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I'm fed up with Bob Kuchenberg, Don Shula and, especially, Mercury Morris trying to downplay the accomplishments of the 2007 New England Patriots. Morris, in particular, has said that if the Patriots win the Super Bowl that they will join the 1972 Dolphins on the top of the mountain. Given the cap era and the new rules, the number of games they will have played, the records they have set and the records of the teams they conquered put the Patriots just a few steps from defining what the NFL equivalent of Everest. The '72 Dolphins are just a bunch of crybabies sitting on Hush-a-Bye Mountain. Your thoughts? Vince Chase, Winchester, N.H. A: After the Patriots capped off the 16-0 season, many writers were up in the Giants Stadium press box when a sheet of '72 Dolphins quotes were distributed for use in the next day's newspapers. To be honest, I couldn't believe what I was reading. I take the remarks of Kuchenberg and Morris with a grain of salt because it's clear they are not objective, but it was the comments from Don Shula which caught my eye the most. Shula said: "If they go on to complete an undefeated season, I will be the first to congratulate Coach Belichick and the Patriot organization." While many just realized history had been made in one of the great nights in NFL history, I interpreted Shula's comments as minimizing what had just taken place. I was surprised he said it. The Patriots beat six playoff teams, with three of those wins coming on the road. Last I checked, the Dolphins beat two teams with over .500 records in 1972. The Patriots won 16 regular-season games, the '72 Dolphins just 14. So when I look at the overall picture, and some of the comments that have been made by some members of the '72 Dolphins this year, I think it borders on ridiculous and classless.
I love the last sentence.. Its the sentiment that MANY Pats fans have voiced.
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Reiss is as reasonable, respectful and level-headed as it comes - so I was surprised - pleasantly - to see him call out those Dolphins players in his mailbag. I thought it was just us homers!
Last edited by BradyManny; 01-02-2008 at 08:49 AM..
Shula is eveidently neither a smart man nor a magnanimous man. For me, his statements serve to make the '72 Dolphins a little smaller, a little selfish.
No schit. When they roll out the '72's from time to time, it's not as Superbowl heros. It's as the only undefeated regular season team glaring at some 10 or 12 or 13-0 threat to their claim to fame . Funny how when we become one, and a better one at that, suddenly the regular season part of the equation becomes meaningless...
Shula is just a pissy old man who is threatened by BB and beserk because the team with which he is forever associated has sucked for a decade now. When they were most recently honoring that team in week 16, the stands at Dolphin Stadium were less than a third full because the present day Dolphins were entering the day at 0-14...
Maybe one of the changes Tuna will make in an effort to change the culture in Miami will be to ban Shula and Co. from any and all future team related functions. It's an organization that desperately needs to quit living in the past.
well, consider this - when teams start the season undefeated for 8 or 9 games whatever, they will no longer be compared to these has-beens. Thanks to our Patriots the dolphins will never again be the standard and we won't have to hear their BS....Morris will best be remembered for hair plugs and smoking crack. Thats it.
I was in NY last week and passed Shula's restaurant. I hucked a big snotball on the menu outside, I hate that ****er.
I'm probably in the minority, but I've always thought the whole "Dolphins pour the champagne" each year when the last undefeated team falls has been sort of fun. It showed they were prideful of their record, and showed that it really mattered.
But in the same spirit, I always thought that if and when another team did it, they would raise their glasses to that team. The fact that they (with a few exceptions) have been so bitter about it just seems so sad. I guess they don't realize how pathetic they're coming across.
In future years, if the Pats pull off 19-0, you can bet Brady, Bruschi, BB, and all of them will be a million times more gracious than this Miami crew.
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"So I'm going to throw myself against the wall...
'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all."
I don't get the problem that people are having with this. Shula is absolutely correct. The '72 Dolphins aren't the only team to have an unbeaten regular season, that's been done 4 times now. They are, however, the only team to have an unbeaten regular season and then go undefeated in the playoffs. Unless New England wins the Super Bowl this year, Shula's '72 team will remain the only team to have an undefeated season. New England's 16-0 is historic, because a 16-0 regular season had never been done before. Without the Lombardi, though, this Patriots team still won't be on that same level as the '72 Dolphins.
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"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius
I'm probably in the minority, but I've always thought the whole "Dolphins pour the champagne" each year when the last undefeated team falls has been sort of fun. It showed they were prideful of their record, and showed that it really mattered.
Except they don't do that.
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I don't get the problem that people are having with this. Shula is absolutely correct. The '72 Dolphins aren't the only team to have an unbeaten regular season, that's been done 4 times now. They are, however, the only team to have an unbeaten regular season and then go undefeated in the playoffs. Unless New England wins the Super Bowl this year, Shula's '72 team will remain the only team to have an undefeated season. New England's 16-0 is historic, because a 16-0 regular season had never been done before. Without the Lombardi, though, this Patriots team still won't be on that same level as the '72 Dolphins.
Deus -
While Shula is, technically, correct, he's is totally downplaying the Pats accomplishment and disregarding how much harder the accomplishment is. Also, Shula, a few years ago, said that 16-0 would never be accomplished and he cited some of the following reasons. (please note that some of these are my own)
1) The salary cap.
2) The free agency era
3) Team turnover because of the first two
4) So many more teams now than there were then (32 compared to 26)
5) The longer schedule (16 compared to 14)
6) The additional wild card round.
7) The changes in the scheduling (Miami no longer getting New England IN Miami late in the season all the time and other scheduling "anomalies")
WOW...Reiss rips SHULA in mailbag
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