featuring Team 1200's Phil Melanson
Amidst all of the angry, frustrated and embarrassed e-mails and calls that we got this morning wanting to vent about the Sens performance against Carolina, there’s something that we really didn’t get into. We started to broach it a little bit when talking about Bryan Murray making moves for the future, but we really didn’t get into when he should start.
For a lot of you, he should have started “the rebuild” months or even years ago, but almost all of you have agreed that the rebuild should have at least started weeks ago. If I had to put all the Sens fans that have hope for the playoffs onto a deserted island, I think I would only need one plane and a very small island. So, if just about everyone is in agreement, then when should the rebuild start?
I was thinking this as the Sens were embarrassing themselves in the last 10 minutes of Wednesday’s game and I had an epiphany of sorts. With the Blue Jackets coming up tomorrow night and the vaunted Blue team coming to Scotiabank Place on January 1st to ring in 2011, if the Sens were to lose both of those games to make it three losses in a row, what better way to start the year than to blow it all up?
I remember a show in which the callers asked Lee and I this very same question and I remember telling everyone that I would wait ‘til about mid-January before making any rash decisions, but if they can’t beat one of three teams that are outside the playoff picture in a four-day stretch, then there’s no hope for this hockey club.
Now, all of this trade talk is fun to some, but let’s remember a couple of truths that may ruin the roll that we’re on right now. Just because you decide to be a seller, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to make trades at the drop of a hat. The NHL has now become a league where all trading is done at the trade deadline and maybe a couple of weeks before.
Waiting may not necessarily be a bad thing for this team. As long as they continue to hover around the 8 spot, they hold power in trades involving winning clubs that are looking to poach talent because they can always make the argument that they’re still trying to push for the post-season. If the Sens continue to fall though, their trading power starts to fade as it becomes more and more clear that they would be trading with the future in mind.
Secondly, we have to remember that we don’t pay the salaries and bills to run the franchise like Eugene Melnyk does. Remember when he said that the team has to make it to the second round just to break even. If he’s worried about the bottom line, he may not be willing to go through a long, drawn out rebuild in the hopes of a championship.
It’s got to be a tough spot for any organization to be in. You want to win so desperately and you’re supposed to believe in yourself. It’s so tough to be cerebral about things and take the emotion out of the decision on when to quit, but if the Sens keep losing at this rate, it’s imperative that the management and ownership of this team figure out exactly when it’s time to do what every sports franchise dreads.
I know I say this often, but it never ceases to amaze me what gets people so fired up on Sportscall or gets people in the mood to call/e-mail. I had one of those moments again this morning as Lee and Scotty were having a heated debate about whether or not the Sens should have brought up Corey Locke as opposed to Zach Smith.
I agree with portions of both sides (I know, way to sit on the fence, jacka**…), but it’s true. I think that Lee is right in the sense that Locke has proven to be an AHL commodity everywhere he goes, so why not give him the chance to try and prove his worth at the NHL level? And Scotty is right in saying that the people of Ottawa probably look at Locke in a little more regard than most because of what he did as a 67 years ago.
I’m also convinced that Sens fans are just tired of the same old call-up and not seeing any major results. Whether it’s Zach Smith, Cody Bass, Peter Regin, Bobby Butler, etc., the outcome of these call-ups is predictable. They’ll play a few games, average a point every 2-3 games and go back down to Binghamton without having really accomplished much.
For the fans, Locke represent the one player in Bingo that hasn’t had his big break yet and offers a little bit of excitement based on numbers at the AHL level. No one would be foolish enough to guarantee that Locke would end up on that same uninspiring list of players, but no one should be foolish enough to guarantee that he would fail as well.
But really, what are we talking about here? We’re talking about who’s going to take up the roster spot that fills out the fourth line. Peter Regin is getting the promotion to be a Top 6 forward and Smith is going to get limited minutes as a checker on the fourth line with the other youngsters. I think the mistake that everyone is making is that Zach Smith is being looked upon as the single answer to the loss of Jason Spezza.
