A Season In Hell

CHARLIE BABB looked like he'd just swallowed a stale nacho. "Oh, my God, that's awful," he said, sitting in the alumni suite at Dolphin Stadium on Sunday afternoon. "It's horrible. I don't know if I can even think about it right now. You're asking how I would feel if the Patriots go undefeated and the Dolphins go winless?"

Babb, a defensive back for Miami in 1972, paused, looked at his feet and swallowed hard. "The thing is, if the Dolphins go winless, they can still get the No. 1 pick, come back next season, maybe even win the Super Bowl," he said. "If the Patriots go undefeated, it will never be the same again."

The '72 Dolphins, renowned for their celestial season, have entered their season from hell. Not only is New England 9--0 and threatening their Olympian turf, but Miami is 0--9 and threatening to ruin their legacy. As the Patriots chase the 17--0 Dolphins of '72, the only NFL team to finish a season undefeated and untied, this year's Dolphins sink toward the '76 Buccaneers, the NFL's only winless team. It's tough to tell right now who's a safer bet to make history, but the Dolphins have the harder schedule. In the next two weeks they play at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. And there's another little road test looming: Dec. 23 at New England. "I think Bill Belichick is going to want to obliterate the Dolphins," says Jim Mandich, a tight end on the '72 team. "And he's got the arsenal this season to obliterate anybody."

The veterans of '72 take exception to the notion that they all pop the bubbly when the last undefeated team loses each season. But they are proud of their record, and there would be little joy in a Patriots loss if the Dolphins did not even have one measly win. "I don't even drink champagne," says Jim Kiick, a '72 running back, "but I might take some Jack Daniels."

The grizzled Dolphins could have used something stiff on Sunday after watching another exercise in self-immolation. Miami blew an eight-point lead late and lost to the Blls 13--10 on a last-minute field goal. Even more excruciating, the previously winless Rams beat New Orleans, leaving the Dolphins as the NFL's last 0-fer. No matter that they were coming off a bye, playing at home against a middling opponent. "We felt like this was our day," Miami nosetackle Keith Traylor said.

If the Lions or the Cardinals were 0--9, it would be one thing, but 35 years ago Don Shula and his gang turned Miami into a marquee NFL franchise, one that monopolizes attention in South Florida regardless of its record. When players retire, they rarely leave the area. And on Sundays they watch games from an alumni suite loaded with hot dogs and stocked with overhead televisions.

The '72 Dolphins follow the organization as though it were their alma mater. They know exactly why the team has not been to the playoffs in six years or to the conference championship in 14 seasons: Too many big-name coaches-- Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, Nick Saban--were given too much power. Not one Miami draft pick from 1998 through 2003 is on the active roster, and since '99 only one Dolphin has made the Pro Bowl: receiver Chris Chambers, who was traded this season to San Diego. The team is loaded with the young and the old but has few players who are anywhere near their prime.

The newest first-round choice, rookie wideout Ted Ginn, momentarily sent a jolt through the half-empty stadium on Sunday with an 86-yard kickoff return. But in keeping with the theme of this season, the run was nullified by a holding penalty. Vonnie Holliday, the Miami defensive tackle, felt a familiar dark cloud hovering over the Dolphins' sideline. He was reminded of a character in another recurring comic: "We're like Pigpen."