Weekly Sporties

-There may not be a team in the NFL which has been more of a disappointment this season than the Washington Redskins. After winning the NFC East last year everyone expected Washington and quarterback Robert Griffin III to take big steps forward and continue their winning ways. Instead the season has been up-and-down with Griffin not quite himself after suffering an injury during the playoffs. But worse than the losing, the team has been plagued by off-field drama, all of it self-created. Griffin and head coach Mike Shanahan have been taking subtle jabs at each other all year because Griffin doesn't like the play-calling and Shanahan thinks Griffin takes too many chances. Well, the drama only got worse last Sunday when there was a report that Shanahan had cleaned out his office before last season's playoff game because he was ready to quit over what he perceives to be the personal relationship between owner Daniel Snyder and Griffin. The only reason he changed his mind is because Griffin got hurt and Shanahan didn't want people thinking the injury was what made him quit. Now I can absolutely understand why Shanahan would not like this because it creates a serious conflict around the team. I know it is Snyder's team but he hired Shanahan to run it and by having a personal relationship with Griffin it allows Robert to circumvent his head coach if he has any issues. Snyder has always had a reputation for being too hands-on despite the fact he has no football experience. But, here's where I am not on Shanahan's side: this is not a new complaint. People have been saying Daniel Snyder is too close to his star players from the moment he bought the team. Honestly, Snyder is the kind of person who would buy a team and sign a high-profile athlete for no other reason than it forces that guy to hang out with him and Shanahan had to know that going in, so complaining about it now feels like making excuses. But that was hardly the only bombshell to come out of Washington this week because a couple days later Shanahan announced he was deactivating Griffin for the rest of the season and starting backup Kirk Cousins. He claims it is for the long-term health of Griffin and thus the franchise but many are saying he was trying to provoke Snyder into firing him, which would get Shanahan out of Washington but still require Snyder to pay him the rest of his contract. So far he still has a job but let's see what happens after Sunday. Some people are doubting that Shanahan actually cleaned out his office last year, saying the story was a plant to lay the groundwork for an eventual exit. Well, whether he actually cleaned out his office last season or not, I feel safe in saying he is a couple weeks away from cleaning it out for real this time.

-While we're on the subject of football coaches with one foot out the door, on Tuesday a report surfaced that University of Texas head coach Mack Brown was planning to resign. A coaching changed seemed inevitable after the Longhorns got off to a slow start but some had thought a strong finish had earned Brown one more year. But if he hadn't done enough to save himself, resigning would allow Brown to go out on his own terms, which the school owed him after 16 seasons and a National Championship. There was just one problem with this story - no one told Mack Brown. When reached by phone later that day Brown, who was on the recruiting trail and talking to prospects in Florida, quickly shot the story down and maintained he intended to coach next season. The logical conclusion here is that someone in Austin made the decision for him, only no one at Texas remembered to tell Brown about it, which is rather embarrassing. Still, this news sent shockwaves through the college football world as the rumors Nick Saban would be heading to Texas began to heat back up. However, they cooled almost as quickly as last night Saban signed a multi-year extension to stay with the Crimson Tide. (I mentioned this back when they first started but I always thought Alabama was every bit an equal to Texas and never understood why Saban would want to leave in the first place.) The question now is whether Texas is still going to throw Brown over the side even though the man they had clearly targeted is no longer an option. After all, it is not like Brown is a slouch of a coach. As I said he has been there for 16 relatively scandal-free years and he doesn't do anything to embarrass the university. (Does he have a high graduation rate? Not particularly. Do I think the university or their alumni care? Not particularly.) Still, even though Saban didn't take the bait there is no doubting that to roughly 90% of the coaches around college football (and even some in the NFL), Texas has to be considered a plum job. It's in a conference which automatically qualifies for the BCS, they have very fertile recruiting grounds, their own TV network to promote the school and more money than they could ever spend. If they had a wish list which went beyond Nick Saban there is a good chances they will still get their man. Reports are that Brown was meeting with school officials last night and is fighting to keep his job. I'm not quite sure how that went but if Brown is ultimately forced out I am sure he will take solace in knowing that he won't have to spend any time writing a letter of resignation because the school already has one ready for him to sign.