While Smith may be taking the spot of Spezza as he nurses the shoulder injury, no one guy can truly replace what Spezza brings to the hockey club. Trust me, I hear the collective chuckles coming from most readers of that last sentence, but despite his struggles and his consistent problems with inconsistency, his natural talent will be a huge loss to a club that really can’t afford to be missing higher-end players.
I guess we’ll find out what life is like without Jason Spezza starting tonight, and for a high amount of people, they couldn’t be happier, but for those who just dismiss the 7-million dollar man and think the Sens are going to be OK without him, my advice to those would be, “Be careful what you wish for…” I didn’t think I would be so fired up to see Ottawa vs. Carolina, but sports have a funny way of forcing emotions.
It’s funny how quickly the masses can change their perception of someone in such a short amount of time. Guys that were thought of as being able to do no wrong can easily go to being the biggest villain within mere minutes, only to resurrect and become a folk hero again. Michael Vick is the perfect example of this as he went from doing no wrong in Atlanta to being a dog-killer and in jail and is now doing no wrong again as an MVP candidate with the Eagles.
Someone who is stuck in the awful second stage of this three-stage circus is Lebron James. This time last year, he could do no wrong as the NBA’s brightest star with the Cleveland Cavaliers. There was a lot of talk about where he would end up, but no one could have expected the vitriol that was to come thanks in large part to his “decision” to go to Miami that was televised nationally and largely criticized.
Since that TV special aired, it seems like LeBron can do nothing right, except for win basketball games with the Heat. However, people still don’t respect the Heat despite the fact that they have three of the Top 25 players in the game in their starting five. No matter what he says now, because he’s the villain, everyone is standing up to him and are willing to disagree with just about everything he says.
His latest remark involved having the “Big 3” in Miami and that he would like to see the NBA get back to an era where all the teams had several all-star caliber players and the product wasn’t so watered down. He even gave specific examples of good players on bad teams and suggested that those teams should be contracted. Of course, that got people with the NBA community upset, but for once in the last 12 months, I agree with something that he said.
Of course the NBA should contract teams, much like the NFL, MLB and NHL all need to contract teams as well. It’s painfully obvious that each of the major professional leagues in North America have become too big for their own good and the talent level is watered down because of it. However, getting employees of those leagues to admit as much would be easier than dodging rain.
The owners will never want it because having more teams means more revenue. The players should never say it because more teams equals more jobs. Anyone within any of the organizations that has a chance to have their opinion put out for public consumption will tow the company line because there’s no reason for them to rock the boat. Yet again, Lebron has managed to put himself on an island. This time around though, more people agree with him, but will never publicly admit to it.
It’s easy to kick someone when they’re down and despite the fact that the Heat are starting to roll some wins together, Lebron James as a commodity is at its lowest point ever. However, I’m willing to give someone credit when warranted and he deserves it for being honest. It’s just a shame for him that his public perception is so bad that no one wants to listen or cares about he really has to say.
One more game to go in Week 16, but with the Philadelphia Eagles already clinching the NFC East crown and the Minnesota Vikings already clinching a spot on their respective couches for the playoff season, we can all agree to start looking ahead to the final week of the season and the playoffs in a couple of weeks.
I was watching the games yesterday and paying particular attention to the Bears/Jets match-up in Chicago as the Bears already had a spot secured and the Jets were fighting to get a spot with a win. Despite losing, the Jets were able to get in because of the Jacksonville loss to lowly Washington, but even if they had got in with a win at Soldier Field, I would have still been left with the same ugly taste about this team and others that I’ve had for a while now.
Unlike past years in which it seemed like the playoffs were wide-open because there was so many talented teams, it seems as though there’s way more teams getting into the post-season tournament by default and back-door avenues. Because of that, it seems like the playoffs are wide-open due to mediocrity.
