Specifically, my beloved Miami Dolphins.
How did a girl who grew up in the Tampa Bay area, where, yes, we have our own NFL team, become a Dolphins fan?
I’ll tell you.
Growing up, my dad and my brother loved football. I wasn’t too crazy about it, but I liked picking the games with them. Every Sunday, we would get the newspaper, and the sports section listed every NFL game. All three of us would pick a winner, and my dad would mark our initials in the newspaper.
Gradually, I decided that I needed a football team to root for. My dad was a fan of the Detroit Lions (he grew up in Toledo). My brother was a fan of the San Francisco 49ers because of Steve Young. And I decided to pick the Miami Dolphins.
Why? Because, well, to my little girl brain, dolphins were cute and fun!
Yes, friends, I became a lifelong fan of the Dolphins solely because of the animal.
But guess what? That was three decades ago, and here I am, still going strong. Even when they disappoint me. Even though I have yet to see them win a playoff game (since I started seriously watching football – they haven’t won a playoff game since 2000). Even though they’ve had maybe a handful of great seasons in the time I’ve been watching them.
There is no other team that gets me so riled up. I remember a friend whose husband is a Dolphins fan telling me that he decided to become a Bucs fan now that they lived in Tampa. She saw him watching a Bucs game once, and he was silent. No cheering, no shouting, nothing. And she laughed at him because that was not the way he watched Dolphins games.
I can relate! I don’t get to watch many Dolphins games since we only watch whatever game is on network TV that week (we are not NFL Sunday Ticket rich, lolz), but that sometimes is for the best because I am a nightmare to watch a Dolphins game with, especially if they’re losing. I promise that I’m not mean. I’m just… intense.
But anyway, that’s the story of how I became a Miami Dolphins fan, even though I could have become a Bucs fan. I’m glad I chose the aqua and white.
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