-This week was Major League Baseball's Rule 5 draft. For those of you who don't follow the sport too closely, I'll explain: the draft exists to prevent teams from stockpiling young talent by hiding them in the minors and is meant to stop guys from wallowing in the minors their entire lives. Anyone who is not on their team's 40 man roster but has been has been with the organization for a certain number of years can be drafted, then the team that loses a player is paid with the amount determined by what level of the organization the player was taken from. There have been a few notable players exchanged during the Rule 5 draft and this year was no exception as the Texas Rangers drafted Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson. Now, they didn't pull Russell's name out of thin air, he does have a baseball background after spending two seasons in the Colorado Rockies' minor league system as an infielder before ultimately deciding to stick with football full-time. Obviously this is nothing more than a $12,000 publicity stunt by the Rangers because there is no way Wilson will ever play for Texas. I base that assumption on two things. The first is that Wilson couldn't have been that good of a baseball player because otherwise he would have stuck with it. Football may be America's new past-time but you'd much rather be a baseball player. Not only are their contracts guaranteed, there is far less wear-and-tear on their bodies. Sure, they may all have bad knees when they are in their 50s but you certainly don't hear about the chronic brain injuries suffered by baseball players. The second reason I don't see Wilson ever making it with the Rangers is simply because the Seahawks won't allow it. Your average football player doesn't have much of an offseason but the average NFL quarterback has even less of one. They are constantly going to passing camps or learning new offensive schemes. There is no way the Seahawks would ever allow Wilson to take three weeks off to go to Spring Training. But the bigger issue is that this realization, as much as it pains me to say this, signals the days of the two-sport star are over. These days organizations are just too controlling to ever risk one of their best players getting hurt while playing for another team. It used to be that being a well-rounded athlete made you more attractive to professional sports organizations but now it signals to them you don't love one sport enough to commit to it. I always knew we'd never see another physical freak like Bo Jackson play in the NFL and MLB but now I'm sad to report that even if that player existed we would never find out because one team or the other would never let him cross-over. It's too bad because while according to Nike Bo knew everything the one thing he knew the best was how to entertain crowds.

-It is one thing for your favorite sports team to be bad, it is another for them to be bad and without hope. The Knicks, currently under-performing in a weak Eastern Conference, find themselves in that sort of purgatory. Burdened with undesirable contracts and having traded away most of their future first-round draft picks the team is going to have to get creative if they want to turn the franchise in the right direction. Since they can't trade many of their players, that means making a coaching change. That sounds like a simple thing to do but because these are the Knicks, they don't want to find some plucky up-and-coming assistant, they want what someone else already has. Specifically, they want Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau. The problem is he has several years remaining on a contract extension he signed, which is why the Knicks are reportedly looking to make a trade for him. Now, this practice is not that uncommon as the Clippers just traded for Doc Rivers over the summer. And you could see why Bulls management, having had a few issues with Thibodeau in the past and facing the possibility of rebuilding without Derek Rose going forward, would be interested in having someone else (read: cheaper) coach the team while they bottom-out for a high draft pick. However, this is far from a done deal, as there are several issues to deal with the first of which is the question of whether Thibodeau would even want to coach in New York. Sure, its got all the bright lights and big-city atmosphere but the team is a disaster. It is not like a new coach is going to give them cap relief or undo all the bad deals they have made in the past. Besides, Thibodeau was a longtime assistant on the Knicks and they never thought about giving him a head coaching job when he was available to be hired so it is entirely possible that he feels no love for the organization. But the biggest reason I don't see this happening for the Knicks is the same reason I can't see them trading for a big star at the deadline - they don't have anything another team would want. Trading a coach is hard because they don't count against the salary cap, which means you can't take players back in return (not that the Knicks even have a player you would take). That leaves draft picks as your main bargaining chips and the Knicks aren't scheduled to have their own first round pick until 2018. That is a long way to wait for compensation. Not to mention there is no way of knowing the quality of that year's draft, which makes it a risky proposition. For all those reasons I fully expect Thibodeau to remain in Chicago for a couple more season. Sorry, New York, you're going to have to find your own way out of this mess you have created.

-As I mentioned in the Mack Brown sporty, this is the time of the year when college football coaches begin to play musical chairs with everyone looking to end up in a better position than they were last year. Sadly, for every coach who gets his "dream job" there is a school that has to start looking for a new head coach. You can add Arkansas State to the list of schools who will be going through that process, as their coach Bryan Harsin left to take the open job at Boise State. Normally that wouldn't be news, except in this case it means Arkansas State will be looking for a new coach for the fourth consecutive year. That is an unbelievable amount of turnover and what is even more amazing is that it is not like you can particularly blame any of the coaches for leaving as each time the coach left to return to a major program where they had been an assistant and probably dreamed of being the head man. In consecutive seasons, the Red Wolves lost Hugh Freeze to Ole Miss, Gus Malzahn to Auburn and now Harsin to Boise State. I am not sure if hiring all these prominent assistants should be seen as a blessing or a curse. I guess it is good to know your athletic department has an eye for coaching talent but the fact they have to keep using it must sting. No school wants to be a stepping stone and a place where the coach never bothers to unpack their office. I'm sure Arkansas State is realistic and understands they aren't exactly the job every coach aspires to have but it would be nice if the next coach they hired wanted to win consistently there rather than just win enough to get himself a better job. Of course, this is the conundrum in hiring any big-time college coach - they wouldn't be successful if they weren't also ambitious. Loyalty doesn't do you much good if the guy is really only hanging around because no one else wants to hire him. Also, I can only imagine the impact this will have on recruiting because what kid is going to believe a coach when he says he will be around to guide that player's career for the next four years? The only good news for Arkansas State is that at least they are getting smarter about how they word contracts. After their last three coaches took off they upped the buyout clause (in which the coach pays the school a fee as a penalty for breaking his contract) for Harsin. Harsin's deal with the Red Wolves paid him $750,000 per season. His buyout to take the Boise State job was $1.75 million, which means Arkansas State actually made a million dollars this time around. That shows some savvy deal-making skills by their AD which, unfortunately, means he will probably be leaving the school shortly to take a job at a higher-paying university.

