Catching Up

Wow, what a difference a week makes.  I go out of town and all of a sudden, the Dolphins news wire blows up.

On account that I haven't seen my family for a week, it's unlikely I'll get anything posted until Monday morning, but you never know.  In the meantime, please comment your heart away on the goings on, it will help me catch up on all the news.

Go Fins!

Well that does it!

Well, despite all the speculation and some suggestion over what would/could/should happen in regards to Philip Merling and his offseason criminal issues, it's all been taken care of by the news that he has torn his Achilles tendon and will now miss the 2010 season altogether.

A Potpourri of Possibilities

It took me several looks at this photo to figure out what I was looking at.  The latest article on MiamiDolphins.com suggested in its headline and complement photo that this was Chad Pennington riding the bull.  At first I thought, 'Oh my, he's flopping about quite a bit, then I realized the rider's legs were actually straight  and locked in, while his chaps were flailing about in such a way to make it look like he'd gone all akimbo.  From there my eyes gravitated towards the Dickies logo on the wrangler's jacket.  That's a big Dickies!  It wasn't until I had read the article itself that I even noticed the Dolphins ring of fire around the actual Chad Pennington (actually, it could be anyone, he's far away and behind a handrail post).  I didn't actually understand any of the article, as I'm about as much Cowboy as Pennington is indie rocker.  But I do know they spelled 'little' wrong several times.  

"The Dolphins Are Better", says EA Sports

Well, you guys know in addition to American Football, British Premier League Football, Voluptuous Women, and Micro-brews, I do have a 'thing' for video games, especially of the Sports genre.  I especially enjoy the Madden series (have been playing it off and on for over a decade).  Well, I tend to go 2 years in between Madden purchases, but I may just splurge for the 2011 one which comes out August 10th despite already having the 2010 version.

Jason Ferguson Says Goodbye

After 13 years in the NFL and 2 in Miami, nose tackle, Jason Ferguson, has officially retired from professional football.

He was not a flashy player but was considered a very dependable player who was probably one of the top 5 Nose Tackles in the league before getting injured last season.

Ferguson was facing an 8 game suspension in 2010, but alluded to retirement more than once in his 2 seasons as a Dolphin.  Ferguson had been practicing in a limited role during OTAs, so the timing of this announcement is a bit surprising.

This means Randy Starks' move to NT is likely to be a permanent one.  Paul Soliai, Travis Ivey and Ryan Baker are competing for the backup spot. 

Tin Bits - Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I wish I had some great positive stories to discuss, but alas it is the off-season and most of the news is of the negative variety.

• Ronnie Brown's DUI case has been continued, i.e. postponed until September 2nd - I think the big news here is that the date in question is the same day as the final pre-season game.  This may not seem like a big deal since Brown is a starter and starter's don't play in game 4 of the PS.  However, coming off of an injury, Brown may not be ready to play until  He'll probably be going full speed before then based on his past history of recovery/work ethic, so that may be a moot point.  Another thing to think of - if Brown were convicted during the summer, he could be suspended for the 1st game of the season.  If the trial happens during the season (which officially starts for legal purposes during training camp), any suspension would have to be doled out the following season.  Sure, there is a chance the Brown camp just wants more time to work on a settlement, but ultimately, a 1st time DUI is not a big dent in an NFL player's wallet, and any repercussions would be far more harsh from the NFL than from the Judge.  

• This is sort of old news now, but last week, Channing Crowder and former Dolphin Tight-End, Ed Perry, took part in a Library/Summer Reading rally in Miami.  What's news about that?  Nothing really but I do have a question - Imagine you're organizing a Reading rally for kids at the Library and you want a celebrity to talk to the kids about education and 'book-learnin'.  Where on the list of potential Celebrity Guests would you rank Channing Crowder?  For me, even if the stipulation is that he needs to be a Miami Dolphin, he's probably dead last or close to it.  Although I suppose as long as they're just reading Children's books...

• I thought this article on PFT about Chad Pennington was interesting for two reasons.  First, PFT actually thinks they are the first to report Pennington's interest in coaching High School football - I think anyone who has ever followed Pennington's career already knows this - and the quote he used on Monday is verbatim what he said last year, and the year before, etc.  Secondly, does anyone else take offense to CP's obvious hatred of palm trees?  I mean, don't get me wrong, they are not my favorite tree either, but the comment implies that he's glad to be out of the South Florida atmosphere - should a guy being paid to represent South Florida really be bashing on its local flora?

• This latest spin from Andy Kent about the Dolphins starting Corners does what you expect from a Kent article - it's joyous, exuberant, full of homerism, and makes you scratch your head and think, "Ok....really?".  Don't get me wrong, the story itself was cute - the projection to the future was not off-base, but the line, "By season’s end, [Vontae] Davis and [Sean] Smith were being compared to Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain as far as dynamic cornerback tandems go, and that youthful exuberance that was on display during that interception return brought back more memories of how Madison and Surtain co-existed" did make me scratch my head.  Since I have this forum, I'd like to know which one of you it was that made this comparison.  I like both of these guys, but Sam Madison was the best cornerback in Dolphins history and Surtain is not far behind - but neither one had any impact in their rookie seasons, and they didn't play that well together - Madison had his hot streak, then when he started fading, Surtain took the mantle.  Much like JB Brown had a hot streak followed by Troy Vincent's hot streak.  I suppose you could compare the new duo to those stars of the past in that Vontae Davis had a hot year (for a rookie) and Sean Smith didn't and may have a hot one in a down year for Davis.  I'm not saying that they don't have the 'youthful exuberance' but I didn't get that from those former players - Surtain maybe, but the others seemed more business like to me.  In any event, all I could ask of Davis and Smith is that I still remember them in 10 - 15 years like I do these other guys, because I can barely remember names of the guys we've had in between.

Safety Isn't Free

The Dolphins inked yet another rookie over the weekend.  This time it's 5th round draftee, Reshad Jones, the safety out of Georgia.  The deal is for 4 years at $1.95 million.

Jones has the physical tools, but by many accounts he's been invisible so far in the safety competition.  Still, it's early days and you don't generally expect a rookie from the later rounds to upstage the veterans early on.  While Chris Clemons seems the current favorite to win the starting Free Safety job come September, I'd expect Jones to keep pushing Clemons.  Competition is good - even if Jones doesn't supplant Clemons, the competition should only make Clemons better and more battle-hardened.

Crickets of Summer

Cam Wake and Koa Misi both have 7 letter names and have both made the Dolphins headlines this week during the dead air-time of American Football that is the middle of Summer.