NFL Coaching Woes

Halfway through the season, it's time to look at who might be in trouble or on the bubble in the head coaching ranks:

--Scott Linahan, St. Louis Rams: The Rams have simply been pathetic. Yes, they have suffered injuries at almost every key position offensively but Linahan appears to have lost the lockerroom at this point. The team has seemingly quit on their coach and that always is the signal of the end. The question really isn't if but when is Linahan gone and can he make it through the season before getting axed.

--First year coaches Cam Cameron (Miami), Bobby Petrino (Atlanta) and Norv Turner (San Diego) have all had very rough starts to the season. Of these Cameron appears to be in the most trouble. Owner Wayne Huizenga is not known for his patience and have no doubt, he won't hesitate to cut the first year coach off after one year if the Dolphins continue to spiral. Turner's Chargers have played much better as of late and he might save his job, although firing him after one season would be an admission of a huge mistake by San Diego and I think GM A.J. Smith would rather get run over by a truck than admit that. Petrino was hired with the thought that he was going to have Michael Vick running the offense. So much so that the Falcons traded Matt Schaub to Houston. Now the Falcons are stuck with a cast of QBs that Vince Lombardi couldn't win with, so Petrino should get a pass on this season.

--Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals: Has Marv wore out his welcome in Cincy? The team's struggles this year have highlighted the fact that although Lewis has brought the Bengals some sense of respect throughout the league, they haven't yet been able to get over that hump. Add to that the plethora of off-field incidents that have plagued the Bengals and it may be time for Lewis to move on to new challenges.

A couple of other notes worth mentioning:

--There has been talk in Seattle that this could be Mike Holmgren's last year as head coach of the Seahawks. The window is closing on Seattle's chances of getting to the Super Bowl and aging stars Shaun Alexander, Matt Hasselbeck have had very spotty performances this year to say the least.

--John Fox is looking over his shoulder in Carolina right now. The latest round of QB woes and ineffective offensive play has people talking about a change. Bill Cowher bought a house in Carolina last year and moved to be close to his daughter who is attending college there. Seems like a perfect fit to me.

O.J. Simpson

Once again, O.J is in the news. This time he is accused of taking part in an armed robbery in an attempt to retrieve sports memorabilia that he says was stolen from him. He could get up to 30 years of prison time for his part in this latest escapade if convicted. The irony of here is so thick I need not even explain it. O.J. was the original jock-turned sportscaster golden boy. He had everything. He won the Heisman Trophy is senior year at USC, was the first pick in the draft and went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49'ers. He was the first player to every rush for over 2000 yds. in a season, and he put up all those impressive numbers playing on some pretty bad teams. Anyone else remember the Hertz commercials with O.J. hurdling through the airport trying to get to his rental car? He had a cushy job doing football analysis, he had it all. That is, until 1994.

Everyone knows the story of the "Trial of the Century" and the outcome. But what happened after the trial is where this tale of caution took an ugly turn. Simpson put himself above justice and above the law. He even had the audacity of write a book "If I Did It", in which he told a supposedly fictional account of how he would have killed his wife and her friend Ron Goldman, had he actually done it. Right!! He sold his home in California, moved to Miami, vacations in Cabo San Lucas, plays golf and lives a pretty good life, even though he claims poverty and has yet to pay any substantial portion of the 33.5 million dollar wrongful death claim judgement that was issued against him following his acquittal on murder charges. He has sold many of his awards and trophies, including his Heisman Trophy, and can even still occassionally get someone to pay him upwards of $20,000 to come and sign autographs for a weekend. Now he may actually go to jail for alledgedly trying to steal back his own stuff. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Star power has a long half-life. The ability of people to forgive and forget is never more evident than when it comes to celebrities, especially athletes. We tend to forgive them and reinstate their iconic status not for what they are but for what they once were. Simpson has longed played this card, putting himself above the law and flaunting his star power and the perceived "prejudice" against him. When asked during this recent arrest why he didn't call the police, he stated that he doesn't have much faith in the police because whenever it involves him, "it just becomes another O.J. story". Hey O.J., here's a heads up. Nobody really cares about you anymore. The guy that won the Heisman, the first player to every rush for 2000 yds., the guy that gave us all those thrills, he died a long time ago. All we are left with is a sad parody of a man too stubborn to change, too stupid to care and now one that may finally earn the title that he most richly deserves: felon.

