Jeff Ireland and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Tenure

Well-known Miami sports personality Dan Le Batard spoke about the Miami Dolphins' situation on his radio show yesterday. Dan believes that head coach Tony Sparano, with a dearth of talent in Miami, is no different than Jim Caldwell, who is struggling to win in Indianapolis. The loss of Peyton Manning, he said, means more to the team than anything Caldwell could do. The addition of Andrew Luck could mean as much for Sparano's win/loss as having Manning does for the coach in Indy.

Le Batard also felt, that the addition of Bill Cowher, rumored to be receiving attention from Stephen Ross & Co. lately, would do nothing without a good QB.

His main point of contention was that personnel has a much greater impact than coaching on team success. I think Dan would agree with the assessment that the GM, the employer and architect of personnel, is more important to the success, or lack thereof, of an NFL team than the coach.

In looking past Sparano, to that GM, you see the root of the Phins' problems. The root's name is Jeff Ireland.

In the coming weeks the media, if they address him at all, will talk about how Ireland hasn't been sociable. How he has hid behind the scenes pushing buttons like the tiny man once believed to be the Wizard of Oz.

They'll wax poetic about how Ireland has let Sparano and Steven Ross take the blame. 

That's neither here nor there in The Coach's opinion. How often do you see Green Bay's Ted Thompson, Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, or Pittsburgh's Kevin Colbert step to the podium for post game press conferences? You don't. Those successful GMs are no more sociable or media accessible on a major scale than any other. 

The real problem with Ireland's tenure in South Florida has nothing to do with media savvy or relationships with players, coaches or ownership. It's solely a matter of a bad job done filling the roster. The Dolphins fridge is full of bad groceries.

Instead of harping on bad free agent acquisitions (Reggie Bush, the Cowboy Castaways, etc.) and questionable trades (Brandon Marshall (which Monstar took his talent again?) or Jason Taylor to the Redskins), the best place to see Ireland's ineptitude is by looking at the NFL College Draft. Between 2008 and 2011, JI has had four cracks at making the Phins a contender, or at least markedly better. 

For your viewing pleasure, after the page break is each pick Mr. Ireland banked his employment on, how they've fared, and some notable young men who were available at the time. Let's start in 2008:

*Actual picks in orange

*Players passed over in blue 

All 32 Teams Make Forbes List

I know we're excited about having football back again. But I want to direct your attention back to the matters of the lockout briefly. I don't want to get you sad again. There's no news that's gonna take football away from you again. Don't fret. But there's one issue we can't let go unreported.
Leading up to and during the lockout, all we heard was how the NFL teams were losing money and they had to protect their financial interests by taking back a piece of the NFL pie from the players. The "Woe Is Me" feelings were rampant on ownership's side. This would be understandable if they were losing money.
But...

Now we have news that they might not have been scrugglin' after all...
Forbes' annual team valuation list, the "World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams" found a spot for, ::Lebron Voice:: not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but all 32 NFL teams. Every @$%#^%^ing team. Every whining, sniveling, spendthrift, Goodell goading, De Smith loathing NFL owner has one of the 50 most valuable sports products on the blue and green planet.

Forbes' report states that teams "selling for $70 million in the mid-1980s are now worth $1 billion on average. That's MORE than a tenfold increase. Jerry Jones' Cowboys, they of 152 foot HD TV screen fame, makes over $100 million annually on it's luxury seating ALONE. They have sponsorship deals with many of the nation's major companies. And don't forget the TV Deals. Ohhhh don't forget those. They were getting paid regardless of whether there was a season this year or not.

Of the other American Big Four sports, the MLB had six entries on the list. The New York Yankees at number three were the only MLB team in the top 30. There were 23 NFL teams above baseball's next highest team, the Boston Red Sox.
To put this in even MORE perspective, the Jacksonville Jaguars are more valuable than the New York Knicks. That's right. The NFL's least valuable team is more valuable than the NBA's most valuable team. Let that marinate. There's a reason the owners would never show the players their books. You can't doctor financials. Yes, you can interpret financials different ways according to what accounting standards you use, but the numbers are the numbers. And ridiculously huge profits are ridiculously huge profits, no matter how you look at them.

