belichick, should do what Bonds should have done. Left the record in tact. Whether out of respect to the one who set it, or to keep from tainting the spirit of the game. If they do win, it will have an asterisk applied for the cheating. What are we teaching our children who are just learning the finer aspects of sports if we let the cheaters win?
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I’m almost with you on this one. I completely understand your sentiments about the ’72 Dolphins, and as far as sports achievements go, that one is at the bottom of my list. ’95 Nebraska is much more impressive in my opinion, not only beating their opponents, but requiring an on-call emergency room staff for their opponents during every game. But the Pats? Out of the pan and into the fire. Belichick won’t be bragging about it to the media, but he will use it to look with even more scorn at the rest of the world. And give some of the players a decade and they’ll be up at the podium talking about how uniquely remarkable their team was. Why couldn’t it have been the Colts instead?
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Scott: I’m definitely with you on wishing it was the Colts bidding for an undefeated season. And if the Pats do finish undefeated and eventually go up on that podium extolling their own greatness, I’ll be ripping them no different than the Dolphins.
Other Chris: Belichick was wrong, but once the game was on there were 22 guys on the other side that didn’t exactly lay down. And within the rules, you can have the most airtight, meticulous scouting report with more film on a team than the American Film Institute . . . and still lose. You know that as well as I do. As for teaching our children the finer aspects of sports, it seems to me parents might want to begin that journey by setting better examples when they attend their games or practices. For example, refraining from screaming at refs (who are usually just high school kids) or chastising coaches for not doing things how the parent wants them done. The seven or eight year old in youth football won’t readily grasp what a Bill Belichick did nearly as fast as what he/she sees and learns from parents.
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What’s better than the Pats going undefeated to put a cork in the ’72 Dolphins? The fact that in that same year of the undefeated Pats, we’ll have the winless, WIN-LESS, NO WINS, NOT ONE, Dolphins.
I frankly couldn’t care less about the ’72 Dolphins; I was one year old. I am excited to be around for the next undefeated NFL team AND the next winless team; IN THE SAME YEAR!! That won’t happen again anytime soon.
Go Pats! and go anyone playing the Dolphins!
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Cheating is cheating… thus the Pats will always be remembered for losing a draft choice and a big fine. If that’s not enough to prove they cheated… I don’t know what is.
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I agree with about 99% of what I’m reading here. I’m glad to see others as sick of the ’72 Dolphins’ mouths as I am. Being a Bears fan, yes, it was a little disappointing to see them just miss a perfect season in ’85, especially to the Dolphins, no less. However, to me, all that matters (and I think most would agree) is this: How good was the team that won it? I mean, if the ’72 Dolphins faced the ’85 Bears, does anyone have any doubt as to the outcome of that one? How about the ’72 Dolphins against the Steelers of the 70′s, or the 49ers of the 80′s, and on and on and on. Besides all of that, here’s something I want to hear out of the mouths of all the ’72 Dolphins: “During the regular season, NOT ONE team we faced had a winning record!” Really, I want to hear them say it, every time they get ready to brag, or whine to the press, I want to hear them say it: “During the regular season NOT ONE team we faced had a winning record!” END OF STORY!
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First of all, Sean, feel free to look up the records of 1972. Miami played 17 games, 9 against below .500 teams.
Second , the ’85 bears couldn’t even beat the ’85 Dolphins let alone the ’72 Fish. Points per game
Mia-12.21 Chi-12.38. Yards per game Mia-235.5 Chi-258.4. Miami gave up 10tds in 14 games, Chi 16 in 16. Advantage- Miami!
Third , Miami went 15-2 the next year, that’s 32-2 in two seasons. Domination.
Fourth, they beat the Steelers of the 70′s, on the road, in the AFC championship.
Lastly, they don’t do the champagne toast anyways,
it’s a myth.
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Facts: Patriots did not cheat. It is not against the rules to tape opposing team or coaches. It was the LOCATION of the camera. Broke rule, got severe penalty (listen to Jimmy Johnson, John Madden Bill Parcells, Chuck Knoll, Bill Cower, etc. for their views and antics).
Maimi ’72: 2 teams with winning records, no playoff contenders. Easiest schedule since 1950.
Pats ’07: 8 teams .500 or better, 7 playoff contender victories (6 playoff teams).
Maimi ’72: .396 opponents winning percentage.
Miami ’72: 70-108-4 opponents record.
Pats ’07: .520 opponents winning percentage.
Pats ’07: 108-101 opponents record.
Listen to some ex-Dolphins. There were a few champagne toasts. Free agency, salary cap & 16 game schedule? Pats are on top now, Dolphins are 2nd. Good luck to the next team to do it. I root for any team to go 16-0, it’s great for the sport.
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Pats are great team but…..no perfect season. I’m was a Miami fan in 72 and still today. Watching the Pats lose the Superbowl last night felt the same as watching the Dolphins win in 72. The record stands and for me…just adds to my love of the game. The Dolphins only won 1 game this year but it will still go down as one of my favorite seasons.
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Well, the ’72 Phins are STILL the only team to be Perfect! Even Bealzibub couldn’t let that cheating team achieve perfection.
Steve, let’s not also forget that the Phins played 13 of those games with a 40yr. old back-up QB. Also, the NFL pits strong schedules with top contenders, and the Phins were in the Super Bowl the year before. Should the Phins now be penalized for previous winning/playoff teams going limp? They won the games in front of them, and that’s that. Great post by the way.
Helixer…I’m with you 100% on this one. Preserving the ’72 record was maybe even MORE important than if the Phins won a S.B. Let’s toast my friend!
You want loudmouths and arrogence? Look at Belecheat, Moss (with that silly “swim move”) and Brady. CGabriel, it is the media, and people who talk about them (yes, like you) who keeps this train rolling. THAT’S where the “drumbeat of nauseating verbosity” comes from. These guys have fun with being dusted off every now and then, and put up on a pedistal.
Living in S.FL, I have met probably 30 guys from that ’72 team. Not once have I been disappointed. They are among the most likable, non-arrogent, gregarious, fun loving guys I’ve ever met. You think they are convinced that they are the center of the sports universe? You are projecting. For me however, they are!
A 96 Cristal was popped after 4 1/2 months of agony. Here’s to the 1972 PERFECT SEASON!!!!
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Let’s face it: the ’72 Dolphins couldn’t hold the jock-straps of the ’07 Dolphins, who almost had a perfect season. There is no comparison to the atheletes of today. ’72 Dolphins: out-of-shape, pot-belly, smokers, who were probably hung-over if not drunk for half the games and had a weak schedule. Pats still are the dynasty that every team should be held up against.
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