We who follow sports know that coaches are hired to be fired – they all will at some point (unless you’re Joe Paterno). As I’ve written here before, I no longer call for coaches to be fired; after being out of work for 13½ months in 2004-2005 and knowing the depression I went through, I will not call for someone’s ouster unless there is gross negligence. And yes, I know that coaches make many orders of magnitude greater than yours truly, but I still can’t do it.
In some cases, it is, however warranted. Today, the University of Michigan fired Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez after 3 tumultuous, scandal rumored and under achieving years in Ann Arbor. I understand that, and Rodriguez won’t have problems feeding his family or finding work, I’m sure.
But there are moves made (or not made) that make me scratch my head. First, after another losing season, and with his contract ending, it appeared that Marvin Lewis’ tenure as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals was over. One playoff appearance and a team more known for off-the-field issues (arrests, a player dying in a domestic dispute, Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens) than on the field victories, I though Lewis was toast. But the cheap owners of the team, and the GMs also have responsibility for the woeful performance, too, and maybe they took that into account (and you can’t fired the ownership; believe me I know because Bill Wirtz, the Tribune Company and the McCaskey family have all deserved to be fired here in Chicago). I thought that, with no additional money owed to Lewis, the Bengals would find someone new to lead the team, but they resigned Lewis to a 2-year deal.
Stranger to me (but it really shouldn’t be) was the Raiders firing Tom Cable. Al Davis is once again showing his senility. Davis, the maverick owner, has always delighted in going against the “traditional wisdom,” but over the past 10 years or so since the Raiders were in the Super Bowl; Davis has made moves that made no sense whatsoever.
A couple of years ago, hiring Cable was considered one of those moves. With little experience and no head coaching experience on any level, Cable was hired after the bizarre Lane Kiffen was fired by Davis for insubordination. The Raiders continued to struggle, but this season finished 8-8 with an improved defense and running game. The Raiders played Kansas city late in the season in the first meaningful late season game for the team since Rich Gannon was quarterback.
Personally, I thought Cable should be retained – the team played hard despite quarterback inconsistency and controversy. I thought this since Davis won’t hire a big name coach who would want personnel authority, which Davis still holds in his aged clammy hands. In light of this, who would want to be head coach of the Raiders? With a once great football mind living in the past who won’t let you bring the team into the 21st Century; who would want that? Especially some of the first round draft picks that were made by Davis including head case: JaMarcus Russell (who was coveted before he showed no work ethic whatsoever and landed him out of football completely now), and wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey who had fewer catches than starts in his rookie season and may be the biggest first round bust in NFL history.
Strange days, indeed.

Only 2 men received the happy news from the Baseball Hall of Fame today that they will be inducted in July, and both had a wait on their hands. First was Robbie Alomar, who was a lock to enter the Hall, but was forced to wait by the prickly baseball writers due to his 1996 spitting incident with umpire John Hirschbeck. Alomar missed being a first-ballot selection by nine votes last year.
I say petty, because Alomar had never done anything like that, and for him to have gone off like that, would have taken Hirschbeck to have said something horrible Alomar said it was a racial slur, but he has never revealed precisely what Hirschbeck said. To my mind, it was another instance of the petty tyrants on the field, known as umpires, having no accountability at that time. (Of course, a strike that ended up getting members fired, never to return, and technology that graded umpire’s ball and strike calls have made today’s umpires considerably more humble).
Alomar was always a winner – he was a major factor in the Toronto Blue Jays back-to-back World Series championship teams in 1992-93 and played on four other playoff teams in Baltimore and Cleveland. Alomar finished his career with a .300 batting average and earning 10 Gold Glove awards and four Silver Slugger awards.
(Unfortunately, since retiring, Alomar has been known more for scandal: he has been sued twice by women {including his current wife} claiming he had unprotected sex knowing he was HIV positive. )
But let’s really hear it for Bert Blyleven. On his 14th try and after falling five votes short of joining Andre Dawson in the Hall last year, got 79 percent of the vote this year. Blyleven had one of the most wicked curveballs in history, pitched 22 seasons earning 287 victories. However, he was 13 wins short of the almost automatic election for having 300 wins, and he never finished higher than third in Cy Young voting. But he was also a winner – helping the Pirates win the 1979 World Series and the Twins win the Series in ’87.
Blyleven ranks fifth all-time with 3,701 strikeouts and 14th in innings pitched. He threw 60 shutouts, only one fewer than Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver and more than anyone else who pitched after 1965. He finished his career 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA.
The big story is that the symbols of the steroid era: Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro came nowhere close to garnering enough votes. They and first timer Jeff Bagwell all failed to get 50% of the vote.
(As I’ve said in the past, the only way to adequately put steroids behind baseball is a blanket amnesty for a short period of time in which anyone who used can come clean. Under the amnesty, players can be elected to the Hall of Fame, but it would be reflected on their plaque for all time.)
Anyway, congratulations to the new Hall of Famers. More than likely, my friend Susan Yerby, also known as Robbie Alomar’s biggest fan, is probably booking her reservations for Cooperstown even now…

