The sport of making money

For many years the NFL told cities that if they made stadiums the league would not let their team leave. St. Louis apparently bought that, but 30 owners said nope. That is no surprise (although I am surprised because I thought the Rams owner Stan Kronke was unpopular with his peers) for all the love people have for sports they so rarely remember that the teams have owners for whom the team is a business. Does that make fandom somewhat irrational? To that question I would pose this response - in what ways is fandom not?

But let's move on to the more pure world of college athletics. The NCAA has avoided a much of the criticism about concussions, but that is mainly for two reasons 1) the NFL is a juicy target - both to sue and report on 2) NFL players have played longer and have more trauma. As a result the NCAA is not doing much to protect players. It turns out that if a college declares a player ineligible because of their concussion history that the NCAA does not prevent that player from just going to another school. If fact some colleges actively recruit guys other schools have put out to pasture. You can always find a doctor to tell you what you want and some players think colleges say too many concussions as way to ease a play they don't want anymore out the door.

Not the NCAA isn't a success at making bank. The salaries of the commissioners of the Power 5 conferences have QUINTUPLED in the last decade - from $541,000 to $2.58 million annually.

Coaching scramble

I wanted to give a run own of some of the coaching moves:

The biggest shock of the season was the Colts keeping Chuck Pagano. I have never particularly been much of a supporter of Colts owners Jim Irsay. He strikes me as honest and earnest guy trying hard to improve the Colts, but not the smoothest operator. He however made the right move. It was weird he let Pagano coach out his contract – coach could have left for any team this offseason – but the fact he and GM don’t get along is a terrible reason to fire a coach. Good coaches are hard to find, people don’t have to be best friends. And Pagano may be the more talented of the two anyway – he got a lot quite a few wins out a roster full of players who peaked 5-10 years ago. Sometimes it is the moves you don’t make. I would also like to take a moment to point out that somehow the Loins keeping Jim Caldwell and the Chargers keeping Mike McCoy wasn’t new, when Pagano is clearly a better coach. It speaks about expectations – there was a ton of coverage during the season about how Pagano was feuding with the GM and would be out.

One coach who is out (in a late firing) is the Bucs’ Lovie Smith. I am of two minds – he wasn’t given a fair chance and did pretty well this year. But I also feel the nine seasons he spent with the bears told us who he is and so that I can’t really call this a travesty.

Neither can I say that about the Giants firing Tom Coughlin after 12 (TWELVE!? I had not realized it had been that long) seasons – make no mistake he was forced out even if he officially resigned. Guys resigning don’t say they want to coach again. Coughlin was one of the few people who mellowed with age – in Jacksonville he was known primarily for being a hard ass, which covered up a fair amount of success. He won two titles in NYC, and exactly zero other playoff games. In fact in last seven year he made the playoffs only once – but won it all in 2011. Overall Coughlin was a great coach – at BC he knocked of #1 Notre Dame, the first time the Eagles ever beat the Irish – and will probably never get the credit he is due. That said this year he seriously mismanaged the clock and cost the G-Men several games and failed to pull Odell Beckham Jr. when he melted down against the Panthers. On the other hand Beckham’s explosive talent – and have a Manning at QB - hid the fact that the roster was simply not very good. That also hurt Jim Tomsula is his one year running the 49ers – 5 wins in a first season with that depleted roster doesn’t prove a guy can’t coach. Why hire him if you are going to flush him so quickly?

By the way – over 20% of the head coaching positions are currently open. If your team is one of that 20% hope your front office is smart enough to stay far far away from Chip Kelly. However there is another retread worth looking at – Bungles offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. In his only season as a head coach he got to .500 with an Al Davis picked roster, that is no mean feat. He was then fired by the new regime when Davis passed away.

I don’t know that I believe hiring a baseball analytics expert will be the long sought for magic bullet for the Cleveland Browns, but kudos to them for being willing to try something new (and face potential ridicule for it).

I spent my New Years at the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium – and I can say I have seen the future of football. Now you can’t do this everywhere, such as the heart of a city – but Gillette has a small mall attached to it. It is a real, if not huge mall, with food, clothing, other merchandize, a gym, a movie theatre, a salon, a bowling alley, a hotel, and the Patriots Hall of Fame. This is a great idea, because it gives people a way to spend their time (and from the Patriots perspective money) while waiting for traffic to ease out.

Finally your stat of the day. Joe Montana started 67% of the Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff wins over the last 45 years (2 out of 3).