Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are an American football team playing in the AFC East division of the National Football League. The team’s home base is Miami, Florida. They play their home games at Land Shark Stadium in Miami Gardens, a suburb of Miami. The Dolphins began playing for the American Football League in 1966 as an expansion team. The Dolphins joined the National Football League as part of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. The Dolphins are the oldest major league professional sports franchise in Florida.

The Dolphins have played in five Super Bowls. In 1971, they lost to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI, 24 – 3. In 1972, the Dolphins had a perfect season with 14 regular season wins, two playoff wins and they won Super Bowl VII against the Washington Redskins, 14 – 7. That was the fourth perfect regular season in NFL history and the only perfect season ending with a Super Bowl win. In 1973, the Dolphins won Super Bowl VIII defeating the Minnesota Vikings, 24 – 7. With this trip to the Super Bowl, they became to first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls and only the second team to win back-to-back Super Bowls. In 1983, they lost Super Bowl XVII to the Washington Red Skins, 27 – 17. They also lost Super Bowl XIX in 1985 to the San Francisco 49’ers, 38 – 16.

Players elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame include Paul Warfield (1983), Larry Csonka (1987), Jim Langer (1987), Bob Griese (1990), Larry Little (1993), Dwight Stephenson (1998), Nick Buoniconti (2001), and Dan Marino (2005).

The head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Tony Sparano, is the eighth head coach of the Dolphin team and was named on January 17, 2008. He brings with him nine seasons with the NFL and 24 years of coaching experience. Sparano is hoping for another perfect season, or at least a good season that ends with another trip to the Super Bowl. He is expecting Yeremiah Bell, Davone Bess, Ronnie Brown, Dan Carpenter, Channing Crowder, Ted Ginn Jr., and Chad Pennington along with the rest of the 2009 Miami Dolphins to give their all and more to make this another winning season.