Hey, remember Bloody Monday? Wasn’t that a time?
Remember how the Kansas City Chiefs fired Romeo Crennel as head coach, but didn’t fire Scott Pioli as general manager?
Well, about that…
And this is sportsfirings.com, not sportshirings.com, but we have to add this note:
The move clears the way for the Chiefs to hire…
How’s that strict gun control working for you, Chicago?
First they came for the large sodas, and I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t drink soda. Then they came for the energy drinks…
Obit watch: Patti Page. NYT. A/V Club.
The NYT profiles Christopher Tinker, auto mechanic in Baltimore. Why? Christopher Tinker’s great-grandfather was Joe Tinker.
Yeah, that Joe Tinker.
Lake Tahoe has a bear problem. Actually, Lake Tahoe has two bear problems:
Problem #2:
The man who TMQ would describe as “the tastefully named Gregg Williams” is apparently out as defensive coordinator in St. Louis, according to ESPN.
This is kind of an interesting situation: Williams worked for the Saints, took the job with the Rams in the off-season, and was then suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his part in the bounty scandal. He didn’t coach at all this season, and has not been reinstated by the NFL. So I’m not sure why they’re letting him go now; couldn’t they have just as easily fired him before the season started?
Both ESPN and ProFootballTalk are reporting that Blake Williams, Gregg’s son and the linebackers coach, has also been fired. Blake actually coached this season: PFT states “After Gregg was suspended, [Rams coach Jeff] Fisher gave many of Gregg’s responsibilities to the 27-year-old Blake, making him one of the youngest assistant coaches ever to handle play calling in the NFL.”
Beats me, but I just report ’em.
Let us pause in our revels for a few moments to consider the plight of the less fortunate.
Specifically, the Vegas sports books, which did not do well this NFL season.
One of the people involved in the MGM sports books claims they took a “seven-figure” hit that day.
“Looking at this, I can tell you we’ll need the underdogs to win in every game. Again,” he said.
If I understand this right, the Texans are favored by between 4 and 5 points over the Bengals. Just saying.
This story was reported by Instapundit and other folks late last week. I didn’t link it because all the reports came back to PRNewswire, who I don’t trust. However, I finally found a link to a WSJ article. So here’s what happened: the ASPCA and other animal rights organizations sued Feld Entertainment (the parent company of Ringling Brothers) for violations of the Endangered Species Act. The organizations, along with a former Ringling Brothers employee, claimed that the circus was mistreating elephants. This has been dragging on for years:
The hook (so to speak): last Friday, the ASPCA settled with Feld Entertainment and paid Feld $9.3 million. Feld is pursuing other parties in the case, including “the Humane Society of the United States, the Fund for Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, the Animal Protection Institute United with Born Free USA, the former employee and the lawyers who prosecuted the bogus case”.
I’m opposed to animal cruelty. I don’t think you should run over turtles. I think dogs and cats deserve decent treatment, and I think we could do a better job of dealing with meat animals. But I also think that when you hear Sara McLachlan singing “Silent Night” while a bunch of sad-eyed animals appear on the screen, you should keep in mind that the money you donate is going to pay off a settlement from a frivolous and malicious lawsuit.
My plan is to do one post covering all of today’s NFL firings, and to update it whenever possible throughout the day.
So far:
Gene Smith is out as general manager of the (2-14) Jacksonville Jaguars. Khaaaaaaaaaaan!
Andy Reid. Eagles. Everyone knew it was coming.
According to the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, the Jets have fired general manager Mike Tannenbaum, but plan to retain Rex Ryan as coach. That’s a “WTF?”item.
The Cleveland Browns have canned coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert.
Various sources are reporting that Romeo Crennel is out as head coach in Kansas City, but the team plans to keep Scott Pioli as general manager. There’s nothing official from the team yet. (Edited to add: the KC Star reports that this is now official. And “Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement that the entire football operation will remain under review and no final determination has been made about Pioli’s job status.”)
Edited to add and bumped: Lovie Smith gone as head coach of da Bears.
Chan Gailey out as head coach of the Bills.
Edited to add: Reports are that Norv Turmer and AJ Smith are out in San Diego, but I have not seen anything official yet. (Edited to add: official now.)
Edited to add: FARK has an official “Black Monday” thread going. You are, of course, welcome to comment here as well.
Edited to add: Ken Whisenhunt out as coach and Rod Graves out as general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. (ETA2: and a whole bunch of offensive coaches as well.)
Edited to add: I think everyone who’s going to be fired today, has been. So let’s wrap this for now with a fitting musical interlude.
Edited to add: Mike Munchak retains his position as head coach, and Ruston Webster stays general manager, in Tennessee. But Mike Reinfeldt is out as chief operating officer.
And Jim Schwartz stays coach of the Lions, but three of his assistants got kicked to the curb.
This is an actual headline on the Dallas Morning News website, as of 9:48 AM today:
Dallas police officer on leave over rap video has car burglarized while visiting husband’s grave
And I said, “Whaaaaaaaaht?” (Short item, but worth clicking through to read. The headline, while odd, is an accurate summary.)
