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Earliest memory of the Dolphins

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by LI phinfan, Dec 1, 2017.

  1. LI phinfan

    LI phinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I was just thinking how long some of us have been Dolphin fans, hard to tell if some have been 10, 20,30 or 40+years? So I tried to think of my first memory of being a fan. My first memory of this team was on my 7th birthday, January 13th. Watching the Dolphins destroy the Minn. Vikings in SB VII. Wonderful Aqua uniforms, Don Shula, Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Bob Kuechenberg etc. Was hooked! All the while living in NY. 40+ yrs and the passion for this team has never faded....through good and bad. Was wondering what are some of your first memories that you can remember?
     
  2. RoninFin4

    RoninFin4 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    January 15th birthday here. Unfortunately, that date is an AWFUL moment in Miami Dolphins history - Dan Marino's last game, the 62-7 loss to Jacksonville in the playoffs.

    My earliest Dolphins memory was when I was in 2nd grade. Thanksgiving 1993 - the Leon Lett game. Miami won, and at the time I had no idea who Dan Marino was. A few weeks later, we'd had a snow day scheduled for Tuesday so my dad let me stay up and watch Monday Night Football for the first time. Miami played San Diego that night. My dad told me who Dan Marino was, and even though Miami got crushed that night, I was hooked. The colors, the uniforms, knowing they had beaten the mighty Cowboys, and knowledge of Dan Marino. Got to watch his return in the epic shootout against Bledsoe and the Pats the next fall with my grandpa who told me Marino was the best QB he'd ever seen.

    Been a die-hard Miami Dolphins fan ever since. I remember keeping the cover of Sports Illustrated up on my bedroom wall for years. Marino was on it the week after his return. Unfortunately, I lost it when we moved, but I still remember that SI cover.
     
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  3. LI phinfan

    LI phinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Ronin, your birthday playoff disaster, was the only playoff game that I ever missed in my life! My brother kept calling me up with the updates....thought he was bustin' my shoes. He taped it for me. Demanded that I watch it with him the next day, I refused. He is still pissed at me because he wanted me to suffer like he did watching it(another dopey phin fan). To this day, I have not watched a single play in that game...refused. I didn't even see a highlight. He still has that tape.
     
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  4. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    The super bowl following the 1984 season. I was seven years old. My dad doesn't watch team sports whatsoever, so I had very little exposure to football up to that point.

    But we were at my mom's parents house watching the game, and my grandfather (diehard Steelers fan) asked me who i was rooting for. I loved the animal dolphins and the color aqua, so it was an easy choice, and I became a Dolphin fan instead of a 49er fan that day.
     
  5. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Growing up in upstate New York, the bills game and the jet games would come on Tv, when those two teams played the dolphins at the orange bowl, I used to see an actual dolphin catching the kicks and jumping around...
     
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  6. M1NDCRlME

    M1NDCRlME Fear The Spear

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    Super Bowl whatever...John F'ing Riggins running thru the Dolphins D like they weren't even there.
     
  7. shamegame13

    shamegame13 Madison & Surtain

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    62-7 :(
     
  8. LI phinfan

    LI phinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    That is your earliest memory as a Dolphin fan? Dude, that should have been a sign to run away from this team screaming in the night!! Yet you hung with them? KUDOS
     
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  9. shamegame13

    shamegame13 Madison & Surtain

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    My dad and brother....
     
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  10. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    I was in 5th grade. The Fins were playing the Skins in the Super Bowl, and since I was in Davie everyone around me was rooting for the Fins (including my entire family). And as a kid, I always liked the underdog...mostly just to be disagreeable. So I started rooting for the Redskins and Williams had one heck of a game. The Fins lost badly and there I was on the couch, cheering and laughing as the entire room wanted to slap me. Anyway, that Super Bowl is when I became an NFL fan I probably started finally rooting for the Dolphins a few years later....around the time I actually started playing.

    The following years though, I rooted for Notre Dame, FSU, Boston College and anyone who came in to challenge the Canes in those massive battles. It drove my parents crazy at times because we had season tickets through his work- we'd all be wearing Canes stuff and I'd be the smart-*** yelling, "Go Irish!" It still makes me giggle a little bit because if it was my kid, I would have gone off on them.

    Sadly, I was a Canes fan before that "Hail Flutie" game...there were 8 of us there and I was rooting like mad for the Canes. That game is still a heartbreaker.
     
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  11. cbrad

    cbrad .

