The Fish Tank: Miami Dolphins Tales From The DeepYou're now diving.
Into the.
Sitting down with Seth livingth oh Je juice.
And this is strictly for I'm a.
True fans number one.
Of course, y'all this and the other never rests talk that might.
Have been that pitch Tank.
Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeartRadio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and the man with the best hands in the podcast business, O J McDuffie Juice. It is the final day of twenty twenty four and when you stop and take a moment to reflect, it's been a healthy year in the tank.
Man, It's been one healthy year, big Seth.
It seems it seems like we always get to the point where, you know, we think that we can't top a year, but man, it seems like every single year we get some great guests and then the stories just continue to come in.
Man, and boy, was this a year of incredible stories.
Either you're getting better, you're getting worse, right right, we are not trying to go the wrong direction. Obviously, with it being New Year's Eve, the countdowns have begun, So I think it's time for us to join the party with a countdown of our own.
No doubt about it, Big Seth, what do you say we start to countdown right now with our top ten Fish Tank moments of the year.
Let's do it. And as we identify our favorite moments, we're going to make sure that we let you know when they line up with the favorites of some of our most avid and loyal listeners as well.
All right, okay, okay, kicking things off man, it's goal number ten. It's an absolute legend, my man, Jim Jensen. Now, so many people were excited to hear Jim finally dive into the tank, except in fact, one of our favorite fans in Mexico, Emilio Zamora, ranked this as his favorite episode of the year.
Emilio's the best and he wasn't alone either. Juice. Our guy Peter Deprimo, who might have every Fish Tank episode memorized word for word, said that he felt like a kid at Christmas when Jim popped up on his Apple podcast app.
Right and so, Jim, the NFL's original Swiss Army Night, was our first guest of the year, and he definitely got things started the right way by explaining how he became known as Crash. How did Jim Jensen become Crash?
Oh?
Just running down and kickoff and knocking people's helmets off.
And actually there.
Was one game where I ran down on a kickoff preseason game and both both of us hit each other.
Well I hit him and.
Both of our helmets went flying off, and we were watching film the next day and Don Struck said, Crash. So Strap, that's all I think I got it. Other people say it was some other way, but.
So are there is it like one of those things where there's a lot of different stories about how it came to be. But but if you say.
Strock, there's two stories, what's the other one?
I think it's John Madden.
I think Juice is gonna stick with it with the Strock story. Oh that's pretty good. That's pretty good.
Well, I'm glad we addressed that.
But we're gonna dial it back here for a second, because I I not only want to understand how you became Crash, which we know now and again going with Don Strock, but you also became one of the most versatile players in NFL history. So let's go all the way back to Boston University. You become the starting quarterback your junior season and you lead the team to a seventeen to three to one mark over two seasons. Like I mean, have a hell of a career as a quarterback.
There.
You're the team MVP. Y're an all conference performer. But we start to get a little glimpse of what is to become because like you're in as a quarterback, but if you guys don't convert a third down and it's time to punt, you're putting another jersey on and you're the long snapper as well.
I had to do that in one game against Louisville because our long snapper got hurt, so I had to put on alignman's jersey and snap the ball. And then that's how I got on the special teams. I was back up long snapper with the Dolphins, backup punter, played a lot of different positions, as you guys know, and it was fun. It kept it interesting and kept me alert. At Boston University, we threw the ball maybe eleven twelve times a game, and most of our offense was tossed to the tailback and I would go lead block for the tailback.
After the talk. I love it.
When I got to the Dolphins, I had to learn how to pre defenses, which I never had to do in Boston, so it was pretty difficult.
Coach Shula called me a lot of different names.
So he didn't give you crowd.
I got in that playbook so hard, man, I had. I had to know what the offense was doing, what the defense is doing, and it was really hard for me and Coach Shula. He did call me a lot of different names, and I was about to give it up. I called my dad. I said, Dad, I can't do this anymore. Coaches on me. He said, I'll just stick with it. You'll be all right, and then I did and it worked out pretty good.
I love that there are two different stories, and I love it even more that we went with the Donstrock story and not the Madden version.
Absolutely, man, you have to go with the Donstrock versi and then you know when Kraft brings him that he brings him man.
So that's the only way to go about this.
Such an awesome episode. Okay, let's go to our ninth favorite moment of twenty twenty four. It was pure gold, as in a gold jacket. Larry Little made his second appearance in the Tank on September tenth. But unlike his first appearance where he was joined by another gold Jacket and Larry Zanka and the late Great Mercury Morris, this time Larry Little showed up solo and juice. He didn't need any help, did he, No, he did not.
Man.
I mean, Larry's one of those guys and you know who would be funny if if he was just reading the phone book, But when he's actually telling stories, there's nobody like it.
Nobody. So it was hard to choose just one moment from this episode with the Hall of Famer. But when Larry started explaining how different they were in the early seventies under legendary coach Don Shula, we knew that we had an instant classic on our hands.
Yes, we'll be waiting on Thursdays. And the tassive he was, that was his main job basically for When, and he loved When. Love the way he would have to tell her to go back to the coach somebody would go overweight.
So, uh, the night before where I knew, I knew a pharmacist who was a good friend of mine, and I would get water.
Pills, you know, to make sure I made to wait the next day and you know it's not literally a drug dealer. But the night before whening a lot of teammates bringing my doorbell at my heart. But one time I was not like a half a pound overweight, and you know it biscame college. When you were going into the waiting the meeting room, Carl said I would have a pound over I said I wasn't, So.
I was going up.
I walking by shoeler. I was going to the lineman shit, and he was going to the meeting. Said you have a pound old week today? Huh? And I said no, I was gonna have a pounder your boys said I was having a pounder over.
Oh.
He didn't like that, so he got up in the meeting. He said, you know what, I'm tired of you guys bitching about being old waited when your old way your old wait.
I'm what I'm gonna do.
I'm will mix it up. So he did.
He may have more scary the defensive line coach more than want that job, So get me back to call. Car took pride to telling Shuler that someone was over wait. You know who I got tied. I'm getting tired of you guys bitching about who's the old way, who's your old way?