NFl: Halfway Point

The NFL season is at the midway point and some things have become crystal clear:

--New England is maybe the scariest team in all of professional sports. They seem to hang 40 or 50 points on everybody they play. This weekends game is going to go a long way to find out who is the king of the NFL.

--Indianapolis has almost quietly also undfeated and just keeps winning football games. Peyton Manning keeps adding to his Hall of Fame resume and the Colts defense is playing smash-mouth, agressive football. At least the second best team in the NFL, and maybe after this weekend the best.

--Forget the five year waiting period. Cast the bust and put Brett Favre in the Hall RIGHT NOW!! The guy is 38 yrs. old, still throws the ball 60 yds. downfield, burned two of the fastest corners in the NFL tonight and his team is 6-1. You coach heart, intensity, guts and determination and Favre leads the league in these every year. Who else do you want when the game is on the line? I'll take the kid from Kiln, MS everytime.

--Outside of the whopping they got from New England, Dallas has rolled over most of their competition (except for that nightmare in Buffalo where the kicker bailed them out). The game against the Packers in four weeks could be an NFC championship preview.

--The Rams and the Dolphins have to be the biggest disappointments in the league right now. The Rams have been absolutely decimated by injuries but the Dolphins just plain stink. I can see Cam being 1 and out in Miami if something doesn't change especially if Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas continuing talking about wanting out of Miami. IM to Wayne Huizenga: Marty Schottenheimer is available.

--San Diego has awaken and should be a factor down the stretch in the run to the playoffs. Yesterday their defense carried the load and if Philip Rivers will turn around, hand the ball to L.T. and complete the passes he should complete, the Chargers will be a force come playoff time. Norv, don't try to overcoach this team, it will be better for you, trust me on this one.

--I bought NFL Sunday Ticket this year just to be able to watch my Broncos AND every Green Bay Packer game. Best money I've ever spent.

--If Marc Bulger and Tony Romo are worth 11 to 12 million dollars a year, what is Brady, Manning and Favre worth? In 2006, Manning and Favre both made 10 million and Brady made 16 million. I think those numbers need some adjusting.

--The Detroit Lions are 5-2. Mike Martz, please come back to St. Louis, for our coach is an idiot who doesn't understand the concept of SCORING SOME FUCKING POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Enough is enough