To add insult to injury, the other teams dominating the list, International Soccer teams (namely English Premier League squads) are mostly owned by, YOU GUESSED IT, the same NFL owners complaining bout not having any money. Maybe you should sell your soccer teams and stop trying to spread yourself so thin. That's a novel idea. But don't try to tell me you aren't eating like a fat cat loves to.

One of these days, sports business outlets will be as popular as sporting news outlets like ESPN and SI and will be able to give mainstream sports fans a more accurate picture of the financial landscape in American sports. Then, teams won't be able to use public misconceptions and ignorance against the players to get things they don't deserve.
I am not advising any action against the owners because, frankly, what could be done. The only people in our country, including government, who can keep these billionaires in check, are the people we've been yelling at to quit whining and go back to work for the last four months. The leagues' players.
Only a group with their ability to essentially shut down the factory, can make ownership have to play ball. I take my hat off to De Smith, Kevin Mawae, Jeff Saturday and the other NFLPA brass and throw it at Goodell and the owners. I guess I need to use my ::parental voice:: for these owners. Don't ever ask us for money ever again.

Tired of Tebow? Pt. 1

Guess I'm not the only one huh...

Merril Hoge was the subject of immense pressure and ridicule, even from his own network, for being critical of Tim Tebow's future in the league as a starting quarterback. Nothing Hoge said consisted of personal attacks on Tebow, yet people took his critique as an attack on Tebow and his ideals. 


The funny thing to me about "the Tebow Thing" as receiver Brandon Lloyd called it, is that the gift for Tim, has subsequently been the curse for one Vince Young. The argument for Tebow apologists has always been that his  ability to carry a team, exuberance, and propensity for winning should trump whatever he lacks in skill. 


Shouldn't this logic be applied to Young as well? As Herm Edwards would say, "You play to win the game!" Why should  a player like Young, who has a better arm and more athleticism, be given no consideration for 32 starting QB jobs, while public opinion rallies for the Gainesville Messiah to take his rightful place in the starter's spot? 


Young, a Rookie of the Year, two-time Pro Bowler, has the highest winning percentage in Oilers/Titans history and a top 10 winning percentage for QBs of the 2000s. Many tout Tebow's heralded college career as reason to give him a chance. Somewhere Young is shaking his head as he glances at his 93.8 winning percentage which ranks sixth best in NCAA Division I history.


The fact remains that any non-talent excuse for Tebow to play can be given for another player in the league his is getting less run than even Timmy enjoyed last year. If one's argument is that Tebow has the talent to be a starter in the league, I disagree fervently, but at least the fan is looking at the situation from a practical standpoint.


But to say that "intangibles" can help Tebow in a way they haven't helped any other quarterback with his skill set in the history of the NFL is just asinine. As someone noted on ESPN recently, having intangibles with no talent is like trying to sell a beautiful house in a terrible neighborhood. Just as you can't look past the neighborhood to see the beauty of the house, there's no way you can sell a quarterback's intangibles without  looking at their talent set, or in Tim's case, a lack thereof. 


Once again, the public has caught feelings, and will take any realistic critique as "hating." This whole Tebow ordeal reminds me of how Fox News and other Republican news outlets (yes I consider Fox News Partisan) defended George W. Bush while his actions in office slapped us in the face with the truth. Let's not let emotions, faith, biases, cloud our judgment when it comes to assessing sports, politics or anything. It will save us a lot of wasted time being confused when Tebow is chasing cornerbacks to the endzone after yet another interception.

In part two, we'll look at how Tebow stacks up against the 32 proposed quarterbacks in the NFL for the 2011-2012 season...

