Weekly Sporties

-When the Los Angeles Lakers spent their offseason acquiring All-Stars, people predicted big things. When they started the season 0-2 some people were surprised, but preached patience as basketball teams can notoriously take some time to find their groove, especially when you are adding stars who have spent most of their careers carrying teams. It can take a few weeks for people to get used to having teammates with talent equal to their own and learning to defer every once in a while (unless you are Kobe Bryant, in which case everyone has to learn to defer to you). Complicating matters, prized point guard Steve Nash got hurt after the first game. Still, most people were supremely confident the team would have its act together by Christmas and glide into the playoffs with around 55 wins. Apparently, that plan didn't sit too well with the Lakers front office, because on Friday they fired head coach Mike Brown following their 1-4 start. I have to say, I thought Brown would be in trouble if the team struggled this season, but I did not think it was going to happen this soon. Honestly, this would be like an NFL firing a coach after a bad preseason. The thing is I can't tell if this was brilliant or desperate. If the Lakers knew Brown's offense didn't fit their talent and there was no way for this to work long term so they decided to end the experiment before it threw off the entire team, it's brilliant. If they can already tell this collection of talent won't work together, but it is easier to get rid of a coach than players, it's desperate. Either way, it just goes to show you that while coaching prestigious teams may come with a larger paycheck, they also come with heavier expectations because Los Angeles is about the only place this kind of firing would happen.

-So, now that Brown is out, the question is who replaces him? Bernie Bickerstaff will take over for now, but no one expects him to still be the head coach by this time next week. The first name a lot of people spoke about was Mike D'Antoni. At first the name makes sense because he coached Nash when he was at his peak and coached Kobe as an assistant on the Olympic team. However, D'Antoni's system calls for everyone to get out and run, shooting as quickly as you can, trying to blitz the other team off the floor. It can work with the right players, I'm just not sure Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard are the right kind of players for that up-and-down the floor pace of play. That is why the second name that came up makes much more sense - Phil Jackson. I never felt like Jackson wanted to leave the Lakers the last time, more like he was being pushed out by Jimmy Buss. I know he had some health problems, but after a full season away from the game he's had time to take care of some of his ailments and reports are he wants to coach again. Plus, as I said before, the Lakers are a stacked team and Jackson is no dummy - he knows he can take this team to a title immediately. What I will be interested to see is if Jimmy Buss, who was the one who hired Mike Brown, will essentially admit his mistake by bringing Jackson back. Also, while the Lakers aren't hurting for funds, I assume Jackson won't come cheaply and the team still has to pay Brown the remainder of his deal. That is why I ultimately see them landing with a guy like Brian Shaw. He was a loyal assistant under Jackson and knows the players really well, but isn't so big as to overshadow the locker room or demand a large contract. He may be the best of both worlds. We'll just have to see if the Lakers' front office feels like they have to hire the biggest name or the best man for the job.

-Last Sunday came the breaking news that suspended New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton wasn't actually the Saints head coach anymore. Apparently there was some wording in the last contract extension he had signed regarding an opt out-clause that the NFL wasn't pleased with and after a few months of trying to negotiate new wording, the league got fed up and just voided the entire deal. What this means is that once his suspension is lifted, one of the best coaches in the NFL is going to be a free agent. Since Payton's family has a house in Dallas there was immediate talk he would go there. Personally, I don't see it. Payton was previously an assistant in Dallas but he was there as Bill Parcells's guy and Parcells didn't exactly leave Dallas on good terms. Since it was rumored Payton asked Parcells to coach the Saints while he was suspended it is obvious the two are still close and that relationship may alter the way Payton feels about any offer from Dallas. Besides, the Cowboys will hardly be Payton's only suitor, with (by my count) at least five coaching vacancies expected this offseason. Payton will be the biggest coaching domino to fall and will be able to name his location and price. He may not get a chance like this again. Still, for all the bluster, I think he remains in New Orleans. The clause the NFL has such problems with was regarding Payton's ability to leave immediately if GM Mickey Loomis was suspended or fired. To me that sounds like a guy who really likes his boss and since Loomis is going to remain with the Saints, it stands to reason Payton will return as well. On top of that the team still has Drew Brees and the NFL is all about quarterbacks. I'm not saying I expect Payton to spend the rest of his career in New Orleans, but I don't see him leaving just yet.

