Weekly Sporties

-Ever since Daniel Snyder bought the Washington Redskins the team has had a litany of high-profile coaches - the kind of names you would expect from a person who wants to make a splashy hire. However, for as impressive as the resumes have been of the men who have taken the job, they have all failed to win many games in DC. It just goes to show you that in the NFL circumstances have to be damn near perfect if you want to win consistently and there is no guarantee a coach will be able to repeat previous success. Still, despite the long line of failed coaches everyone expected the Redskins to keep trying this plan of attack and go after a big-name coach with a Super Bowl Championship next to his name. Specifically, there was one name many people thought would pursue aggressively - Jon Gruden. Now, even though Gruden has maintained he is enjoying his time in the Monday Night Football booth and wants to continue being their lead analyst you would have to imagine the chance to coach the Redskins would be intriguing to him. The Redskins have some talent, are about to have a bunch of cap space thanks to getting out from underneath penalties from spending too much during the NFL's uncapped season (still not sure how that worked) and if he wanted the job there was no doubt Snyder would compensate him handsomely. On top of that he had a previous working relationship with Washington GM Bruce Allen in both Oakland and Tampa Bay. That is why no one was surprised this week when the Redskins finally named a Gruden as their new head coach, only it was Jon's brother Jay who got the job, which was a surprise. Don't get me wrong, it is not like Jay was working as a paint salesman when he interviewed - he was the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive coordinator and a hot coaching prospect himself, but I can't help but shake the feeling he was at best the team's second choice in his own family. Also, if I were a Washington fan I would be nervous simply because the NFL's history shows that coaching acumen is not evenly distributed among family members. You would think the Redskins would know this better than anyone after the last four years in which their offensive coordinator's ability was a point of serious debate but he was unfireable because he was also the head coach's son. A new coaching hire is supposed to get everyone excited about the upcoming season but when you hire the sibling of the guy you really want it really puts a damper on things immediately. Additionally it is not like Synder has a track record of coaching hires which would get him the benefit of the doubt from fans. You know, Snyder has always maintained he will never change the team nickname, no matter how many people find it offensive. Well, maybe he should think about changing the name now because it will distract everyone from how poor a start to the offseason his franchise is off to.

-With Gruden taking the job in Washington there are now four head coaching openings in the NFL (Minnesota, Tennessee, Detroit, Cleveland) and somehow Chargers' offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is the favorite for all of them. I can see why teams would be interested in him. After all he took the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl, which is astounding when you consider the history of that particular franchise. Anyone who can win in Arizona must know what they are doing and in just one season he has appeared to reignite the arm of Phillip Rivers, who career was heading in the wrong direction this time last year. As such, reports are that Whisenhunt has his choice of which job he wants and that all four franchises are in a holding pattern until he picks where he wants to coach. Still, Whisenhunt knows how this works and doesn't want to wait too long to make his decision, which is why he went out and had three interviews this week. Normally this wouldn't be newsworthy except the Chargers have kind of an important game this weekend against the Denver Broncos for the right to play in the AFC Championship. This has caused some in the media (and I would imagine more than a few people in San Diego) to question just how prepared Whisenhunt will be come Sunday. After all, NFL head coaching interviews are not like your typical hour-long conversation with a person in HR that you and I would go through if we wanted a new job. These things take hours and have been know to last well into the night, often culminating with dinner with the owner. Missing one day of work wouldn't be quite so bad but missing three? That seems excessive. Now, people in the Whisenhunt camp would point out that since the Broncos are a division opponent and the Chargers have already faced them twice there really can't be too many new wrinkles which need to be added to the game plan and that at the NFL level coaches are more like CEOs anyway, meaning the coordinators just tell the position coaches what they want to change and let them handle most of the actual tweaking. While that may be true, I would argue that Whisenhunt going on all these interviews sends a far worse message to the team which is "win or lose I'm gone and I'm already thinking about next season". Coaches are always telling players to just focus on what they are doing in the moment and not worry about next week. Well, when your offensive coordinator is househunting in other cities that message gets kind of diluted and makes the players wonder if he has lost faith in them. Besides, if Whisenhunt thinks he can do all the same things as the last two games against the Broncos he is in for a shock and it would make me question just how qualified to be a head coach he really is. Whisenhunt had just better hope the Chargers don't get blown out this weekend or else he is looking at a whole lot of scrutiny. The only good news for him is that no matter what happens in the game he will probably be too far away to hear it.