Just a couple of days after Brett Favre announced his latest, and presumably last retirement from football, the one season he spent in New York continues to sully his reputation.
Earlier this week, Favre was fined a paltry $50,000 by the NFL for not being completely forthcoming about allegations that he sent sexually explicit e-mails to a New York sideline reporter. The league said that it didn’t have sufficient proof that the texts were actually sent by Favre, but the league conveniently fined the future Hall of Fame QB after his consecutive starting streak had ended; the Vikings were eliminated from the playoffs, and had already changed coaches.
More mud was slung at Favre’s legacy this week as 2 massage therapists sued him and the Jets for reportedly losing their part-time jobs with the team after complaining about sexually suggestive text messages. Christina Scavo and Shannon O’Toole are seeking unspecified damages from Favre, the Jets and a Jets massage coordinator in claiming that they were subjected to sexual harassment and job discrimination. Favre and his representatives had no comment, but the Jets released a comment saying that the suit was without merit.
Now, I know that Brett Favre is just a country boy from Kilm, Mississippi at heart, and thrust (no pun intended) into a big metropolis like New York would turn one’s head. But since there have been no reports of similar behavior in Green Bay or Minneapolis, I wonder if Favre was a big enough star in those smaller locales that the local women there were either flattered by the attention or acquiesced?
Cynical? Perhaps. Not giving Favre the benefit of the doubt? I’m guilty of that. I believe Favre probably is too.

With the NFL regular season now over, the chief interest is seeing which head coaches will be losing their jobs. The 49ers have already axed Mike Singletary and may be facing a tug-of-war for Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh with the University of Michigan. The Browns fired Eric Mangini this morning. The Vikings are working hard to take the interim tag off of head coach Leslie Frazier, and the same is supposed to be done in Dallas with Jason Garrett. Tom Coughlin appears safe with the Giants, but, as expected, the Carolina Panthers announced that John Fox would not return.
But that’s nowhere close to being the whole list. I believe that Marvin Lewis has worn out his welcome in Cincinnati; Denver’s job is still open; Jeff Fisher, the league’s longest tenured Head Coach could leave Tennessee (and wouldn’t have long to wait for his phone to ring); and maybe more surprisingly, Tom Cable, who’s Raiders showed great improvement in 2010, and Tony Sparano, whose Miami Dolphins didn’t, could be on very hot seats.
Of course, one need look no further than the broadcast booth for candidates: Bill Cowher is the biggest name along with Jon Gruden and they are always the wild cards in the mix. Longer shots are Tony Dungy and former Ravens coach Brian Billick. Of course, there is the 800 pound gorilla in the room for the NFL….

We all get spam e-mail. Anyone you’ve ever bought something from will send you e-mails about the latest sales/deals/products, etc. But I received an e-mail this morning that made me sit up and take notice. It was addressed from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
How did the commissioner get my e-mail address? Was it a complaint about this blog? A threat to sue? A job offer? None of the above; since I have bought stuff from NFL.com, it was an e-mail thanking me for support and a commitment to settle the labor dispute that hangs over the league like vultures. He says that he wants to come up with an agreement fair to both sides, which may be what’s happening if the rumors are true that neither the league or the players’ union wants to kill the multi-billion dollar fatted calf by having a strike or lockout like baseball.
Mr. Goodell also is pushing for a longer season, and says that he is committed to making the game safer for the players. All good measures – I hope it’s not just posturing.

Another thought – I wonder if I can send the commissioner an e-mail back? I’ll have to try it sometime….

