Veterans Day was this week, and the Dolphins will honor America and the U.S. military in several patriotic ways during Sunday's home game against Tampa Bay.

One of the highlights will be a video montage in which coach Tony Sparano and several Dolphins players participate in a solemn reading of the preamble to the Constitution.

I was told Sparano was understandably preoccupied with football during the taping and required a second take after the first one started, ``We the people need to pass-protect and not turn the ball over . . .''

I saw the finished tape and it is quite moving. Except for the one part where Joey Porter gets as far as the phrase ``provide for the common defense'' and suddenly breaks from the script, angrily accusing the Founding Fathers of ``getting special treatment in their day, just like Tom Brady does now.''

Porter might have been upset after being reminded the 16th Amendment to the Constitution allows Congress, as well as snarky sports writers, to make fun of NFL players who run their mouths and then go out and have zero tackles or sacks.

• The Palm Beach Post wrote a story about Dolphins personnel chief Bill Parcells befriending a homeless man. Cannot confirm the homeless man has since been signed by the team and will replace Ted Ginn Jr. in the wide receiver rotation.

• Friends and former college teammates Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams have a sizable friendly wager on who wins and who has more rushing yards in Sunday's Dolphins-Bucs game. Um, unless that's against NFL rules and this note reaches Roger Goodell, in which case I made it all up!

• The NFL reportedly has booked The Who as its halftime performers for this season's Miami Super Bowl, in keeping with the league's preference for musicians who were popular in the '60s or are in their 60s. However, an official announcement has not been made, giving the league several more weeks to find an act even older or less relevant.

• The NBA offered LeBron James vs. Dwyane Wade. Pretty good. But I like the NFL's counterpunch with Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady.

• The Panthers were 6-9-1 and fourth in their division entering Saturday's game. How about we just say now that they have been eliminated from playoff contention to save time later?

• Peru and Honduras play an international soccer friendly Wednesday at the Dolphins' stadium. To prepare, on Sunday, a three-pointer by Dan Carpenter will be referred to as ``field GOOOOAAALLLL!!''

• Baseball general managers meeting in Chicago failed to take a vote on expanding instant replay following a postseason in which several controversies arose from players tripping over umpires' white canes or being chased by guide dogs.

• GMs also made no trades, meaning their greatest accomplishment during the meeting was filching from the hotel minibar and convincing the front-desk manager a $12.95 charge for the film, Bikini Car Wash, was somehow mistakenly billed to their room.

• Joe Cada, 21, of Michigan won $8.55 million in the World Series of Poker a few days ago. Cada has since spent all of his winnings on women, pizza, keg parties, tattoos, video games and Ponzi schemes, and is peddling his riches-to-rags story to disreputable Hollywood producers.

• University of Miami on Monday plays host to an entrepreneurial workshop featuring UFC boss Dana White. Sure, that makes sense. What serves a respected university's reputation and educational mission better than aligning with a man who runs America's bloodiest, most violent ``sport?''