Over the past 48 hours, two men lost their head coaching/managing jobs. In one instance, a smart but abrasive young coach gets canned and there is a lot of people happy about this; for the other, a seemingly nice guy was put in the unenviable position of being manager of a bad ball club treading water.
The former of course is former USC Coach Lane Kiffin, who has burned bridges and pissed people off at every stop of his career (and he’s not that old). Kiffin, son of defensive guru Monte was plucked from relative obscurity when he was the offensive coordinator for USC by the Oakland Raiders in the 1990s. The youngest head coach in the NFL at the time eventually was fired, not so much for losing (which the team did more frequently than the late Al Davis wanted), but for insubordination. Yes, in sports, people don’t always get along, and with all of the testosterone flowing, sometimes those arguments get heated (and sometimes become full-out fights), but you hardly ever hear of someone being fired for insubordination.
But Kiffin’s days mired in controversy weren’t over by a long shot. After leaving the Raiders, he was hired as Head Coach of the University of Tennessee. Kiffin did an OK job replacing long time coach Phil Fulmer, leading the Vols to a 7–6 record in 2009, an improvement from their 5–7 record in 2008.
While he was there however, he ruffled some feathers. First he clashed with Urban Meyer, then Head Coach of the Florida Gators (and currently Head Coach at Ohio State). On February 5, 2009 during a Tennessee booster breakfast, Kiffin accused Meyer of violating NCAA recruiting rules. When he did this however, Kiffin violated an SEC rule against coaches mentioning a recruit by name. Apparently, Kiffin’s accusations against Meyer were mistaken (or at least unprovable) and SEC Commissioner Mike Slive issued a public reprimand to Kiffin; then Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley demanded a public apology also, which Kiffin issued the next day.
Kiffin generated further controversy when he told recruit Alshon Jeffery (now with the Chicago Bears) that if Jeffery chose South Carolina, “he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.” Kiffin denied making the statement however the incident was corroborated by Alshon Jeffery’s coach Walter Wilson who was listening to Kiffin’s remarks on speakerphone.
After one season as coach, Kiffin shocked the university, fans and players by first being apparently open to taking the Kentucky head job, but when that was filled, he left Tennessee during the 2010 recruiting season to accept the head coaching job at the University of Southern California
Kiffin’s return to USC was problematic. He was following Pete Carroll who had left USC to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll left before the NCAA “posse” caught up with him: the NCAA imposed sanctions against the Trojan football program for a “lack of institutional control,” including a two-year postseason ban, the loss of 30 scholarships over three years, and the vacation of all wins in which Reggie Bush participated as an “ineligible” player, including the 2005 Orange Bowl, in which the Trojans won the BCS National Championship.
So, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Kiffin was fired before the team could even get on the plane after USC’s 62-41 loss at Arizona State Saturday night.
Somehow I think there are lots of coaches smiling and perhaps having a happy jaunt in their steps today with Kiffin out of work. Perhaps the happiest man is Urban Meyer.
Then there is Dale Sveum, who was fired as manager of the 66-96 Chicago Cubs. In his two year stint on the North Side, Sveum’s Cubs teams finished last both times. The Cubs are in dire straights – venerable Wrigley Field needs millions of dollars in renovations – some for revenue, some to keep the building from caving in on itself. And the Ricketts family overextended on debt from buying the club, is forced to treat the big market Cubs like a middle-to-small-market team, hamstringing their high priced front office led by Theo Epstein who was used to having nearly unlimited money when he ran the Red Sox.
To a certain extent, Sveum was a stopgap; the team didn’t have enough talent to win, and no winning manager would want to deal with rebuilding while under the microscope of Cubdom. The Cubs reportedly had (and have) interest in Yankee manager Joe Girardi, but why leave a franchise that will spend lots of money to win (and where Girardi has a World Series ring) for a team that hasn’t appeared in a World Series in 68 years and hasn’t won one in 105 years?
One feels for Sveum, getting his first managerial job, but apparently the reason he was fired was less the 96 wins, but that the young talent he does have: Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, Darwin Barney, regressed, especially at the plate, which is supposedly Sveum’s strength (he was hitting coach in Milwaukee).
So, we have two men getting fired. No one will cry real tears because this isn’t like a blue-collar guy getting fired leading to questions as to how he is going to feed his family. Both Kiffin and Sveum had big contracts that USC and the Cubs respectively, will have to pay out. But Dale Sveum is a “baseball guy” and I’m sure someone will give him a job somewhere in baseball. Kiffin’s future is much more uncertain. Who will give him a job in light of his track record? I’m sure some small college would be willing, but would Kiffin? Would any major program want to hire him? And if he was willing to take an assistant coach job, would any head coach want to touch him with a 10-foot pole?

