Columnist Says Dolphins Full of "Thugs and Hoodlums"

The Miami Dolphins seem hypocritically concerned with whether prospective player's mothers were ever prostitutes, but seem to not be too concerned that one of their current players stands accused of brutally hitting his pregnant girlfriend. This has lead one Fox Sports columnist to label the Fins "home to NFL bad...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

June 2, 2010

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The Miami Dolphins seem hypocritically concerned with whether prospective player's mothers were ever prostitutes, but seem to not be too concerned that one of their current players stands accused of brutally hitting his pregnant girlfriend. This has lead one Fox Sports columnist to label the Fins "home to NFL bad boys."

Defensive end Phillip Merling was arrested last week for hitting his pregnant girlfriend, while the couple's four-mount-old son sat in another room.

"He hit me about five times in my face. Please help. He's way bigger than me," the woman cried to 911 and also indicated it wasn't the first time Merling was physical.

One day after his release from jail Merling was back at camp, and now the Fins are perhaps rightfully taking a media bruising for treating the situation lightly.

Alex Marvez, who used to cover the team for the Sun-Sentinel, says the Dolphins are now the new bad boys of the NFL. Just about the only stat they lead the league in is off-season arrests.

As horrifying as the situation sounds, the franchise's callousness toward the matter is almost as scary. Sparano proclaimed he wasn't a "judge" after speaking with Merling. Sparano also said the Dolphins were "trying to gather facts, but it really is a league situation right now. The league is handling this."

This pass-the-buck mentality helps explain why the Dolphins have supplanted Cincinnati and Pittsburgh as the NFL's new bad boys.

Not exactly the program Bill Parcells promised when he said he didn't want any "thugs and hoodlums" on the squad back in 2007.

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