--Coach Tony Sparano admitted during a two-day visit to Tampa during Super Bowl week that he spent some time in a South Florida hospital before going to the Senior Bowl last month. He denied rumors that the visit had anything to do with an irregular heartbeat. Sparano probably averages about four hours a night sleep during the season, so it would be prudent for him to take good care of himself in the offseason. He told us he and his wife were going to spend a long weekend in their Hilton Head retreat to, "recharge his batteries."

"It was one of those routine go in and get checked up kind of things. That's all it was. They said I'm healthy as cow. Is a cow healthy?" Sparano said when answering questions about a recent hospital stay.

--Former owner H. Wayne Huizenga admitted that owning and selling the Panthers and Marlins were strictly business decisions while the Dolphins were his, "passion."

"If I had one disappointment the disappointment would be that we did not bring a championship home and it's something we failed to do. It's tough out there with competitive balance in this league, which is what's great about the league, is competitive balance because every team has the same payroll and that's what's made the league so strong.

"You don't have just a few teams that can win. I guess last year was a good example. The Giants were in the Super Bowl last year and this year they don't make the playoffs. And so it's what makes this league; competitive balance is what makes this league so much better than the rest of the sports franchises." - Oops. Guess the Giants one-and-done loss to the Eagles in the playoffs was pretty easy to forget.

--Cowboys DE Chris Canty, who was drafted by the current Dolphins regime when they were running the Cowboys, is a free agent and wouldn't be unhappy if he was re-united with Bill Parcells. "I've always said, there's a part of me that's always gonna be a Parcells guy. I've played under Al Groh in college and then coming in as a rookie under Bill. What they instill in the brand of football that they play, it's been with me so that would be a place that would be a good fit," he said.

--Coach Tony Sparano received the NFL Alumni Coach of the Year Award in Tampa from legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula, who he said became a weekly visitor before games last season. "I sent Coach a letter when I first got there. He sent me a letter back, he was out traveling at the time, actually sent me a wire, which I didn't know they had wires anymore. He said when he got back in town he would visit with me - and he did. We visited somewhere in early October, just came by and said hi. Every game I saw him after that, we'd talk a little bit before each game." -- Sparano on the Shula connection.

--Arizona's free-agent LB Karlos Dansby, who had 100 tackles, including four sacks, and two interceptions this season, was a teammate of Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown in Auburn and a big fan of Bill Parcells and South Beach. "(The Dolphins) definitely need a linebacker. My respect for Parcells is huge man. Parcells came to me, I think it was my second year in the league, we're playing in Dallas and he told me I'm a heckuva player. That meant a lot for me coming from a legend like that." -- Dansby on Parcells.

--Rookie LT Jake Long played in his first Pro Bowl and wrote daily reports for the team Web site. He got his ankle rolled up on near the end of the game but said: "It's nothing. I feel fine." It's the same ankle he injured during the season but didn't miss any games for.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I don't like visiting these things. It's a heckuva event and it's terrific to be a small part of it this weekend but next time I come back I hope it's for a different reason." -- Sparano on his two-day visit to the Super Bowl site in Tampa