The Miami native is just getting to know the old Doug now, the Doug that Dolphins fans know. Two years ago, she threw a surprise party for his 50th birthday and converted some VHS tapes to DVD. But every time she sees his highlights, she is most surprised.

"I don't know him as an able-bodied person, so to see him standing and running and the sacks, it's just like, 'Wow, this is my husband, this is what he used to do,' " she says. "And it's sort of built since June, where it's like, 'You were really that big? You really did all that stuff?' "

Yes he did. He did it on a close-knit defense with a catchy nickname ("Killer B's") and a record of consistent success. He did it on the defensive line for nearly a decade with his close friend, the underrated nose tackle Bob Baumhower, who today along with Betters will be inducted into the Dolphins' Honor Roll.

So take a bathroom break in the second quarter. Hold off on the hot dog until the third. Halftime should be special.

"No one enjoyed the moment more than Doug Betters," Baumhower said.

Today's his moment.

"I don't know if I have really thought it all through or figured out the enormity of it until it happens," Betters said. "It's very humbling to be thrown out there with those names."

Names such as Larry Csonka. Dan Marino. Nick Buoniconti. Don Shula. And Dwight Stephenson, whose practice tussles with Baumhower remain legend. Betters deserves this day as much as anyone, not merely for what he did on the field, but for the example he has set off it.

He was known to teammates as "Mountain Man," a bearded outdoorsman with a wild streak. Ten years ago, he took one last run on the slopes, veered away from two skiers and got his skis stuck in the soft snow. Eight days later he was in Miami for surgery to fuse three vertebrae in his neck.

Yet he has remained relentlessly upbeat.

"Now that he has been dealt the cards he has been dealt, I admire him more now than ever playing with the guy," says Baumhower, who like many former teammates is now a restaurateur. "I mean, the guy was the consummate outdoorsman. Not to be able to do that and to be so positive, and be so unselfish and so much fun is just an inspiration. Big time. I think a lot of the guys see that in him."

The guys are still the guys.

Competitive as ever.

"Never changes," Betters said.

Like when a trading card company printed some "Killer B" cards and asked Baumhower to sign 500. Betters called. He asked Baumhower what he got for his trouble. Baumhower said a couple grand. "Yeah, I got $10,000," Betters said.

Or like this weekend.

Who has the bigger guest list?

"I've got two more than he does," Betters said. "I may have to pick them up off the street, but I've got two more."

But Baumhower has four kids.

"I don't know if you can count those as guests," Betters said.

"I'm bringing some of my staff, too," Baumhower said, smiling.

The more the merrier, to witness a tribute to friendship, excellence and perseverance.

"It will, I think, be very emotional," former teammate Bob Brudzinski said. "I went out to his wedding last year, which was pretty cool. He's got a great lady. The bad thing is she's got to hang out with all of us old guys and hear all these bad things about him."

Even so, one guesses she'll still have a great day.

Ethan J. Skolnick can be reached at eskolnick@SunSentinel.com