-This week was contained one of my least-favorite events of the year, which is the unveiling of Baseball's Hall of Fame class. Now, I have nothing against the idea of the Baseball Hall of Fame and I actually like all the players who were inducted this year (Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas). My problem is that with the announcement of the inductees comes a statement from the Baseball Writers Association of America, who I find to be self-righteous and loathsome. You see, somewhere along the way the members of the BWAA got it in their collective heads that what they do is so important that no one else could do it, even though we all know that is not the case. Also, they stick to all kinds of traditions that only they find important such as not voting for a certain player because they don't want him to be a "First Ballot Hall of Famer" (which no one remembers after a year) and making sure no one gets in with 100% of the vote because Babe Ruth didn't get in with a perfect ballot, which apparently means no one should. Well, this year a monkey wrench was thrown into the voting when Dan LeBatard of ESPN sold his vote to the website Deadspin. LeBatard has said the act of selling his vote was his form of civil protest because he finds the voting system to be flawed (and as you may have guessed, I agree with him) and he thinks the fans can do just as good a job as the professionals. Deadspin opened up the voting to their readers and as it turns out, LeBatard was right as the Deadspin ballot was not any more or less outrageous than most of the people who do this kind of thing for a living. LeBatard's second point was that he shouldn't have a vote to begin with because he doesn't cover baseball full-time anymore and hasn't for years, meanwhile a guy like Vin Scully, who has watched and called more baseball than almost any human alive, does not have a vote. (This problem was quickly solved as the BWAA stripped LeBatard of his vote indefinitely as soon as they learned he had sold it to Deadspin.) Now, you can question how sincere LeBatard's motive really were because it is just as possible he did this to call attention to himself, which as a radio and TV personality he is supposed to do. But there is no denying that the system of voting for Major League Baseball's ultimate honor is messed up. Fans are allowed to vote for All-Star appearances, which is a major way we judge a player's career and yet they are not allowed to vote for a Hall of Fame? There is something wrong with that especially when you remember that the fans never voted Jacque Jones to an All-Star Game and yet one baseball writer gave him a vote for the Hall of Fame. I mean, even the worst baseball fan in the world wouldn't make that kind of mistake.

-As expected, early this morning an arbitrator made a ruling in Yankee thirdbaseman Alex Rodriguez's appeal of his 218 game suspension from Major League Baseball for his role in the Biogenesis scancal his suspected steroid use. The randomness of that number was because it was supposed to be for the remaining games of last year and all 162 games of the 2014 season. The good news for Rodriguez is that he won, as his suspension was reduced. The bad news? It was reduced to 162 games, so he really didn't gain anything from his appeal. Now, he can't be shocked by this decision as evidenced by the fact he stormed out of the arbitration hearing a few weeks back - a sure sign he knew it wasn't going well. As a result he had a statement about his failed appeal ready to go and in it he wasted no time in laying waste to a everyone involved in the process and promised to continue legal action going forward. I have to say, I remain conflicted about this story because obviously I know Rodriguez is a lying cheater, despite the fact he never failed a drug test. I mean, what are the odds that every other person named in the Biogenesis clinic was taking steroids except for Rodriguez? Plus this was not the first time he had been mentioned and after a while where there is smoke there has to be fire. However, it is not like the Yankees didn't know his history when they signed him (at least the second time around), so the fact they won't have to pay him for this season seems to be allowing them off the hook. But the main reason I find myself with a hint of sympathy for Rodriguez is because of the way MLB officials went about building the case against him by paying off his former dealer Anthony Bosch. I just can't help but see the hypocrisy of calling Bosch a seedy drug-dealer when he was refusing to reveal evidence against Rodriguez but as soon as he starts giving up all the secrets he has on Rodriguez (which only happened because MLB offered to pay off legal fees and Rodriguez refused) he is an upstanding citizen who word should be treated as gold? It all just feels like a witchhunt, which is laughable when you remember that the only reason guys like Rodriguez were allowed to take steroids is because baseball turned a blind eye to drug used and reaped the rewards of all those gaudy homerun numbers. They were perfectly happy to ignore the obvious warning signs when it was leading to huge television numbers and I simply find it disingenuous for them to try and claim the moral high ground now. Rodriguez may deserve to miss all of next season but he certainly isn't the only one who should have to sit out for a few months.

-One of the more amusing aspects of professional sports is how most members of the national media have absolutely no qualms about reversing the opinions on an issue and then acting as if it was how they felt the entire time, as though the rest of us recently suffered a head wound. For example, over the summer many in the media claimed the Knicks had to do everything in their power to re-sign shooter JR Smith who was coming off a bad playoff run but a season which had won him he 6th Man of the Year award. This despite the fact that Smith had worn out his welcome with George Karl in Denver, who is usually the kind of coach players love playing for. Smith certainly wouldn't be the first player to raise his effort level heading into free agency but the difference is that smart teams don't fall for that kind of false improvement, opting to sign players with a longer history of sustained play. However, since we are talking about the Knicks, not only did the team sign JR Smith to a three year deal for roughly $18 million, they also signed his brother to the squad as part of the package, despite the fact that most scouts don't think that Smith should even be in the league. In addition to that there was the small issue that Smith has had more than a few run-ins with other players off the court. Now, it was all minor stuff and the kind of antics you can put up with on a winning team but they are the same kind of things which immediately become obnoxious when a team is struggling like the Knicks have been. Well, the other night JR Smith was standing in the lane waiting to rebound a free-throw attempt. Since he was clearly bored with the game, Smith reached down and tried to untie the sneakers of Mavericks forward Shawn Marion. It was a stupid thing to do and Knicks coach Mike Woodson said he would talk to Smith about it assuring people it would never happen again. Well, not only did it happen again, it happened just a few hours after Woodson and Smith supposedly had this conversation meaning Smith either didn't get the message or heard the message from his coach and is choosing to ignore it. Now the Knicks are trying to get rid of Smith but, shockingly, having no takers. Meanwhile those same media members who pleaded with the Knicks to keep Smith around around now condemning them for spending the money on him. While they are not wrong, they look like just as big of fools as the Knicks do and, sadly for them, most people watching are better at remembering things they heard recently than JR Smith. I know when you get paid to give opinions on TV you're not going to right 100% of the time but the least you can do is own them. The Knicks apparently are stuck with their mistake and so should the people who cover them.