I think a big part of why I feel this way has to do with the various teams that have made it in this year as opposed to last season. Maybe I still look upon Kansas City, Chicago, Atlanta and whoever comes out of the NFC West more like pretenders than I do contenders. I would be wrong to do so on three of the four teams, but everyone wants these teams to show something just to give us that final piece of evidence that they are for real and truly among the elite in the league.
However, there are two teams that have really stood out to me this season and have proven time and time again that they are for real and will be an absolute force in the AFC. Get ready to see the New England Patriots take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. I have no doubt in my mind that we’ll see these two storied franchises lock it up once again.
What Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are able to do with journeyman and rookie/no-name players every single year is truly remarkable. At this time last year, no one knew who Danny Woodhead, Rob Gronkowski or Devin McCourty were, but all have had significant impacts on the offensive/defensive sides of the ball this year in making them an elite team once again.
As for the Steelers, Mike Tomlin has received the most out of his players. Despite major injuries and the suspension to Ben Roethlisberger to start the season, this group has given us some dominating performances that make you stand up and take notice.
It’s a shame that these two teams will have to meet in the semi-finals and not the championship game, but it would only be fitting in a season full of mediocre teams getting rewarded for being in the right place at the right time.
My apologies to everyone for not writing over the last week or so, but I just had so much to do to get ready for the holiday season. It’s pretty ironic that once Christmas Day is here, I finally have a chance to sit down, relax and get some thoughts down. I only have a few minutes though as I’m scheduled for three Christmas meals today. I have some roast pork waiting for me at my parents place for lunch, then an awesome dinner with Rosalie’s parents and then a pot luck late-night dinner with my core group of friends while watching Die Hard. Awesome!
So, Christmas Day is here and in about an hour from now, I could conceivably watch 13 straight hours of NBA basketball. I’m not going to because I have so many places to be, but the option is there. Even if I was home all day in front of my couch and was going to do nothing but watch sports, I could even watch an NFL game as Arizona takes on Dallas. Hell, even last night, I was watching a few minutes of the Aloha Bowl between Hawaii and Tulsa before I had to just shut it off.
I’ve always felt uncomfortable watching sporting events on these two days. I’ve always felt like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the perfect two days for people to slow down and remember that friends and family should be the most important things in life, not work, money and status. For those who are participating in these sporting events, they don’t even get a say on whether they want to slow down or not.
Scotty Mac always makes it a point of letting people know that the athletes we watch are human beings as well, full of emotion and feelings just like you or I. Why is it that we as an audience just assume that they should be willing to give up their time with loved ones for our entertainment? I understand that they make a lot of money, but why should professional athletes be robbed of an ability to see their loved ones at a special time of the year?
I guess as a society, we’ve become so accustomed to having everything at our fingertips and entertainment is certainly no different, but would it really be that big of a burden on society if things just stopped for two days instead of just one?
Maybe I’m being hypocritical because as someone that talks sports on a daily basis, my job is a lot easier when things are constantly moving, but I would be willing to make it more difficult on myself if I knew that every single athlete had a chance to celebrate the festive season as much as the masses do.
Speaking of celebrating, my stomach is demanding that I celebrate a little bit more. Enjoy the day today with your loved ones and try to remember a little bit of the festive season as you fight for great shopping deals tomorrow on Boxing Day. Thanks to all who read this blog, listen to Sportscall and have supported me in the past year on the Team 1200. Merry Christmas!
In the wake of the shocking signing of Cliff Lee by the Phillies, the focus now has to turn on what the Yankees failed to do and what they have as a plan B. One thing is for sure, there aren’t too many years in which the Yankees fail to grab any of the Top 5-10 free agents on the market. Wherever George Steinbrenner is right now, he must be steaming from ear to ear and looking for a way to vent his frustration at Billy Martin one more time.
