I'm Not Dead Yet...

The Dolphins opened training camp today for their 50th season and Phins.com started it's 22nd season of coverage for the team. In all the years you and I have been watching and covering the team, we've been through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. But no matter what happens, you can always be sure that things will change. And this year, things will be changing dramatically for the Dolphins - and for Phins.com.

Things will be changing dramatically for the Dolphins this season, one way or another. With Joe Philbin (record) entering his fourth season and Dennis Hickey making wholesale changes to the team, the current staff is running out of excuses for missing the playoffs. Owner Stephen Ross has been remarkably patient with the current crew, but his forebearance is likely to run out sooner or later. And if they don't make the playoffs this year, I would guess it will be sooner rather than later.

I don't think anyone who has been reading Phins.com for more than a week will be surprised when I say that my interest in maintaining Phins.com has waned dramatically over the last few years. As life changes and the Dolphins seem to be getting no better, it's become harder and harder to keep putting in the effort that is necessary to make Phins.com consistently up-to-date and interesting. Because of this, I have decided that this season is going to be a make it or break it year. There are many ways the site needs to be improved and I'm am going to try to make that a priority in my life. If I succeed, Phins.com will be reborn this season and hopefully take it's place back among the best websites dedicated to the Miami Dolphins.

On the other hand, if I can't find the motivation or the time to improve Phins.com, then I am going to put it up for sale. I threatened to try and sell it last year, but when push came to shove, I couldn't actually do that. If felt too much like trying to cut off my own arm. And leg. So I let it run along, riding the news wire, without too much thought.

But that's not really fair to me or to the fans of Phins.com. So I'm going to take one more shot at bringing Phins.com into the 21st century. If that succeeds, you'll see a much improved website. If I fail, then perhaps someone else can carry the banner forward. Because the last thing I want is for Phins.com to become a forgotten relic.

So here we go. Training camp is the time of year when teams try out new things, cut players that don't work out, and build for the future. Since this is a time of renewal, I hope to be making some significant changes over the next few months that will hopefully provide a better experience than visitors have been seeing in a long time.

I will be posting these changes over in the [URL=http://www.phins.com/phorum/list.php?6">Phins.com Site Phorum[/URL] as they happen. Look for the first post by me over there in the next day or two to discuss some of my plans for Phins.com and to get your opinion.

Thanks so much for your support over the last 21 years. It seems impossible it's been that long, but when I started this site, very few people knew what the world wide web or the Internet were; Don Shula was still the coach and Dan Marino was still the starting quarterback. I started Phins.com because, as a frustrated Dolfan in New England, I found it very difficult to find decent information on the Dolphins and I figured many of the other Dolphins' fans out there were having the same problem. So I decided to try my hand at making a website. Fortunately, it worked out pretty well.

As always, let me know what you think of my plans, what ideas you might have, and what things you think we should do to keep Phins.com relevant and useful. Useful suggestions will be contemplated, respectful questions will be answered, and flames, insults, personal attacks, and outright assholishness will be ignored.

And - oh yeah - remember, everything I do here I do...

On Porpoise.



Go Phins!

Curt "DOLFAN in New England" Fennell
Godfather, Phins.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2015 12:47PM by curt.