Dolphins News for the week of 6/9/2003

[The_Philster]

Please post Dolphins News Here

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- Some time this afternoon Brian Griese will be reintroduced to South Florida with his No. 14 Dolphins' jersey.

Griese is scheduled to undergo a physical this morning before signing his two-year deal that includes a $1 million signing bonus and incentives worth around $2 million. Though the Dolphins would have liked Griese to have worked in last week's quarterback school, he will begin work with offensive coordinator Norv Turner this week and will take his first snaps at the next quarterback school June 16-18...
more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/sports_e34e601926b912a3008d.html)

[BillsOwnAll]

BREAKING NEWS ********YES THEY STILL SUCK********

[The_Philster]

Quarterback Brian Griese and coach Dave Wannstedt had an intriguing reaction as they stepped back into literal and figurative heat that defines South Florida and the Dolphins.

They couldn't have been more relaxed.

On Monday, Griese officially returned home when he signed a two-year contract with the Dolphins. In the process, Wannstedt turned the screws on what figures to be yet another season filled with fans and media discussing a quarterback controversy between Griese and starter Jay Fiedler....

more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6052965.htm)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- In Denver, one of America's most aggressive and intrusive sports media markets, Brian Griese's guard always was up.

New to the NFL, he was the cocky kid trying to sound as certain as John Elway in the huddle. One Pro Bowl season said he might just pull it off, rallying the Broncos to greatness the way he did the national champion Michigan Wolverines, but then the interceptions starting coming, and so did the headlines for a DUI and some other embarrassing off-field incidents, and, worst of all, so did the late-season flameouts for a team accustomed to Super Bowl parades....

more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/sports_e35e266246b290bd00b4.html)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- Dave Wannstedt knows quarterback controversies. He had his share in Chicago with Erik Kramer and Rick Mirer, but nothing can compare to his first year as the Dolphins' head coach in 2000.

His choice then was Damon Huard or Jay Fiedler. Dan Marino, the legend to be replaced, publicly campaigned for Huard, his buddy.

But Wannstedt named Fiedler, who threw four interceptions in his only exhibition appearance, the starter and then watched Fiedler throw three straight incompletions in his first game at Pro Player Stadium...
more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/sports_e35e26f546b221500035.html)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- Brian Griese seemed relieved to escape the pressure of following John Elway in Denver, while Dave Wannstedt is determined to handle the pressure of coaching a former Pro Bowl quarterback as the backup to Jay Fiedler.

In that sense Griese, introduced Monday after signing a two-year contract, and the Dolphins look to be a good fit.

Wannstedt and team owner H. Wayne Huizenga have cited the play of 2002 backup Ray Lucas as a major reason the Dolphins missed the playoffs. Now they have a backup who has won recently as a starter, a luxury few teams enjoy...

more (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-dolphins10jun10,0,2936873.story?coll=sfla-dolphins-front)

[The_Philster]

Well, what did you expect to happen? Dave Wannstedt to fling open the Dolphins' quarterback job? Brian Griese to ride into town wearing a sheriff's badge?

Jay Fiedler to say, "Bring him on," and Dolphins players to start choosing sides? In June?...
more (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-hyde10jun10,0,7031090.column?coll=sfla-dolphins-front)

[The_Philster]

Quarterback Brian Griese and coach Dave Wannstedt had an intriguing reaction as they stepped back into literal and figurative heat that defines South Florida and the Dolphins.

They couldn't have been more relaxed....

more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6052965.htm)

[The_Philster]

Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said after the team signed quarterback Brian Griese that Miami is no longer interested in former Cincinnati quarterback Akili Smith.

''We're out of the quarterback market,'' Wannstedt said after being asked about Smith, who was the No. 3 overall pick in 1999....

more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6052976.htm)

[The_Philster]

Bob Griese was the cerebral, unemotional Dolphins quarterback who became the efficient, analytical ABC Sports college football announcer. Griese and gregarious have seldom appeared in the same sentence. There always has been a wall there, a guard up to keep intruders from getting too close.

''We are not outgoing people,'' Griese said of his clan. ``We don't love the limelight.''

This was different then. A human side not often or easily shown for public consumption....

more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6060830.htm)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- As Kenny Mixon rumbled down the field two years ago for a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown against Denver, the people inside the luxury box at Pro Player Stadium were ecstatic.

All but one of them. Bob Griese was conflicted because his former team would eventually win the game, but his youngest son, Brian, threw the clinching interception.