Your way?
So I didn't say anything, but you know the guys, you know they getting the water pills helped me out anyway, right, because I was it's about all night. But now Zark, I could make your way in that Thursday and on Sunday it was like two thirty nine, I think something like that. On Sunday he was two sixty. And then the next week they is sitting in masana again trying to lose weight. Then we had a guy named Frank Cornish who's also my team. Made my room, made the sun play with it. That was cowboys and the boy called him the Bappa, the boppa. Get it his car with a sweat suit on. Turn that heat on and right. So I ride around, just swept the weight off to make the way in.
It just doesn't seem healthy.
Not being healthy.
We we didn't get water on the field until nineteen seventy five.
You didn't get water till seventy wow on the field.
No, we didn't know what we did. Well, the guy got hurt and they'll bring ice on the field. We go stand mine the line and hit the bags drinking wall out of the bag got dirty ward out of the bag.
I dread it.
Oh come on man, oh man, the dirty water big.
Son right out of the bag.
Juice Man, that's too good man. I love Larry Little. What a treasure you know. And how lucky are we to have had him in the tank not once but twice?
Absolutely priceless.
Okay, So the countdown continued with our eighth favorite moment of the year, and this one featured one of the tallest players in Miami Dolphins history and one of the most well known members of the Killer Bees defense, Dug Betters.
This episode also happened to be the favorite of our guy Bill from Boyton, So shout out to BLT for always diving in.
Yeah, Man, we always appreciate Bill Man, He's always been great to us and Seeth. Doug's entire story is incredible. From a little known recruit who played at the University of Montana to become the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, and then the way he has lived his life after a catastrophic skiing accident that left him paralyzed. Doug is truly an inspiration. But our top moment from this episode that'd be doug desire to take a contract negotiation into his own hands. His visited Joe Robbie's Montana ranch was the stuff of legends. Tell you this, so, Doug, obviously you know all that you were doing, making all these plays, man, I mean at some point you had to hold out try to get your money though, I mean how hard?
How hard was it get paid? You know during those days, because as we.
Understand, I mean, you got rid of your agent, you had to go straight to Joe Robbie and like, yo, I mean I need to get my money.
Well, that's true.
You know we had a we had a print I could get print outs of every what everybody else is making too. You know, we had that from the union.
Was it the facts? Was it the facts back then? Yeah?
Yeah, And I think it came off.
Myself, Doug.
It's my first agent with the Jack Mills from Colorado. He also had Ulvan Shaman. And after my first contract, he he goes, I got you a contract to I mean twelve thousand dollars signing bonus and a thirty two. Thirty eight was my first two years. So he got, yeah, it's the best I could do thirty you know.
Say that one more time. How much how much did you make? Tell these people nowadays, how much was that? How much was your signing bones and everything?
Again?
Right sited most is twelve thousand dollars. It came to eighty eight hundred bucks. Once I got it after TAXX, I called the dolphins up right away. Wait wait, plust be twelve yeah, taxes with all the damns the way this is gonna work.
Huh.
So I got my eighty eight hundred, and then I got my thirty two for the first and thirty eight second years. So when I came out, I was playing a little bit, so I got a chance. Bills went back in and got.
Me a hundred.
I tell you what he's have to pull a gun to guys, said, they get this kind of deal world, and you know he is active a deal for it. Don't tell Anyboddy about it because they don't anybody else will know that we're giving you as much money.
Okay.
Well, about two or three weeks later I here four or five guys got the same deal. They had that magic number and whatever.
I also, no tell me.
But then he made a move on us contract. He goes like, hey, I gave you some move, my betters, if you get a buff, move up a little bit. Damn, what do I get a kick or take my freaking money? I'm going like, you know, you gotta go on. So I finally go to Joe and I go Joe, Robbie, he goes. I go, Joe, why don't we just you know, you know, you're in Montana. He had bought a ranch in Montana. Because when you're out in Montana, I'm gonna go back out to this summer and sausage and go, why don't we just talk about this and we tell you, you know, I don't need an agent.
Why don't we just do it? Okay?
Yeah, come out clear. And I go out to Montana and I meet up with I go to Joe's place out in Ennis, Montana, and uh we you know, we go out and we're talking. I got to his ranch and his ranch and Joe's ranches and and it is about a couple three hundred miles from where I lived at I had an old pickup truck, and my buddy had had a Camaro and his all highway miles and stuff. So I swapped his vehicle for the for the weekend, got some highway miles, and if I drive out. I find his place, and I'm trying to find it this one. I go, we where's Joe Robbie lived? He goes, you mean that millionaire? He's up on the hill over here. I go show up and.
Hold on, you're looking for his house. You're literally going to go knock on his door and say, let's get this thing figured out.
Oh we talked, he said, you know, he said, come on out, we'll talk. And that's why I finally out. Okay, I'll be out there in a couple of days or whatever. So I'll be there. I'm around to come see me. He gave me some directions. But back we have GPS, you know, it's out of the road.
Have Google Maps I got and.
So I go knock on the door and talk him. Yeah, you come, come on in. He goes, get me in glass eyes, ta shows me around a little bit nice place, and he goes gets into his office and he goes like, we sit down, and he slides. I goes, I worked on your offer. Here, take a look at this, and sliding me over, he went up like twenty thousand dollars. You know, I'm looking for two hundred, you know, And he was at two twenty five. I wasn't twenty five. I went to two fifty or no, no, no, no, we were looking at this one. How about this guy, this guy, this guy. You know, I got to get more than this guy, so he said, and Jill goes. He goes like, so you're telling me that this guy you're a better player than this guy our shell. But he's making he's making more than thirty five thousand. You a better playing. I'm not gonna pay you two fifty go he get yeah. I was like, well that makes me a great owner, doesn't it? Because I'm not Why should I have to pay you more money? I get a better player? I ain't get up. That's the way it's supposed to work. He goes, well, that's what works. Why why should have? But why should this? I have to take it because of this owner, the dumb ass. I'm gonna pay him more money. I go, but you know, because I ain't gonna do it.
He goes.
