Post by TheShadow on Dec 20, 2003 12:35:32 GMT -5
www.palmbeachpost.com
By Dave George, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The line between genius and goof in the NFL is no more than a flickering illusion, just like the yellow stripe that shows the first-down distance to television viewers.
Dave Wannstedt, 11-5 in his first two seasons as Miami Dolphins coach, has crossed the line. Suddenly his management style is too much philosophy and not enough fire. His leadership is insufficient to get a veteran team moving. His draft selections are suspect and his faith in certain key players unfounded.
Try this quote on for size.
"I just try to coach to the best of my ability and hope they keep me one more day... If it's not good enough, it ain't good enough."
That's not Wannstedt talking, but Bill Callahan.
Last year his Oakland Raiders were in the Super Bowl, shaking off a December loss to Miami and plowing through the AFC playoffs with minimal resistance. Well, the Raiders are 4-10 now, as irrelevant as Steve Spurrier's sputtering Redskins and 15 other losing teams. What a bunch of dummies. Oh, yes, those are Callahan's words, too. Not too long ago he called the Raiders "the dumbest team in America," and that's the nicest thing anyone has said about them all season.
"If you want to be a deep, philosophical man, you could drive yourself crazy."
That's not Wannstedt talking, either, but Tampa Bay dynamo Jon Gruden. At 7-7, he's trying to avoid the first losing season of his NFL head-coaching career. And to think that just last season the Bucs were Super Bowl champions, a dynasty in the making. Unlike Callahan and Wannstedt, Gruden won't lose his job over this. He's straddling the line between genius and goof, like just about everyone else.
Bill Parcells, winner of two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, also has endured four losing seasons. He has growled as much as he has grinned in a 16-year head-coaching career and growled again a few weeks ago when reporters in Dallas started pushing a little too hard about a mini-losing streak of two games by Parcells' Cowboys, with a lopsided Thanksgiving loss to the Dolphins included.
"I realize it's gloom and doom around here, and that's fine," he said. "But I remind all of you that if someone said we'd be 8-5 going into the last three weeks of the season, you guys would've had a conga line here before the season started."
It's a tough league all right, and I'm not worried about Wannstedt or any other coach having the grit and the confidence to try it again somewhere else once they've worn out their welcome in a particular city.
South Florida fans? Now there's the real cause for concern.
The Dolphins are more than the cornerstone of pro sports franchises down here. They are the constant. Six straight winning seasons, with a realistic shot at seven. Ten winning seasons in the past 11. As a matter of fact, it takes some digging to find a losing season. There have been just 11 of them in the team's 37-year history.
Are we hopelessly spoiled? Don't ask Wannstedt, who's about to be thrown under the bus with a 40-25 record as Miami head coach. Don't ask the NFL's all-time winningest coach, either, even though Don Shula was treated shabbily in being made to surrender his kingdom to the haughty Jimmy Johnson regime in 1996.
We, rather, are the ones who must be called upon to address all the tough questions now. Such as, is South Florida really ready to endure whatever it takes to make the Dolphins championship contenders again? Would a lousy transition season or two be acceptable in the pursuit of some greater good? Is the jettisoning of veteran players as welcome as the firing of a head coach if some new administration sees the need to start fresh?
This market's manic love-hate relationship with the Marlins and the Heat, not to mention the apathy that has overtaken the Panthers, is one topic. The Dolphins are another. They are about continuity, with only four head coaches in team history and a Hall of Fame quarterback who started 240 games between 1983-99. They are about community, providing a rare rallying point for residents all across the incredibly diverse and ever-changing region we call home.
They are the legend of the 1972 team, and the stubborn stand that perfection truly is attainable.
All this speaks of a special status, the kind that isn't truly appreciated until it is washed away. Should the Dolphins ever become just another team that can be ignored, even abandoned, for seasons at a time, this exceedingly fickle sports market will forfeit its last ounce of discipline. I don't even want to think about that, not after watching 20,000-plus Philadelphia Eagles fans take over Pro Player Stadium Monday night with the kind of passion that knows no season.
Bottom line, I don't think sports consumers down here are half as consistent or as strong as we demand our sports figures to be. Want to test that theory? Ask yourself, just hypothetically, if Bill Belichick, coach of the 12-2 AFC East champion New England Patriots, would be a good fit in Miami.
Won the Super Bowl a few years back, sure, but even then it took a mind-boggling "tuck rule" on a Tom Brady fumble to prevent Belichick from losing a first-round playoff game at home. In nine seasons as head coach of the Browns and Patriots, he has more losing records than division titles, 5-4, and remains to this day one of the most hated figures in Cleveland sports history for cutting hometown hero Bernie Kosar and generally ticking everybody off with his arrogance.
That plays about as well as sea lice in South Florida, where the pain tolerance of sports fans is notoriously low. Maybe there's somebody better than Wannstedt out there, but locating him may prove to be easier than living with him.