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    I remember watching like 5-10 minutes of that Skins Super Bowl at some place in Alice, TX where my parents stopped for a short while en route to taking me to some goddamn piano recital (we lived way down south in McAllen, TX back then). I know I was a Dolphins fan already, but when it exactly started I forget. And yeah I do remember someone running through our defense in that SB.

    But the first full game I remember watching was that Monday Night Game, week 13, 1985 season, Dolphins vs. Bears. That was one of those rare games where the Dolphins were on TV in southern Texas and I still remember a lot of talk about how only the Dolphins could prevent the Bears from going perfect that year, and of course we did!

    Had no idea how important that game would be for NFL history back then. '85 Bears are the only serious challengers for greatest team ever to the '72 Dolphins, and if Marino and co. don't stop the Bears that Monday night.. well they'd be the clear #1. So even if Marino didn't win a SB, I'll always be grateful for that Monday night performance.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2017
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  12. Fin-O

    Fin-O Initiated Club Member

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    My grandmother who raised me took a trip to FL when I was 9 and brought me back this Aqua oversized bill hat with a Dolphins logo on it. Been stuck ever since. The Miami/KC playoff game (Pete the leg) was the first full game I ever watched.
     
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  13. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Was it '84 when Marino was a rookie? I remember my dad had the radio going in the garage while he was working and it was tuned to 610 WIOD- which was the Dolphins talk radio station back then. Don Strock was the guest on the show that afternoon and they told listeners to call in if they had any questions for Don, so I took off running for the phone. Mind you, I didn't have a question in mind....I just wanted to talk to a Dolphins player since I was sort-of becoming a fan at that point.

    Anyway, the call goes through and the radio announcer answers....I guess they didn't screen calls back in 1984. The guy said something like, "You're on the air with WIOD and Don Strock, do you have a question for us?" Like I said, I didn't have a question...but this was a week or two after Marino took over full time and I remember my dad thinking it was a really big deal. So I asked the only thing I could think of- "How does it feel to have some rookie guy take your job from you?"

    For like three seconds, there was complete silence. But then Don said that it was a part of football and Dan Marino was playing really well for the team, he gave them the best chance of winning, etc. He was gracious in the moment and took my question with stride, and I think that's when I became a true Dolphins fan. I mean, that's probably the most hurtful question an 11 year old can ask a pro that just got benched....but I guess that they realized I was just a dumb kid and didn't mean anything by it.

    About that time, my dad comes running into the living room and tells me to hang up the phone....he had a look of horror on his face that still makes me smile. But old Don Strock wasn't phased by me at all. I even met him a few years later and brought it up- he remembered me and laughed about it.

    Anyhoo, I told you all that to say this- I may have officially been the first person in South Florida to call for Dan Marino to be benched (in favor of Strock). I never thought of it that way before until just now, and it makes me feel like an idiot all over again.
     
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  14. cbrad

    cbrad .

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    David Woodley you mean.. not Don Strock. Woodley was benched in '83 for Marino.

    Easy to confuse those "other" QB's (other than Griese and Marino) we had back then. What's really impressive is how well they all performed. Earl Morrall was so good as a backup he went 13-1!! Don Strock was 14-6, and David Woodley was 27-12-1.
     
  15. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Smart man that grandpa, Marino is still the best I’ve ever seen...including Brady, Montana, Manning, etc.

    As for the original question: Earliest memory of the Phins....a 32-14 win over the jets in Marino’s 3rd start in his rookie year of 83. I was 5. Yea, I actually remember 34 years ago lol. **** I’m old. Marino threw for 3 TD that day. I had a new favorite player and favorite team. Why was it memorable you ask? My uncle made a burp so loud, the walls shook. And then he criticized me for rooting against a NY team. Thank goodness he was actually a Giants fan or I would have kicked him out of the family. Yeah, there’s actually no jets fans in my family or extended family despite growing up 15 minutes from the Jets practice facility when they were at Hofstra.
     
  16. hitman8

    hitman8 Well-Known Member

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    My earliest memory and when I became a dolphins fan was the 1992 season, I was 12 and it was the 1st. Playoff game against the chargers, Marino threw for three touchdowns and we whooped the chargers 31-0. I was sure we were going to win the super bowl, and then we got crushed by the bills the very next game 29-10. Marino was my favorite player of any sport of all time, that year marked the beginning of many thrilling memories and heartbreaking moments as a dolfan. After marino retired it has never been the samw. It's been mostly frustration and disgust with this team, but I am a loyal sob I will always be a dolfan no matter what thanks to Marino and shula.