-Last week I told you that Louisville head coach Charlie Strong was looking like the favorite to replace departing coach Mack Brown at Texas and sure enough, Strong took the job a day later. Of course, this left Louisville with an opening and they quickly filled it with a very familiar name - Bobby Petrino. Petrino was the coach before Strong and is arguably the most successful coach in Louisville history. When he left the Cardinals for a job in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons no one could blame him but his reputation took a serious hit when he resigned from that job after less than one full season without so much as talking to his players to take over at Arkansas. It made him look like a quitter and a mercenary and his reputation only got worse a couple of years later when he was fired from Arkansas following a motorcycle accident with a young woman passenger who, as it was later revealed, Petrino had hired for a high-paying job within the athletic department (since Arkansas is a state school it meant he was paying her with taxpayer money) despite the fact she was not qualified for the position. College coaches are not expected to have any loyalties, but what they can't do is publicly embarrass the school with a scandal. Faced with the public shame and no school wanting to touch him Petrino took the only job available to him with Western Kentucky. However, despite all the off-field issues there is one thing which has never wavered about Bobby Petrino - he is a hell of a football coach. He led Western Kentucky to 8 wins last season which was enough to get him back on the national radar and a return ticket to his old job at Louisville. Now, I know what some of you are thinking - he left Louisville once he will leave them again as soon as he gets a better offer. This is probably true. However, there are two reasons his tenure with the Cardinals will be different this time. The first is that there is always the (slim) chance Petrino realized how good he had it before and will not be in such a hurry to leave again. But the second and much more financially significant reason is that Louisville knows what he is about by now, which is why this time his contract includes a $10 million buyout. A school is going to have to really want Petrino to pay that kind of money and I can't think of a school which would want to hire him that badly. That means Petrino is probably locked in at Louisville for at least the first 3 years of his 5-year deal. I just hope that Louisville doesn't come to regret making that contract so iron-clad because the only thing worse than making the same mistake twice is being forced to stick with it longer than you have to.

-There was a news story which appeared to slip through the cracks this week and I personally thought it should have been a bigger deal. A couple days ago it was revealed that Steve Latarte, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, will be leaving that job to take a position as an analyst with NBC. Now, hiring an experienced crew chief makes a ton of sense for NBC because having worked with two of the biggest names in motorsports (Letarte was with Jeff Gordon prior to his time with Junior), Letarte will be able to bring a wealth of knowledge to the broadcast. I am just not sure why Letarte would want to make this switch at this time. I mean, he's on 34 and working with one of the best organizations in NASCAR plus he will still be on the road every week, so it is not like he wanted to retire and spend more time with the family. That is why I can only assume Letarte's departure is tied more to who he was working with, not where he was working. The job of Dale Earnhardt Jr's crew chief is among the most scrutinized in all of NASCAR and, fairly or unfairly, it comes with the most pressure as well. Because Junior has some of the most rabid and loyal fans in the industry anything that goes wrong will never be his fault. Think of it kind of like managing the New York Yankees - if they win great, they did the thing they were supposed to do and you didn't screw it up. Meanwhile if they lose it must be because of some decision you personally made. I would imagine it was kind of thankless position but at the same time Letarte had to know that going in. But the bigger question I have is just who is going to want this job now? Over on my golf blog I once wondered if being the caddy for Tiger Woods was worth all the extra aggravation when you could make a very nice living caddying for some other highly-ranked player who wouldn't also need you to double as his personal security at all times. I can't help but wonder if it is the same scenario here. I mean, once you got to be a crew chief at this level I wouldn't imagine there is a huge difference in pay so why not work with a driver who isn't expected to win every week even though he has only won once in four season? I think it is very telling that Hendricks Motorsports didn't have a replacement ready to go which tells me either the Letarte resignation caught them totally by surprise or they are having trouble hiring someone - either way it is a bad sign. I think whomever eventually interviews for the job should remember one thing: the worst part about going after a job with higher expectations is that often those expectations are even higher than you realized.