Miami ... nice

The Patriots head down to South Beach this Sunday with a chance to clinch another AFC East title. Miami is -- a little surprisingly -- the second toughest team in the division this year. Although it won't be an easy game, most Pats' fans go into contests against the team from the Sunshine State with an outlook to match. Since Tom Brady stepped on the field, the Patriots have been far superior to the Dolphins and the results have almost always reflected that.

Brady lost two of his first three starts against the Dolphins. Since then the Pats have gone 14-5 against their division rival from the land of Shaq and JLo. Sure, there was the brief period when the Miami Wildcats gave the Pats trouble and there was that late season comeback in 2004 where Brady threw two bad fourth quarter picks in a little bump in the road to the Super Bowl. But for Pats fans who have grown up with the team over the last 10 or even 20 years, the Patriots have usually gotten the best of the Dolphins. So a trip to South Beach is not something to worry about.

That was not always the case.

When I was a kid growing up in the '70s the team I hated the most was the Miami Dolphins. Not the Steelers. Not the Jets. Not the Cowboys. Not even the evil Raiders. It was the Dolphins. Why? Two words ... Don Shula. The NFL in the '70s had several legendary coaches. Landry. Noll. Grant. Coryell. Madden. I didn't have a problem with any of them. All great head coaches (and even some of the crap ones) have egos and think they are smarter than everyone else. It comes with the job. But Shula ... there was something about the way he kept reminding everyone that he thought he was the smartest guy on the field that really bothered me. It was arrogance. With a capital A. Shula -- who was also a leader on the NFL rules commission -- felt that he alone was upholding the integrity of the game. (See Snow Plow Game). It was like he invented the game. He seemed to think that his team's wins were more honorable. More special. It was like he felt his team's greatness was ordained. Let's just say he bugged me.

Which made it that much more enjoyable when his team lost. Which didn't happen that often. Miami put up the only perfect season, going 17-0 in 1972 to win the franchise's first Super Bowl. (Among all the great reasons 19-0 would have been sweet, knocking Shula and his band of egotists out of the record books was pretty high on the list.) The Dolphins beat the Patriots often during those years -- and often beat them badly. For nearly 20 years the Patriots didn't win a game at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Eighteen trips down south. Eighteen straight losses. Every year Pats fans would gather around their Zeniths and watch the Pats lose to the Dolphins in some painful, humiliating way under the Florida sun. And each time Shula would walk off the field with that smug grin.

I hated the Dolphins.

And then came the 1985 playoffs. The Patriots were trying to emerge from the slime left on them from the Ron Meyer years. I didn't think Meyer was a bad coach but it was like having a car salesman running the team. Meyer was replaced by NFL legend and true gentleman Raymond Berry and the veteran Pats responded by going 11-5 and making the playoffs. It was one of the most entertaining Pats teams ever. The team was anchored by Hall of Famer John "Hog" Hannah and veteran quarterback Steve Grogan. The team had a great running game with Craig James and Tony Collins and a veteran, opportunistic defense with guys like Steve Nelson and the other Hall of Famer Andre Tippett.

The Pats -- behind Tony Eason who had replaced an injured Grogan -- went into New York and knocked off the Jets in the first round and then flew out to Oakland and upset the Raiders in a game that ended with GM Pat Sullivan (who sits near us at Gillette these days) and linebacker Matt Millen from the Raiders getting into a fight on the field after the game. I can still remember watching the games at my brother Richie's house with my other brother and my cousins. Two victories on the road against two teams you love to beat made for two of the best Sundays we had ever enjoyed as Pats fans.

They were just a prelude to the greatest game in Pats' history -- up to that point.

The back-to-back road playoff wins earned the Pats another trip to the Orange Bowl and their first trip ever to the AFC Championship game. It was a great time to be a Patriots' fan, which was a much rarer feeling than it is these days. The Pats were the Cinderella team. The Dolphins were the evil stepmother ... and the defending AFC champs. And they had beaten the Patriots eighteen straight times at home. As we sat in my brother's den drinking cans of Busch and bottles of Heineken we knew there was a good chance it could be another painful day as a Pats' fan. You could see on Shula's face that he thought his team would demolish the  Pats. But there was something about this Cinderella team that made you believe in magic.

And magic it was. In a tropical rainstorm the Pats offense held the ball for 40 minutes, rushing for 255 yards. The defense held young phenom Dan Marino to less than 250 yards and intercepted him twice. The Pats' got to the AFC title game by forcing turnovers and they came away with six more against the almighty Dolphins. I can still remember the sight of coach Berry being hoisted up on the shoulders of his players as the clock counted down to the team's first ever AFC title. And I can still remember the moment the players let him down at midfield so he could shake Shula's hand. Shula was soaked and crushed. The underdog Pats were headed to the Super Bowl and Shula was headed to the twilight of his career. It's one of my favorite football memories.

From that moment on the rivalry that had once been dominated by the team in turquoise and orange belonged to the team in red, white, and blue. Sure, the Dolphins had a resurgence in the '90s with Jimmy Johnson and the two teams had some great battles in those years. Especially the Bledsoe vs. Marino games. But the Dolphins were no longer the dominant force in the division and haven't been that since.

That spot has belonged to the Patriots. Much to the dismay of Don Shula, I'm sure.