Late word is hitting the Internet that Bud Selig, Major League Baseball’s commissioner since 1992, will retire following the 2014 season. The former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers is expected to officially announce his retirement next Wednesday.
I, for one, say – good. Selig has built the business of baseball, and to the positive, has reign over labor peace for 20 of his 22 years. However, he also resided over the 1994-1995 baseball lockout/strike that cancelled the entire 1994 postseason and World Series. His most egregious “sin,” if you will, was his ostrich-like, head in the sand reaction to performance enhancing drugs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Only in the past few years has baseball even taken a stand on PEDs with testing and suspensions, but the program has not necessarily been a success. Former MVP Ryan Braun and the sports’ highest paid player Alex Rodriguez have been ensnared in the crackdown, but A-Rod continues to play while he appeals his suspension.
Overall, I know that Selig’s era will, like every other commissioner’s era, be remembered for its positives and negatives. But I’m sure that Selig will eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame because he pushed the owners’ agenda, but an objective view is that his era will not be considered a complete success. In fact, I wouldn’t list the former used car salesman and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers in the top 3 baseball commissioners of my lifetime.

There are few industries that like to celebrate itself more than the entertainment industry. There are Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Golden Globes and every other award known to man. (I’m still waiting for the award for “Best Best Boy” or “Best Key Grip.”)
Often these award shows or lifetime tributes are recorded for broadcast, either live or at a later date. Other than the Academy Awards, I admit that I avoid most of these shows, and there is one I will be avoiding.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer will be honored with the 27th American Cinematheque Award at the Cinematheque’s annual benefit gala on Dec. 12 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. I’m very glad that this is a benefit – I hope it’s for a good cause, because Bruckheimer is to films as art like Taco Bell is to haute quisine.
Bruckheimer has produced a couple of decent films for adults – “Veronica Guerin” starring Cate Blanchett and “Black Hawk Down” directed by Ridley Scott are the two I could find on IMDb, but those films were 12 and 10 years ago respectively. The rest of Bruckheimer’s career is filled with…, how should I put this, crap. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, the “Bad Boys movies (which of course unleashed the worst director of our time on the world, Michael Bay), “Pearl Harbor,” and this year’s unmitigated disaster “The Lone Ranger;” in other words, he has provided many hours of mindless distraction, most of which won’t be remembered fondly if at all in future years. It should be said that Bruckheimer is the producer of the “C.S.I.” shows, “Cold Case” and “Without A Trace” which have been decent, but he is also responsible for “The Amazing Race” among other dismal television as well.
Of course, all of this crap has generated billions of dollars in revenue and made Bruckheimer enormously wealthy, which is why American Cinematheque is honoring Bruckheimer – it’s first ever producer. The chairman of the organization, Rick Nicita announced the award earlier this week: “the American Cinematheque is extremely pleased to honor Jerry Bruckheimer as the 27th recipient of the American Cinematheque award at our celebration this year. Jerry’s monumental accomplishments as producer of many of the most popular and iconic movies of all time, including 19 films that have grossed more than $100 million domestically, made him an obvious choice as the American Cinematheque’s first producer honoree.
Yep, he knows how to sell bad films to kids, young adults, and less than intelligent adults. Yippee!

Often, I wish that a head football coach would send a real message to his team about conduct off the field. Well, Matt Labrum, the head football coach at Union High School in Roosevelt, Utah, may have sent the ultimate message to his team.
Amid reports of cyberbullying and other off-the-field problems plaguing his team, Labrum suspended his entire 80 player football team Friday night after a loss to Judge Memorial Catholic High School.
Guidance counselors told football staff that multiple football players were using social media site ask.fm to bully another student. Because the website is anonymous, Labrum was unable to identify the culprits who harassed the unnamed student. Labrum then met with the student, apologizing for his players’ actions. In addition there were academic problems with some players and there were reports of players disrespecting teachers inside the classroom.
According to the Deseret News, Labrum and his entire coaching staff sat the team down and instructed them to turn in their equipment, including uniforms. He then made it clear the team would not be allowed back on the field until they proved themselves—not as players, but as human beings.
Although the “suspension” lasted just one day, the scare tactics apparently worked. Union High elected five new captains and will perform community service this week in lieu of practicing for their upcoming game against Emery High. Union High is 3-2 this season heading into this week’s game. Labrum has been the school’s head football coach since 2012, and I hope that the message takes hold. The cynic in me wonders if the team would have been given the probation if they had won last week’s game.
But that’s nitpicking. It is a nice move.

