On With The Show

After Scott and Stanfill answered some questions from Mandich and received their second standing ovation, Mandich turned the microphones back over to Joe Rose and Jimmy Cefalo.

Now it was time to honor the winners of the 2009 Team Awards, beginning with the Nat Moore Community Service Award. Moore himself presented the award to fullback Lousaka Polite, who made his way to the stage to a smattering of "Lou" cheers and a standing ovation. He was given a beautiful trophy with a likeness of Moore and a watch, and then gave a short acceptance speech before exiting the stage.

Next up was the presentation of the Don Shula Leadership Award to safety Yeremiah Bell and outside linebacker Jason Taylor. Shula again appeared via video message and passed the torch to Bob Griese to present the award.

For Taylor it marked the fourth time he received the Don Shula Leadership Award, and the first for Bell, who graciously accepted the word and thanked Taylor for showing him the importance of leadership. Griese took the opportunity to congratulate Scott and Stanfill as well.

Finally, it was time for the Dan Marino Most Valuable Player Award, and Marino himself took the stage to hand the trophy to Williams. But first he told a quick Jake Scott story about when the two played golf together in Colorado when Marino was younger.

Marino then welcomed Williams to the stage after pointing out that he is less than 1,000 yards away from becoming the franchise's all-time leading rusher. Williams thanked his wife, Christine, and then told the story of his first team meeting with Executive Vice President of Football Operations Bill Parcells and his message about not wanting trouble makers on his team and thinking he was on his way out. He then mentioned his one-on-one meeting with Parcells when Parcells told him he believed in him.

Williams made sure to thank his teammates and emphasize how this is a team game and he is a team guy and how excited he is for 2010.

Jimmy Cefalo wrapped up the program by introducing Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano and allowing him to say a few words. He tipped his hat to history and tradition by congratulating Scott and Stanfill and then congratulated his own players -- Williams, Polite and Bell.

Sparano is not comfortable talking about the past, so he ended by looking ahead to the upcoming season and thanking his coaching staff and all of his players before giving a little state of the union. He talked about "the long haul" that starts July 30th with training camp, and echoed Mr. Ross' sentiments about winning a Super Bowl in Dallas come February.

FinsWeekend continuues tomorrow morning with the Miami Dolphins Foundation Golf Tournament Presented by Hublot.

Until then,


AK