The years coinciding with George W. Bush's Presidency were sort of like a 1-15 season for America. We got our asses handed to us repeatedly by teams like the Wall Street Crashers, the Saudi Oilers, the Heartland Morality Police, the Gulf Coast Hurricanes, the Main Street Mortgage Meltdowns, the Detroit Bailouts, and the Langley Torturers, and we're stuck in a tragic overtime against the Iraqi Insurgents in a game we really should have been better prepared for.
Of course Miami isn't playing other teams. I'm naive/patriotic enough to believe we're playing in a league of our own (sure the China Reds are making a bid to join the Super Power league, but we'll see how that plays out). We're playing against our legacy, against what America should be (*fireworks* *cue that song "Proud to be an American"* *crying eagle* ). Think of it like this: the '72 Dolphins are analogous to the '76 Founding Fathers, and we just keep hoping that we'll come somewhere close to that again.