No, not the cinematic masterpiece above, but rather, the Miami Dolphins hope to mark an October 23 visit by the Denver Broncos with a gala salute to the 2008 National Champion Florida Gators. Tim Tebow will likely be holding a clipboard for the visitors that afternoon, so there’s one plane ticket the Dolphins won’t have to spring for, but the convenience factor aside, the Miami Herald’s Greg Cote calls it, “an idea that should have been killed in the meeting room before it ever had a chance to escape and blow up.”
Can you imagine a Hurricanes national championship team being celebrated in Gainesville? Before joining the Dolphins, CEO Mike Dee worked for years as a business-side vice president with the Red Sox. Could he imagine the reaction if Boston planned a celebration at Fenway Park to honor past New York Yankees champions?
The Dolphins front office is making a habit of these sporadic embarrassments big and small, from Jeff Ireland/Dez Bryant to Stephen Ross’ Jim Harbaugh mess to the team gift shop selling Jets jerseys to this: Gator Day in UM’s backyard.
Gone are the days when the Dolphins had 65,000 season-ticket holders and owned this town and didn’t need to fight for fans.
Now the club must market and gimmick and sell, and the 100,000-plus UF alumni living in South Florida looked like a ripe number to capitalize on.
By contrast, Shutdown Corner’s MJD eschews cynical marketing considerations and figures Miami’s scheme is all about strategy ;
With all the attention that Tim Tebow receives, despite the fact that he’s the third- or fourth-best quarterback on the Broncos roster, there’s bound to be a little resentment bubbling for him within the Broncos locker room. If you’re the Dolphins, why not have a great big party honoring Tebow and stoke the flames a little bit? See if you can get Kyle Orton(notes) to punch Tim Tebow in the face.
Then maybe they’d trade you Kyle Orton. At the very least, they’d have a big team distraction to deal with.