http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolph...asy-fee-1.html
Armando Salguero
An uneasy feeling -- [Newsy update here]
This morning I filed the post the follows below. But I have an update.
I have confirmed that former Kansas City president and general manager Carl Peterson was at the Dolphins game Sunday. The fact, first reported by profootballtalk.com, makes me wonder what is really going to happen with these Dolphins in the coming days.
Peterson, I am told, was not only cozying up to incoming owner Stephen Ross during the playoff game against Baltimore, he was on the Miami sideline with Ross prior to the game. And get this: He was wearing a Dolphins pin on his lapel.
And he was overheard talking about the Dolphins as, "We." and "We're." So it sounds like Peterson believes he's going to soon be part of the Dolphins organization in some capacity. Ross and Peterson go back 25 years. Peterson was the general manager of the USFL's Philadelphia Stars and Ross was the team's owner.
All this leads me to wonder, how can Ross bring in Peterson and keep Bill Parcells? It would have to happen only if Peterson comes in exclusively on the business side.
Anyway, here's the text of the post I put on the blog early this morning:
This morning I am feeling uneasy so I need to share with you the reason for my discomfort. No, it's not stomach related you jokers.
As you probably have read by now, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga said Sunday afternoon he had spoken with Football Czar Bill Parcells and Parcells told him he was staying with the Dolphins. This is my column on the issue that appeared in today's Miami Herald.
And this is the words right from Huizenga's mouth: "Bill is going to stay. He told me the day before yesterday [Friday] he was going to stay."
So case closed right?
I wasn't satisfied. So when I saw incoming owner Stephen Ross immediately after speaking with Huizenga, I decided to ask Ross about the Parcells matter.
"My gut tells me he'll stay," Ross told me. "I certainly want him. And I understand what he wants. I think he deserves all the credit. Everyone is expecting and wanting him to come back. I don't think he could find a more welcome home."
Guess what? I'm still not satisfied. And that's where my uneasy feeling comes from.
The fact is Parcells has not said anything on the matter. The fact is Ross confirmed he and Parcells have not hashed out the issue from a contract standpoint. The fact is no meeting is set between Ross and Parcells to do so.
And then there is my personal skepticism I have to deal with. You see, during my five billion years covering the Dolphins as a backup beat writer, beat writer and columnist, I've heard people say a lot of things. And then I've seen them do another.
Tim Robbie told me to my face he didn't need to sell the team for estate tax purposes. And six months later the team was sold.
I remember witnessing Jimmy Johnson em-effing colleague Jason Cole at least 12 times (There were more em-effs but I stopped counting after 12) because Cole wrote Johnson was taking it easier and slowing down prior to the 1999 season. Johnson insisted he still had the same fire in his belly he always had -- which, of course, it was proven later he didn't.
After Huizenga hired Parcells in December 2007, I asked the owner what the move meant for Cam Cameron and Randy Mueller. "Cam and Randy are secure," he answered. You know the rest of that tale.
Huizenga also told me in August of 2007 that Cameron promised him the team was going to the playoffs.
And, yes, I was there when Nick Saban uttered the phrase, "I will not be the Alabama coach."
So I've learned not to simply accept somebody's word as the Gospel truth.
In this case, I'm puzzled by the NFL Network report of Ross's flirtation with former Chiefs president Carl Peterson. Seriously, Carl Peterson?
I'm curious that Ross didn't squash the Parcells issue by saying something like, "I will do whatever I need to do to keep him." Don't get me wrong, Ross said all the right things. But he didn't exactly slam the door on the possibility Parcells might not be back.
Finally, it was interesting to me that when I asked Huizenga whether the sale of the team to Ross would absolutely go through, he said, "I assume so. We're going to go upstairs now and meet on that."
With that, Huizenga stepped into a Dolphin Stadium elevator and went upstairs ...
... except that I followed Ross and talked with him as he was headed out of the stadium and to his vehicle in the parking lot. He may have doubled back for that meeting. But it didn't look like it.
So I'll believe everything is set and done ... when everything is set and done.