Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
NFL makes the right call
With hurricane looming, league shows common sense
The Dolphins won’t open their season Sunday at home. The NFL went along with Hurricane Irma’s demand. Common sense prevailed, because at times like this everyone is reminded that sports are the most significant thing we do that’s insignificant.
Some people say a Category 5 hurricane puts sports into perspective.
But does anyone really need a looming hurricane to gain a proper perspective of home, health and third-down efficiency?
It’s that you act on the perspective in times like this, which even the mighty NFL did on Tuesday in announcing that the Dolphins’ opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t be played here Sunday. Maybe it’s played on the road somewhere outside Florida. Maybe it’s postponed until both teams’ scheduled bye week on Nov. 16.
The NFL noted those options Tuesday. A distant option: Playing on Monday at Hard Rock Stadium if Irma misses South Florida completely and the game isn’t scheduled for Sunday elsewhere.
The league agreed with state and local officials that the
game can’t go on as scheduled or be moved up to Thursday. And who’s to argue when officials are protecting a community’s safety?
All this is an inconvenience to the Dolphins. It messes with their schedule. It might take away a bye week in mid-November. It means the Dolphins could have only six games at Hard Rock Stadium this year (another home game is in London).
So you can see why they might not be totally happy with what’s going on. But they’ll have to step in line, too. Everyone will be inconvenienced by what’s coming. In fact, inconvenience is the best-case scenario for what’s coming. If it’s the only problem Irma brings, everyone will breathe a communal sigh of relief.
“Not the way you’d like it, but then little is normal right now,” coach Don Shula said when the Dolphins postponed their home opener and moved it to the bye week in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Shula’s words echo 25 years later. Nothing will be normal again for a while if Irma hits South Florida. Not work. Not transportation. Not water. And, as hard as it is for some to digest, not even these soimportant football games.
“Nobody wants that,” Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter told reporters Monday when asked about rescheduling this game for the November bye week. “No one wants to play 16 straight. They’re not asking my opinion, but I’m sure they realize that.”
Football coaches lead excessively sheltered lives. That comes with the job for many. But Tuesday was just the start of decisions for the Dolphins. Do they play the opening game in a neutral site like Atlanta or Nashville? Do they pull stakes from South Florida on Friday, regardless if they play the opener or not, to prepare for the second game in Los Angeles, knowing next week could be troublesome here?
Dolphins coach Adam Gase said the closest he came to a hurricane was last season when Hurricane Matthew dropped a few millibars, or shifted its wind direction, and missed South Florida. Maybe we’re lucky again. Maybe Irma blows by us. But someone’s getting hit.
So preparations have begun. Gas lines are stretching. Food and water is flying off the shelves. Shutters are being shuttered.
And a football game is being moved.
As it should. As it must. As can happen without the sky falling (literally) on the Dolphins season, as anyone with a karmic read of history can account.
If this game gets delayed to the bye week, the Dolphins season starts Sept. 17. The last time they started a season on that date they had the only undefeated season in NFL history in 1972.
The last time they had a game move locations? In 2003, they played the San Diego Chargers in Arizona due to California wildfires and won, 26-10.
And Shula’s 1992 team that lost its bye week? They advanced to the AFC championship game. That’s the best Dolphins finish since then.
That season went on to matter again when the storm passed, communities rebuilt and sports became a welcome distraction. That’s when we know we’ll be beyond Irma, too. A Dolphins game will feel significant again. For now, it just feels like another thing lost as we deal with what’s really important.