Can the greatest 'Fin ever save the floundering Fish?

Everyone in sports loves a legend. In the NFL, where quarterbacks are kings, legends can be born based on one brief shining moment, or over the course of a career.

Dan Marino was a legend from his rookie year on to the end of his career, with only one thing missing off of his great playing resume. He never won a Super Bowl. He only managed to make it once in his illustrious 17-year career.

Now, he will try to make it as an architect, since Marino was chose by Wayne Huizenga as the Dolphin's new head of football operations. Marino was hired after meeting with Huizenga for only a couple of hours on Monday morning.

While many will wish the best for Marino, he enters an arena where others before him have failed very recently.

Isiah Thomas has had trouble in his first three management locations after retiring from the Pistons. He was forcibly removed from the team presidency of the Toronto Raptors shortly after the franchise's inception. He then took over the struggling CBA, only to have it fold under his watch. Lastly, he was fired this summer as coach of the Indiana Pacers shortly before training camp by Larry Bird. Since it has been only two weeks, the jury is clearly still out on Isiah's latest effort as the president of the New York Knicks.

Michael Jordan's run in Washington as Vice President of Basketball Operations with the Wizards was also short lived, much like his actual return to the basketball court. Jordan's ego, and the fact that he did not actually want to live or work too much in Washington, D.C.

The final example of this is the situation currently playing out in Detroit. Matt Millen's tenure, in the same role that Marino will find himself in, has not gone smoothly by any stretch of the imagination. In Millen's three years, the Lions have not won a single road game. That is a record of 0-24. Their record at home has not been much better. His player personnel decisions have been questionable at best, and his off field headlines have not helped at all. From calling out players on a radio show in Chicago, to referring to former wide receiver Johnnie Morton as a "faggot" in the tunnel after a game this season, to his questionable hiring process when selecting Steve Mariucci as his new head coach, Millen has displayed a certain lack of executive make-up during his tenure. The fact that he was granted a fourth year only makes people scratch their heads.

This is not to say that Marino cannot do the job. He could come in and get the team in shape. With parity in the NFL, it doesn't take much to be better or even make the playoffs from one year to the next. Let us just say that the cards do not appear to be stacked in Marino's favor.

Hopefully, things will work out better in South Florida than they have in Detroit, Washington, D.C. and in Toronto. Because it would be a shame for this legend to have his reputation sullied by poor performance and poorer management.