Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football franchise located in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins are a member of the East division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Dolphins play their home games at Sun Life Stadium in the northern suburb of Miami Gardens, and have their headquarters in Davie, Florida. The Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons (who also began play in 1966) are the oldest NFL franchises in the Deep South, and Miami is the oldest AFC team in that region. However, of the four AFC East teams, they are the only team in the division that was not a charter member of the AFL.

The Dolphins team was founded by attorney/politician Joe Robbie and actor/comedian Danny Thomas. They began play in the American Football League in 1966. The region had not had a professional football team since the days of the Miami Seahawks, who played in the All-America Football Conference in 1946 before becoming the first incarnation of the Baltimore Colts. For the first few years the Dolphins full-time training camp and practice facilities were at Saint Andrew's School, a private boys boarding prep school in Boca Raton. In 1970 the Dolphins joined the NFL when the AFL–NFL merger occurred.

Miami

Miami (/maɪˈæmi/; Spanish pronunciation: [maiˈami]) is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County. The 44th-most populated city proper in the United States, with a population of 417,650, it is the principal, central, and most populous city of the Miami metropolitan area, and the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States after Washington, D.C. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.

Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Group's inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and city-wide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America", is the second largest U.S. city with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.

Dolphin

Dolphins are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic marine mammals. They are an informal grouping within the order Cetacea, excluding whales and porpoises, so to zoologists the grouping is paraphyletic. The dolphins comprise the extant families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the new world river dolphins), and Pontoporiidae (the brackish dolphins). There are 40 extant species of dolphins. Dolphins, alongside other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates, and their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, having diverged about 40 million years ago.

Dolphins range in size from the 1.7 metres (5.6 ft) long and 50 kilograms (110 lb) Maui's dolphin to the 9.5 metres (31 ft) and 10 metric tons (11 short tons) killer whale. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the males are larger than females. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Though not quite as flexible as seals, some dolphins can travel at 55.5 kilometres per hour (34.5 mph). Dolphins use their conical shaped teeth to capture fast moving prey. They have well-developed hearing − their hearing, which is adapted for both air and water, is so well developed that some can survive even if they are blind. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water.

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders

The Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders is the professional cheerleading squad of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. The squad performs a variety of dance moves at the Sun Life Stadium, the home stadium of the Dolphins. The Dolphins Cheerleaders released an annual swimsuit calendar every year. The squad hosts auditions every May. Like most other squads in the league, the MDC also has a youth cheer squad. The squad also makes USO trips. Every year, the MDC sends a cheerleader to the Pro Bowl. The MDC also sends a number of alumni to the Indian Premier League every year.

In 2012, the squad made a video cover of the Carly Rae Jepsen song Call Me Maybe.

History

The group's inaugural season was in 1978, but the cheerleading squad was around since the team's inception since 1966. The original squad was known as the Dolphins Dolls, consisting in 125 girls ranging from 8 to 18 years of age. The group performed in the Miami Orange Bowl until 1977. The professional group came around in 1978 under owner Joe Robbie, consisting of 30 ladies. The group was known as the Starbrites under a sponsorship with Starbrite Car Polish until 1983, when the sponsorship ended. The Dolphins made a deal with Burger King to hold a "Name the Cheerleaders" contest, and the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders were ultimately selected. In 1990, founder June Taylor retired and was replaced by Kathy Morton Shashaty, who was a Dolphins cheerleader from 1981–1985. After the Dolphins was purchased by Wayne Huizenga, Heather Phillips was brought in to be the Director of Cheerleaders, while Emily Newton and Trisia Brown were hired to be the squad's coordinator and choreographer, respectively.