Going into New Year’s Day, the Big Ten Conference was on a roll. Iowa and Illinois had won their games; the Conference had five games on television on New Year’s Day and still had Ohio State, suspended players and all, playing Arkansas. After the dust had settled, Jim Delany and the conference are hoping Ohio State will win the Sugar Bowl to make the final tally 3-5, because every team on New Year’s Day lost.
First up were my Northwestern Wildcats against Texas Tech in the TicketCity Bowl. It was too expensive for me to drag the Indignant Family to Dallas for the game, and after quarterback Dan Persa’s Achilles injury ended his season, the ‘Cats never looked like the same team. That’s to be expected on offense, but the defense missed lots of tackles which has nothing to do with who is the signal caller on offense.
Once again, NU showed no defense, but I give them credit for not giving up, losing 45-38. It was frustrating to watch – just as the offense would score to pull the wildcats within one score, Texas Tech would go, apparently untouched (especially on the 80-yard TD run), to take the lead back to 14 points. In fact, if NU hadn’t picked off Texas Tech QB Taylor Potts for a touchdown with about 5 minutes left, the game would have been all but over. Instead, we have another down-to-the-wire loss. But a loss nonetheless.
Watching the NU game, I saw that the University of Michigan had jumped out to leads of 7-0 and 14-10 against Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl. I thought that Michigan was in pretty good shape since six Mississippi State players had come down with illness, either a virus, or food poisoning. I look up, and Mississippi State ended up rolling all over Michigan scoring 42 unanswered points after trailing 14-10. (This could be the end of the line for UM Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, which is the reason for the Jim Harbaugh speculation in the earlier piece.)
Making the day completely sucky for Michigan alums, Michigan State was drubbed 49-7 in the Capital One Bowl. As I’ve written here numerous times, MSU fans are the biggest @$$holes in the Big Ten and it’s always good to see them lose, but you could just hear the voices in East Lansing, Michigan looking forward to getting some revenge for Nick Saban leaving State several years ago for greener pastures (no pun intended). Saban’s troops were angry for falling from a national championship to also-ran status and a “B” bowl and stomped MSU
OK, I thought, we still have Penn State and Wisconsin, right? Well, the Nitany Lions gave Florida a game for about 3 quarters in the Outback Bowl before the Gators gave their outgoing coach Urban Meyer a farewell gift 37-24.
Then came the big showdown: undefeated TCU against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. I don’t care how many bowl games there are, and where the national championship game is played, the Rose Bowl is special. I still remember NU playing there 15 years ago. Anyway, the two teams both played well, but TCU prevailed 21-19, the first non-AQ team to win a major bowl game. (It should be noted that soon-to-be Big Ten member Nebraska lost also.)
So, on New Year’s Day, the conference with the dumbest division names in history had few “Leaders” and were “Legends” only in getting their asses whipped.

I thought that I would have more time over the holidays to correspond with everyone, but the Indignant Children have been more indignant than usual. So, I never had the chance to wish you a Happy Christmas (my apologies) , but I do have the opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year. But I still have opinions, so…

• Yes, it is hypocritical for the NCAA to suspend 5 Ohio State football players for the first five games of next season, but still allow them to play in the Sugar Bowl next Tuesday against Arkansas. Did QB Terrell Pryor and four others know it was against the rules to sell/trade autographs and awards to a tattoo parlor for free tattoos? Of course they did. And, does coach Jim Tressell willing to look the other way until they got caught? The Maurice Clarette incident shows that’s the truth. But it is long past time for the NCAA to face it’s own hypocracy – getting billions of dollars off of unpaid talent. The players see jerseys with their numbers and names selling for $200 each, but they don’t get a dime of it. The NCAA should penalize itself – or just come out and pay all players a stipend and end the under-the-table nonsense.

• A lot was made last week over a video tape of the voice of New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and a woman who appears to be his wife in some foot fetishistic behavior. First, if it is his wife, then it’s between them and I’m glad that we have a fat, middle aged man getting some. Ryan’s only mistake was taping it and/or letting it out of a locked safe somewhere. In this “You Tube/Facebook” world, if you are the head coach of an NFL team in the biggest city/market in the nation, anything you do will be news. Protect yourself accordingly.

• I know that the game means nothing, but I hope the Bears stomp the Packers this weekend and that someone knocks that smirk off of quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ face. He is a great quarterback, but it appears that he is a real jerk.

• Speaking of rooting interests, and knowledge that our quarterbacks have played poorly, I still hope that Northwestern can pull out it’s first bowl victory since 1949 against Texas Tech. But I may be disappointed by this one; but at least I won’t have spent thousands of dollars being disappointed.

• Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew is reportedly battling esophageal cancer. The 77-year-old slugger says he will battle with his wife and family at his side. I hope he has a quick and successful recovery. I met him once, at the 1983 All Star Game at old Comiskey Park and he was a very nice man who spoke with me for several minutes.

• Finally, as I said above, I hope that everyone has a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. I hope for jobs for the unemployed; some heart, compassion and less hubris for corporate CEOs; I hope for Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck to go far away; and for there to be more civility, more common sense, and more cooperation for elected officials. Again, I may be disappointed on this.