August 9, 2007
Bryan Wiedmeier: Hi Mike, is it thawed out up there?
Shed Dawg Mike: Well actually we had a thaw in July but I think we’re gone back the other way again, so I’m looking forward to coming down in September to thaw out again.
BW: (Laughs) Good!
SDM: My first question is “On draft day there were obviously a lot of upset fans when we didn’t pick Brady Quinn. I was just wondering, in your position, did you notice any sense of dissatisfaction amongst the team and also have you noticed a change with the draft being three months behind us now, in not just the team but also in the fans?”
BW: Yeah, I think time lends perspective and you know, it’s kind of the chicken and the egg scenario when you go to the draft. I think organizationally we may have been too secretive with what we really felt. In the competitive arena information is king and most of you who have followed the league long enough, to know that there are a lot of false rumors that are spread and misinformation that goes around before the draft, so our guys wanted to let their true feelings on the scenario that we develop and also what they felt about John Beck and they had to make a choice and wanted to keep that to where it was quite literally where only a handful of people that knew, so that there was no chance for it to go awry. And on the second day, or I’m sorry, when we got into the second round and Beck was still on the board, there where a couple of teams that we knew were looking at quarterbacks, and had they known what our feelings where about that player out of the group of quarterbacks that people where looking at, it probably would have put our pick in jeopardy. As it worked out, the assessment the way the players went, we felt that if we could get both Ginn and Beck it would help our football team both in the short term and the long term better than the addition of what the combination of players would be in the alternative. So to accomplish that we were probably too quiet about it, and by doing that, a lot of the people that would help shape information and shape opinion about the efficacy of our moves were totally in the dark. So, you know for example, Jim Mandich, who we love and who, there is no bigger Dolphin fan in the world, and he had his Notre Dame cap on and he’s rooting for, saying the stars are aligned, well Jim at the time didn’t know what he didn’t know. And so we probably have to figure out a more effective way, without giving out the secrets, to figure out how to direct and redirect opinion I guess.
SDM: Great, thanks for your answer.
BW: It wasn’t exactly what we envisioned, having the draft day and the coach go out there, but you know...
SDM: Well I guess the alternative would be having someone know your moves and I guess that’s definitely what you don’t want.
BW: Yeah, we erred on the side probably too far to keep it secret but we’ll come up with a better plan in the future.
SDM: O.K. The other question I have is on the schedule this year, because of our Europe game, we don’t technically have back to back home games, well I guess we do if you count playing in London a home game but we don’t have back to back games playing in Miami and of course we’re in Buffalo and New England late in the year and it seems like we are always in New England late in the year. Is there anybody in the Dolphins organization that gets on the phone with the schedule makers and says “guys, give us a break, you know get the guys down here in the heat at least”? I mean New England this year, they get a break. They don’t even get down here until late in October. Is there anybody that goes Ballistic when they see that schedule come out?
BW: (laughs) Ah, we do. You know, I talk to the league regularly on our scheduling and usually what they will try to do is mix it around where they got late and early season, because as vocal as we are, especially our divisional opponents are equally vocal trying to avoid it. So, although it seems like we have a run where we’re more up there at the end of the year, ultimately you’ve got to win in that weather. For us to be a championship team, if it’s going to be playing Buffalo in December or New England in December, we’ve got to go up there and win. When we’ve had a string of success we’ve done that. The schedule you can’t control. You try to influence; you voice your opinion, which we do. You know, but ultimately the schedule is going to be what it is and you have to win with it.
SDM: Great answer and I appreciate your time. Thanks Bryan.
BW: Thanks
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