What he goes, I'm gonna sit out. I ain't gonna play. He goes like, what do you what can you do to make two hundred and fifty thousand dollars? Take the money and just you know, shut out. Basically, I go, no, I quit. I'm not gonna play. You know I'm not playing for this. I just get up, I stomp out the house, slam the door, get in a freaking Camaro. I'm cutting doughnuts out in the driveway, just slinging gravel all over the place. That's you, Joe, tell about two months later. I did hold out that year. I came back and two months later and signed for two forty five. I didn't make it unk.
The picture in my mind of a piste off six foot seven Dug Betters with that made of red hair doing donuts in Joe Robbie's driveway while flipping him off, it just has me rolling Jewice.
And after all that Big said he settled for five thousand dollars less than what Joe was offering him in the first place.
It's just too good. So how is how is that only number eight? There's just been too many amazing moments for us to choose from.
Yeah, man, it's it's almost unfair to you know, to be limited to just ten.
Yeah, I agree, But we're gonna keep the party going here. Juice. Coming in at number seven is our guy Brian Hartline. We caught Brian while he was on the road recruiting for Ohio State, and he delivered what I think was an award winning performance.
He sure did.
Man.
In fact, it was so good that our guy David Fernandez chose this episode as his favorite of the year.
And he wasn't alone either, so shout out to David the sax Man, but also our partner in podcast crime, Travis Wingfield. He also loved this episode. He was kind of inspired by the things that Brian said made him a great player. And that's because Brian delivered one jem after the other. But the moment that we could not ignore was his stomach ache that turned into something far more serious.
I want to fast forward Man a little far to the off season prior to the twenty twelve season.
Let's talk about this.
You're on an airplane and you find yourself and aspreciating pain, and it turns out that you've got appendicitis, and the next thing you know, you're in.
The hospital for twelve days.
You can't get out of bed, gang green sits in, your entire digestice system shuts down, and you lose twenty five pounds. Man, oh right, and training camps only a couple months away.
What the heck is going through your mind at this point? Man? I mean, geez, yeah.
I was a little bit panic, a little bit, you know, because I was kind of trying to establish myself. I think that was also going into my contract year, and that's how it was starting. It's like, what are we talking about? So but yeah, I come back from Ohio and I guess you know, the pressurized plane aren't good for those things either.
And I'm thinking, like, man, what did I do that?
I like, you know, I was hanging with the guys a little bit, you know, and but I wasn't like drinking crazy or anything.
I went out there. It was crazy, you know. I eat something I don't know.
So I land right and then I get back to my my condo. I'm laying on the couch.
I remember this, and I call my buddy Jared Masters.
Jared played tight End for US is from Kansas State, and so I was like, hey, man, this is gonna sound really weird. But like I got maybe I'm constipated or something like, I don't know what's going on.
To god, I'm going through everything.
I'm like hurting.
I'm like, yo, I I just I must need some help. So I'm like, yo, you got to stop by a CDs, you know, pick me up something. You know, it sounds really weird, but like I need like a laxative or something to make sure. I'm like to Washington, the clock tick down and we're having OTAs we're reporting tomorrow. I'm like, you know, so I do all this, I take all this stuff, and that obviously just makes it worse. Like I don't know, I just my son was torn up. So then it turns to like five am, five point thirty. Did not sleep all night, and I'm like, okay, I'm either going to the facility or I'm going to the er.
There's no one between. Like I don't know what I'm gonna do.
So I was like screw that. I basically like crawled to my car like I was like, you know, falling down getting to my car. Got to my car, I'm driving, you know, up seventeenth Street, you know, over the causeway. I lived over by the Ardo Beach. And then yeah, man, I'm coming from Ohio. Broo, I'm gonna live in South Florida.
I'm gonna live near the beach. Like what we're talking about, I'm not living in Davy. So yeah, I just I swing in.
I said, no, I did made it, took the right went to the hospital. I went to the r I'm like, yo, I don't know what's going on. It's I got kidney stones. I don't know what's going on.
Like I'm trying to hang everything.
Obviously, my pentices, blue got gang, green got terrible. You know, they give you, like, you know, medicine to help you with the medicine that shut down my digestive systems. Nothing's moving. I didn't editing and eat for seven days, lost twenty twenty five pounds. And this is the best part of the story. So my girlfriend comes down, my mom comes down, everyone's in the hotel room. We also made an acquisition before all this happened. That so, uh, there's another receiver that came in. If anybody knows, we had a new coaching staff, like we have all kind of things going on, right, like coach Philminton, like Mike Sherman and then Chado to Sinco hotel.
Yes, so we bring in Chad.
I ain't never met this dude, and I'm in the I'm in the hospital room for.
Like five days, like shriveled up looking terrible.
Oh here is a this dude walks in and they're like, oh shit, oh te up. I never met this dude ever. He just walks in into my hotel room. You know, it's all personality. You know, my mom's like, what the hell is going on? You know, is there a TV show like right behind him?
Like?
So, that was the first time I met Chad, and we've stayed connected, you know, obviously ever since. And he obviously didn't We didn't have any chance to play fall together. But being in that hospital room, Chad walking in, gapping up Chad, and I'm like looking frail as hell. And that was the first time I met Chado chasinco in my hospital room.
I forgot about that. That was that time. That is crazy and that.
Was a crazy experience.
I came out of that and uh and really, you know, went on to a good year there.
So I'm not living in Davy big seth.
Yeah, You're not living in Davy juice. And I feel like, if if you and Hart had played together, the two of you guys might have kicked it a little bit.
Yeah, you know, we definitely would have.
Man, And of course will laugh because of how great this story was and how great the storytelling was. But that was obviously a serious moment that you know, could have cost Brian his career. He's lucky, He's lucky that he pulled through. And then the fact that he has such a great season after that ordeal shows you the type of warrior he was on Since.
Speaking of warriors, how about a guy who anchored the Miami Dolphins offensive line for a decade, missing only four games during that span. And it wasn't just a tough guy, but he was considered one of the smartest players in the entire National Football League.
Oh, man, you've got to be talking about one of my former teammates and Tim Ruddy, you know, I am man. No, not surprisedly though this happened to be Jason's favorite episode of the year. Not surprised at all, Big Steh.
