A Dolphins jersey? No, Eagles fans, I have not jumped ship and gone swimming with the smartest creatures in the sea.
There was a stretch -- from 2000 to 2004, to be exact -- when I openly pulled for the Dolphins, as long as the Eagles were not the opponent (it happened only once).
That's because Jay Fiedler (No. 9, the same as the jersey I donned on the most recent edition of "Football Fridays" on THTV) was the starting quarterback.
Much maligned for one reason -- he was not his predecessor, Dan Marino -- Fiedler did OK for himself.
Another he never put up gaudy stats, like Marino did, Fiedler managed the game well and the team actually won more. He led them to three 10-win seasons, two playoff appearances and one playoff victory. For his career, which ended with the New York Jets, he threw 69 touchdown passes.
That's 69 more than he was expected to throw, according to football's laws of gravity.
Fiedler was a NFL anomaly from the jump. He played in the Ivy League, at Darmouth. He was undrafted, originally making the Eagles for two seasons (1994 and 1995) as the third quarterback, before getting cut (in favor of Bobby Hoying, LOL!) and spending one year playing in Europe and another coaching at the college level, before old teammate Randall Cunningham (the namesake of my most beloved dog) urged his employer, the Minnesota Vikings, to give Fiedler a chance to get back into the league.
And he made the squad, leading to another season in Jacksonville -- where did well when pressed into duty -- and then the chance to start in Miami after Marino retired.
Oh, and he was Jewish.
A Jewish football player?
Yes, a Jewish football player.
A Jewish football player who is not a kicker, a punter or an offensive lineman? A skill player? A leader of men? A quarterback?
Yes, a quarterback.
So, when I saw the chance to buy his jersey (albeit a size too large), I pounced.
I wore it to one fantasy football draft -- back when I was deranged enough to involve myself in that sub-culture -- and got ripped for it, unmercifully, on the league's message board.
But I was loyal to Jay.
Chances to give the jersey away to charity came and went, and in the closet it stayed.
Until Wednesday.
That's when I taped the show with it on (and, regrettably, no longer a size too large).
My stated reason was that I was alongside sports desk guy Stuart Christ, a Dolphins fan who I wanted to make feel at home on the "set."
But I had a hidden agenda.
"Football Fridays" was being shown on Thursday because the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur forced the schools with appreciable Jewish populations to not play on Friday night.
No one came out and said it, but I know many out there were thinking it: What's the difference, your inner-voice asked, Jewish kids don't play football anyway?
Now imagine if someone said that to Jay Fiedler back when he was a tyke.
You never know.
And I wanted to wear the jersey as a reminder.