Maybe it's not the team ... maybe it's the stadium.
It's been 30 years since the Miami Dolphins made a Super Bowl appearance.
Back in those heady days, the team played their home games in front of raucous crowds at the now-demolished Orange Bowl. But there were plans brewing at the time to bring the Dolphins into the 20th century. A new stadium was in the works and construction began in 1985.
But did the Dolphins' quest to bring in the new wind up wakening an old spiritual force that has doomed the franchise to an eternity of failure?
A story from the Miami New Times gives us an interesting -- and let's face it, entertaining -- theory. While digging in the dirt in the area that would eventually become the Dolphins' team offices, ancient remains were discovered. They were identified as that of the South Florida Tequesta Indian Tribe, a native population that was wiped out in the mid-1700s by European diseases.
Shortly before Joe Robbie Stadium (now called Sun Life Stadium) opened in 1987, the Los Angeles Times had an article that detailed its construction. The story did mention the discovery:
"Then there were the two acres that archaeologists claimed were an Indian burial ground more than 1,000 years ago. They said that the Tequesta Indians had used the site about 800 A.D., and the Seminole Indians in the mid-19th Century."
The Dolphins received permission to eventually remove the artifacts and completed construction. However, there were still those who weren't happy that ancient artifacts and a burial ground was disturbed.
Miami radio host Rick Weaver received a couple spooky phone calls during his show in 1989. The first one said this:
"I live across the street from Joe Robbie Stadium," said a man with a Spanish accent. "And I have put a curse on the stadium and the football games."
Weaver remembers taking the second call.
""This lady called and said Joe Robbie Stadium needed an exorcism because it was built on Indian burial grounds."
Wow. Now, is there really a curse? Who can say for sure? But the New Times does gives us timeline and lets the rest of us make their own decisions.
TIMELINE
1. January 20, 1985: Dolphins lose 38-16 to the San Fransisco 49ers in Super Bowl XIX.
2. May 1985: Tequesta Indian artifacts and remains are discovered on the land where the Dolphins now play.
3. May to December 1985: The Dolphins hire experts to sift through the site, recover, and remove every artifact they find.
4. December 1, 1985: Less than 11 months later, the Dolphins continue construction on what is now known as Sun Life Stadium.
5. 1985 to present: The Dolphins have not returned to the Super Bowl since.