No, it doesn't surprise me either, juice, because Tim Ruddy delivered our sixth favorite moment of twenty twenty four when he reflected upon snapping the football to the goat Damn Marino.
Well, you learn a lot, I mean you really. As he comes in, you know, you see the way he operates in the huddle, You see the way he calls the play. You see the way you know he's calling audibles at the line. I mean, you really just look at that point when I was coming in, you know, he was hitting his stride and just really you know, just a complete player. You know, sometimes think he doesn't get all the credit he deserves. But the other thing, when I came in, he I think he was disappointed in my height because you know, a lot of the other guys were taller so that day and at that point it had, you know, his knees. I had been these knee issues for years. I don't think he liked having to bend over as much to take the snap. And like you said, we didn't do as much a shotgun as right now. Maybe maybe the next time you talk to him you can ask him about that. I'm sure he'll probably have a couple other funny stories as well, but no tremendous experience to be able to play with him. And you know, you see, you see how the quarterback position is played. I mean that's probably the best way to sum it up.
Yeah, And you know, Tim, down in Miami, it's always super hot and humid, and I know my ass I sweated so much but you know, I never had my you know, I never had Danny's hands under my pants.
And I know this for a fact.
That was there a point during the game and halftime when Danny has to ask you to change your pants because I know how much I sweat and Danny's like, yeah, talk about that, because I remember if Danny like, go ahead, go ahead.
Yeah, Well, let me tell you a couple of things. First of all, coming down from Indiana, where it gets hot or hot?
Is it hot?
You know what I mean?
Hot? Is it hot? Hot?
Is like you know, oh, well.
That's a little bit of sun out today, everybody's happy.
You know.
You come out right where it's ninety five degrees and ninety percent humidity, you tend to sweat a little bit, you know. So yeah, I guess maybe I sweat a little bit more than most people. But yeah, so it wasn't in the home games, and this will be the first, I probably think it the first couple of years. I don't know, I would change you change my pants, uh, halfway at halftime so that you know, wouldn't be a sweaty and that for the you know, for the second half, and that Yeah, so I don't know you know, like I said, it kind of was always when I was there, so I didn't know if anybody else had to do it, but I know I so you know, maybe I'm just special. I've been told that a lot, but for the many different ways.
Well, you know what, nobody else had to deal with Danny's hands.
Bro, It's like you're the only position that had to deal with a diva ass quarterback, you know what I mean?
Because we all were sweating to death down there.
It was like crazy how hot and humid it was, especially after rain or even some rainy games like you know, so I was like, I remember, I was like, damn, I was telling themselves that. I think I remember that Dan had Tim changed his pants sometimes because it was their weather was sweaty, and it was because it was super fucking hot out there.
Bro, I tell you what, it seems like they talk about global warming, it seems like it was hotter in the nineties. I don't know this one question I wanted to ask Juice because I don't know.
Now.
No, obviously we didn't have you know, indoor practice facility, right like they have a davy or and you know things like that. We were running two days and all that, But damn, it seemed a lot hotter back then than it does.
Dude, we're right on this. So the sun was right on our practice field, right on our game field. Man, it never failed, Man, never failed.
Well do you think it also seemed hotter because you were probably eighty pounds heavier and you were wearing all that equipment and practicing football like then? Now if you go, you get to stand on the side and be that alumni that the current center should come over and shake your hand.
Don't try to deflect.
So we're talking. We're talking facts there.
This is my memory, my memory from thirty years ago, and Juice's.
Memory from thirty years ago.
And I, oh yeah, I'm very disappointed that you would.
Man, I can't believe you challenged him like that, big Seth and me.
Come on, well, look, the.
Guy's an engineer, for crying out loud, so how can he challenge global warming? I mean, he's got to know better, right. And meanwhile, he wasn't disappointed with you for revealing that he had a change just pants at halftime, just to keep Danny yup.
Man, that's hilarious.
Man.
Tim was a great sport and I'm just glad everyone else got to hear how funny that dude is. Okay, big seth, we've reached the halfway point in our countdown as we reveal number five on our list, and speaking of smart and funny guys, and a Niitney lion by the way.
You mean a first rounder Nitney lion.
Oh, man, here we go, here we go. We couldn't even get halfway through the show, big self without you doing.
This consistency, man, I gotta stay consistent.
Yeah, well, okay, all right, Well, Jared Audric was indeed the first round draft choice out of Penn State University because we are, of course. And also he came up, you know, with one of the all time great sack celebrations in Dolphins history and told us how that all came about in his episode two minute drill. All right, so, Jason Taylor, he punched your bullseye after a sack cam wake. He hawked out you did, Pheey Herman. Who had a better celebration you know in team history? I mean to me, and how the hell did you land on that?
One? Is yours?
Yeah, I'm not going to back down from this one. I think it's the greatest that ever happened inside that stadium, you know, especially because then everybody else became involved. They would played the tequila song right, and then other.
People would do it right.
And so yeah, I'm sure there's other people in the stadium punching out Bull's eyes. But you know, and JT knows it, Okay, JT knows it. Okay, that's that's square, right, that's El said, and we right, you gotta move, you gotta you gotta move the hips. Right, that's what the people in Miami want to see. Now up here with the Amish, I don't do that any right, that life is behind me, it's behind me.
But what people in.
South Florida want to see is gyration and so uh so that's what was happening. And I got challenged to do it because I saw Peewee's Big Adventure. Uh the like night before practice when we had Mike Nolan as a as a as a decordinator, and I'd always watched it when I was a kid, but it was on the night before and he was Mike Nolan was like giving out like you know, like different like points on a points board that we had in the defensive meeting room, like if we had interceptions or fumble recoveries, and if we ran it for a touchdown, that's more points, and then if we did a celebration on top of it, it was more points.
It's this point system that he had.
And so I'm like, man, I wonder what I would do, and I'm like, I think I might do the pee wee Herman and Kendall Langford.
Said, hey, you go say that, bitch t Bo. He goes, you won't do it. I bet you won't do it. I said, watch me.