The Yankees under George would just never fail in the off-season. The franchise set the bar every single year for spending and because of that, it allowed them to win championships and become the grandiose franchise in all of professional sports. How would he react to an off-season that has seen the Yankees sign Mariano Rivera, an over-the-hill version of Derek Jeter and a slumping former All-Star catcher in Russell Martin?
Clearly, he would be fuming mad. Then add in the fact that the rival Boston Red Sox have picked up All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford and All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and you would have an owner ready to fire even the custodial engineers. The idea of being closer to spending with the Jays, Rays and Orioles than the Red Sox would be a complete insult.
So, what is Plan B for this team? Well, trying to grab a high-priced big-splash type of free agent is out of the question now, so the Yankees will have to do something that 20-25 other teams are used to doing. That’s working with second-tier free agents and trying to find the gem in the rough or the outcast that still has something left in the tank.
But it’s just not the Yankee way. Much like I wouldn’t want to see Donald Trump owning second-tier casinos off the strip in Vegas or heaven forbid in Reno, I don’t want to see the Yankees hunting for bargains on the free agent market. The Yankees have put themselves in a position to always be looking for that thousand-dollar suit and not rummaging through the bargain bin to find two suits that look good for 200 bucks in the 2-for-1 sale.
With the torch being passed to a younger breed of Steinbrenner, there’s a case that can be made that the younger generation is more worried about the bottom line and responsible spending as opposed to the father figure that was willing to take risks in spending recklessly and adhering to one of the principle rules of business, “you have to spend money to make money.”
Even if I’m off-based in my theory about the younger generation of Steinbrenner, the fact remains that the Yankees are just never in this kind of position. We’re not even into 2011 yet on the calendar and we can already deem the off-season for the Yankees a complete failure.
Sunday is usually the one day of the week that people can get a bunch of errands done, maybe clean up the house a little and sit back and watch some football. Well, I was able to get a couple of those done yesterday as I cleaned my place from top to bottom and watched hours of football. The errands were another story.
I wanted to do some groceries around South Keys despite the fact that I live downtown. I really just wanted to get in a nice Sunday morning drive and sort of relax after a tough week. Unfortunately, I hadn’t looked outside before leaving and as I was leaving my condo garage, I saw the Winter mixed bag that was awaiting. I quickly decided to just drive down the street and pull into that grocery store instead.
So, what does that say about me? I guess the first thing is that I hate winter with a passion and have no patience whatsoever with dealing with any of its harsh conditions. Second of all, I weigh all challenges vs. the need to take them on and more often than not, I just gracefully pass. It’s nice to do in real life, but not in professional sports.
Just in case you were unable to see the footage from the rest of the Eastern part of the United States or like living in your Ottawa bubble, the weather affected a lot of people in Eastern North America and, in turn, affected a lot of NFL games.
Everything is easier in September and October when fields are pristine and the weather is still somewhat warm, but the winter months make for some unique conditions and really test the championship caliber of a football player and a team.
For some, the weather really shows how good a football team really is. The New England Patriots showed us with a 36-7 drubbing of the Chicago Bears on the road. The field was covered with snow as a group of people had to shovel the snow off the lines every few minutes or so.
The score was a blowout to be sure, but the Patriots could have made even worse if they didn’t call off the dogs after the first half. A 33-0 score at halftime was enough even for Bill Belichick to show some mercy on a clearly weaker and unprepared Chicago Bears team.
On the other side, the weather exposed Mark Sanchez once again as the Jets struggled mightly to a 10-6 loss to the Dolphins. Maybe it has to do more with the fact that Sanchez just isn’t a very good quarterback to begin with, but it looks like Sanchez will struggle every time the weather becomes a factor and it won’t be something that he ever learns to deal with.
Despite being such a physical sport on the surface, football is a game that is played well by players that have a great mental side to them. The winter weather in November and December only reinforces how important it is to be more than just a physical specimen. I'll just stick with writing about them from a nice cushy indoor typing spot.
