The 1972 Miami Dolphins …
I watched the Miami Dolphins game this past Sunday night. They honored the 1972 Miami Dolphins Team, the only NFL Team in history to have a perfect season of no losses and no ties.
I remember that team. In those days, the Miami Dolphins were the only professional sports team in Florida. We all cheered for the Dolphins. In the early years of the franchise, they had a live dolphin in a tank in the end zone who jumped and splashed after every touchdown. There was not much dolphin action in the early years.
When Don Shula arrived as the coach, things began to change. He proved that everything rises and falls on leadership. He brought a winning record, football acumen, and talented staff with him. Thousands of Florida kids put aside their Steve Spurrier jerseys and bought Bob Griese jerseys (Irony: Spurrier beat out Griese for the 1966 Heisman trophy).
The Dolphins made it to the Super Bowl in 1971, only to lose to the Dallas Cowboys. Shula made his team watch the game twice before the 1972 season to keep the sour feeling of defeat in their stomachs. In those ancient days, TV coverage of the Dolphins was blacked out in Miami. The Orange Bowl sold out every game, so Dolphin fans would travel to Orlando, rent hotel rooms, and watch the game. Dedication to the game was different back then.
After going undefeated in the regular season, the Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. The whole state of Florida cheered. We finally had a championship.
I vaguely remember Super Bowl VII. I remember watching only part of the game because we had Sunday night church. Every year the preacher would remind us that sinners and heathens stayed home to watch the Super Bowl, but the righteous would be in church on Sunday night. I don’t think that is actually in the Bible.
I clearly remember my encounter with the Dolphins the next year, 1973. Our high school band was selected to play the halftime show at a Miami Dolphins game. My position for the halftime show was to put me right behind the Dolphin’s bench. Here were my heroes up close: Jim Kiick, Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris, Bob Griese, and Paul Warfiled were the stars. But I was overawed by the offensive linemen: Norm Evans and Larry Little. Back then, I was 5’10” and weighed 145 pounds. Evans and Little towered over me. They were the biggest men I had ever seen up close. I felt very small. That’s when I realized TV did not give you the proper perspective of NFL players.
In the fifty years since that magical season, no NFL team has made it through the season undefeated. The 2007 Patriots came close but were beaten by the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. There is a legend that whenever the last unbeaten team in the NFL is defeated, the surviving members of the 1972 Dolphins break out champagne and toast to their singular achievement. Who can blame them?
The untold reality, however, is the 1972 Dolphins did not have a perfect season. They still fumbled the ball. There were interceptions and blown tackles. They actually did lose three preseason games, which do not count as “real games.” Interesting how human beings can redefine “perfect” to an achievable standard.
More than once, someone has told me, “I’ve met the perfect man (or woman).” My advice to them: “Don’t get serious with them until you find out what’s wrong with them and decide if you live with it.” Most of the time, this advice goes unheeded. No one is perfect, though we spend lots of physical and emotional energy trying to convince others and ourselves that we are.
Only Jesus was perfect. Had he played on the 1972 Dolphins, he would have completed every pass, caught every throw, never fumbled the ball, and never missed a tackle. Then again, I’m not sure Jesus would have played football. After all, he said, “The meek will inherit the earth.” I’ve not met any meek NFL players (although, seeing some of them play, they should be meek).
Why is it such a big deal that Jesus was perfect? There is power in perfection. His perfection alone had the power to defeat all the sins in the world that ever was, ever is, or ever will be. His perfection even defeats your sin.
You and I are human, and we make mistakes. So give grace to others and accept God’s grace for yourself. Nobody’s perfect, as they say, not even the 1972 Dolphins.