It is a "good statement about where the Dolphins are internally" that Pro Football HOFer Dan Marino was hired by the team as a special adviser, according to Dave Hyde of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. Dolphins President & CEO Tom Garfinkel "saw Marino as an asset, not a threat to his turf." The club is "currently stocked with so many out-of-towners that it needed someone with some South Florida heft." Hyde: "Who carries more weight for the Dolphins locally than Marino?" He will "work with team sponsors," and "meet with politicians at times." There is "little question" Marino looks at the apprenticeship Broncos Exec VP/Football Operations John Elway served inside that organization "before rising up to run the team with some parallel wistfulness." The Dolphins "could use a better feel as a family," as even this move "is being handled with the cold, crisp feel of a functioning corporation." But it makes "too much sense for Marino to be a Dolphin to continue the nonsense of him being on the outside" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 8/26). In Miami, Greg Cote wrote the move is "much ado about very little for now," as "Special adviser" is among the "weightless, amorphous titles that sound mostly ceremonial." Sources said that Marino will "have owner Stephen Ross' ear to offer opinions on personnel but that he'll mostly be a figurehead, a familiar face out front" (MIAMIHERALD.com, 8/25).
