Sports Agenda For Wednesday (8/3/11)
Big Story:
It's not quite Harry Doyle time screaming about the Indians…but "Oh My God, the Marlins are in third place!"….plus Ronnie Brown is gone, the Dolphins fans should be ashamed, and Josh Johnson is close to coming back.
Let's make this agenda the biggest manufactured crisis since the debt ceiling!
Firsties:
I thought I'd start with a little note on Dolfans and their reaction to Chad Henne Monday night.
Dolfans out at practice were booing Chad Henne and chanting "We Want Orton."
Now look, if it's game 4 of the regular season and the team is struggling, I have no problem with the Fins fans chanting and booing.
But this was the third practice of the season and as Allen Iverson said, "We talking about practice?!"
Henne is going through a brand new offense in his second season as a starter. If you totally redesign any workflow there will be hiccups.
Ask the CBSMiami.com team, cause we've dealt with them ourselves.
Now, put yourself in Henne's shoes. The fans hate you, the ownership and coaches pay you lip service and then try to replace you with the flavor of the minute, and you're learning a new offense.
You think you wouldn't be a little nervous, ticked off, frustrated, pushing yourself a little too hard?
Look, Henne had a bad year last year after showing a promising stretch in 2009.
He also lost most of his offensive line throughout the season, had no running game to speak of, and had a coordinator who couldn't come up with a creative play if it hit him in the face harder than Ray Lewis.
Henne was sacked 30 times last season, that doesn't include the times he was running for his life.
That's almost two sacks per game and he still completed 61 percent of his passes.
I'm not saying he's going to be a great, or even good, quarterback. But give the guy a break. He's 26-years-old and still learning the game.
If this new offense is truly quarterback friendly, and hey, it did make a star out of Colt McCoy, why would you give up draft picks to replace your qb?
Orton and Henne are not that different, they've just been in different offenses.
Orton was awful in a conservative offense in Chicago. Henne was awful in a conservative offense in Miami.
Orton shined in a more open offense. Perhaps Henne can do the same.
But, Dolfans truly were the "Worst Persons In South Florida" Monday night.
Marlins: (@New York Mets, 7:10 p.m., Fox Sports Florida)
Umm, yeah….I'm a little scared because a bill passed through Congress and the Marlins are now at .500.
I don't care who you are, coming back from being the forgotten team is impressive.
Course you lost Hanley Ramirez to a sprained shoulder, but hey, who'll miss him.
There's a logjam in the bottom of the NL East, but the Marlins are on the uptick heading into tonight's game in New York.
If the Marlins knock off the Mets, they'll be all alone in third place in the NL East.
No one will catch the Phillies as they march towards a World Series berth, no one.
But the Marlins should have the Braves targeted to make their season truly a success.
And hey, for the amount of money Jeffrey Loria puts into the team, anything above last place is a rousing success.
Loria, what a cheapskate. But man, if you had to have someone on your side to fleece a city/county for hundreds of millions of dollars, I'm calling him up!
Dolphins:
The Ronnie Brown era in Miami is officially over after he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.
It wasn't the richest contract, but he is in GREAT position to win a Super Bowl.
The Eagles are rising to the top of the crop in the NFC with a dynamic quarterback, solid receiving corps, and a stupid (read: FREAKING AWESOME) defense.
Congrats to Ronnie for leaving the second-worst run team in the league, gotta give number one to the Bengals, and joining one of the best clubs in the league.
Vernon Carey should took a paycut and the Dolphins offensive tackle situation is set.
The Fins wanted him to take a paycut to pursue more free agents and trades. (something tells me they're still after Orton)
The Fins should be trying to lower the cap value Paul Soliai by signing him long-term.
Soliai has been blowing up everyone in camp and looks like a nose tackle for the long-term.
Pay him, lower his cap number, and move on to bigger and better things.
The Fins lost out on Zach Miller, which ticks me off, but we'll see what else they can do.
Perhaps the Fins re-sign Ricky Williams for the veteran minimum, or take a flyer on Bryant McKinnie for the minimum, if he can get in shape.
By the way, if you haven't read what Merrill Hoge of ESPN's NFL Matchup had to say about former UF quarterback Tim Tebow, let me sum it up.
"College credentials do not transfer to NFL, rah-rah speeches do not work! You must possess a skill set to play!"
In other words, Tebow is what everyone outside of Denver knew, a one-trick pony who will not make it in the NFL at quarterback.
The curse of Josh McDaniels strikes the Broncos again!!!!!
Good thing they have another guy named….hmm…what was it again? Oh Yeah, ORTON, to save them in camp.
