Dolphins leery about playing game
Despite threats of a player boycott stemming from concerns about Hurricane Frances, the Miami Dolphins are still scheduled to play tonight’s exhibition-season finale at New Orleans.
Junior Seau, Olindo Mare, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor were among the prominent players who adamantly told Dolphins management Thursday that they didn’t want to play because of the possibility Frances may hit South Florida.
It is believed that a sizeable group of players may not arrive this morning for the team’s charter flight to New Orleans, which may force the NFL to postpone the game.
The Dolphins’ organization strongly pushed to call off the contest but was rebuffed by the league office.
Some in team management who experienced the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 believe NFL officials don’t understand why the franchise vehemently wants to cancel.
“The first concern is the families and what’s going on with them,” Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt said while taking a break from installing hurricane shutters at his house.
Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad, who is the team’s NFL Players Association representative, confirmed the league’s refusal to cancel an exhibition game amid the hurricane threat in South Florida didn’t sit well with his teammates.
“Right now, guys are real concerned about their families and houses,” Konrad said. “That’s their No. 1 priority.
“They don’t want to get on a plane and leave everybody.”
Asked whether there were any circumstances he personally believes would be acceptable to play the game, Konrad said: “It depends. If the hurricane turns away, I don’t have a problem with playing. But if it’s tracking for us or might, playing the game is not something a lot of guys want to do.
“This is more of a revenue issue than anything else. If you start to put money in front of safety, that’s not a good thing.”
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Wednesday, “Every effort will be made to play the game, but we have to pay close attention to this situation because it’s very serious.”
The Dolphins open the regular season Sept. 12 against Tennessee.