Everyone that I’m friends with know that I have a very laidback personality and I’m pretty sure that those who read the blog or listen to Sportscall on a consistent basis get that as well. So, it’s even shocking to me when I get upset quickly over something. It takes a lot for me to get angry, but it didn’t take long once I saw the people had the audacity to actually be upset over what Linus Omark did last night in a winning shootout goal against Tampa Bay.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading when some people were calling the move “disrespectful” or as one Tampa Bay player called it, “horse(bleep)”. I get that in the heat of the moment, the Tampa Bay players may have taken issue with it because they may feel slighted after a tough loss, but for anyone else other than the Lightning to suggest that it has no place in the game is simply delusional.
If you watch the video again, look at the reaction of the woman seconds after Omark scores the goal. It’s almost like she’s in disbelief. Turning to people behind her, whether they be friends or not, she has a smile from ear-to-ear as she no doubt is saying, “Did we just see that?” The roar from the crowd indicated that everyone in the building was like this woman. They were amazed at what they just saw and they were happy that their home team won in such an incredible fashion.
Does that last paragraph seem like a problem to you? If you believe that the Omark goal is bad for the game, then the last paragraph is something that is a problem to you as well. In a league that lacks personality whatsoever, why are we always in such a rush to try and stifle anyone that shows any little bit of it?
As the NBA, NFL and MLB have all figured out by now, it’s not the teams that drive people to go see the games live, it’s the players that create bigger-than-life personalities. If I’m going to an NBA game, I want to see Lebron or Kobe and not necessarily the Miami Heat or Los Angeles Lakers. If I’m going to an NFL game, I want to see Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning, not the Patriots vs. Colts.
And yet, anytime a young guy comes into the NHL and shows a little bit of spunk, the powers that be make sure that he gets the message to become more vanilla or face the consequences. We saw it already this year with PK Subban as rumour has it that the veterans on the Canadiens wanted him benched to send a message for him to tone down his personality. I’m sure the Oilers won’t do the same thing, but after Omark’s shootout goal, there’s some in the media that wouldn’t seem to mind the same thing happening.
As a hockey fan, all I want to see is for the game to be as exciting as possible and I just have a major problem with stuffy-headed, “old-school” know-it-alls who think vanilla-attituded hockey players will uphold the “morality” of the sacred game of hockey. Memo to those people: The rest of the public didn’t ask for your morals and ethics to be bestowed upon those who suit up night in, night out. Let them play the way they want to and let us continue to be entertained. For one night Linus, you are the man!
I’m absolutely kicking myself for not being able to get to Montreal for the UFC event tomorrow night. The great people at the UFC even offered me a press pass and all I would have to do is drive the 90 minutes down to be a part of what will be an electric atmosphere as Quebec’s own Georges St. Pierre looks to defend his crown against UFC bad by Josh Koscheck.
I’ve only seen a couple of people pick Koscheck to win this fight, but I’m not going to be one of those people. I learned a long time ago not to bet against Georges St. Pierre and with how motivated and excited he looks just days before the fight, I feel safe in saying that I’m glad I’m not in Koscheck’s shoes.
He’s taking on one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and even worse, he’s made GSP motivated to win. Just a deadly combination. How does the saying go again? Don’t poke at a sleeping bear? Well, that’s exactly what Koscheck has done by trash-talking his way through the pre-fight media hype.
I know, he’s not just doing it because it’s GSP. He does it all the time in order to get under the skin of his opponents, try and gain a psychological edge and most importantly, get a bigger payday by boosting up the sales of the PPV by playing the bad guy. It usually works against other Top 10 guys in the division, but there’s a huge difference between fighting a contender and fighting THE champ.
Before I put in a wager or make a prediction, I always try to play the game or fight out in my head in various scenarios. For this fight, I played it out in four different ways. The first two involved focusing on GSP as if he were either trying to get the knockout or get the tap and the other two focused on Koscheck in the same way. All four times, I pictured nothing but victory for GSP.