To many, myself included sometimes, it seems like the world is tilting off kilter. Mass shootings; Tea Party morons; climate change, portions of Chicago becoming war zones. Sometimes,. It’s enough to wonder if people have lost their f#$%ing minds all at once.
Sometimes, however, we need to remind ourselves that the world is moving in some right directions: overall, murder and crime are down in this society; fewer households in the US have guns; perhaps people of good faith are starting to realize that radical religious fighting that has plagued the world for centuries is madness.
For some however, that’s not enough, and often, football makes things worse. We have seen so many NFL athletes take their own lives, often, we find out later, is as a result of CTE or Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, cause from the trauma from large men running continually into other large men at high speed. The list keeps growing: Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs, and so many others.
While it is way too early to blame CTE, we have another tragedy. Paul Oliver, a former defensive back for the University of Georgia and the San Diego Chargers, was found dead this week, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot. Police found Oliver’s body Tuesday night at the bottom of a set of stairs in a home in Marietta, Georgia. A family member had called 911. The county medical examiner ruled the death a suicide by handgun and gave police authorization to release the cause.
He leaves behind a wife and two children, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, and as always, my thoughts go out to the children who won’t know their father. Oliver played for the Chargers from 2007 to 2011, recording 144 tackles in 57 games and he has been currently listed as a free agent.
The circumstances surround his apparent suicide were not immediately clear and may never be clear. Perhaps CTE had something to do with it; perhaps it was finances – studies show that almost 75% of NFL players declare bankruptcy within seven years after leaving the league for good. Perhaps, after being a celebrity for years, Oliver couldn’t take the quiet of no longer being a football player. Perhaps the educational system failed him. Perhaps the Players’ union failed; perhaps we fans, feeders of the football beast are as guilty of the disposable nature of players as the football coaches, staffs, and front offices are?
Still, we have a young man dead by his own hand; a woman without her husband; kids without their dad. There is only sadness.

Most observers are saying that the NCAA structure is doomed, and that changes are definitely afoot. NCAA President Mark Emmert says that the changes may be coming so quickly that the college sports world may be vastly different in just a year. I don’t know if that will happen that quickly, but change is definitely in the air, and in some ways for the better.
Long time readers know that I am not much of a fan of Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany: I have said that all he cares about is money for the conference and the member schools (and that opinion really hasn’t changed). But Delany actually said something on ESPN.com that has been the 800 pound gorilla in the world of college football for decades. Delany said that Division I college football and basketball would be better served if they followed Major League Baseball’s model, which allows players to sign professionally right out of high school. “Maybe in football and basketball, it would work better if more kids had a chance to go directly into the professional ranks. If they’re not comfortable and want to monetize, let the minor leagues flourish. Train at IMG, get agents to invest in your body, get agents to invest in your likeness, and establish it on your own. But don’t come here and say, ‘We want to be paid $25,000 or $50,000.’ Go to the D-League and get it, go to the NBA and get it, go to the NFL and get it.”
Of course, that eliminates somewhat the argument about paying college athletes. At the same time, it creates the double edged sword of – no more having the hypocrisy of “student-athletes” who don’t have the grades or interest in a college degree (to the positive). To the negative, it allows young men to never concern themselves with succeeding in any other way other than sports. Either way, a young athlete who comes to the end of their playing days (either college, minors, or pros) becomes last year’s news and is a discarded person (see the Paul Oliver story above).
Still, such a plan may well take the very best players away from the college football factories – allowing the players to be paid with what the market will bear in either pro or some kind of “minor-leagues” and it may end up competing with the traditional product.

They both moved from New York City to the West Coast; both have had years of great success; both have had years of terrible baseball. But what makes the San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers rivalry deadly?
A man wearing a Dodgers hat died Wednesday from a stab wound suffered in a fight between fans of the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers following a game between the two teams at the Giants’ AT&T Park.
San Francisco police say a group of Dodgers fans and Giants fans began arguing outside the stadium minutes after the Giants beat the Dodgers 6-4. The argument led to a physical confrontation, some moron pulled a knife, and a man in Dodgers gear was stabbed and subsequently transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. It is unclear whether those involved in the fight had attended the game. According to the report, three people have been detained and police are interviewing witnesses.
The fight comes days after the Giants began a three-game fundraiser this week for Bryan Stow, a Giants fan who was severely beaten after the Giants’ season opener at Dodger Stadium in 2011.
Honestly, in the realm of sports rivalries, I wouldn’t even list Giants-Dodgers in the top 5. Bears-Packers; Cowboys-Redskins; the University of Florida-Miami; Alabama-LSU; Michigan – Michigan State; Michigan-Ohio State, Blackhawks-Red Wings (although that will change with the move of Detroit to the Eastern Conference) and several other rivalries that I’m forgetting have more passion than Giants/Dodgers.
But the Giant-Dodger rivalry has led to one person dead and another severely injured in just three years. What is it about this rivalry gets people not just worked up but violent? I’m sure that alcohol plays a major part, but why is this the most violent rivalry?