The Tailgate Treasure

Gino

Finally! It was so great to watch a Dolphins win this Sunday from start to finish where the team was in control. Well played and well coached! The Broncos seemed to be in Coach Gase’s wheelhouse. The important thing is to remember the success of what worked as we carry that momentum for a rematch at home on Monday night against the Patriots. 

As we approach the holidays and end of the 2017 season, we took some time this week to comment on the events outside of the game surrounding the tailgate.

 

Finatic Gino reflects:  

“Here is the saga of growing to be a Finatic for Life!  We all have our stories growing up with the memories of our first experiences in learning to love sports, from either our fathers, grandfathers, or any of the people in our early life that wanted to share the joy of team sports with us. Today, for example, Finatics Dave, Bob, and I were sharing our early memories while driving to the Dolphins-Broncos game, and recalled what we remembered from our early football days when we were kids. When you really take a moment and think about it, I truly believe it was the right path to be where I am right now as a Finatic and my love for my Miami Dolphins! But there's so much more that goes with all of this, primarily the love and comradeship that you build with others at a tailgate event. This 2017 season has not been what we all thought it would be given our optimism, and for the most part it has been disappointing for sure, but as a true fan we endure the bad and the ugly seasons as well as the good. But through them all, the bond and greatness of the tailgating with other Finatics has made each season fresh again, meeting new fans, eating together, and getting to know them year after year. Some stay, some go, but there’s always the mainstay of the true fan.  

This season, Finatic Dave and I traveled to three road games, one to Charlotte with new Finatic Allen and his brother Glen. By the way, Allen and Glen are season ticket owners who live two plus hours north of Hard Rock stadium, so everything is a road game for them. The Carolina Panthers game resulted in our meeting more fans and friends with the most incredible tailgate downtown in a paid city parking lot with skyscrapers all around us. Talk about a different tailgate!  

We also traveled to London again for the third time, and I highly recommend it if you can do it. We made so many friends from England who are true Finatics and love our Dolphins.   

Finally, we had the opportunity to catch a road game in Atlanta at the new Mercedes-Benz stadium which is so beautiful and the greatest venue we have visited so far, but all in all it's the love of our team and the love we have as Finatics that pulls us through the good and the bad.” 

Thanks Gino for those thoughts! There are so many funny tailgate stories that we have accumulated over the years that we will have to share them in future blogs, like the guy who tried to cook Norwegian Salmon on a grill. 

This year also featured the Finatics tailgate in a local magazine article. Thanks to Boca Magazine for the fantastic spread. You can actually read it here at this link:

https://issuu.com/jespublishing/docs/brm0917_flipbook

Jump to Page 98-99. 

So what could be better that all of this? After more than 25 years of tailgating together, the Finatics received the Publix Tailgate of the Week award this Sunday. We were featured on the big screens in the stadium, and add to that the fantastic victory and you have the perfect football day. So it’s on to Monday night and let’s see if we can ride the wave of momentum and shock the world with a victory over the seemingly indestructible Patriots. Go Dolphins!