The first NFL game I remember was seeing Marino getting sodomized by the Jags in the divisional round in '99. Since then, being a Dolphins fan has been nothing but pain. The thing is, for some reason I'm totally okay with the Dolphins underperforming. Even this season, which is late playoff run or bust, I'm completely understanding of all our failures. As long as the Fins even smell like they're on the right track, I'm ecstatic.
Within the same general time frame, one of the first college games I remember is the University of Miami destroying Nebraska in the National Championship. The Canes were dominant. Everybody was going to the NFL. These days I have no patience for the Canes. My standards are so much higher. It doesn't make sense to view these two teams through such a different lens.
Is it just me, or do you guys also benchmark against your early memories? Trying to figure out why I didn't love the Dolphins any less during their one win season, but a 5 loss Canes gives me heartburn.
The Lions set a strange bar for me honestly. When I was a kid and first started watching them, they had Barry Sanders who was must see tv and they weren't too bad of a team and at least competed to make the playoffs most seasons. Then Barry Left and Oh My goodness. I pretty much became numb to the team for the entire 2001-2010 decade. During that decade, they didn't have a single winning season and had a overall record of 39-121. Can you imagine winning, on average, 1 out of every 4 games for an entire decade?!?!?!?!?! That is almost impossibly bad. That decade took place from age 14-24 for me, so that is a significant chunk of growing up for me where they were so horrible that I couldn't even feel anything other than numbness. The 0-16 season was the icing on the cake as well.
So the bar was kind of high as a young kid. But a decade of miserableness is enough to pretty much cancel out any previous bar that was set. It's crazy how quickly the bar raises again though. Literally one full calendar year of them looking like a competent franchise and I am ready to go after that ring.