PEPE BILLETE'S MIAMI HEAT TOP 5 LIST!

Bulls fans. Imma let the Cubans tell yall why we're gonna win this series. Escuchame! 

Chugotitmayne!!! #GoHEAT

Heat Game 4: "No Sweep For You!" What Went Wrong

So the brooms go back in the closet. Am I disappointed as a fan? Yes. Will we win game 5 in Miami? Yes. Am I more disappointed as a student of the game? YESSS.

Unlike some "experts" I won't take the easy way out and use terms like "clutch" and "heart" etc. to make emotional claims about things that can be explained by simple basketball knowledge. It's easy for Skip and Jon Barry to say Lebron is not clutch, or that the Heat are complacent. It's harder to explain what the team could have done in those situations (in their current skill sets) that could've changed the outcome. The simple answers like "Be more clutch" or "have some heart" don't offer any solutions. So the following few things are issues that I noticed while watching the game that I think the Coaching staff AND the players should focus on.


Starting Off On A Bad Note
I have to fault Spoelstra and Co. for lack of foresight with their starting lineups. Watching the Heat this year, it seems that Spo starts Illgauskas to get his engine going early before things pick up. That is understandable. Certainly, up 3-0 in a series the staff is thinking, we can afford a slight lull at the center position early until Big Z can get warm.

However, it only makes sense strategy-wise to start Joel Anthony in this series. While Big Z is a better matchup for the Bigs in Boston, Orlando and Chicago, Philly presents a smaller, more athletic front-court who is tougher for Z to match. In an elimination game, where adrenaline is up high, those young big men are going to put up hustle and effort that Big Z won't match early. In a playoff series you can't afford to let the other team's front-court set the tone, which is what they did in Game 4.

Joel Anthony provides the athleticism at the 5 and the hustle that can combat the Sixers' youth at that position while still being able to bang alongside a VERY soft Chris Bosh. The same can be said for the staff deciding to start Mike Bibby at the point over a younger, more athletic Mario Chalmers who is also a much better defender, or simply letting Lebron and Wade handle PG duties initially.

Shrinking The Bench
There are many good things about being a Pat Riley coaching disciple. However one key approach that Spoelstra obviously learned from Sir Riles hurt the Heat in Game 4 as it has since the beginning of the regular season.   This is the 8 man rotation. Spoelstra will usually only bring three or four off the bench and all others might as well stay at home.

The Heat have 4 healthy centers. There's no use in paying the other two (Magloire and Dampier) if you're not going to play them. In a 48 minute game, depending on match-ups/strategy, those four big men regardless of their age can give you 12 minutes a piece. They don't have to score. You have a scoring big man in Bosh and two of the NBA's best scorers in Wade & LBJ to handle that. You just need each man to commit to 10-12 minutes of hard defense, good picks and rebounding. When you only play Joel Anthony and Big Z, now you're asking Z (who's older than Methuselah) to play 24 solid minutes running with young energetic 76er big men. NOT GOOD.

Mr. Spoelstra also continuously ignored the fact that Henry Bibby's son couldn't hit Rhianna with Chris Brown's fists today. He was missing everything. Mike Bibby's ONLY reason for living is to make shots right now. He's old, slow, a terrible defender and cannot create his own shot. Couple this with the fact he's guarding 20 and 22 year old Philly PGs and you've got a recipe for disaster. NOT GOOD.

If young Erik would look past the 3rd player on his bench, he'd realize he has the perfect substitute for a struggling Bibby in uniform. Bibby's brother-in-law, Eddie House can shoot with the best of them, has enough energy to spark a complacent Heat lineup and will match the game speed and intensity of a desperate Philly squad. Instead he left Bibby out there to lose momentum for Miami repeatedly. It sounds harsh but, you gotta know when to give up on somebody and trust your bench. Spoelstra didn't and he paid for it.

