'Fins To Begin Training Camp Early

A lot of readers have emailed to say, "Tom, why don't you post about the Miami Dolphins anymore?"

Mostly it's because when you're lying in a hot bath trying to open a vein, your fingers keep slipping off the keyboard.

Well, no matter, because after this past weekend's humiliating shut out at the hands of the Browns (the Browns, fer cryin' out loud!), Coach Nick Saban has declared that we're not keeping score for the rest of the year:

''What I am focused on is turning the corner because we are building the team for the future, so where we are this season doesn't really matter,'' coach Nick Saban said Monday afternoon. ``It doesn't really matter. We want to see guys compete so we can know whether they need to be here, we want them to be here and if they are the kind of people we want. That is what we are trying to find out.

``The record doesn't really matter, the result doesn't matter and the score in the game doesn't really matter.''

Message to the rest of the NFL: Neener! Neener! Neener!

So what is going to keep me interested in football for the remainder of the year? Simple. I was seven years old when the 'Fins had their perfect '72 season. Griese, Csonka, Kiick, Warfield, Jake Scott - those guys were my heroes. And Garo Yepremian's, er, creative attempt to deal with a blocked kick in the Super Bowl gave rise to my very first bout of yelling at the tee vee. It's because of the impression that group made on my young mind that I've stuck with the 'Fins through all the thick and thin since then.

So what this all leads up to in terms of this year is simple: Bring me the head of Tony Dungy!