Look at that. Look at that fucking guy. Look at his mud drenched uniform. Look at those hands enveloping the football. Look at that helmet with a facemask cage normally reserved for the solitary confinement ward in a maximum security prison. That, friends, is A.J. Duhe, and he is intercepting a Richard Todd pass in the 1982 AFC Championship against the New York Jets. I remember the Jets bitching about the Fins not covering the field with a tarp during the storm that turned the Orange Bowl into a giant bowl of mud soup the night before. I was only like 7, but even then I was all like, man what a bunch of whiny pussies those Jets are. And I remember it being the first time I truly cared about a sporting event or a sports team. Duhe led the Fins with 3 interceptions -- including one he returned 35-yards for the game-clinching touchdown. The Dolphins beat the Jets 14-0. And it was The Awesomeness.
The 1982 AFC Championship game. It was a seminal moment in Young Dude's life. One that filled his heart with the purest of love for the Dolphins and unbridled hatred for the Jets. One that shaped the outlook of things to come on his journey to manhood -- along with the first time he saw boobies in a magazine his big brother showed him and the first time he kissed a girl (ah, Paola!) as well as the first time he got a hand job in a movie theater (ah, Anna!).
And so with the biggest game in a long time just a day away, I invoke the spirit of A.J. Duhe (yes, I know he's not dead). I invoke the sheer awesomeness of his performance on that day against the Jets. Because it was win or go home. And A.J. stepped the fuck up. Sunday it's another game against the Jets in another win or go home scenario. Time for the 2008 Dolphins to step the fuck up. And make the Young Dude inside us all feel the purest of love again.