Poor Defensive Strategy 
The sad part about this issue was the Heat Staff implemented the solution earlier in the game. When trying to cut into the 1st half Philly lead, Miami started traping the ball handler off of pick n roll situations. This caught the player off guard and because a big man was a part of the trap, made it hard for the guard to see any options. This made Wade and Lebron able to shoot passing lanes and steal weak passes from PGs who made unsure passes to teammates they really couldn't see. This strategy not only got Miami back in the game, it got them a half time lead.

Once they came out of the locker room for the 2nd half, they all but abandoned the strategy and players like Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams were left in one-on-one situations that they could manipulate as they did early in the 1st half. Furthermore, lazy defense from Wade on Lou Williams at the end of the game contributed to the made three pointer with eight seconds left.

Like most pro players, Wade thought it was okay to put a hand in the face of Williams WHILE he shot the three. The appropriate time to put a hand in a shooter's face is BEFORE they think about shooting. This will either discourage them from shooting or change their line of sight and affect their shot. By the time Wade put a hand up, the ball was already in position to leave Williams' hands. NOT. GOOD.

Drive Ms. Daisy, Don't Drive LIKE Ms. Daisy
First things first. Chris Bosh is soft. Stop always shooting 15 footers and go to the rim. Stop getting pushed around. Yes you are skinny. No excuse for ALLOWING people to push you around. Cmon Son.

Now. Onto the last drive by Lebron. Everybody you hear from will say how he isn't clutch and so forth and so on. Ask them why IN BASKETBALL TERMS that last play proved fatal. They'll just say he missed. There's a simple basketball explanation for what Lebron did wrong. Just as he did against the Knicks at home in the regular season, Mr. James failed to drive to the basket with the proper approach.

At 6-8 265lbs, Lebron should drive to the MIDDLE of the paint. He is big enough to take the middle of the paint away from the defender while driving. By being in the middle, he can go either way and with either hand once he gets to the rim or dunk straight up. Instead, Lebron picks a side (Left in the Knicks game, right in the 76ers game) and gives the defender one less half of the paint to defend.

By going right, the defender only had to steer him away from the basket to the right, which he did. although Lebron was able to shed him late, his body was turned away from the basket and hence couldn't put all his strength towards a shot to the basket on his left, making for an easier block for Elton Brand.

Furthermore, if you have Lebron's body and the paint isn't congested, GO FOR THE DUNK. EVERY TIME. WHO'S GONNA STOP YOU??!?!

Because teams fear Wade flashing from the perimeter and Bosh spotting up and hitting a mid-range jumper off of Lebron's penetration, the lane will be relatively empty. This means dunk the ball. There's no excuse. Even if you don't make the shot/dunk, you'll get a foul by Elton Brand or one of the other front court players helping at the basket. By throwing up a one-hand touch layup going away from the basket and AWAY FROM THE DEFENSE, the refs won't give you the benefit of the doubt and you have to make the shot, a harder shot at that.

This has nothing to do with a clutch gene. This can be fixed with a simple video session and practice. Whether that happens, we shall see, but there's always a basketball explanation for basketball issues. Save me the melodramatic, soap opera, ESPN First Take explanations of success and failure.

Here are some other interesting statistics I think catered to a Philly victory in Game 4:
As always, the team who outrebounds...WINS:

Heat: 41 rebounds

76ers: 49 rebounds

Wade, Lebron, Evan Turner and James Jones (Back-court players) all had more rebounds than Chris Bosh:

Wade: 8

Lebron: 7

Turner: 6

Jones: 6

Bosh Spice: 5

Wade also had a higher amount of blocks than his front-court teammate:

Wade: 5

Bosh: 2

Wade only got to the line 2 times after being among the tops in the NBA in free throws attempted during the regular season.

Philly clearly won the battle from beyond the arc as the stats show:

Heat 3pt %: 5-23 (21.7%)

76ers 3pt %: 8-18 (44.4%)

Philly also bested Miami on Points in the Paint:

Philly: 36 pts.

