Last season's Dancing with the Stars winner Helio Castroneves is sticking with his prediction: Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor will compete for the Mirrorball championship trophy.
IN MY OPINION
When he was coaching the New York Jets a decade ago, Bill Parcells saw one of his players throwing up during a workout session and yelled, ``Throw up on your own time.''
IN MY OPINION
Josh McCown has been a nomad the past six years, searching for a home in three NFL towns but never finding that perfect place to settle down, never finding that starting quarterback job that would end his travels.
DOLPHINS | JUSTIN WYNN
The clichéd phrase fitting some undrafted free agents would be ''under the radar.'' Then there is Dolphins wide receiver hopeful Justin Wynn. Wynn is not just under the radar. He was under the radar's underground electrical lines.
DOLPHINS | DONALD THOMAS
Look at the physique of Dolphins' sixth-round draft pick Donald Thomas -- short, massive neck; chest deeper than John Donne's poetry; Exxon-profit-sized upper arms -- and you would be excused for thinking Thomas (6-3, 303 pounds) must be a football player.
DOLPHINS
Jason Taylor literally doesn't have time for the fascinating tension gurgling atop the Dolphins organization between Miami's star boss and Miami's star employee. Taylor's schedules and interests don't allow him to focus on the feelings of a single Tuna when he is now swimming with so many bigger fish.
Watching from the sideline as his protégé coach orchestrated a minicamp workout this weekend, Dolphins vice president of football operations Bill Parcells hollered in the direction of Tony Sparano with a quick evaluation.
DOLPHINS
The chemistry always existed. It always was natural and ordinary, the way most any friendship cultivates itself from those unknown beginnings into a more familiar future.
The Dolphins have a serious and chronic problem at the wide-receiver spot. The team that once featured Paul Warfield and ''The Marks Brothers,'' Nat Moore and O.J. McDuffie is trying to emerge from a talent blackout at wideout. So far, neither Derrius Thompson, Marty Booker nor any of the other answers the team reached for in the past decade have provided anything other than more questions.
IN MY OPINION
Tony Sparano might never quote Socrates or recite proverbs from the Bible, but already the Dolphins' new coach is showing a talent his last couple of predecessors apparently lacked or simply declined to display in public.
DOLPHINS | ROOKIE MINICAMP
His freedom was gone. And so was his scholarship. It had all vanished, melting away into 15-month sentence at the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility, where Dolphins rookie wide receiver Davone Bess spent his days regretting the decisions that put him there.
Nose tackle Anthony Toribio began this weekend's rookie minicamp listed under ''minicamp workout players,'' a group so far down in the caste system that only their names, positions and numbers are listed on the minicamp rosters -- no heights, weights, birth dates, colleges or hometowns.
MIAMI DOLPHINS
The moving on and getting past began Friday in a way both tangible and symbolic. Dolphins were on a football field again for the first time since the mess that was last season ended. However far the road back to respectability proves to be for this beaten franchise, mark this day as the first step.
He played through the pain. No question about that. When a knee injury cost quarterback Chad Henne to miss two games last year, and when a dislocated shoulder sidelined him for another, the Dolphins' rookie wouldn't let the setbacks stifle his senior season at Michigan in its entirety.
IN MY OPINION
Lionel Dotson is a very large man, with his 295 pounds filling out a 6-4 frame to overflow, and yet that large mass of muscle and bulk disappeared at times Friday afternoon. Every time Dotson, a Dolphins rookie defensive end, plowed helmet-first into Jake Long it was as if a pagan sacrifice was disappearing into the mouth of a large volcano.
Aside from some famous/infamous owners such as Oakland's Al Davis and Dallas' Jerry Jones, few NFL rookies could be expected to identify their team's owner on sight. And there's no newer entrant to the NFL owners' club than Dolphins half-owner Stephen Ross, who attended Friday's practice.
The eyes that matter will occasionally be on the obvious. Some will marvel at offensive tackle Jake Long's massive frame. Others will evaluate every pass thrown by quarterback Chad Henne, no matter the qualifications of his targets. Phillip Merling's ability to pass rush also will get considerable attention.
WHAT IS IT? The Dolphins will hold their first minicamp of the offseason this weekend, but none of the team's veterans is expected to attend. Instead, the camp will consist of rookies who were just drafted, signed as undrafted free agents or invited to South Florida for a special tryout session. On occasion, a few veterans might pop up.
You can be as happy as you want about Jake Long's arrival in Miami. But who wants to watch an offensive tackle go through practice drills all weekend? Let's not kid ourselves. This minicamp would be less entertaining than Jason Taylor's next appearance on Dancing With The Stars if it weren't for the presence a quarterback. It is time to find out what second-round pick Chad Henne can do.
What do Dolphins players think after the first few weeks around the new regime? Some of their observations: Even in his executive role, Bill Parcells is making his presence felt during the offseason conditioning program. Parcells often walks around the weight room while the players work out, ''and you know when he comes because everybody stands up erect,'' former 49ers guard Justin Smiley said. ``If they're slouching, they get up and everybody is doing something.
