The NFL season has kicked off and is now into its second week. Thankfully the football gods blessed the Miami Dolphins with a win this week. When most fans are thinking what could be this season, I ror some reason had my memory to swim back to 1997 in what could have been. The year where Mike Tyson bites Holyfield's ear off. Would he have retired as the best boxer ever. Big Poppa got knocked off the best rapper alive list. Would leave the game on his own terms as the best rapper with Tupac out the picture. Jordan hit one of the most iconic shots ever. What if he missed, would that legacy be tainted and bring a closer debate in who is the best of all time. What about the Miami Dolphins though, where do they come in on this would-be talk. What many people may not realize due to the lack of dominance by the on the field product in the last decade, the fins are one of the most iconic teams in the NFL. They boast the title as being the only team ever with a perfect season complete with a Super Bowl win, the winning coach of all time, and the best win percentage until about the mid 2000's. Even now, they are one of the most popular teams in Europe along with the Cowboys due to NFL game first being broadcast in the 80's and those were the two winning-est teams at the time.

In the most grueling, body draining, physical sport out there. A sport where terms like, gridiron, the battlefield, shotgun formation, throwing bombs are adjectives. That funky lil Dolphin with a football helmet.. what the hell were they smoking. LSD hadn't hit the scene yet, and the Cocaine cowboys were just coming out the womb. What would poccess someone to have one of the most docile creatures on the planet represent the teams in one of the toughest sports on the planet. Questions that may never be answered. My guess, they put the priority on the logo being a representation of the city more than the team. For one, it is one of the few teams that have animals that are actually found in their environment. On top of that, Miami is just a fun place to be, you wake up and see the sunshine. Makes the day a lil less daunting, I cant fault them for that. Both of those concepts made they way into the logo with the aqua and orange colors. Over the years it has actually become one of the most recognizable logos in the sports world. One of the reason's why it has never gone through a modern Hollywood NFL make over. Sure they have had their minor changes here and there as all logos do. From happy dolphin to roid rage angry face dolphin, color tweaks and such. But they have stayed true to the sea mammal mysteriously flying through a ring of sunshine. One of the most seemingly drug induced concepts since a show with mutated reptiles with names of Renaissance painters who were taught kung-fu from rodent and live in New York but somehow have California accents.

Seems to make a lot of sense now seeing the trend that so many teams who went a modernized look have went back to their roots, making the throwback jerseys the full-time wear. From the Jets, to the Patriots, Bills, Bears, and others. Funny thing though is that there was almost travesty will the Dolphins logo in that faithful year of 1997. The logo and helmets were in doubt and had the highest possibility of being changed. It was in favor of a more avant garde look. Sleek lines, dialing down the detail, and... no sunshine on a faceless Dolphin. I'm sure we would gotten used to it as we do with most design changes with our favorite teams but it just wouldn't be the same. I mean where is that South Florida fun factor with this faceless creature. Here I have posted a picture of the infamous what would have been faceless Dolphin from the, imagine if we could talk on the phone and use the internet at the same time, years. Comment and let me know what you thinks of the look and maybe if you feel it should have been the new representation of a team and city.