We were wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong! This is appropriate, as part of TMQ’s column this week is the “bad predictions review”.
Why were we wrong? We predicted last week that TMQ would use this week’s column for lots of gratuitous TV bashing. Instead, there’s pretty much…none.
So how does TMQ fill column space in this, the most boring week in football? After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
It is official. It is now impossible for us to care any less about the Super Bowl (or, as some are calling it, “The Pot Bowl”) than we do now.
But we still have this week’s TMQ to get through after the jump…
The playoffs have not been good to us. Our Saints are out. Our Packers are out. San Francisco is still standing. On the other hand, San Diego is gone, which means an end to the stupid “San Diego is destined to win the Super Bowl because they played Philadelphia in the opening game” meme. And our Patriots are still standing.
But enough about us. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Ah, the promise of the new year. Ah, the promise of Gregg Easterbrook’s first column of the year. Ah, the promise of the playoffs.
After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Jeff Ireland out as general manager in Miami, on the heels of the Mike Sherman firing. This is being spun as “by mutual agreement”:
106 individuals charged in a massive, multi-decade long Social Security disability fraud scheme. Included in the indictments are 72 former NYC police officers and eight former NYC firefighters.
More to come. I’m getting a slow start this morning, but I do plan a gun show post as soon as I’m able to get one up. Assuming Lawrence doesn’t beat me to it.
At this point, it is probably easier to list who the Houston Texans have not fired:
Assistant head coach/defensive line Bill Kollar.
Also out of a job: Miami offensive coordinator (and former Texas A&M head coach) Mike Sherman.
The latest episode of “American Experience”, which is airing tonight on most PBS stations (7 PM on KLRU, with repeats at 1 AM and 3 AM) is an adaptation of Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook
Legendary former Houston Oiler Mike Munchak, who went on to coach the Tennessee Titans for three seasons, was fired today.
He was 22-26; the team finished 7-9 this year.
Also:
Now that Bill O’Brien has taken over, what’s going on?
Answer: he fired everybody just as hard as he could go. He fired Wade Philips and he fired Rick Dennison, and he fired some people that he didn’t even know.
Seriously: Wade Philips is gone as defensive coordinator. Rick Dennison is gone as offensive coordinator. Quarterback coach Karl Dorrell is gone. Defensive backs coach Vance Johnson is gone.
Reports from elsewhere say everyone is going to be fired before the day is out.
Musical hattip:
More “we’re just not feeling the clever this week”. Might as well just open the box. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
This is your official Monday after the end of the season coach firings post. I’ll try to update this during the day as coaches are let go.
Starting at the beginning: the Browns didn’t even wait for Monday. Rob Chudzinski was fired last night after one season.
Yeah, they finished 4-12, but I kind of feel like Chud was being used as the scapegoat for years of bad decision making by the previous management of the Browns. Really, one season? A season in which you traded away a previous first round draft choice (who turned out to be a bust)? I smell a scapegoat cooking.
Edited to add 1: Looks like Mike Shanahan’s firing as head coach of the Redskins is now official, as opposed to merely speculative.
Edited to add 2: Leslie Frazier out in Minnesota. 21-33-1, and the Vikings were actually a playoff team last year. It does seem like most of their games this year were competitive until near the end, and I don’t think Frazier was the problem with this team. You know, the Texans could probably do a lot worse than Frazier…
Edited to add 3: Stepped away for a little while to run some errands. While I was out:
Greg Schiano out as head coach at Tampa Bay, along with general manager Mark Dominik. Schiano was 11-21 over two seasons. Perhaps now he can return to what he really loves; beating up middle school children for their lunch money.
Jim Schwartz out in Detroit. Also out: offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and recievers coach Tim Lappano. Schwartz was 29-51 over five seasons, and actually took Detroit to the playoffs once. Once.
Also, it looks like the Redskins are engaged in a major housecleaning: eight of Shanahan’s assistants are gone as well, including offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
The heck with it. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
This is how Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary on Project Gutenberg defines the word “infamous”:
INFAMOUS
In”fa*mous, a. Etym: [Pref. in- not + famous: cf. L. infamis. See
Infamy.]1. Of very bad report; having a reputation of the worst kind; held in abhorrence; guilty of something that exposes to infamy; base; notoriously vile; detestable; as, an infamous traitor; an infamous perjurer. False errant knight, infamous, and forsworn. Spenser.
2. Causing or producing infamy; deserving detestation; scandalous to the last degree; as, an infamous act; infamous vices; infamous corruption. Macaulay.
3. (Law)
Defn: Branded with infamy by conviction of a crime; as, at common law, an infamous person can not be a witness.
4. Having a bad name as being the place where an odious crime was committed, or as being associated with something detestable; hence, unlucky; perilous; dangerous. “Infamous woods.” P. Fletcher. Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds. Milton. The piny shade More infamous by cursed Lycaon made. Dryden.
Syn. — Detestable; odious; scandalous; disgraceful; base; vile; shameful; ignominious.
I quote this here because it is in the public domain. More modern sources, such as the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, agree with the definition, especially the “having a reputation of the worst kind”.
So what?
That’s part of the front page of today’s HouChron. The 1993 Houston Oilers had “a reputation of the worst kind”? They were “held in abhorrence”? They were “base; notoriously vile; detestable”? That’s really not how I remember things.
After a 28-3 halftime lead against the Buffalo Bills, the Oilers eventually lost 41-38 in one of the most infamous comebacks in NFL history.
Same thing here. Guys, “inflammable” and “flammable” mean the same thing, yes. But “infamous” and “famous” do not.
They may have been “dysfunctional”. But they went 12-4. I’d be more inclined to refer to the 2013 Houston Texans as “infamous” instead of the 1993 Oilers.
That is, if I was going to use the word to refer to a football team. Which I’m not, because I feel like I have a grasp of what the word means, unlike the HouChron headline writers. (Brian T. Smith, the author of the linked article, avoids using “infamous”. Kudos to him; I’d like to read the piece that’s coming on Sunday, but it looks like it will be behind the paywall.)
You know that comment we made yesterday, about “Start writing or stop talking about it” being pretty good writing advice?
As noted last week, this is TMQ’s bye week.
Meanwhile, we have obtained a copy of The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America
It probably will not happen today, but we do plan to have a review of King of Sports up between now and the next TMQ.
Earlier today, I was thinking to myself:
Well, I was wrong wrong wrongity wrong!
Wade Philips will be the interim coach. And Case Keenum will be the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.
Analysis of Kubiak’s years here must include yin and yang, as his run with the Texans will be remembered for successes and failures. Triumphs and defeats. Ups and downs.
Mathematically, in fact, there is almost an equal number of each.
Unfortunately for him, mediocrity was the standard.
Kubiak’s overall record with the Texans was 61-64.
Edited to add: The team also fired Joe Marciano, special teams coordinator “who had been with the organization since its inception in 2002”.