First this is NOT a knock at Dan Marino, arguably one of the greatest QB of all time.
But GOD that cereomony for him in Miami at halftime of the Ravens game was AWFUL!
The tacky “FINS” lettering ion the middle of the field looked like it was made up by a junior high school band. The fireworks were annoying. And I could have really done without the overblown fireworks. I though Bush was blowing up Baghdad again!!
Bob Griese with his stupid “statue” comment that illicted boos; the fans booing Huzienga.
It was absolutely an awful spectacle. I feel bad for Marino.
I agree, it was way too overdone. I think, however, that Huzienga was trying to make up for the crappy way they have treated Marino over the last several seasons. Jimmy Johnson did alot to make Danny look bad after he came back from his injury.
I think fireworks should be done away with on the night time NFL games. On last night’s MNF game, again, there were so many fireworks that the field was foggy during the whole first quarter!! Or they should fire them off outside of the stadium, rather than inside.
…and I thought it was beautiful. It moved me to tears, in fact. That city loves that man, not just for being a great football player. I did not think it was overdone at all.
I’m not a big football fan, or Dan Marino fan for that matter, but I thought the tribute was very special. I thought the fans booing the stupid joke (hell, I knew it was a joke!) was out of line, and the fireworks smog sucked during the third quarter, but overall it was sweet. What else can you do for someone but be really schmaltzy in showing how much you appreciate him? It was just fine.
Ah, it wasn’t terrible. I didn’t think the fireworks fit in real well, it should have been less a spectacle and more a look back and fond rememberance.
Griese’s joke was damn funny, and the fans were low class for booing him, as well as for booing Huzienga. I can accept being a bit tepid in response to him, and booing him mercilessly on other nights (hell, I’m a Chicago fan, I know about hating team management), but tonite they should have let it go and cheered Marino.
Its a shame that the fireworks clouded up the stadium so badly, and in general I think fireworks are best used after scores or victories and thats it.
Instead of fireworks it would have been nice had they gone old school and used the marching band and played him off to a highlight reel on the monitor, but that didn’t happen.
Another odd thing was that it didn’t seem to be very emotional for anyone on the stage, including Marino. Comparing this to Elway’s retirement it was bland and cold, Marino didn’t seem to want to share the night with his family and teamates like Elway did. I could have been a symptom of his rough final few seasons, but I’m not sure I buy that. It also probably had something to do with the fact the celebration was hurried along to get the game back going.
Tacky? Not entirely. Worthy of Dan Marino? No chance in hell. Typical of these types of events? Absolutely. There have been a few of these that were truely memorable, but most just fade away. I will never forget Payton’s, Elway’s or Gretsky’s. Howvever, Montana’s, Jordan’s and dozen’s of others were entirely forgetable.