Discipline Problem in Miami
AUTHOR: Bert Smith

There is right now, in front of your face, a discipline problem in Miami. How does that make you feel?

Like a BLACK EYE.

Under Don Shula, it was clear as day and understood by all that discipline problems with players would not be tolerated.

Coach Shula even went on to have year after year of teams with the lowest penalty rate in the NFL and all the while becoming chairman on the Rules committee of the NFL and moving the league toward a new era; ushering in such things as the dynamic passing game and the faster-paced games we have now inherited in this generation. Back in the 1970’s there were long waits while a team was in the huddle and the game clock ticked slowly by with no action – totally different watching a game now. A man of integrity and ethics, Shula believed in winning outright by following the rules. And he deeply frowned on players getting drunk and beating their girlfriends or driving home from bars late at night or walking away after early-morning car crashes.

Bill Parcells, aka Big Tuna, we all know came out publicly and stated that he would not tolerate such behavior on day 1 of his tenure here. And yet it is not only happening and continuing it is possibly even worsening. Feel proud of this team and it’s commitment to becoming a Champion? Clearly the players do not fear or respect this man at this time.

Here is the real question now: which Miami Dolphin will be the next one to break the law and cause a flap for the team?

Not to mention this: what message do you think it conveys to the rookie players coming to the NFL for the first time and after having attended the recent NFL Rookie meet 6 1/2 weeks ago?

Teams that break rules and coddle and permit players to get in to trouble are losers. The very best case in point on this is the Oakland Raiders who lost the 2005 Super Bowl while having their Pro Bowl Center penalized because he was absent from team meetings on Super Bowl week and was found to be spending his time across the border in Tijuana getting drunk. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won by a large margin and you better believe the Raiders could have used their star center in the game.

So, when will action finally be taken and a “head on a pike” by the Miami Dolphins organization to stop this?

I’ll tell you that the NY Jets organization has to be laughing themselves silly and surely the Jets blogs are eating this up. Discipline problems tear teams apart and are an indication that players and management don’t care about standards and are not professional. And there is just too much now to sweep under the rug. This is disgusting and is what I might have expected from the Oakland Raiders or perhaps the NY Jets. But not the Miami Dolphins under Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano.

A public apology and a major change is what is needed now to recover from the building shame that is continuing.

The only real ray of sunshine is that it is happening right before training camp when Sparano and the Miami coaching staff will have the opportunity to thoroughly put the team through workouts and discipline programs. That was the first thing that Don Shula did when he took over the team in 1970 and several painful workouts later they became molded into an actual valuable organization that can be properly called by the overused moniker, “team”.

This stinks of multi-millionaire elite players who flaunt the law because they think they are above it. It is not, not, not in keeping with the heritage and traditions that we know of the once-proud Miami Dolphins.

Think penalties will be coming down from Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner now?

who are we talking about here though? Ronnie Brown's DUI??? yes its unexcuseable, but he also didnt put anyone in harms way for being one or 2 over. And he made his own public apology and rectified the situation. I think he handled his case professionally... Hartlines new abandonned vehicle? well we also have heard reports that he wasnt even in town when it happened, so we are judging him on the fact that someone else F-ed with his property? This article makes it seem that the 2010 Dolphins have turned into the 2007 Bengals......... I wouldnt go all that far.... Yes, there have been a few mishaps this offseason, But there is MUCH WORSE out there..... Henne isnt molesting girls in clubs..... Bess isnt jumping on the back of a girlfriends truck and falling off head first. Crowder didnt kill no one (lewis)... Ricky's been off the pot..... And most of all, not one player is going public about their wreckless behavior..... We dont have ANYONE complaining about contracts, the team, or the media like T.O. might...... Yes we have a couple scraps here and there around the team, but I think all of them have been 1st time offenders, and are FAR from being labeled bad apples.....

I mean seriously..... If you want to get on Ronnie Brown's case for a DUI.... you might as well put a secret tail on EVERY NFL player and make sure they dont do anything to hurt the franchise....... Imagine this, Peyton Manning pops fish oil pills with his OJ in the morning, opens up his newspaper and starts his crossword puzzle. Gets furious that he isnt smart enough to finish it, and punts his pet cat across his 5 acre property........ NO ONE WOULD EVER KNOW, nor would anyone ever assume that he would betray an animal as such, yet IF that story rises to the surface, what would we think of him?

Ultimately, I understand where this story is going. Im not defending the opposite case here at all. Its just that, Please name me one bad apple on this Dolphins team right now.... And after that, think around the league, or watch PTI and see how many other NFL athletes have done far worse, and we can understand. Almost every team has at least one character on their roster that has done something illegal. Thats all, so why criticize a team that resides in a tempting alluring city that doesnt really have much to criticize. I dont see any rapists, murderers, major felons or heavy drug abusers on this roster....... which could put us in a minority of NFL teams as it is.

Don't you guys also think that back in Shula's time, the press wasn't all over the guys like they are today?
Now every thing they do is under a microscope. The press looks for junk to write, whether it's true or not at times.
At the same time, I think it may have been easier to deal with cops than Shula.

Thats all true and dandy..... You also Have to realize a few more facts here too.....
First, Teams like say.... Buffalo, Green Bay, Minnesota, Detroit their players dont live in the area YEAR ROUND, alot of them have homes elsewhere in more..... 'pleasant climates' where alot of them are in South Florida.... Ok so there is probably more of an abundance of offseason athletes in the South Florida area than any other region of the country..... maybe, maybe not, but the area itself is a very public area.
I mean you dont hear any wife beating happening in Buffalo, Detroit, Minny, Green Bay unless its REALLY bad. WHY? because those are quieter areas where alot of times people want to be left alone, and the media isnt all over them. Think of Denver, perfect example, unless you live in the city, then you have your own cottage somewhere in driving distance of the city in a small quiet mountain town (think south park). And even if so and so smashed their car along a mountain girder, well, it may be a day or two before it gets recognized, and hell it may take a week or so before the local city even gets a whiff of that story. AND unless its that big of a deal, or of that much of a sports icon, the longevity itself may defer it from being relevent gossip.... "Kyle Orton smashed his ford F150 into a telephone pole and abandoned the vehicle" ok, great story... but if its 2 weeks old, its barely worth reporting.... South Florida is different, so hell, you almost gotta feel bad for them.... yes they opted to live here, play here, yada yada yada. The area may have all the convienece and luxuries, celebrities, scandals, hell drugs, the works. But it also comes with the media exposure. Its a double edged sword, and unless you live in LA, or NYC, there arent many other places that are that intense.....

Hell, it took the Culpepper party boat extravaganza event to think that any Vikings ever had any fun..... They do, we just dont ever hear about it, because god knows what else there is to do up there besides make cheese, hug trees, and hunt moose