Miami: 28 pts.

Lou Williams and Evan Turner combined for 34 points. (17 points apiece) of the Sixers' bench. The Heat bench combined had less than each of the aforementioned 76ers with 16 points total.

That said, we'll be closing out Game 5 easily, so Bring On The Celtics!!!

Pat Riley's Sage Wisdom

Looks like he was right. lol

Lebron Already At Work

 

Good to see they're already at work. Shout out to Bosh wit the 1 second cameo. lol

#HEAT

Miami Thrice Preview Vid

This is just a quick reminder of what the NBA is in store for, I'd say for the next 8-10 years. This is against the Western Conference ALL STAR TEAM. Not the normal teams. Enjoy being on top Laker fans. lmao

#HEAT

MJ Should Shut Up

I'm sure you've probably heard Michael Jordan's comments this past weekend about Lebron James' decision to join the Miami Heat. Recently, ESPN.com/TrueHoop blogger Henry Abbott wrote a response article (which can be seen HERE) which made some valid points. Rather than repeat what he said, I'll post my own thoughts and you can check his by clicking the link.
My thoughts on the matter after the jump.

Ricky RAWSE enjoys "The Decision"

MTV Shows

Great scene. Rozay is the 4th star free agent acquired by the Heat this summer I guess? lol

#305

Lebron's New Crib

So Lebron James is a Heater huh? Well he's gonna need a place to stay isn't he?
NOPE! Already got something. Lebron is about to buy a $49.5 million mansion from Miami Auto magnate Alan Potamkin of Potamkin auto gallery. The 10 year old mansion is just 5 miles from the
University of Miami. (Off-campus parties?)
The 20,088 sq. ft. mansion at 11 Casuarina Concourse in the ULTRA EXCLUSIVE Gables Estates is the most expensive house in neighbor city Coral Gables. Mind you, EVERY house in coral Gables is expensive as it's home to European billionaires, famous actors, and Colombian drug Kingpins. Hell, this is the neighborhood where Tony Montana's house was in Scarface. Talk about, "The World Is Yours."
He hasn't officially bought it yet, but sources say, as soon as Lebron announced his move to Miami on ESPN's The Decision the estate went off the market. Even Ricky Rozay would bow down to that BOSS-ness.

Here's an aerial view of the estate with Biscayne Bay to the right.

 A description of the estate along with PICTURES INSIDE THE MANSION are after the jump. Enjoy:

3 Live Crew

That's How We Do It Down Here. Spring Break 'Eternity

HEAT BITCH....

The Great Nike Ad

This is my favorite Nike Ad of recent memory. And that says a LOT. If this doesn't make you like soccer a little bit, or at least respect the passion of the culture, I don't know what will. Thanx Nike!

AMAZING Baseball Play

Maybe if this happened more often people would actually care about baseball before October.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

Best. Video. EVER.

It's ALL ABOUT...

 
THE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

A Hockey Post. I'm Shocking Myself. lol

If you watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this is even funnier to you.
This is at the Vancouver Canucks vs Nashville Predators game. I want to do this sometime before I die:

Tiger You SUCK! lmao

Tiger Woods with a funny soundbite from the Masters. Partizake:

Vern Lundquist, YA THINK? lmao

EXCLUSIVE: New NIKE Tiger Woods Ad

This ad hit the airwaves and interweb LITERALLY minutes ago. Nike does a commercial for their main draw and recent controversial figure, Tiger Woods. The voice in the ad is that of his late father Earl Woods. It almost has a spooky feel to it. See for yourself.

Welcome Back Tiger

JR and Ichiro

Funny vid with the two Seatle Teammates, Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki.

Lebron Why Would You Leave This? LMAO

Delonte West, be happy cause this vid just made you one of my favorite basketball players and it has NOTHING to do with basketball. rotflmao! Watch this foolishness.

CHIPOTLEEEEEEE rotflmao!! ahahaha