NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cincinnati
Next Sunday, the Jets. ESPN is calling it 57% in favor of the Jets right now.
In other news, my Spider Sense is tingling: I’m expecting some firings this week.
Archive for the ‘Firings’ Category
Your loser update: week 12, 2019.
Monday, November 25th, 2019Your loser update; week 9, 2019 (with bonus firings).
Sunday, November 3rd, 2019NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cincinnati (bye week)
NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:
None.
As I expected, the hapless Dolphins apparently acquired at least one hap on the open market during the week, and managed to beat the Jets in Miami. This may screw up their shot at the top draft pick: currently, we have
- The Bengals at 0-8
- Miami at 1-7
- The Jets at 1-7
- Washington at 1-8
- and Atlanta at 1-7
As I said last week, I think Miami has a good chance of at least one more win against the Bengals at home, and maybe wins against the Jets and Giants on the road.
Stat:
“Since Marino’s exit, 21 quarterbacks have started for Miami.”
In firings news, Willie Taggart out as head coach of Florida State after about two seasons. To be exact, 21 games, in which he was 9-12.
According to ESPN:
FSU raised about $20 million in private donations to buy out what was left of Taggart’s contract, sources told ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. However, an FSU official denied that the money was raised for Taggart’s buyout.
Under the terms of Taggart’s six-year, $30 million contract, FSU’s athletic department will owe him 85% of his remaining compensation through Jan. 31, 2024, which is between $17 million and $18 million. The Seminoles also paid Oregon a $3 million buyout when it hired him away from the Ducks in December 2017, as well as the remaining $1.3 million buyout Oregon owed South Florida when it hired him in December 2016.
Also by way of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network:
If you feel like you’re having a stroke, you’re probably not: this is just German soccer news. (But do remember the FAST mnemonic for strokes: Face, Arms, Speech, Time.)
And now here’s something we hope you really like…
Wednesday, October 30th, 2019A little late on this one, but: Ken Whisenhunt out as offensive coordinator of the worthless Los Angeles Chargers.
The Arena Football League (also apparently known as Arena Football One) has “shut down all local business operations and services for all six of its teams“. I think I speak for everyone here when I say: they were still in business?
The paper of record asks the musical question:
Summary: pretty bad.
And something non-sports related for my people: the Squibb Park Bridge, a pedestrian bridge in Brooklyn, is being demolished and replaced.
Why? Well, the old bridge was designed to be bouncy. Turns out, it was a little too bouncy.
It also was moving in unintended directions. Hilarity (and lawsuits) ensued. And then it turned out the wood was rotting…
Quick firings watch.
Monday, October 28th, 2019Neal Huntington out as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Huntington has been the Pirates’ GM since Sept. 25, 2007. He was responsible for rebuilding the club into a playoff contender over three years before struggling the past four seasons.
Many of the recent trades Huntington made were flops. Players went elsewhere and thrived. The magic touch that played a part in producing those three consecutive playoff seasons disappeared.
(In case anyone was wondering: loser update tomorrow, since 0-6 Miami plays 2-4 Pittsburgh in prime time tonight. ESPN is giving Pittsburgh a 90.5% chance of winning.)
Firings watch.
Friday, October 25th, 2019I didn’t get a chance to blog this last night (I was busy down at the cop shop) and it’s been well covered elsewhere, but:
Since this is sportsfirings.com, I do have to make note of Brandon Taubman’s firing as assistant general manager for the Houston Astros. ESPN. Chron.
As Sports Illustrated first reported on Monday night and the Chronicle later confirmed, Taubman yelled toward a group of three female reporters following the team’s American League pennant-clinching victory against the Yankees.
The 34-year-old Taubman yelled “Thank God we got (Roberto) Osuna! I’m so (expletive) glad we got Osuna!”
Osuna, the Astros’ closer, was acquired last July while serving a 75-game suspension for a violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy.
One of the women at whom Taubman shouted was wearing a purple domestic violence awareness bracelet. The Chronicle reported on Wednesday that Taubman’s ire was directed specifically at one woman, about whom Taubman had complained in prior conversations.
Oh, oh! Mr. Kapler! Me. Kapler!
Thursday, October 10th, 2019Gabe Kapler our as manager of the Phillies.
81-81 this past season.
Your loser update: week 5, 2019.
Monday, October 7th, 2019I didn’t think there was a whole lot to say this morning, but:
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
New York Jets
Miami (bye week)
(Edited to add) Cincinnati (I think I accidentally deleted them when I was deleting Denver: thanks to Lawrence for pointing that out.)
