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Show DOLPHINS OUT OF WATER If Don Shula, coach of the Miami Dolphins, seems wary about going on tne road with his team this season, there are some good reasons. According to Dan Oudinot, a sportswriter for the Hollywood (Fla.) Sun-Tattler, the Dolphins experienced a couple of upsetting incidents during the preseason. On the way to Vero Beach, Fla., for a scrimmage with the New Orleans Saints, the three buses carrying the Dolphins were stopped by a . Florida highway patrolman. As the officer began writing citations for speeding, Shula and quarterback Bob Griese left their bus and approached ap-proached the officer. "I though I'd go over and spread some good cheer," Shula said later. "The patrolman started yelling, 'You get back in the bus; you get back in the bus or you're going to jail.' I decided to get back in the bus." The Dolphins lost the scrimmage, 24 to- 20, but they scored a 24-7 victory at Seattle on their next trip away from their training base. However, as the Pan Am jetliner carrying the Dolphins taxied down the runway for takeoff at Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport, the . plane began shaking violently. When the pilot, Ed Buscher, slowed the jet's speed, the shaking ceased. Whe he accelerated, ac-celerated, the shaking returned. Buscher aborted the takeoff, and it was discovered that crewmen had forgotten to remove a safety pin for the nose landing gears. "If I had been airborne, the nose landing gear would have jammed," Buscher explained. "This would have required an emergency landing after I had burned off most of the fuel. It would tear up the aircraft pretty good, but I doubt if anyone would be killed." Anyway, the safety pin was removed and the Dolphins had an uneventful return to Miami. |