If they keep it standing and just trade in the centre of the octagon, GSP will easily win because his punches are harder, crisper and more precise. Koscheck is someone that has knockout power and an ability to trade against most fighters, but again, we’re not talking about most fighters here. Koscheck will want to get it to the ground since his background is all about wrestling. Again though, GSP has shown amazing sprawling skills in the past to avoid takedowns and also has great ground skills even if he does get taken down.
I’ll take GSP to win via submission in the second round and this fight will prove once again to the fans and to Dana White that the next GSP fight has to involve Anderson Silva as the opponent. It’s the dream match-up that everyone has talked about and with Mayweather-Pacquiao stalling, it would be another way for White to chop at the wobbly legs of the sport of boxing.
I’m sitting here watching Tom Brady just absolutely dismantle Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets. With the lopsided lead comes the heaping piles of praise for Brady for what he’s accomplished tonight and for his career. It’s well deserved, but it made me think about how either of the two quarterbacks got their shot to be starters in the first place.
Sanchez was a blue-chip prospect coming out of USC and the Jets traded up in the 2009 draft to make sure that they had a chance to select him and make him a pivotal piece for the future. Since the franchise used their first round pick on him, every opportunity was given to him to succeed right away as he was given the keys to the offence in his rookie season.
On the other side, Tom Brady was a name quarterback coming out of Michigan, but nothing was really expected of his career as a 6th-round selection of the New England Patriots. At the time, the quarterback position was clearly in the hands of Drew Bledsoe and barring injury, Brady was going to be stuck waiting for his shot. Luckily for him, he was able to get his chance and because Brady was so good, Bledsoe never got his spot back and was never the same quarterback again.
In reading about Brett Favre possibly playing Sunday after sustaining a shoulder injury that knocked him out of Sunday’s game, I couldn’t help but feel awful for Tavaris Jackson. Here’s a guy that has had to wait for so many years behind various quarterbacks and may never get his chance to be the guy in Minnesota.
We all know that Brett Favre would have to be bed-ridden or paralyzed before he would give up his iron man streak. Owner Zygi Wilf paid him 16 million dollars this year to be the quarterback and believes that he gives the Vikings the best opportunity to win. Until the Vikings are mathematically eliminated, the Vikings will rightly think about trying to make the playoffs.
Let’s also remember that interim head coach Leslie Frazier is looking to do everything possible to keep his job into next year and will be unwilling to rock the boat when he’s in such a precarious position of having to think of himself first and the team/players second.
Most people will say that if Tavaris Jackson were to get that ultimate chance and become a full-time starter for the Minnesota Vikings, he would ultimately fail because of a lack of passing skills and football IQ. I happen to be one of those people, but I’m beginning to think that the Vikings really need to give this guy a chance just to make sure that they don’t have a diamond in the rough.
The best example this season of someone grabbing hold of a spot when called upon is Michael Vick. By now, everyone knows the story about he had the world in the palm of his hand as he was making millions being the mega-star for the Atlanta Falcons, only to give it away because of being involved in a dog-fighting business.
When he came back last year, he was stuck as the third-stringer behind Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb and would only make appearances when the Eagles were in third and long situations or in a Wildcat formation. He looked like a shell of his former self whenever he did attempt a pass and the thought was that his career would never be the same.
However, after Kevin Kolb was knocked out of a game against Green Bay, Vick entered and as they say, the rest is history. What would have happened if Kolb had never been hurt and Vick was stuck watching as the backup?
It made me think of another quarterback in the NFL right now stuck in a position of being the backup and in need of a chance to show what he’s made of at the NFL level. I’m not saying that he’s guaranteed to be a great quarterback that will change the course of the franchise, but I’m beginning to think that he deserves a chance to show what he can do.
The Josh McDaniels era officially ended Monday in a surprising move by ownership due to the timing. The Broncos are a dismal 3-9 this season and McDaniels year-and-a-half reign of terror included many questioned moves of high-end talent like Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall and a final videotaping scandal when a staffer was caught by NFL officials videotaping a walkthrough ahead of their game in England against the 49ers.
