Chad Pennington and the Dolphins meteoric rise from hopeless to so close is a story worth retelling

SCOTT JACOBS

To whomever is listening:

One year ago we were celebrating our first win.  We were preparing to play the undefeated Patriots and knew we’d probably lose again.  But one thing was for sure.  We wouldn’t go winless, that we did secure.  Cleo Lemon was our quarterback, our team had mailed a miserable season in.  It was a depressing time to be us.  No one was proud to be ‘phin.

We went into the offseason as the worst team in the sport.  Our NBA bretherin tried to give us support.  But they too had hit bottom, South Florida’s saddest sports feat.  When will it come together, we can’t dare a season of repeat.  But we brought in the Tuna and he instantly brought us cred.  Then we brought in a cool sounding assistant to be our coach, make it head.  We cut our team in half, and filled our squad anew.  We wanted to get some toughness, we wanted to look like we had a clue.

But even after a summer in which we remade our team, the idea of being relevent, was still but just a dream.  We still had no leader, we still had no QB.  We looked like a  mismatch of anything but made for TV.  And then the hated rival took a chance on an old legend who chose to unretire.  His acquisition sent me packing, and really lit my ire.  After all my time that I had put in, they kicked me to the curb.  Eight years of service, treating me that way was absurd.

And so I went looking for work, and you guys came calling.  You said you’d pay me well, and let me start, and that what happened to me was appalling.  I agreed, and came aboard, hoping to resurrect my career.  I was looking for a new home, one where the fans would consistently cheer.  People questioned my arm, and said I was washed up, and asked what was I doing. They told me this would be a day that my new team would be rueing.

But you continued to believe in me, and stuck by my side, even after things looked bleak. Even when we started 0-2, you refused to believe we were up a creek.  You kept me in, amidst the cries of let the new guy play.  I watched the fans etch my name as a guy in decay.  But then we went up north and beat the team that didn’t lose.  We won with some trickeration, but from there we began to cruise.  It wasn’t always the smoothest path, it almost never is.  But to succeed in life, you have to overcome strife, tis, tis, tis.

Now look at us, we’re on the verge, we’ve done what no one said we could.  We’ve overcome, we’ve never come undone, and now we’re right on the door-step.  Of re-writing logic, of captivating the masses into a pure state of delirium, and doing what no one believed we could do.  We’ve listened in, and taken a spin, we’ve heard the critics through and through.

But here we are, knocking, will you please let us in?  For what else do we have to accomplish to get your love again?  Next time I get to play the old guy who was cooler than me and took my place.  I can’t wait to see what happens, when we leave with a title to see the look on his face.  O well, I guess they never appreciate you till you’re gone.  I got no love from the league above, but that ain’t going to stop me.  That primetime game once again won’t involve my bunch.  But I’ve got a hunch, and I’ll bet my lunch that you won’t want to miss this, you!

Thanks a lot, it’s been fun, starting over, and living in the sun.  I keep waking up thinking this is all I dream.  I keep pinching myself, because I want to scream.  Let me at ‘em, let me at ‘em, I’ll tell them what they did wrong.  They set me loose, them silly goose.  Don’t they know I’ll never let that down.

Sincerely,

Chad Pennington

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