-When Kentucky fired its head football coach after three lackluster seasons, it wasn't exactly big news. For all its basketball tradition, Kentucky has never exactly been a football hotbed. But that lack of attention is exactly why the story that Bobby Petrino is interested in the job makes tremendous sense. For those of you who might forget, Petrino was the head coach at Arkansas and had the program moving in the right direction before getting into an offseason motorcycle accident with a young woman riding on the back who was not his wife. Later it was revealed he had also given this woman a job she was not qualified for at a pay rate high above what the job warranted. Since Arkansas is a state school, Petrino resigned in shame and Razorbacks, who had been a preseason Top-5 team, fell into disarray. Now, unlike players who can immediately come back from scandals, coaches can work their way back - it is just a longer road. The first step on this road is coaching at a less-glamorous school and Kentucky would be perfect for a guy like Petrino. It's still in the SEC, so it is not that far of a step down, Petrino has already coached in the area (Louisville), he'll be under the radar because Kentucky is one of the few places which is basketball-first and because the school has never been a football powerhouse, any signs of improvement will make him coach of the year. Not to mention, this is a school which hired John Calipari, so it is no stranger to coaches with colorful pasts. As an added bonus, since Kentucky would probably feel lucky to have a coach with Petrino's resume they won't even be all that mad when he bolts after two seasons for a better job (which is his move). This almost makes too much sense.

-A couple weeks ago I mentioned how annoying I found the constant stories about USC's football team seeing how far they could massage the rules because I felt schools like USC should be above those type of tricks. Well, apparently no one on campus reads my blog, because during the week USC fired its student manager after it was revealed that several footballs were under-inflated in the Trojan's last game against Oregon. (Under-inflated footballs are thought to be easier to grip and therefore throw and catch.) The school was fined $25,000, even though head coach Lane Kiffin said he knew nothing about this and the student acted on his own. Now, I would like to believe Lane, but his history makes that kind of tough. For example, earlier in the year Kiffin said he hadn't voted his team #1 in the polls, only it turned out he did. If he can get something like that wrong, why should I believe him about anything? However, for the sake of argument, let's say this kid did do this all on his own - that may be worse. That shows everyone is just doing their own thing and the head coach doesn't have control of his program. You think anyone would pull this crap at Alabama under Nick Saban? Me neither. But, here's Kiffin's real problem - he isn't winning enough. USC currently has 3 losses, which wasn't supposed to happen after they were the preseason #1. I know they have had a rough couple of years with NCAA sanctions that happened before Kiffin got there, but I'm going to guess he was still supposed to cut down on this kind of stuff and instead it seems to be happening more than ever. If he doesn't tighten the reins, that student manager won't be the only one shown the door.

-I'm always in favor of sporting events trying to take place in unique locations, especially when sports which are typically played indoors are shifted outdoors. I assume this is what makes everyone enjoy the Winter Classic so much and made the college basketball's newest creation, the Carrier Classic, seem like a slam dunk. The idea was that during veteran's day weekend teams would play basketball on a court built on the deck of an aircraft carrier. It does have all the elements to draw in casual fans: college sports, unique location and patriotism. However, I'm not sure the NCAA's latest invention is going to survive another year. Last year's game between Michigan State and UNC, while visually stunning, was marred by the fact that it can get kind of windy on the deck of an aircraft carrier and many shots were pushed off-line. But at least they got the game in. This year they didn't even get that far, as dropping temperature on the deck of the USS Yorktown docked in South Carolina caused condensation and water formed on the hardwood. Players were slipping so badly that the officials decided to completely called off the game between Marquette and Ohio State. Even before that there were issues, as the ladies' game between Notre Dame and Ohio State was played on a dry court but the setting sun was directly in the players' eyes for chunks of the game. Everyone is trying to put a positive spin on it, saying the students and the service people at the game still got something out of the experience, but this has to be a little embarrassing for the organizers. I fully expect them to figure out a solution for this year's problems, but if they run into any more issues next year this promotion may be sunk.

-Most people don't consider November to be golf season, but the PGA Tour schedule continues to march along. However, I will admit that most of the big-name players are taking a couple weeks off and the only people playing these days are the one trying to make sure they are in the top 125 players on the money list, which guarantees they have some kind of status on the Tour for next season. Charlie Beljan, a 28 year-old rookie and currently ranked #139 on that list, is exactly the kind of player you expect to be in the field for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic being played in Disney. But, what happened to Beljan yesterday was far from typical. At the turn he complained to officials he wasn't feeling well and they immediately called over paramedics. They found Beljan had shortness of breath and an accelerated heart beat. Now, you would think this might cause Beljan to withdraw and go to the hospital, but Beljan had a 3-stroke lead and wanted to continue so he finished the round, despite being constantly monitored by medics as well as being so out of it that even though he was in the lead he told his caddy he was worried about missing the cut. Afterwards he was rushed to the hospital and given 3 IVs, despite the fact that no one could give him a clear answer as to what exactly was happening to him. Best guesses include a mix of dehydration and a panic attack from leading his first-ever PGA Tournament. Beljan said he would attempt to play the weekend, even though he admits he doesn't even remember yesterday's round. I gotta be honest, I'm not sure the PGA is worth this kind of pain. All I know is this should pretty much put an end to all that 'golfers aren't tough' talk.