One of the moves that was made under his watch was to move up in the 2010 draft and pick Tim Tebow late in the first round after such an incredible career at the University of Florida. The man could do no wrong as a Gator and now is the owner of many individual collegiate records that will be difficult to overcome, but could he duplicate that kind of performance at the pro level?
The debates raged throughout the summer about his mechanics, football IQ, arm strength, etc., but the biggest question of all was: Would he get a chance to impress? As of now, he’s attempted and completed one pass and has ran in for a touchdown. The problem is that despite the Broncos being so bad, the one bright spot has been Kyle Orton as he’s almost thrown for 4000 yards already and his statistics have him in the mix for a spot in the Pro Bowl. Will Tebow get the chance? Probably not, but I’d love to see what he could do.
Whether be in sports or in life, anyone who feels safe in the cushy position they’re in better realize that plenty of people are looking for you to fail and take the spot away from you. If you allow for that to happen, it’s a spot you may never get back. All those people who are waiting just need a chance. Tom Brady finally got his chance and look what he did with it.
There’s a lot of speculation right now as to whether Jon Gruden will leave his post at Monday Night Football to come back to coaching. Even though it’s a much easier gig and allows him more flexibility and time to spend with family and friends, it’s pretty much understood by everyone that former coaches that end up on TV want back in the game, if given the right opportunity.
Gruden’s name was linked to the Dallas Cowboys and just recently down in South Florida, but not with the Miami Dolphins. He’s having to dodge and deflect questions about whether or not he’ll accept the position of being the next head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes football team.
I don’t believe for a second that he would wait all that time analyzing the X’s and O’s of Monday Night Football to come back to a mid-level college contender, but it did get me thinking about what possibilities should be out there once the NFL Season is over.
So, here are my Top 5 choices for where Coach Gruden will have a chance to end up. I don’t have any more insider knowledge than you do, but thought I would do this just for fun. Here we go…
5) Carolina Panthers
The Panthers have been just awful this year. They don’t seem to have a quarterback of the future. They running game that they relied heavily on over the past couple of years has withered away. There was even speculation of head coach John Fox sabotaging his own team by putting in stay-at-home dad Brian St. Pierre as the starting quarterback for a game over a draft choice because he wanted one counter shot before they inevitably let him go.
Gruden will want to go somewhere where he has a chance to work with talent that could possibly win right away. Carolina does not fit the bill here at all. The loss of Julius Peppers to the Bears via free agency last off-season sapped away any talent that they had on defence and we already talked about the inefficiencies on offence.
4) Denver Broncos
Josh McDaniels wanted to put his stamp on the Denver Broncos the second that he arrived there a year and a half ago. The stamping began with the trade to send Jay Cutler to Chicago in exchange for Kyle Orton and picks. Then he let Brandon Marshall go to Miami. He traded away Peyton Hillis to the Browns. He’s put a stamp on this alright. A stamp of failure.
The moves by McDaniels have made this team largely ineffective, particularly in the offence. The Broncos defence was severely hampered this year with the loss of Elvis Dumervil to a season-ending injury in the pre-season, but there’s still not enough talent here for Gruden to be lured from his cushy TV gig.
3) Arizona Cardinals
It’s hard to imagine that the loss of two guys can make such a huge difference to a football team, but the Cards look like a shell of their former selves without Kurt Warner to lead them at the quarterback spot and Anquan Boldin to make the tough catches as their top wide receiver. We always knew the Cards had no running game, but it’s being exposed this year like never before.
Ken Whisenhunt looks to have lost his magic with this club and is in major danger of losing his job at the end of the year. I just don’t see the personnel here being a right fit for what Gruden preaches to his players. A Jon Gruden team is full of toughness and heart and the Cards seem to have a lot of guys that like to float by and are almost OK with losing. Just don’t question Derek Anderson about laughing when down 18 in the 4th quarter.
2) Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Jones will certainly be the one to offer the most money and it would be a huge feather in the cap of any coach’s career to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. However, there are two hurdles that have to be jumped before Gruden can become coach of this football team.
First, we’re assuming that Jason Garrett doesn’t get the job after his 8 game audition as the interim head coach. In the first three games of the test, the Cowboys have looked much closer to the Super Bowl contender we thought they were. Garrett was supposed to be the successor to Phillips and was paid handsomely by Jones to be the offensive co-ordinator. Let’s not push Garrett out the door just yet.
Secondly, Gruden strikes me as someone that will not tolerate Jerry Jones telling him what to do and how to run his football team. However, it’s hard to shut out the owner completely when he also holds the title of General Manager. Gruden did have a meddling owner in Al Davis when he coached the Raiders in the late 90’s, but Gruden is in a much different spot now. He needed that job because it was his first shot. He doesn’t need this job now because as a Super Bowl winner, he can command more money, power and respect.
1) Cincinnati Bengals
Part of me says that I’ve completely lost my mind by putting the Bengals at the top of this list, but I’m going to stick to my guns here. Even though they’re a 2-9 football team, they’re loaded with talent and it’s clear that they’ve tuned out Marvin Lewis. They're in desperate need of someone that’s going to grab them by the neck and demand accountability.
I would suspect that if the Bengals ever felt like they could get Gruden’s services, they would bow down to him and give him anything he wanted in order to coerce him to Ohio. Keep in mind as well that he was born in Ohio and it would be a homecoming of sorts for him.
I think we can all agree that no matter where he ends up, he’s going to instantly make that football team better and be back where he belongs. Gruden deserves to be on the sidelines, if he wants it, and not in the booth talking about what’s happening on the sidelines.
I wanted to get to this on Tuesday after the Edmonton game, but it’s not really a time-sensitive piece. There was a lot of frustration shared by Sens fans on Tuesday’s show about how they lost to the worst team in the Western Conference. While that may be true, don’t count on the Oilers being the worst team in hockey for too much longer thanks to the dynamic duo of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle.
Being in Ottawa, of course we’re going to focus on what the Sens did wrong to lose the valuable two points, but I think a lot of people were guilty of having too much of a one-sided focus. Give credit to what the young Oilers were able to do in weathering the storm in the opening period, gaining traction in the second and taking over in the third.
I made it a point of focusing solely on Hall, Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi throughout this game in order to make a personal assessment on whether these three were truly ready to take the proper steps over the next couple of years and take their team from being a bottom-feeder to a playoff contender. After the 60 minutes I saw on Monday night, I would say they’re certainly ready.
I’ve always believed that an elite player in any sport goes through three stages of their career before heading to retirement. The first stage and most difficult involves a player relying on his size, strength and natural ability to get him through the learning curve that is unavoidable as knowledge and experience are gained. Fatigue is not going to be a factor for any youngster, but settling down a younger player so that they aren’t thinking or playing the game at 100 miles per hour is certainly something that is very difficult and is often times impossible to do.
The second stage and most productive is when the player is at his physical prime and has enough knowledge and experience that he can play and think the game at a much faster pace without being overwhelmed. If you have an abundance of these kind of players on your team, you’ve got a great chance at being successful, being a winner and possibly even a champion.
The third and final stage involves older players that have so much knowledge and experience that they can compensate and even overcome the physical liabilities they now have due to age, injury and fatigue. The player can still be successful, but there’s a point where he’ll hit the wall and his skills will be so diminished that retirement is imminent.
Right now, there are a ton of Oilers that are a part of the first stage of this process. You can see that they have a million ideas running through their head and their body is reacting to all of those ideas, but in the end, it’s all wasted energy. The scary part for the rest of the NHL will be when all of these youngsters finally get it and have body and mind in sync with one another to become the complete package.