So I sacked t BO and I did it for the first time, and it was more of a bet from Kendall.
Than it was and a legend was born.
Did he just drop an L seven weeny on us?
Is that what he said? Did Man? He was talking about your boss too, buddy.
Yeah, Man, j O is gonna get me in some trouble. But he did reveal that the people in Miami want gyration and that was that one I did not see coming. But how can you not love it? Okay, let's keep this thing moving right along. At number four, we sat down with Kenyon Drake, fresh off his retirement, and he broke down one of the most memorable plays in Miami Dolphins history, not just twenty twenty four, in the history of this franchise, the Miami Miracle.
Yeah.
Man, it's crazy to think about, actually, because the fact that that was a play you know, as you know, being you know, on the office side of the ball, you practice that maybe once a week if so. And it's obviously obviously different plays every time because they're at the end of the game plays, so throughout the week, like you said, December ninth, its week twelve thirteen. So we've practiced that play maybe twice that season, just on Saturday walking through, and every other time we practiced any other play, you know, we never really kind of got it right because it's just like, all right, you look at the script, you try to go out there and remember what you do and sometimes, you know, you just mess up and just you know, it is what it is. So that was the first time that we practice that specific play and got it right the first time the day before.
So everybody's cheering.
Everybody's all right, cool, you know, let's like, let's not hope we need to use it, you know.
Cool.
We don't want to be in the situation to have to use this lo and behold.
Obviously, we go out there and you're down by you know, said amount of points we have to call this play.
So we remind everybody, hey, let's look at the sheet.
Let's go out there and do we just practice you know, the day before, and go out there and get a win.
You know.
Tannehill gets the ball, Kenny catches the ball, pitches it to Davante, Davante runs, pitches it to me, and I kind of get the ball in the situation and I'm kind of like the end of the script, you know, to say the least, and I'm just like, all right, let's try to at least keep the ball, you know, in the lateral type of situation, I run kind of took my left. As I do that, the defense on the opposit side of the field, they don't can really converge on me. They kind of like back up to kind of see if I'm going to throw the ball whatever the case may be. So that kind of creates a lane for me in that sense. I just kind of, you know, hit the gas at that point. Ted Larson, you know, the real hero of that play, really ran up got a you know, a nice seal block on Patrick Chong, and you know, as they say, the rest is history. Because once I saw Grunk and open field, you know, I kind of you know, like I said, he respectfully Grunk is gonna be a Hall of Fame tight end first bout, you know, Hall of Fame tight end.
But he wasn't gonna be known for making a tackle on me.
And that.
Absolutely, So what is that?
What is that play called? What was that play called?
It was called Boise in lou to the you know, hook hooking lateral that Boise ran on Oklahoma, uh back in you know, shoot, I mean I remember because I was a kid, but it was like what mid two thousand, two thousand and eight thousand, So yeah, it was called Boise and uh luckily that player that namesake was able to you know, carry us to a win.
Yeah. Here's here's my next question.
So you got the ball last, Like you talked about, its kind of endo, the script you talked about, So was.
That always your playing like you wasn't gonna lit of that thing?
Man?
You was like I'm gonna I'm thing right, Yeah, for sure.
I mean you know, in the in practice, you know, you get it and you run around and you just you know, trying to have fun with it after the script is over with. But in my head, for sure, I got the ball in my hand. I wanted to end in my hand, you know if I if it could. You know, of course I'm about to get tackled. You know I'm about to I'm not about to try to be a hero. But at the same time, with all that face around me, you know, that's you know, he grew up in the backyard, you know, junior moments like that.
So I just try to go out there.
And you know, make the play that was there and the player was there to be made nice.
So ye ended up being a hero.
Yeah, you feel me.
So you know, there wasn't something I wouldn't I didn't necessarily ask for it, but you know, when the opportunity posesses off, you got to make the most of it.
I'm gonna tell you this too.
For me as a fan, there were so many people that had left that game, and they were on the head.
They were only knew even fans were staying because they thought they were about to celebrate a victory. So a lot of fans that left me.
I was sitting in there kind of almost by myself, watching the game, and when that happened.
My wife and son were at home and.
They were like they couldn't believe it either, man, they were they were watching on TV.
Bro.
So for all the fans that left there, shame on them, man, because you never know what's gonna happen in a in a big time situation like that.
To be honest, it's funny because you you couldn't put like, you couldn't really put any words better than that. You know, obviously you got to, you know, play to the final whistle literally, But there's so many people that I've kind of run into, uh, since that play has happened. That's you know that literally told me, man, either I watched it, you know, on TV, or I was literally act the game and I didn't leave and I saw it live, you know what I mean.
So that's always pretty cool to share that moment with people.
Yeah, I wonder if more people have said it than like the capacity of the stadium, right, everybody was at the damn game, right exactly.
Look, you couldn't, Bob, I'm like, all right, Like, I mean, it really wasn't it was. It was a good amount of people that was there, but everybody.
Went there, you know what I mean, like, man, how great was it to relive that moment like it like it was yesterday?
Dick seth.
Yeah, and it was just so cool juice, because there isn't a fan a live who can't tell you exactly where they were when that moment happened, you know, so just a shared experience for our entire fan base. I think it's something that you know, especially our I think younger fans that they'll remember for the rest of their lives. And I didn't know Kenyon personally, so this was really special for me to hear him not just deliver that story, but to get to know the person a little bit more.
Yes, you know, that's one of my favorite things about our show.
Man.
I love how we get you know, really get really no guys. I mean, we know all the players, but getting to know the person and Tank is what does it for me man. You know, in fact, sometimes we think that we do know somebody and then we dive in and we learned things that we had no clue about. And our number three favorite moment of twenty twenty four is a perfect example that because this is when we learned that Jimmy Seffalo, another Pence Stater, of course, of course, what's better known as hometowns in Pennsylvania as Jimmy the Jet.
Yeah, juice, And now that we're in the top three, I feel like any one of these moments could have easily been ranked as number one. For me, it's been really hard to kind of put a pecking order there. But I'm not alone in this because this episode was also the favorite of our guy Savak Melton.