    My most heartbreaking moment as a dolphins fan was the 1994 season playoff loss to the chargers when stoyanovich missed the game winning field goal. That was the only time I have ever cried watching a game.

    Best memory for me is tough to say, but it would probably be Marino's comeback game against the patriots when he hit the game winning touchdown to fryar on 4th and 5 to end the game.
     
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  17. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Did Strock play in 1984 at all? It was Strock I called in and talked to....maybe I had my facts mixed up back then. I was thinking Strock was the starter before Marino, but I was also 11 and not that into football yet. So maybe I wasn't as insulting as I thought I was after all.
     
  18. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    That was the first game I had ever bought tickets to on my own....I took my dad to that game as a Christmas present! They were crappy seats in the endzone but man, what an awesome day! I really thought that was our year.
     
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  19. cbrad

    cbrad .

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    Yeah it was definitely Woodley that got benched:
    https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/W/WoodDa00/gamelog/

    You can see he started games 1-5 in 1983 before he was benched for Marino. Strock didn't start or play in games 1-14 in 1983 and had a total of 6 pass attempts in 1984:
    https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/StroDo00/gamelog/

    So.. maybe the silence was due to them thinking you got the QB's mixed up? lol.. anyway that was cool on your part to call in regardless.
     
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  20. Dolphin North

    Dolphin North Well-Known Member

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    Snow plow game. Then Riggins. Suffered alone. My family didn't watch football.
    Then Marino came along and that cemented it. Bombs all over the field!
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2017
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  21. LI phinfan

    LI phinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I remember watching Howard Cosell doing the MNF halftime highlights, and showing the "Snow Plow" lowlights. So angry! For people not old enough to know, That was the only place us fossils could see game clips and highlights back in the day....besides getting our Dolphin Digest in the mail the following week!
     
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  22. AGuyNamedAlex

    AGuyNamedAlex Well-Known Member

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    Mid to Late 90s my grandfather was watching football. I was maybe 7-8 but I saw a WR make a crazy catch in the endzone and said "Hey I can do that!"

    From then on I started watching and playing football.
     
  23. LI phinfan

    LI phinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Another early memory came back to me, Watching my first Dolphin game played on Thanksgiving. Think it was 1977. Dolphins played the St. Louis Cardinals(Yes, St. Louis). Bob Griese threw for 6 TDs! I can remember being frustrated as we ate dinner as the game was being played. We had the TV on in the other room and I could see it from the table. My mom was none to pleased as we jumped up from the table after every score!
     
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  24. rackhound

    rackhound Well-Known Member

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    got lots of memories the one that stands out the most is the game they lost to the jets after being up by a bunch....I was in a bar happy as hell talking ****....then it went downhill and they lost in the end....I was 19 I think maybe 23 cant remember if it was before or after the military... I was in that bar watching games before and after....lol but it broke my heart....not to mention I had to listen to everyone giving me ****
     
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  25. Marino420TD

    Marino420TD New Member

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    I remember seeing a highlight of Bob Griese breaking his foot against Baltimore in 1975 in the orange bowl. Season went downhill. I must have been 6.
     
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  26. canesz06

    canesz06 Well-Known Member

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    Mine was in 1979. The first game i ever went to. They played the Bills. Tony Nathan had an 86 yard punt return for a td,
     
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  27. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    I went through something very similar in 93 with the snow game in Dallas on Thanksgiving. My mom was really upset that I was watching the game from the dinner table. In 2003, I convinced her to have the big meal for lunch early instead so it wouldn't interfere.
     
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  28. vt_dolfan

    vt_dolfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    This..

    I have glimpses of Phins memories before this...the Redskins Super Bowl with Woodley is one I vaguely remember...but this is my first distinctive memory...

     
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  29. Phin McCool

    Phin McCool Well-Known Member

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    Can't remember the first time I saw the Dolphins but being in the UK, it would have invariably been on the weekly TV highlights show on Channel 4.

    In the late 80's, I was dating a girl who was a member of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Just for a laugh on her birthday, I bought her a Miami Dolphins nightshirt and bed pants set, which she loved. A couple of years later, when I discovered 'Football' and needed a team to follow, I remembered that gift and, because I also liked dolphins, I adopted The Phins. Over the next 6 months, I read every book I could find in the library about american football (no internet then) and tried to find out all I could about my new team. There was a weekly football paper in the UK called 'Touchdown', which was fantastic and an essential buy but it sadly stopped being published some years back.