We've all heard that old saying that "No news is good news" and in Micheal Vick's case, boy is that ever true. For anyone that has been living in a cave, here's the story: Vick was indicted and plead guilty to funding a dog fighting organization on some property that he owns in Virginia. He will be sentenced in December and could get up to five years in prison. He has also now been charged on state charges for the same offense and could get additional time in a state penitentiary. He was suspended by the NFL indefinitely, lost all of his endorsement deals worth several million dollars a year, has been sued by two different banks for about 5 million dollars because he has lost his job, his now on house arrest because he violated the terms of his bail by failing and drug test and this week was ordered by an arbitrator to repay almost $20 million back to the Atlanta Falcons that was paid to him as a signing bonus. There are now some reports out of Washington that the Feds are considering going after some of Vick's "assets" such as property by trying to link them to the dogfighting ring and stating that they were the proceeds of criminal activity. And you thought you were having a bad month or two!!! What makes some of this laughable is what makes anyone think that Vick even has $20 million to pay back? His legal bills are already estimated to be over the $2 million mark and with the state trial looming, those are only going to grow. He is not receiving a paycheck from the NFL and all of his endorsement money is gone, probably forever. Many of us worry about ever being able to retire and at this rate, Vick is going to have to try and play football until he is 60 in order to pay this money back, that is if anyone will ever have him back. Vick has certainly created these problem for himself. The downturn started last year with the flipping off of the crowd after a loss, the water bottle incident at the Miami airport and the public perception of Vick being just another athlete/thug with too much money and not enough principle. All the more shame because Vick was actually one of the pretty good guys in the NFL. He has donated substantial monies to his alma mater, Virginia Tech, to improve their athletic facilities and athletic programs. He had been very active in the Atlanta community with charitable organizations and from all reports, was one of several NFL players that would visit children's hospitals during away games to chat with kids and sign autographs. But to many people, none of that matters right now, and that's the real tragedy of all this. There are several groups out there that have tried to turn this into a black vs. white issue, which has hurt Vick immensely. This isn't about color, it's about poor choices but it is also about our ability as both a nation and as human beings to forgive and move on. Jamal Lewis, Leonard Little, Ray Lewis, Ron Artest, Allan Iverson, Tank Johnson and the list goes on are some of Vick's criminal predecessors that received FAR less punishment for far worse crimes. I have said it before and I shall say it again: Vick didn't take a human life, he didn't sell drugs to kids, he didn't shoot up a school, he didn't take the life savings of hundreds of thousands of people, he didn't even create a fake war to achieve his own ends. He made some poor decisions and now he must pay for them. My question is, how big are the payments and when do they end?

Plight of Andy Reid

Andy Reid is the most successful head coach in the long and storied history of the Philadelphia Eagles. He has a career winning percentage of .621. He won four division titles and four trips to the NFC championship game from 2001-2004. He has won more playoff games (7) game any other coach in their history. He's part of the Bill Walsh coaching tree of success. And from all accounts, he's a good guy. He may also be unemployed at the end of the season. Reid managed to get the Eagles to four straight NFC championship games, only to lose to the Rams, Tampa Bay and Carolina. When they finally managed to break through and make it to the Big Dance, they lost on a memorable last second field goal by Adam "Mr. Clutch" Vinateri. Since that time, Reid has had to deal with the T.O. fiasco, the loss and subsequent questioning of his biggest star, QB Donovan McNabb and whether or not he's the guy to lead this team. McNabb hasn't finished the season the last 3 out of 5 years and his toughness and heart are constantly under scrutiny and now folks are questioning whether or not he will ever be the same QB as he was before. This year's team has suffered more than its fair share of injuries and along with all this, Reid has had to deal with the very public legal problems of his two sons, Garret and Britt. Both of the Reid boys are now back in jail once again on a variety of charges ranging from drug and weapons charges to hit and run and a probation violation for failing a drug test. This is every parent's worse nightmare, watching your children on a path of self-destruction. It's even worse when it is played out in the media. While New York may be considered the toughest media market to deal with, Philadelphia has its own special brand of cruelty that is unrivaled anywhere else. Philadelphia fans and media are notoriously rude, vulgar and downright nasty when it comes to their sports teams and since they haven't had a lot to cheer the last few years in any sport, they take it out on the players, coaches and owners. The fact the Reid has been able to sustain all this with an unblieveable amount of decorum and dignity shows the kind of man he is. There are those in the City of Brotherly Love that are calling for Reid's resignation, saying that he's not focused on winning this year and needs to step away from the game. No one outside of Philly would blame him for taking off and dealing with these situations. The Eagles are 3-4 right now and unless they go on a roll, they are probably not looking at a shot in the playoffs this year. Dallas is coming to town this weekend and with their decimated secondary, it could get ugly. But I'm going to be rooting for the Eagles this weekend. I'd like to see them run the table, make it in the playoffs, even to the Superbowl if they can. Not because I love Philadelphia, I'm an Andy Reid fan.