Washington
As I was pulling this together, I started seeing reports that Jay Gruden is out as head coach of the Redskins. The reports are all “sources say” but there’s a press conference scheduled for 1 PM EDT.
Worth noting: next Sunday is this year’s edition of the “Who Cares?” bowl, in which Washington plays at Miami. I’m halfway tempted to watch this, as I kind of expect epic ineptitude on display.
Firings watch.
Friday, October 4th, 2019Mickey Callaway out as manager of the Mets. 163-161 over two seasons.
Lawrence tipped me off to this last night, but since it was cop shop night, I didn’t have a chance to blog: Sports Illustrated fired everybody just as hard as they could go.
Firings watch.
Monday, September 30th, 2019Chris Ash out as football coach at Rutgers.
“Bring back Greg Schiano: Rutgers must look to its past to save its future after firing Chris Ash”.
Yeah, no. If the only way to save your program is to bring back Greg Schiano, let it die.
Columbia University fires…the marching band.
The MLB regular season appears to be officially over. Two 0-3 teams play in the NFL tonight, so the loser update (with some MLB commentary) will go up tomorrow morning. If i see any significant baseball (or other) firings, I’ll note them here.
Edited to add: And Brad Ausmus fired after a single season with the LA Angels. The team went 72-90.
Take me out of the ball game…
Sunday, September 29th, 2019Joe Maddon, the manager who finally won a World Series for the Cubs, out. Tribune. Sun-Times.
Clint Hurdle out as manager in Pittsburgh after nine seasons. He was 735-720-1.
Obits and firings: September 21, 2019.
Saturday, September 21st, 2019Andy Green out as manager of the San Diego Padres. 274-366 over basically four years, during which the team never finished above .500. And they lost at least 90 games in the first three seasons. (They’re 69-85 right now.) ESPN.
Obit: Barron Hilton, son of Conrad Hilton, grandfather of Paris, and last survivor of the original AFL team owners. Sadly, the team he owned was the worthless Los Angeles (at the time) Chargers, but that was hardly his fault.
Marko Feingold. He was Austria’s oldest survivor of the Holocaust, and died at 106.
New York Post at its very best pic.twitter.com/ZSNNXSvFMh
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) September 21, 2019
(Hattip on the Feingold and Green stories to Lawrence. Hattip on the de Blasio obit to Mike the Musicologist.)
Firings watch.
Saturday, June 8th, 2019The Houston Texans have fired general manager Brian Gaine.
Lawrence tipped me off to this and forwarded a link to Battle Red Blog, which uses the word “bonkers” to describe this. It does seem odd to me: the season hasn’t started, after all. But it makes more sense to fire him after the draft – especially if the draft was a bust – than to fire him before and leave a new GM scrambling.
But was the draft that bad for the Texans? Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t follow it closely.
Sports firings.
Monday, May 20th, 2019It is…well, not exactly “rare”, but at least uncommon for a player to be thrown out of a league completely. The most recent example I can think of before last week was Johnny Manziel’s CFL expulsion.
But we had two last week.
Lawrence pointed out that Tyreke Evans had been “dismissed and disqualified” from the NBA. Mr. Evans was a guard with the Indiana Pacers last season: his dismissal was for unspecified violations of the NBA’s anti-drug policy.
He can apply for reinstatement in two years, but that will require approval from both the NBA and the player’s association. More from ESPN.
Meanwhile, in Australia (we love you, amen) rugby player Israel Folau had his contract voided for a “high level breach of the players’ Code of Conduct”.
Apparently the breach involved Folau posting a Bible verse that condemned “homosexuals” as well as “drunks, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators” on social media. (I’m not clear if this was a tweet or an Instagram post. I’m also not clear if the post is still up.)
Rod Dreher put up a couple of posts last week about this, and there’s lively discussion on both sides in the comments. He also suggests that Folau’s punishment may have been a factor in the election results. More on those from everyone’s favorite political blogger.
I’m not sure what side I come down on in the Folau situation, though I do think the parallels to Kapernick made by some of the commenters are instructive. Then again, as I’ve also said, if Kapernick could produce at the level of a Tom Brady or Drew Brees for an NFL team, nobody would give a flying flip at a rolling doughnut what he said or thought. I don’t know enough about rugby to know if Folau is that kind of star player.
When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way…
Wednesday, May 15th, 2019…at least, until the team fires you for being bad at your job.
Mike Maccagnan out as general manager. Also, Brian Heimerdinger out as VP of Player Personnel.
Good night, Luke.
Friday, April 12th, 2019Luke Walton out as head coach of the LA Lakers.
98-148 over three seasons. LA was 37-45 and missed the playoffs this season.