By Dave George, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The line between genius and goof in the NFL is no more than a flickering illusion, just like the yellow stripe that shows the first-down distance to television viewers.
Dave Wannstedt, 11-5 in his first two seasons as Miami Dolphins coach, has crossed the line. Suddenly his management style is too much philosophy and not enough fire. His leadership is insufficient to get a veteran team moving. His draft selections are suspect and his faith in certain key players unfounded.
Try this quote on for size.
"I just try to coach to the best of my ability and hope they keep me one more day... If it's not good enough, it ain't good enough."
That's not Wannstedt talking, but Bill Callahan.
Last year his Oakland Raiders were in the Super Bowl, shaking off a December loss to Miami and plowing through the AFC playoffs with minimal resistance. Well, the Raiders are 4-10 now, as irrelevant as Steve Spurrier's sputtering Redskins and 15 other losing teams. What a bunch of dummies. Oh, yes, those are Callahan's words, too. Not too long ago he called the Raiders "the dumbest team in America," and that's the nicest thing anyone has said about them all season.
"If you want to be a deep, philosophical man, you could drive yourself crazy."
That's not Wannstedt talking, either, but Tampa Bay dynamo Jon Gruden. At 7-7, he's trying to avoid the first losing season of his NFL head-coaching career. And to think that just last season the Bucs were Super Bowl champions, a dynasty in the making. Unlike Callahan and Wannstedt, Gruden won't lose his job over this. He's straddling the line between genius and goof, like just about everyone else.
Bill Parcells, winner of two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, also has endured four losing seasons. He has growled as much as he has grinned in a 16-year head-coaching career and growled again a few weeks ago when reporters in Dallas started pushing a little too hard about a mini-losing streak of two games by Parcells' Cowboys, with a lopsided Thanksgiving loss to the Dolphins included.
"I realize it's gloom and doom around here, and that's fine," he said. "But I remind all of you that if someone said we'd be 8-5 going into the last three weeks of the season, you guys would've had a conga line here before the season started."
It's a tough league all right, and I'm not worried about Wannstedt or any other coach having the grit and the confidence to try it again somewhere else once they've worn out their welcome in a particular city.
South Florida fans? Now there's the real cause for concern.
The Dolphins are more than the cornerstone of pro sports franchises down here. They are the constant. Six straight winning seasons, with a realistic shot at seven. Ten winning seasons in the past 11. As a matter of fact, it takes some digging to find a losing season. There have been just 11 of them in the team's 37-year history.
Are we hopelessly spoiled? Don't ask Wannstedt, who's about to be thrown under the bus with a 40-25 record as Miami head coach. Don't ask the NFL's all-time winningest coach, either, even though Don Shula was treated shabbily in being made to surrender his kingdom to the haughty Jimmy Johnson regime in 1996.
We, rather, are the ones who must be called upon to address all the tough questions now. Such as, is South Florida really ready to endure whatever it takes to make the Dolphins championship contenders again? Would a lousy transition season or two be acceptable in the pursuit of some greater good? Is the jettisoning of veteran players as welcome as the firing of a head coach if some new administration sees the need to start fresh?
This market's manic love-hate relationship with the Marlins and the Heat, not to mention the apathy that has overtaken the Panthers, is one topic. The Dolphins are another. They are about continuity, with only four head coaches in team history and a Hall of Fame quarterback who started 240 games between 1983-99. They are about community, providing a rare rallying point for residents all across the incredibly diverse and ever-changing region we call home.
They are the legend of the 1972 team, and the stubborn stand that perfection truly is attainable.
All this speaks of a special status, the kind that isn't truly appreciated until it is washed away. Should the Dolphins ever become just another team that can be ignored, even abandoned, for seasons at a time, this exceedingly fickle sports market will forfeit its last ounce of discipline. I don't even want to think about that, not after watching 20,000-plus Philadelphia Eagles fans take over Pro Player Stadium Monday night with the kind of passion that knows no season.
Bottom line, I don't think sports consumers down here are half as consistent or as strong as we demand our sports figures to be. Want to test that theory? Ask yourself, just hypothetically, if Bill Belichick, coach of the 12-2 AFC East champion New England Patriots, would be a good fit in Miami.
Won the Super Bowl a few years back, sure, but even then it took a mind-boggling "tuck rule" on a Tom Brady fumble to prevent Belichick from losing a first-round playoff game at home. In nine seasons as head coach of the Browns and Patriots, he has more losing records than division titles, 5-4, and remains to this day one of the most hated figures in Cleveland sports history for cutting hometown hero Bernie Kosar and generally ticking everybody off with his arrogance.
That plays about as well as sea lice in South Florida, where the pain tolerance of sports fans is notoriously low. Maybe there's somebody better than Wannstedt out there, but locating him may prove to be easier than living with him.