"My good friend, coach Don Shula and all of our other friends, were jumping up and down and I didn't feel so good about that," Griese said. "The good thing is I've only got one team now, and I can divert all my energies to that team."...

more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/wednesday/sports_e36e2afa46b202eb0078.html)

[The_Philster]

Dolphins great Bob Griese said a big part of him wanted son Brian to play in his native South Florida, but a bigger part of him wanted Brian to find a better quarterback situation than in Denver, where he had been dumped in favor of Jake Plummer.

Griese believes those hopes intersected perfectly when Brian signed with the Dolphins on Monday. Brian will play for the organization his father helped win two Super Bowl titles from 1967-80 while getting a break from what the elder Griese said were "unfair" expectations with the Broncos....
more (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-dolphins11jun11,0,3526699.story?coll=sfla-dolphins-front)

[The_Philster]

Sources: Deal may be soon; Freeman signs
Two sources close to Oronde Gadsden said the receiver has told them he plans to re-sign with the Dolphins relatively soon, perhaps in time to participate in the final quarterback school next week.

Gadsden is the remaining free agent starter from last season whom the Dolphins haven't signed. Gadsden and agent Michael Todd could not be reached for comment.

The Dolphins had no comment on the talks, although coach Dave Wannstedt has said repeatedly the team is willing to re-sign Gadsden to a one-year offer for the veteran minimum of $530,000...
more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6069092.htm)

[The_Philster]

Spooky. I'm crawling down South Dixie Highway, the automotive equivalent of trying to run against the Tampa Bay Bucs, when Bob Griese's confident voice fills the car radio. Unmistakably Griese.

But why is he telling Hank Goldberg how nice it will be to play in Pro Player Stadium? Bob Griese mostly made his Hall of Fame bones in the Orange Bowl.

Takes me a few seconds. I'm a slow study, if anyone hasn't guessed. Goldberg is interviewing Griese, but it's Bob's son Brian, just checking into the Dolphins picture. Brian is 28, a year older than his dad was in That Perfect Season, and the sameness of their voices raises the hair right up the back of your head...
more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6069076.htm)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- Facing the possibility of the Dolphins cutting their offer under league rules for restricted free agents, strong safety Arturo Freeman signed his tender offer worth $605,000 on Wednesday.

If Freeman had waited until Sunday to sign, the Dolphins could have trimmed the offer to about $408,000. Freeman attracted interest from New Orleans during the signing period for restricted free agents, but the Saints eventually traded for New England's Tebucky Jones...
more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/sports_e37ebffb46b2601f00ad.html)

[Gunzlingr]

By Todd Archer, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 13, 2003

Six of the nine players the Dolphins sent to NFL Europe are expected to be at the final quarterback school Monday, but the other three will have time to recover from Saturday's World Bowl XI.

Wide receiver Robert Baker and defensive tackle Johnny Thomas, a Dwyer High School graduate, will represent Frankfurt in the championship, and wide receiver Kendall Newson will play for the Rhein Fire.

more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/sports_e39e14e046b291941072.html)

[The_Philster]

NBC 6's Fins TV, the Dolphins' weekly year-round magazine show, has given the team a prominent forum for off-field features, human-interest stories and offseason news.

But it also has spurred discussion in the market about how each station chooses to do business with South Florida's most popular franchise.

There's a clear difference in philosophies between NBC 6 and Channel 10. NBC 6 pays to carry Dave Wannstedt's coach's show, which isn't the least bit unusual....
more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6077120.htm)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE, Fla. - Brian Griese was born in south Florida, so it seems only fitting that he wants his football career to be reborn here.



Once touted as John Elway's heir apparent, Griese knows he now has to prove himself again. After four lean years as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Griese is embarking on a new role: backup quarterback for the Miami Dolphins....
more (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~86~1454319,00.html)

[The_Philster]

DAVIE -- It's such a universal union, membership tends to be taken for granted. Sometimes it seemed to Jason Taylor that he was the only one left out.

All the sacks the Dolphins' defensive end recorded, every honor he piled up; in the end his success on the football field was a double-edged sword that cut to the core of his sadness off the field.

Taylor didn't have a relationship with his biological father, and his connection with the man who adopted him when he was 10 after marrying Taylor's mother had all the static and discontinuity of a cellphone hookup....

more (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/sports_e3be2fc5b0bca00d004a.html)

[The_Philster]

After 42 years in football, the past 11 with the Dolphins, Tom Braatz walks away having built a reputation as one of the game's most influential scouts.
Former Dolphins scout Tom Braatz might never have hit the road if not for the drunk pizza deliveryman.

In the 1960s in Dallas, Braatz was in the restaurant business, retired after a four-year NFL career. He and his partner started ''Pizza on Wheels.''

The pizza was cooked in the van in a butane oven. The business was going good until one night when the driver had a few too many beers and hit a parked car....

more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6092234.htm)