Gratuitous 'Fins Posting

I didn't get a chance to say so earlier, but congrats to the Dallas Cowboys for putting the kybosh on Indianapolis' perfect season this past weekend. It isn't often that I cheer on the Cowboys, but woo hoo!

And why am I so happy? Because the Colts' loss means that the Streak continues. Gregg Easterbrook explains:

In other NFL news, at 7:18 p.m. ET on Sunday, as the Colts left Stonehenge Field in Irving, Texas, mumbling "#@%*!" under their breaths, corks popped. In one of the sweetest traditions in sports lore, on opening day of every NFL season, each surviving member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the sole perfect team in modern pro football history, sets aside a bottle of champagne to cool. And it's genuine champagne from the French province of Champagne, not the boysenberry-infused sparkling-Gewurztraminer wine-like substance that passes for bubbly these days. At the moment the stadium clock hits all-naughts for the vanquishing of the season's last undefeated team, the 1972 Dolphins pull the corks, secure in the knowledge that they will reign as the sole perfect team for at least one more year. Gentlemen of 1972, enjoy your annual draught. TMQ feels confident you will continue to sip champagne each autumn until you are called to meet the football gods, and greeted by song and feasting.

Hear, hear!

As a boy, I actually fell in love with the Dolphins in 1971 and was enraged when the were embarassed in the Super Bowl by the Cowboys (the favorite team of my little brother). I suppose that made the '72 'Fins all that more sweet to me. And in the long, frustrating years between the mid 70's and now, the memory of those guys has sustained me in my team loyalty through both thick and thin.

So here's to Griese, Csonka, Morris, Warfield, Kiick, Little, Buoniconti, Foley, Scott, Little Garo and, of course, Coach Shula (not to mention the rest)! Gentlemen, may you keep popping those corks!