-A few days ago the International Olympic Committee approved a proposal which officially recognized the International Federation of American Football (an organization which I never knew existed until this week and one which, for reasons I can not explain, is headquartered in France). Now, on the surface this doesn't actually do much for the IFAF, which oversees various levels of competition and even a World Cup of American Football, other than sets them up to receive funding from their various governments. Still, being recognized by the IOC has made many people wonder if this is the first step to some level of football eventually making its way into the Olympics. I feel like I can safely say that is never going to happen for a variety of reasons. The first one is the most obvious one - the sport simply isn't popular enough around the globe. Sure, the NFL may sell out two games in London but that is only because they pack the stadium with ex-pats. I would guess only about 4% of that crowd is native to England. But even if you wanted to argue that England loved American football that still wouldn't be enough. I once read an article which said a sport had to be played in 60 countries to be considered for the Olympics. Football is only played in about 3 countries and even then we can't get Canada to play by the same rules as us so what chance do we have to get all these countries to agree on one set of formal rules? On top of that there is the issue of just how many rules international football would have. American football has hundreds of rules and I am not sure every NFL coach knows them all, so how can we expect a country which hasn't played the game before now to learn all the nuances of the sport by the time the 2028 games roll around? Still, the main reason I do not see this idea getting much traction is that football needs too much space to operate. One of the reasons baseball and softball were eliminated from the Olympics is they had the host city build these big fields which were never used again. How often would a football stadium outside of America actually get used ? (And don't tell me they could convert it to soccer because soccer players with their holier-than-though attitudes wouldn't want to touch the same grass.) It would be a huge waste of money and that is saying something when you consider how useless most Olympic buildings are once the games have left. I know some football fans are pissed about this but they should actually be really happy because they don't want football in the Olympics. The summer is not the time for football, as proven by the UFL, and the IOC would probably remove the violence and make it some sort of flag-football event, which would just make the hardcore football fans angry. So, let's just leave American football as the niche sport it is world-wide. Besides, it is not like we won't be able to win any gold medals without it.

-This week Major League Baseball has been having its annual winter meetings, where officials from every team gather to go over issues such as proposed rule changes and replay expansion. And because they know where all the power brokers are going to be, it is also the meeting place for any agent with a client who is looking to get a new deal or find his way onto a new team. The winter meetings help to speed up the entire process, which is why many signing happen during this time of year. There is a lot of money being passed around during this time period so as you would expect tensions are quite high. That is why I was only slightly surprised the other afternoon to hear reports out of the winter meetings that two agents had come to blows in the parking lot. Reportedly the scuffle took place between an agent with only a few major league clients and an agent representing a larger firm with many high-profile clients. At the center of the fight was a claim that the higher-profile agent was sniffing around and trying to steal the other agent's client. Now, I'm sure you've seen "Jerry Maguire" and none of this sounds particularly unbelievable but there is one thing about this reported fight which I can't get over - so far no one is willing to confirm who the people involved in the fight were or what they were fighting about. This is quite amazing because who sports agents are at their core are those people back in high school who couldn't want to tell everyone in the school something they had learned in confidence and had been sworn to secrecy about. Agents love to gossip and the juicer the information the faster they want to run to the media and spill the beans. They deal in secrets and often have a relationship with a member of the media to swap information in exchange for that person being the first one they will call when their client has a new contract to announce. Additionally they can't wait to bad-mouth their fellow agents behind their backs in an attempt to make them look bad and try and get clients to switch firms. When you add it all up an agent fight sounds like the kind of thing they would have been leaking to every media outlet on the planet, so the fact that it has been a few days without anyone coming forward to either admit their involvement or toss someone else under the bus shows an amazing amount of restraint. I'd like to think this is due to some kind of honor-among-thieves kind of respect but it is more likely they are holding out and plan to release the information when it would do the most damage to that agent's reputation. I'm telling you - sometimes in the action happening on the field is the most boring part of professions sports.