Yeah.
Man, much loved Sivak, who helped us edit nearly every episode the fifth TEENK in twenty twenty four, and so Seth. Piston, Pennsylvania is known for a lot of things, Jimmy the Jet, wine and a Buffalino crime family.
Oh boy, yeah, exactly. Man.
Well, when you're a high school lesend in a small town like Piston, Pennsylvania, people notice, here's Jimmy Ceffalo with our number three moment of twenty twenty four.
Can I tell you a story that I have not told many people either, please? That's my sixteenth birthday and you know I was in Sports Illustrated. I was a lot of things. I did something called thirty minutes, which was sixty minutes on a they did it for kids. It was called thirty minutes. I was featured in that and all this stuff. So I get a call from the team doctor. Some of them like to throw you a sixteenth birthday. Okay, who Russell Buffalino. Well, for those of you who have watched The Irishman, Russell Buffalino was the top guy.
Yeah.
So Rolls Royce pulls up in front of my parents' apartment. Basically it was half half a double, oh j I don't know if they had them in Cleveland. Half a double is a house split into two were apartment on one side, apartment on the other side.
And I get in.
Somebody else it's not Russell. Drive to Scraam Club C and see I still remember walked there and everybody's sitting not doing anything, just waiting for Russell to come in. And he eventually did this. This was fifty years ago now and you're sixteen years old.
Sixteen wow.
Yeah.
So so just for people who are listening, and if you didn't know the Irishman, and I wasn't going to bring it up Jimmy, because I didn't. I was like, I don't know, but I was reading about the town and you know, who are famous people that have come out of Pittston and the Buffalo crime family was like, that was a big.
It was a big deal. That was a bit was a big deal.
Fast forward, OJ, you appreciate this. That Penn State is nineteen seventy nine. I guess playing for the National Championship against Alabama maybe or Georgia, one of the two the Sugar Bowl. So it's the hottest ticket in America, right. I go to the game and I get a call at my hotel, same guy team doctor from back home. Russell would like four tickets for tomorrow night's game.
Oh my goodness, I.
Said, And where do you think I'm going to get those? He said, I don't know, but Russell would like to get him. So I scrounged and I you know, I paid four hundred dollars a ticket back then, OJ, that was a lot of money and a lot of money playing football in nineteen seventy nine. So I called a doctor and I said, okay, I got him. He calls me back because he's our Russell. I want to know if you're in New Orleans. Yes I am, He'll find you. So now I keep the tickets in my inside jacket pocket wherever I was. I'm walking toward Bourbon Street and limbousine pulls up and two goons get out, can run, of course, and the window rolls down. Russell always wore sunglasses. It was about ten o'clock at night. He's still at sunglasses. You got mister Buffalo News tickets? Yeah, I got him right here. What is he nothing?
It's on me.
It's good. And that was the last time I saw Russell.
Yeah, lose my number, please, like in a respectful way. Right. Wow, unbelievable.
And the last time I had any contact whatsoever. I was working at NBC. I was doing a show called NBC News at sunrise six am, so I was off the air. And at nine o'clock I was able to go home. And I walked someplace and I not far from Rockefeller Center, and I stopped for breakfast and I'm sitting there. Guy comes over and he says, Jimmy, Yeah, he said, Hi, I'm so and so I'm Russell Buffalina's attorney. I'm on my way up to Danbury to see him. He's in prison up there, and I said, how's he doing? He said, well, not, Well, that's probably the last time I'm going to see him. I said, well, tell him I settlo and thank him for everything he did for me. And that was it.
Wow.
And I've always wondered whether or not the irishman was driving that car into Orleans.
My guess is he was.
Mister Buffalino would like two tickets.
Yeah, and you bet you better find him, big Sam, you better find them, bro.
No kidding, man, I just love this story.
It's it's absolutely incredible. It was a different time and I just think about yourself as a parent and the boss of one of the most notorious crime families in the entire country sends a Rolls Royce to your house to throw your son a birthday party.
Oh my goodness.
No, I mean, how about a decade later, Jimmy's walking down Bourbon Street and the Irishman pulls up to him on the side to collect those tickets.
Man, straight out of a movie and hearing it.
It's hard to imagine that we could even top it. And in all fairness, all these stories are amazing, so saying that one tops the other really isn't what we're trying to do here. But it is a countdown and there's no participation trophies here in the fishing Yeah.
No, No way, bro, no way.
I didn't think you'd have any argument there. So without further ado, our second favorite moment comes from a shocker here juice another Ohio gay.
And boy did we do it? You know how we do a big sess man.
My man Jason Garrett was absolutely incredible in the tank and nobody should be surprised. I mean, the guy's a rock star. He's doing amazing work on NBC. He was a great coach for the Dallas Cowboys for a decade, and of course he finished his playing careers of Miami Dolphins and then he earn his first coaching job with the Miami Dolphins as a quarterback coach on the Nick Saban.
Yes he did. And by the way, this episode was also the favorite of my man Clint Miller. So shout out to Clint and his wife Diana, two really really special people and special Miami Dolphins fans and Superfish Tank fans. But like you were saying, Jews, Jason was a Dolphins quarterback coach from two thousand and five to six, and anyone who remembers that time period also remembers a major decision at the quarterback position that was being made headed into the two thousand and six season, and Jason Garrett was right in the middle of the action.
Yeah, you know, ultimately I wasn't the decision maker on that. I mean I was the quarterback coach. That decision was way above my head. I mean I was an ownership and a head coach and a personnel person decision. But again, as a young coach, what an amazing process to be part of that. You know, if you remember, like you said, Gus Faratt did a fantastic job for us that first year. We went nine and seven, and candidly we were three and seven for the first part of the season. We won our final six, so you know, we have to be honest with where we were. But I think we all felt coming out of that season that we were making strides going in the right direction, that coach Saban was putting a program in place that we felt like could sustain winning.
For a long time.