    In those days, apart from the weekly NFL highlights show, the only live fix UK fans could get were the AFRTS armed forces radio commentaries on AM. I remember listening in the bath to the now famous 'Marino fake spike' game against the Jets and I must have been in there for over 2 hours. I was like a prune when I got out! I also used to record the late Sunday and Monday night commentaries on cassette tape and listen to the games over the next week driving to work and back.
     
  30. Puka-head

    Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member

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    Was my 7th Bday too. Mom Made me a chocolate cake, green icing, lines and numbers and little dolphin and Viking players. Born the same day the team was so I'm sure there were earlier memories, I just don't remember them.

    Dad's team was the redskins, so beating them the year before was awesome too. He had to make my bed for a month!

    The 81 AFC championship game vs the Chargers. Never saw tha game til just a few years ago. Listened to it across three states as we drove from Fla to TX when Gma died. Yelling at my Dad to find a station as we lost it in Georgia.

    I played flag football for the Dolphins when I was 7, we went undefeated that year, right after the Miami Dolphins did. I played Center and MLB but I wanted to be Larry Csonka SO BAD!!!
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2017
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  31. Puka-head

    Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member

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    It was actually both. Shula had a QB by committee thing going for a while. To the point where our QB was called WoodStrock for a while in 83. So Strock got his job took by Woodley, sort of, and then they both lost it to Marino in 84
     
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  32. cbrad

    cbrad .

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    You're right about that "Woodstrock" moniker (pretty cool.. didn't know that!):
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Woodley

    but Woodley (and Strock) lost their jobs to Marino in 1983, not 1984 (Strock didn't even take a snap in games 1-14 and started the last two games as a backup only after the playoffs were secured).
     
  33. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    I couldn't remember the exact year; all I could tell you is that it was a few weeks after Marino started playing- so it was likely 1983 then (which means I was 10).

    I appreciate you guys doing a little homework- the "Woodstrock" tidbit is super cool! I had never heard that either.
     
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  34. Patster1969

    Patster1969 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    That Nat Moore helicopter catch in 84 is the first one I vaguely remember watching on Ch4 highlights in the UK as well. English football was in decline in the early 80's and I think I was looking for something to replace it and there was something about this game that appealed to me. It was also the start of Miami Vice in the UK as well and Miami was very different to Surrey!
    I think the week after was the first week I made a point to start watching 'American Football', which was the San Diego shootout between Marino & Fouts. Like Phin McCool, from that point, it was Miami all the way and made sure I always read Gridiron & Touchdown magazine, as well as buying/borrowing any books about the game. I also listened to Armed Forces Radio on a terrible signal on Sunday evening.
     
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  35. rackhound

    rackhound Well-Known Member

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    I think the thanksgiving game is the earliest memory I have and at least its a good one......if I remember right wasn't there some kind of screw up on special teams by the cowboys in that game?
     
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  36. vt_dolfan

    vt_dolfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    Leonnnn Letttttt...

    They had blocked the Stoyanovich FG attempt at that point ..ball is poison...excepptttttt Leon Lett ran over to ball...slipped on snow knocking it and we recovered after...
     
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  37. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    DT Leon Lett, who had made an embarassing mistake in the Super Bowl the year prior, went after a blocked FG by Miami when he should have just left it alone. Because he touched it, Miami was able to recover and score the winning points.

    We...didn't win another game the rest of that season though, so it was the high point. From 9-2 to 9-7. So many injuries.
     
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  38. bran

    bran Senior Member

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    My earliest memory is probably the Thanksgiving game on November 25, 1993. It was two days before my 6th birthday.
     
  39. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    You guys make me feel old, lol. But I'm glad that we do have some fans 30 and under around here. I'm 40, and almost every Dolphin fan I meet is older than me. A sign of how the franchise has been.
     
  40. Simon

    Simon The Other English Simon Club Member

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    For me, it was settling down to watch the weekly highlights' show that was shown here in the UK on Sunday evening (ie. a week after the games had been played). I was just starting to take an interest in the sport in 1984 and the Fins (and the 49ers) were shown most regularly that season. I should really have been a SF fan, as my grandparents had been there the year before and bought me some 49ers merchandise, but there was just something about Miami, Marino and Shula which caught my attention...

    ps. if you fancy a laugh take a look at what the NFL weekly show here in the UK looked like back then:
     

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