Home » Archives » October 2006 » Monday Sports Rant
[Previous entry: "Country-Fried Eye Candy"] [Next entry: "Extreme Makover - Redondo Beach Edition"]
10/16/2006: "Monday Sports Rant"
Oh, the humanity! Where to start ...
- If anyone thought that the University of Miami football team of today couldn't live up to the reputation of their thuggish predecessors, all you had to do was watch the fight Saturday night between UM and FIU's football teams. If I had the NCAA's magic wand, I'd cancel both programs and toss their players to the curb. Absolutely no excuse for such behavior, and absolutely no reason for anyone to tolerate it. I've seen several reports talking about what a class guy Miami coach Larry Coker is and how he's firmly in control of his program, but if this is his idea of control, he needs to be shown the door as well.
- Steve Lyons was fired by Fox after making "racially insensitive" comments during Sunday's NLCS game. I didn't see the game, but I heard a tape of the comments. While by no means do I absolve Lyons of blame for his behavior, it's important to understand the difference between being racist and being stupid. Lyons is stupid, and tried to make a stupid joke. If we as a society harbor any real dream of living in equality one day, we need to be a little less sensitive and a little more tolerent - even of stupidity. If we really want to be equal, we need to be able to look at someone like Lyons and all of us - black, white, brown, whatever - think "gee - what a dumbass!"
- USC is 6 and 0. That's the good news. The bad news is that they're really only three plays away from being 3 and 3. The polls recognize it, which is why teams keep getting leapfrogged over the Trojans every week - even if it's only to lose the next Saturday. This is not the USC of Leinert and White and Bush, and they'll have to improve if they hope to get past the rest of their schedule. Fortunately, at the head of the list of folks who recognize this is Pete Carroll ...
- Three years after losing 119 games, the Detroit Tigers punched their ticket to the World Series by completing a 4-game ALCS sweep of the Oakland Athletics. A lot has - and will be - said about the coaching of Jim Leyland and the prowess of GM Dave Dombrowski (both from my beloved Marlins, BTW ...), but the real statement should be about the state of the game. Free agency has allowed huge numbers of players to move, and owners with money can reshape the team in a very short amount of time. Only a handful of players remain from that losing squad and, with the exception of Ordonez and Inge, most have not made an impact. Funny, I remember when those same team leaders brought Sheffield, Brown, Leiter and Co. into Florida in the mid-90's ... they were accused of "buying" the 1997 World Series. I guess it's like the old Doobie Bros song - "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" ...
- I thought the strangest thing I'd see in the annual merry-go-round that is the firing of baseball managers would be the sacking of Joe Girardi by the Marlins. Wrong. Today, the A's fired manager Ken Macha despite the team making it to the ALCS. Ironically, the firing sounds a lot like the Girardi deal - not a lack of performance, but a lack of communication. Macha is one of the smartest guys in the game, and he'll land as someone's bench coach somewhere. And that team will be the better for it ...
. Almost as bad a decision as Grady made for the Sox with Martinez.
