Around the League




Angry group of Dolphins fans stage organized protest

By Dan Hanzus NFL.com
Published: March 20, 2012 at 04:44 p.m.
Updated: March 20, 2012 at 07:34 p.m.

Apparently firm in their collective decision that the signing of David Garrard wasn't enough, a group of disgruntled Miami Dolphins fans staged a protest outside team facilities on Tuesday.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that about 30 people, "including four men with paper bags over their heads and another one clutching a Dan Marino doll" were outside the team facility in Davie, Fla., in a protest that began around noon.

Naturally, this is all very bad press for the Dolphins, who took the extreme step of releasing a statement on the matter.

"We have the most passionate fans in football, and they are not shy about letting their sentiments be known," Dolphins spokesman Harvey Greene said. "We understand, and we are working hard on giving them something to cheer about this season."

Much of the fan vitriol has been directed at general manager Jeff Ireland, who has been blamed for the team's inability to land Peyton Manning and Matt Flynn this offseason. On Tuesday, fans showed their disapproval of the GM with "FIRELAND" signs.

"I've heard they're out there," Ireland said Tuesday, according to The Miami Herald. "But I haven't seen them. I don't have a window that gives me a view of them. And we've been pretty busy around here to look anyway."

The Dolphins went 11-5 and won the AFC East in Ireland's first season as GM in 2008, but are 20-28 in the three seasons since. Ireland's been Teflon to this point, but organized protests against you can't play well in-house.

Better them than us. Too bad it couldn't happen to someone like chigaygo or new england.

That's a shame. His collective record as a GM isn't even all that bad. It's the inability to bring in big names to help the team win. Winning cures all, so we'll just have to wait and see.

LOL @ "we have the most passionate fans in the NFL" comment.