Dolphins' Stephen Ross 'Attempts' Damage Control By Talking of the Marino Days

When Dolphins owner Stephen Ross recently returned to South Florida from a brief rendezvous on the West Coast without a new coach by his side, he had to have anticipated disappointment from a riled up fan base.

He also had to have realized he rustled a few of his own feathers, considering his failed pursuit of Jim Harbaugh (now head coach of the Niners) occurred while he already had a head coach in Tony Sparano under contract.

It’s like when you first leave your month-old pet home alone for hours at a time. A mess is to be expected, but Ross seemed to be expecting kitty litter and shredded newspapers when instead he found gallons of horse crap painting his walls.

This multi-billionaire must not be used to cleaning up his own mess. It’s time he grabs a big mop.

The dust scattered instead of settling, as fans shifted from exciting thoughts of a new, offensive-minded head coach to remembering just how horrid the quarterback play has been and how this piss-pot of an offense is going to turn it around under the same boring, conservative, scared regime we grew to hate this season.

Sparano and general manager Jeff Ireland will be back for at least another season. Don’t buy for one second that Sparano’s two-year extension through 2013 gives him anymore job security. It’s purely a financial apology, as Ross could easily let him go after another disaster of a season.

I was immediately interested in how Ross would proceed from here, especially publicly.

“So I think I look for a different brand,” Ross told the Miami Herald’s Jeff Darlington. “Seeing the Dolphins how fans want to see it, and how we win, going downfield, in the days of Dan Marino, the days we all want to go back to.”

You’re really going to throw the M-word out there, Steve? No you didn’t.

He just brought up the name of the greatest Dolphin of them all. We’re talking about one of the greatest pure passers the league has ever seen. Yet he’s speaking of a Marino-esque style when some dude named Chad Henne, who threw 19 interceptions last year in a conservative scheme, is at the helm of Project Titanic.

Obviously, Ross didn’t land his fortune in marketing. Never market a service or product you’re incapable of producing, it’s called misleading.

Stop throwing smoke bombs all over the place, Mr. Ross. Instead, cut the B.S. and tell it how it is.

We fans want more action and less talk.

We’re tired of fairy tales. We’ve heard it all before. We need something tangible, whether it’s acquiring impact players via the draft or free agency, or maybe off a spaceship from Mars, this team needs new blood.

For Ross to gain any amount of respect from this fan base, he needs to say less and do more. Considering this offseason could go extra long with no collective bargaining agreement in place, there may not be change for a while.

All we ask is to wake up from this everlasting nightmare that is the Miami Dolphins franchise.