Weekly Sporties

-About a week ago, a rumor started to circulate that Patriots' offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien was the leading candidate for the Penn State head coaching job. I didn't think much of it at the time, assuming Penn State would ultimately try to hire a guy with some head coaching experience. So, you can imagine my surprise when it was announced Thursday night that O'Brien had accepted the position. Immediately people on TV were shouting about what a great hire this was for Penn State because the Patriots offense has put up such amazing numbers this year. Yeah, well I have some bad news for Nittany Lions fans: O'Brien isn't going to be able to bring Brady, Welker and Gronk with him. It's hard to tell how good a coach he actually is versus just being the benefactor of some amazing players. But given how the previous assistants hired away from the Patriots to be head coaches have fared [Charlie Weis (fired), Romeo Crennell (fired), Eric Mangini (fired - twice), Josh McDaniels (fired)], you can't be too encouraged.

-However, while I may not have agreed with the guy Penn State ultimately hired, I do understand what they were going for. Every part of that program currently has the stink of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal attached to it and they needed to hire someone who doesn't have any affiliation with Joe Paterno to start clean. Since Joe Pa had been there for 60 years, that meant going outside the family. If O'Brien works out that's great, but if he doesn't you can then go back to a Penn State guy, having created some separation from the previous regime. That part of the decision makes some sense. But, it doesn't appear some prominent Penn State alums feel the same way. Former Nittany Lions start LaVar Arrington took to Twitter to voice his displeasure, declaring himself "done" with Penn State and saying that he would no longer associate with the program, instead rooting for whichever school interim head coach Pat Bradley ended up at. He also said the the interim-AD was "corrupt" and found the entire coaching search "disgusting". Wait, this is what Arrington finds disgusting? So, covering up three decades of child molestation by an assistant coach, that was ok, but not hiring a guy who probably shared an office with that assistant is what causes you to disavow your university? Nice to see he has his priorities in line.

-While we're talking about people with messed up priorities, instead of chalking things up to a bad season and attempting to head into the offseason with positives vibes for the future, the New York Jets are busy stabbing each other in the back. It appears the one player most people are zoning in on is wide receiver Santonio Holmes. Allegedly, during the last game of the season, while the Jets were still in the hunt for a wild-card spot, Holmes was mouthing off at teammates in the huddle and found himself on the bench for the end of the game. Now people aren't sure if Holmes and quarterback Marc Sanchez will be able to coexist next season or if one has to go. This is seen as especially problematic because Holmes just signed a big contract last year and is also one of the team's captains. Now, I hate to say I told you so, but dammit, I told you so. Holmes had major issues when he was in Pittsburgh and all you had to know about him was that he was available in a trade just a couple months after being the MVP of the Super Bowl. If that isn't a red flag, I don't know what is. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't care if you don't want to listen to your friends and start dating a crazy woman, but don't come crying to me when (SHOCKER!) she starts acting crazy.

-One more NFL note: it is never a good idea for owners and general managers to start listening to fans. Fans take what happen with their teams far too personally to make rational decisions. As such, it is best for the people involved to put up a wall between themselves and the people who call in to sports talk radio so they can make the best decisions for the franchise without outside influence. That being said, when everyone is telling you that you have made a bad decision, it may be time to listen. Despite a so-so season for the third straight year, this week the owner of the San Diego Chargers announced that he would not be firing his coach (Norv Turner) or his GM (AJ Smith), at which point every sports pundit had the exact same reaction: really? I mean, everyone seems to like Turner but people still had him fired weeks ago. In fact, it might have only been because Norv thought he was fired that he loosened up and started coaching like he had nothing to lose. At some point you have to recognize that a team has gone as far as it is going to go under one man. Now, the Chargers play in a bad division so it is entirely possible that they could win 11 games and be in the playoffs again, but that is as far as they are going to go. Nothing about Norv Turner makes you think he can win a Super Bowl. By keeping everyone in place, all ownership has done is tell the fans that just making the playoffs is good enough for him.

-Early in the week Joe Torre resigned his position with Major League Baseball because he wanted to join one of the groups trying to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. This obviously would have created a conflict of interest had Torre still been employed by the people who will ultimately decide who gets the team. Normally I would recommend not quitting a cushy job like Torre's unless you were sure that your bid was assured of being the winning one, but something tells me that Joe won't be hurting for something to do whether he gets the Dodgers or not. Instead, I just wanted to point something out for business owners out there: if you have ever wondered whether or not you are over-paying an employee, as yourself these two simple questions: Are you hemorrhaging so much money that your business is being taken away from you? And is one of the people who is trying to buy your business out from under you a former employee, who has a crapload of money to invest? If the answers are yes, then you are, in fact, paying your employees too much money. Just another fun chapter of the Frank McCourt era in Dodger history.

-Just a couple days after he sent power forward DeMarcus Cousins home from practice, saying Cousins needed to improve his attitude, the Sacramento Kings turned around and fired coach Paul Westphal. While the Kings say the two things were not related, it definitely smacked as the organization picking the player over the coach. Now, Westphal was 2-7 on the year and had only won 49 games total in his first two season as the Kings head coach so it wasn't like he had much a record to stand on but, still - to have your organization side with a player like DeMarcus Cousins has to sting. Sure, Cousins is a first round pick and everyone thinks he will eventually turn into a great player, but that comes with a huge if. Cousins had a few run-ins during his one year at Kentucky and people have been questioning his maturity for a couple of seasons. I know the NBA is a player's league (Lakers' Coach Mike Brown said as much this week when he said that great players like Kobe Bryant "allow" themselves to be coached), but it used to be that players had to at least earn the right to get their coach fired. Cousins has been in the league for about 10 minutes and never won jack while there. If you want a guy to start acting more maturely, something tells me that firing the coach who wanted him to practice harder isn't the way to make that happen.

-In a rather bizarre interview on Friday, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke lamented the loss of enforcers in the current NHL. With an emphasis on speed and scoring, guys who can't skate but are really good at protecting the team's finesse players are becoming obsolete. Burke's main problem is that there is no accountability - guys can cheapshot another team's best player and there is no one there for retribution because team's don't want their finesse players getting hurt in a fight (irony). You would think that an old-school guy like Burke would want players to stand up for themselves and fight their own battles, but we'll save that dichotomy for another time. We're also going to overlook the fact that the NHL is currently under siege from a rash of concussions that have knocked out some of the league's best players and is currently undergoing massive safety overhauls. Hell, we're even going to ignore how stupid Burke's comments look in the wake of three players who were considered "enforcers" killing themselves during the offseason, leading psychologist to wonder if the violent lifestyle and concussion suffered on the ice during fights were too much for them to handle. No, what I'm taking the most exception to is Burke calling for more fights when he will never be in the line of fire. Tell you what, Brian, if you want more fighting in the NHL, strap on a pair of skates (you never played in the league, so this will be interesting) and go out there looking to start a scrap. We'll see how pro-enforcer you are when they are picking your teeth up off the ice.