Ready to forget this Dolphins season? Your escape to the glory days is coming to Miami

The Miami Dolphins are having a season most fans would rather forget. The rebuilding team has lost its first three games by scores of 59-10, 43-0 and 31-6. It is historic ineptitude. The worst start in the franchise’s 54 seasons.

So what better time to escape to better days! To relive old glories. To snuggle into the past, when Don Shula still roamed the sideline, Dan Marino snapped passes and Jason Taylor was sacking the other quarterback.

You won’t find any of that at Hard Rock Stadium these days.

But you will find it in Miami.

HistoryMiami Museum is celebrating 100 years of the NFL, with a big nod to the halcyon days of the hometown Dolphins, in a major new exhibit called “Gridiron Glory: The Best Of the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.”

It opens this Saturday, Sept. 28 and runs through Feb. 9, closing one week after the Super Bowl that Miami is hosting. A VIP Preview Party will be held this Thursday, Sept. 26.

Tickets are $8 to $10 for the main run, and $150 to the preview party. To purchase tickets visit the museum at 101 W. Flagler Street in downtown Miami, or online at historymiami.org.

The NFL and Pro Football Hall have staged this traveling exhibit in the Super Bowl host city ever year since 2012, and HistoryMiami Museum was a natural site. Founded in 1940, the former Historical Museum of Southern Florida is a Smithsonian Affiliate and the largest history museum in the state.

The 8,000 square foot exhibit will include more than 200 artifacts, rare photos, original documents, NFL Films footage, interactive displays, an instant replay booth and the Vince Lombardi Trophy that 32 teams fight for every year.

A “Hometown Heroes” section will spotlight the Dolphins and other local football stars. Included will be the football Marino threw to set the all-time career passing yards record, and the uniform Taylor wore during his 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year season.

Visitors will also see a game ball used in 1910, the draft card the Patriots handed over to select Tom Brady in the sixth round in 2000 (just to torture Dolfans), and myriad other artifacts.

So save the air fare or the 1,200-mile drive to Canton, Ohio, because the Pro Football Hall of Fame is coming to Miami for four-plus months.

It is meant as a celebration of pro football.

For South Florida it’s also a well-timed respite -- an escape from this Dolphins season.

This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 12:10 PM.