Today’s NYT has a follow-up story about Ryan Freel, whose death was previously noted here. Of interest:
Yes, we admit it. We’re lazy and evil. Also, we got a little behind with the holidays. This is the first chance we’ve had to post this week’s mini-TMQ watch for this week’s mini-TMQ.
Before we start, though, we do want to note that NFL.com is currently reporting the firing of Andy Reid as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, but it does not sound like the team has made an official announcement. Yet. Monday is the usual “blood in the streets” day for NFL firings.
After the jump…
Forgot to note this, especially since Lawrence gave me a heads-up:
Avery Johnson out as coach of the New York Nets.
The team is 14-14, and Johnson was “coach of the month” in November. However, the team is also 3-10 in December, which seems to have motivated the firing.
Brad Corbett. (NYT. Fort Worth Startlegram.)
Mr. Corbett founded, and made his money with, a plastic pipe manufacturing company. But he’s noteworthy here because he owned the Texas Rangers from 1974 to 1980, part of the Seasons in Hell
Also:
One story about Corbett, recounted in the obit, involves him making a trade with another owner while they were both standing at the urinal in a Fort Worth restaurant. Corbett is also one of the men who fired Billy Martin.
Today’s NYT has a nice retrospective article tied to the playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs 41 years ago today.
The Dolphins won, 27-24. In double overtime. To this day, that game remains the longest game in NFL history.
Continuing with the “Merry freakin’ Christmas” theme, Ryan Freel has passed away.
Freel was apparently a “b—s to the wall” player:
And over the course of his career, he suffered an estimated 10 concussions. He missed 30 games in 2007 because of a concussion after he collided with a teammate.
Freel was 36. According to the NYT obit, law enforcement believes he killed himself. I wanted to mention this as a reminder: people have talked a lot about concussions in football, and to a lesser extent in hockey (they’d probably be talking more about hockey if we actually had a hockey season). I think it is worth keeping in mind that those aren’t the only sports worth worrying about.
For various reasons – some obvious, some that we’re keeping to ourselves – we’re having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit this year. This might help a little bit:
Or possibly not. After the jump, this week’s TMO…
Frank Pastore, former major-league pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds and the Minnesota Twins, later turned talk-show host in LA.
Mr. Pastore died as a result of injuries sustained on November 19th, when his motorcycle was struck by another car that swerved into him as he was riding in the car pool lane on the freeway.
TMQ was oddly silent last week about Kansas City. TMQ is oddly silent this week about Dallas. TMQ loves him some Patriot offense.
We actually watched last night’s game at the home of some friends. (Those friends shall remain nameless to protect their privacy, but thank you, nameless friends for hosting us!) We have not seen a Monday night game since the contract moved to ESPN, and we were amazed at just how awful the commentary was. We were also amazed at how much time was spent talking about Every. Single. Little. Aspect. Of the New England Patriots (especially Brady) and how little time was spent discussing the Texans.
We’re not that upset the Texans lost. A win would have been nice, but 11-2 is pretty good, and it isn’t like they lost to an incompetent team.
Additional note: as we write this, news is breaking that Paulie Tags has thrown out the New Orleans Saints player suspensions. We’re not sure what to make of this, or how this is going to play out. We need some time to think about it.
After the jump, this week’s TMQ….
So has anyone been following the Indian Olympic Committee story? In brief: India wants to elect people to their national Olympic Committee following their rules, the IOC says “No, you’ve got to follow our rules”, and suspends the Indian committee. Suspension means that Indian athletes can’t compete in IOC sanctioned events, there will be no IOC funding for Indian athletes, and Indian sports officials can’t attend international meetings.
The Indian committee has basically said “F you” and elected Lalit Bhanot secretary general of the committee. Bhanot was unopposed.
Bhanot also spent 11 months in jail before he managed to make bail. Why? Corruption charges, specifically related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
“to $8 billion from $75 million”? Wow. That’s corruption on an epic level: gold medal worthy corruption, if you ask me.
And speaking of corruption, the NYT explains how a Ferrari crash led to a change in the leadership of the party:
“The Maid of the Mist” folks, who run the tours on the NY side of Niagara Falls, have made a new deal with the state that should keep the boats running. (Previously. Also.)
“Restaurant Impossible: The Musical!” All singing, all dancing, all Robert Irvine!
Okay, we kid. Slightly. But Adam Gopnick of the New Yorker is working with some other folks on a musical based on Gopnick’s book The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food
As long as we’re on the theatre beat:
It is a little late now, but perhaps, if we’re lucky, this will free up Ms. Gifford for more Christmas specials.
Also closing: “The Anarchist”, David Mamet’s latest play.
(Tom Landry is part of that group of folks I referred to earlier; the ones who have monuments in the state cemetery, but are actually buried someplace else. Here’s his actual grave from Find a Grave.)
(I wonder if winning a national championship in any sport is enough to get you a slot at the state cemetery. Darrell Royal has his. Will Jody Conradt and Rudy Tomjanovich get one? Seems to me they’re deserving.)
(Subject line hat tip. (Ha!))