And you know, one of the big questions was, Okay, is Gus Farat the guy? Can he be as good a job as he did this year playing for us? Can he be our guy going forward? He had played for a long time, had been a backup for a long time. Was he a starting quarterback in the NFL that we could win with, go to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl with. And so you'll pull back as an organization and you say, Okay, maybe we need to make another decision here. And the two principal guys were Drew Brees and Dante Culpepper, both guys coming off injury. And it was a really fun and interesting process to go through because those guys come in. I can remember we flew to New Orleans on the plane and we picked up Drew Brees and we brought him to Miami and his wife is there, and my wife is there, and coach Saban and his wife, and you know, all the different people who were involved in this decision were there, and we're recruiting him because that's what it was. It was going to be, can we get this guy to sign with us? And I can remember going to Grill sixty six, a whole group of us, including Wayne Heyenga and Wayne Heiseenge and Drew sat next to each other and talked the whole night and Wayne candidly said afterwards, he said, you know, you guys got to make the football decision, but I want that guy. He's like, he's an amazing guy and and he was so impressed with who he was, and how can you not be. Drew Brees is literally one of the most legendary guys in the NFL and makes such a great impression on everybody. So, you know, you go through that process and we all were excited about Drew what he had done. You know, in high school state championships in Austin, Texas, goes to Purdue, rewrites the record book there. You know, in San Diego, struggled early, but had a Pro Bowl season under his belt, then has the injuries, so there was so much there to like about him, but he was coming off a serious shoulder injury, and it seemed to me that we were all behind when it got to that next step of the doctors and then how much we owe him. That's where the whole thing kind of fell apart. It was, Hey, he has an x percent Terris rotator cuff. We don't know if he's ever going to throw again. He wants X amount of dollars in guarantee. This doesn't all add up, And then all of a sudden we were onto the next thing. So, you know, however, that decision was made among the higher ups. That's what it kind of came down to. There was a real consensus for him, and then all of a sudden it fell apart because they just didn't feel good about the injury relative to the money that we're going to have to spend. And if you think about that decision, how much that would have changed the complexion of the NFL decision college football. I mean, I believe Nick Staban left because he felt like, in order to win in the NFL you have to have an elite quarterback. New England was in the middle of the Tom Brady years and he saw the pact that he had made up to that point, and it's like, can we get a guy like this? And it's not quite so easy when you're in college and go recruit the guy here it you have to draft and draft right and be at the high part of the draft or whatever it was. But you know, if Drew Brees had come to Miami, and there's no guarantee he would have had the same career that he had New Orleans, but he probably would have been pretty good. And maybe Nick Saban doesn't leave, and maybe the complex of college football, it's amazing.
It is amazing.
The story is amazing. But I'm torn between, you know, being a podcast who is captivated by this story and sick to my stomach as a person's assia this time. What an incredible, incredible story. God, that's great stuff.
Yes, you know.
And the next part of the decision is the Dante Culpepper part. And OJ you said it. I mean Dante was a fan fantastic player in Minnesota, and one of the real concerns with him though, was such a big part of his game, as we all remember, was his ability to extend plays and run and move and stand back in the pocket and award guys off and launch the ball down the field. And he made five, six, seven, ten, twelve plays with his feet every game, and there were dynamic plays. And he has a knee injury where his entire knee gets reconstructed and all of a sudden he's gonna have to be a pocket passer. So the question becomes, Okay, we can't have breeze. Is this the right thing to do for your team? Again, relative to his knee injury, when you put the tape on from two years ago, he was phenomenal. He's a Pro Bowl player through thirty nine touchdowns. He was off the charts. But is he the same guy? And did the knee injury make him a completely different player and one that couldn't play at that same level? And that's really what we found out. He never was the same guy.
Oh man, here jus a.
Better explanation of all that, Big Seth. That is so good, man, it makes it makes total sense, and it's nice to be.
It might be the best one we've ever heard.
Man, it doesn't matter how many times I've heard it, that story blows me away every single time, Big Seth.
It's incredible. We've been talking about that Breeze versus Culpeper decision for two decades now, and that is easily the best version of the story that I've ever heard publicly. I cannot thank Jason Garrett enough for blessing us by sharing it on our show.
Yeah, man, I couldn't agree with you more. Man.
You know, And just when you think things couldn't get any more memorable, we find ourselves at number one and this this just wasn't even close to me, Big Seth, this was special. It might not even be a top moment of twenty twenty four, but it might be a top moment in fish tank history.
Yeah, jus, this was not just any episode either. Fish Tank Iconic was a passion project, the concept that we originally pitched to the late great Jason Jenkins, a project that and Nolan believed in and gave us a green light to pursue, one that we chased for more than a year with fifteen different interviews. We were tracking down old photos, video footage, research, and incredible contribution by one of my best friends in the world, Chris Clark, who did a spectacular job helping me to write and produce this, and then he delivered a phenomenal edit.
Man, You and Chris killed this man, and the episode takes a deep dive into one of the most amazing games I had played in in nineteen ninety four season opener, when Dan Marino plays in his first game at the terrans Achilles Tendon the previous year.
It truly was iconnie.
Fish Tank Iconic The Comeback can be watching its entirety on the Miami Dolphins YouTube channel. But it's a forty minute documentary and we're choosing the entire film as our number one moment. But to give you a little taste, here's a segment on Danny's fearless throw to Irving Fryar on fourth and five with the game hanging in the balance. In this segment you will hear commentary from Dan the Man of course, Bill Zenfer, Harvey Green, Jim Lampley, Irving Fryar, Richmond Webb, Terry Kirby, my partner in Fish Tank Crime, Oj McDuffie, Jeff Dellenback, Drew bla and so Tony aguist Dave Hyde and Greg Cody Folks enjoy.
You see the.
Numbers there, New England leading by a field goal seven minutes, fourteen seconds to go in the game.
The Dolphins get the football back with eighty yards to go.
Dan Marino has had a red hot day.
Particularly throwing the deep ball.
You a little with Critcher, well timed played by Hurst as he was able to knock the ball away.
And now the big decision. The way this guy has been so hot, I say they got to go for it.
You've got beats down it.
Some fifty two yards is certainly within his range.
You could try a long field goal, and if you're gonna go for.
It, maybe you try a little short pass and pick up the first down.
