Are we losing the younger generation as Miami fans?

I'm 18 from the UK and I started watching the NFL 2 years ago. I adopted the Dolphins as my team on the basis that they were the underdog, it will make it all the more sweeter when they do finally become a contender again. I can't be the only person with this mind set surely!

 

Its a good point .At some stage the Marino fans will become old timers and the younger fans will wonder what the fuss is all about .I have two sons and they have difficulty relating to my Dolphin fandom especially as they see me suffer through season after season of mediocre play .They are not wearing Dolphin gear .They did not see Marino play .They are wearing Heat gear .Kids like their heroes to be winners .

At some stage the Dolphins will have to be winners and create new heroes to follow.I am a Dolphin fan forever but new younger fans will be hard to develop until we become winners again .

It will happen .Its just a matter of time.

 

Sick's kid is a Panthers fan, because of Cam Newton.

 

Well an ESPN article I read the other day said that Frank Gore did not grow up a Dolphins fan despite being a south Florida guy. So it looks like we've been losing people for a while now unfortunately. I don't know how someone can be a 'south Florida guy' and never have rooted for the Dolphins.

 

Of course, The team sucks year in and year out thanks to Jeff Ireland. This year, they had 1 thursday night football game, every other game they had was only shown on the local broadcast.

 

My boy for the past 4 years has gotten the jersey on, watched part of the game with me, then disappears, says he knows we're gonna lose anyway..at this point he could care less about the dolphins, has no emotions or feelings about the team..I try to connect him to the team, but when your nine, you want to root for a winner..

I think the culture has been predictably deterioting..I don't know what that means exactly in the big picture, or whether or not we have enough to sustain a true big market fanbase, but it's been a combination and culmination of bad things creating a perfect storm of negativity with a bad building..and the consequences will be felt this Sunday..

 

Not if parent Dolphin fans do their job. My son is a Dolphin fan....hell, my dad even became kind of a fan due to my dedication

 

Not just your boy, I feel the same way. I knew this team was going to suck this year. I have had 2 games this year that have been broadcast locally, normally I would try to find a site to watch them, but this year I haven't. They are going to keep sucking until Ireland is put out to pasture.

 

Give me the break down sir..

 

Just told him he will be a fan or he will live in the shed in the back yard. Ok, not really...just became a fan, I didn't really do anything.Guess he just saw how much I loved them and joined the cause. He even became a Springsteen fan and has attended 3 Bruce shows with me the last two tours...and we know Bruce is not cool to the younger generation either.

 

Can't blame the kid for that. Just messing, Sick.

It's something interesting to think about Bpk. Some other things to look at would be the arrival of the Jaguars likely stealing some Florida fans, along with the Buccaneers having some success that peaked with a Super Bowl win. Even the Panthers I think hurts the number of fans. Before the Panthers were created, fans in NC I think generally would go Cowboys or Steelers (big names, successful, parents being fans, etc.), or Redskins/Falcons/Dolphins for more geography based reasons. I'm 27 and started watching football earlier than some, so there wasn't a NC team when I got into the NFL. Though with most of my friends my age or younger, they got into football after there was a football team here and the majority are Panthers fans.

 

I suppose I can relate. My entire family has lived in or near Cincinnati and have always been Bengals fans. When I first started watching football with my dad and younger brothers, I was in 1st/2nd grade. My dad would always have the Bengals game on...but those were the days of David Klingler and the Bengals were horrible. Inevitably my dad would fall asleep and my brother and I would change the channel to another game.

I can remember just about every kid in my 2nd grade class owning either a Dallas Cowboys or Charlotte Hornets starter jacket. Everyone loved the Cowboys and that's how I became a Dolphins fan. They beat Dallas in the Leon Lett Game and I thought they were awesome because of it.

If not for that, I'd imagine I'd be a Bengals fan.

 

He's half way through his senior year so he has survived

 

I'm 20 years old so I think I can relate well to this. I have been a Dolphins fan all of my life along with my brother. I was born in Miami, but moved to Southern California when I was 4. All extended family still in Florida so I come back almost yearly. Anyways..I became a fan because my Dad is a fan. I also am a Heat and Marlins fan. It has been very hard to be a Dolphins fan growing up. I have no memory of every being successful. The best I have ever seen of the Dolphins is the repeated 10-6 seasons with Ricky Williams as the feature back. Terrible drafts, no chance at playoffs success if we even get there. And I think the young fan base has been diminished because young kids don't like rooting for a loser. Especially in Miami, which is full of transplants from New York and other places and a lot of people that would just rather do something else besides go to a football game. With all of that being said, winning cures all. Once we get a couple winning seasons, you'll start to see all the kids wearing Wake and Tannehill jerseys and filling up the stadium again. Look at the Heat as an example, poor attendance during those years once Shaq left and Riley stepped back. It's hard to root for a loser in Miami when there's so many other activities available. But now that they're a favorite for the championship every year, they fill the stadium on a nightly basis.

 

I wouldn't worry much about it. It's not like a bunch of kids were sporting Drew Bledsoe jerseys 15-20 years ago... if Tannehill turns out to be a franchise quarterback then the younger generation will jump on the bandwagon.

 

Winning cures everything. Yes, I believe the team is losing a generation of fans but they will mostly be from outside the state of Florida. Go on a 5 year run of relevance and you'll get some kids and some band wagon jumpers. Believe me, as a Bruin fan once you become relevant again fans pop up out of the woodwork.

 

Paul rules his house with an iron fist. When he clenches, you will bleed aqua and orange.

 

Lol....if I knew he had the talent to be a pro athlete than maybe..lol

 

I think you're generally right, but it would really depend on how committed those fans are to the team that they chose to root for. It's always easier to root for the hometown team so if they're not too committed it could be easy to turn them.

Another thing is that right now we don't have flashy talent. Our best players are linemen (Wake and Pouncey). Our next best player is a punter. Until now we haven't had a QB and it's tough to get a little kid on board with grind-it-out football when we've grown up with Kurt Warner's Rams and Brady's Pats putting up huge numbers. Kids want to see points not 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

 

Kids want to cheer..

 

I would not be surprised to learn that kids are not as intrested in football in general as they were 20 years ago.

 

My sons are 17 and 15, My oldest is a Dolphins/Lions fan while my youngest is a Lions/Dolphins fan. Both boys have a Stafford, Megatron and Suh jersey, Both have Jason Taylor and Zack Thomas Jerseys but they dont fit so they hang framed on their bedroom walls. My wife asked the boys if they would like new Dolphin jerseys for christmas and both said yeah with enthusiasm ,,then I asked of which players (knowing what their reaction would be) and they looked at each other then looked back at me and shrugged..

Now whats that tell you about the state of the franchise?

 

Agreed, specially with the 5-12 range of kids,,too many distractions..technology and video games and not enough playing outside games....... like oh i dont know football?

 

Just win baby

 

It has to do with marketing and winning IMO. That's why Reggie is important to us. Like Sicks kid being a panther fan because of Newton. There is a face of that franchise that people can connect with, who does Miami have if Bush is gone. Also winning, how many people were actually patriots fans before Tom Brady? Now how many do you know?


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I'm on the Brandon Fields bandwagon, so I can't really relate to this at all.