MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Miami Dolphins are preparing to face the Minnesota Vikings this weekend and hoping to avoid a third straight loss, but the talk around the team’s practice facility has been focused on a different sport.
Or game.
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On Wednesday, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel told members of the media that a ping pong table had been removed from the team’s locker room.
McDaniel indicated that Miami’s captains were the driving force behind the decision following back-to-back losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets.
One of the team’s captains, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, was asked about it on Thursday.
“I’ve got a brand new ping pong table coming for the guys. I just decided to get an all decked out Miami Dolphins ping pong table for the guys, because the ping pong table we had in here was just too basic. So I feel like the guys, they really deserve something brand new, so that’s what we’re going to roll with, a brand new ping pong table,” Hill said while speaking in front of his locker.
“I don’t get into all the analytics, giveth and taketh away, I don’t get into that,” Hill continued. “That’s something that my grandparents never taught me to be, and that’s not what I am.”
Here is Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill, in his own words, on the now-famous ping pong table that was taken out of the Dolphins locker room pic.twitter.com/O6D8J8Gq3H
— WPLG Local 10 Sports (@Local10Sports) October 13, 2022
That statement was quickly followed up with questions regarding what McDaniel said about leadership removing the gaming table, and how that story didn’t sync up with what Hill had just said.
“Look, these are professional athletes,” Hill explained. “This is our job, this is our livelihood. I can look every guy in his eye and stand in front of this whole team and just look at the faces on this team and tell you that every guy on this team is focused. Every guy on this team has the same goal and that’s to win games. We don’t drive all the way up here and just say, ‘Oh, we’re going to play ping pong today.’ No, that’s not what we do. Our job is to go out and play football. Having ping pong is nice, but I just feel like the guys, we just needed like a better table.”
As for the arrival of the new table, Hill said since its being custom made, it could take a little while.
“It takes a minute for things like that. Instead of Pimp My Ride, it’s pimp my ping pong table. So that’s what we’re doing, custom job, baby,” he said.
Until this new, pimped out table arrives in the Dolphins locker room, we’ll have to wonder whether Hill was joking around, which he’s been known to do with the media during his career, or if there really is a shiny new table being delivered to Miami Gardens.
In the meantime, Miami will look to get back on the winning track when they host the Vikings on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.