There's no doubt. When you're playing a game where you're going back and forth and scoring back and forth, you know you're in that kind of shootout situation. You don't want to be conservative, but.
Instead they'll go for the first down, fourth down five?
Are you to serve?
I know coach Schule, and he's sometimes caught. I saw Dan Marino, and I think there's no way Dan Marino is looking to think about let's get the first down. He always always thinks let's get some touchdown.
It didn't surprise me if I had Dan Marino and I'm the head coach at that moment, I'm saying.
Yeah, go for it.
We're behind. It's fourth freaking down. We needn't. If we don't get the first down, the game's over for us because we don't have any timeouts.
I think we were in such a rhythm that coach Shuler say, hey, we're going to win.
We're not playing for the time.
That last play, fourth and five, Danny walks in and he sits in that howdle and he goes I mean, I can't say it on TV, but you can only imagine what he told us about. It's basically, y'all guys, so it doesn't matter. Listen, and now how he goes. Listen, We're getting this fucking first down right here. This is the game winner right here. And that's the attitude that you have with Dan Marino.
In this kind of game. You might not get the ball back if you don't get that first down and score games over. Really, so you're you're going for it the whole way ball.
It's just downside the thirty five, and they got to get it almost to.
The we're going it's fourth and five. I'm at the line of scrimmage and we're going.
I don't remember exactly what the verbiage was on the call, but it was a trip's left, and the trips was was Keith Buyers, Keith Jackson, and mark Ingram and I was split split in off by.
Myself to the right.
The ball was supposed to go, the original call was supposed to go to them. Today when I watch it, you watched the three of them go and run their routes and thank god he didn't throw the ball to them because none of them got open. And again, here's this whole scenario where Dan can change the play and it's just you and him. He can do it at the line of scrimmage and I had never never experienced that before, and this was actually the first time that happened.
I remember we were doing a combination on the front side and then he goes to me. He says, if he plays bump, let me go deep. I'm like, okay, yeah, I'm like right in a huddle, he said that, and I'm what, I'm like, yes, if he's in bumps, run to take off.
And there were a couple of signals that he had fivears ago. He'd give you two that was a slant, or he'd give you one which was a hitch. And you gotta pay attention because it's real quick.
Come up to the line.
He looks and does that boom. I just I put my hand down to five. But he looked at me Di like that and put his hand down, and I'm like, it's us.
It's me and him.
If you were the receiver to that side, only you and him knew. Everybody else was still running the play that was that was in the call in the huddle and bang, it's on, boss Nap.
I just run fast, knocked.
Shotgun Marino throw steep down field. It has caught by fire.
And nuts Don suchdown Dolphins, coldo fire.
To readeous call.
That's on fourth and five and he threw it man right where it needed to be.
I mean it was the throw was crazy.
I mean Dan with Dan's a bad boy, unbelievable.
Got a game by Urvan Fryar, won a game by Marino.
You talk about championship courage, you.
Talk about a will to win.
A flame burns inside that man, Dan Marino.
It was a handketch. It was way out in front. I had to go get it. Dan threw it. I had to go get that ball. I was able to do it.
He was in bump, single high safety. Just keep him there and yeah.
Absolutely incredible.
Fourth and five, Marino long to Friar thirty five yards and a touchdown.
Fryar ran right underneath him.
I don't think he cared what he saw. All he cared about was Irving Friar running down that sideline. If he thought he can get the ball to far and Danny always thinks he can.
Get the ball to somebody.
He was gonna take that shot, even with the game on the line.
Irv of you know all the people never wore gloves, pape his fingers up, perfect fingertip catch and man, what a perfect route, what a perfect pattern.
Either I was gonna get it or nobody was gonna get it. He stretched me because he made me one. I had to run to get that ball. I had to open up and go get it, and I did.
Man, that arm, that arm was special. It was always special.
So you always knew something could happen. But again, when you're thinking fourth and five, you just want to get a first down. We've practiced this play. We're gonna get a first down and stay alive. And Austin's like, wait, where's the ball? When you look at the other side and there it is. Touchdown, We're as surprised as anybody else in that stadium.
And to pull that fourth and five off at that time in the game, in that atmosphere, nothing better.
To just elevated my respect for Danny even more, you know, I mean, how many quarterbacks you know in the history of the NFL. It's four and five. He looks out there and sees press coverage. He's like, nope, we're going, We're going, you know, and then throws it. Just an absolute perfect strike.
The timing was perfect, the ball was perfey, and of course me. I celebrated like I scored a testdown.
And I remember kicking my little legs.
I couldn't move him fast enough.
I was just sight that was unbelievable.
I felt like somebody had handed me a playoff check.
It was like a big weight was lifted off me. And that smile was just absolutely genuine. We're trying to win the game.
But also as a quarterback, I'm like, man, that was freaking cool, you know, like you the cover, Like, man, that's a big balls.
It showed everybody that Danny was back, both mentally and physically.
He knew what he needed to do, and he did it.
And from that moment on, there was never a question of will he ever be Dann Marino again.
It was the story you wanted to tell.
It was the story that thirty years later.
You want to remember.
Lights come on and we lit him.
Up, so damn good, big staff.
I remember standing on the sideline watching that ball hanging the air forever, and Irvin Friar one and one of my mintersts in this game just ran right under the thing and help bring us to that one most memorable moment in Dolphins history.
I mean, great job on this thing. Man. Really good job, bro.
Great job by you as well, Juice, and by everyone involved. Fish Tank Iconic was our number one moment of twenty twenty four, but there were so many memorable moments that we are just grateful to everyone who has given our show any of your time over the past year. Of course, we hope we can continue to deliver more moments like these in twenty twenty five.
Yes, big staff, thanks for diving in everyone, and happy New Year.
You're now diving fish.
Just like Jews said, Thanks for diving into the fish Tank presented by iHeartRadio. Be sure to follow us on whatever streaming platform you're using, and don't be afraid to rate the show or leave us a comment. We love your feedback, and remember you can find us as well as Drive Time with Travis Wingfield and all of our international partners on my Amy Dolphins dot Com.
Dom haven't been at this time.
