Team owners need to insure a better product

A lot of the sports team owners treat their teams as a hobby or something that they can make money from, neglecting the product on the field or arena. There are some that do care, but they go about trying to build a winner the wrong way. Another blog that i follow, Explode In Sports, touched upon this subject last week.
  Some owners just don't care and some are too power hungry to stay out of their own way. Take a look at Al Davis of the Oakland  Raiders. Anyone he hires is a puppet. It's almost like a shadow government out there in Oakland. If you don't agree with big Al you're out. Ask Lane Kiffin about that. Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers really has no clue to what he's doing with his team. Dan Snyder treats his like a fantasy league team. They need to pay more attention to what's being done on the field or court to build a winner. In these tough economic times, true sports fans don't have money to throw around to attend a game, let alone watch a lousy team. My home team, the Detroit Lions were blacked out for the second time this season for that fact alone. In the past Lions fans have always supported the team, even though a majority of the time the team was plain bad. Nowdays, those same people can't go to the game and they won't go because the team is so bad. Everyone around the league says William Clay Ford is a great owner. I'm not privy to that, but the guy is too loyal to people that shouldn't be running the operation.That's how Matt Millen got eight long years in the Motor City. I believe he wants a winner, but he doesn't know how to go about building a winner. As much as i can't stand the Yankees, the ownership there does care about putting a winner on the field. They spend a lot of money on free agents and all but they also have a top notch scouting department. Same with Jerry Jones. He will do anything to make the Dallas Cowboys a winner. There are some owners that get criticized for spending a lot, but those are the ones that do it the right way. Owners like the aformentioned Snyder get it wrong. I know we're in a tough economic climate right now and you have to watch the bottom line but give us true sports fans something to cheer about. There are some that use sports as an outlet for the harsh realities of life and just want to be part of something positive.    

Michigan fans need to be patient

The Michigan Wolverines football team has hit a crater sized pothole this season. Once again fans are calling for a quick ouster of head coach Rich Rodriguez. To the Michigan fans still stuck in the past, they need to shut up and get out of the past. When Lloyd Carr was there all you heard was that he was too conservative and couldn't coach all the talent he recruited to Ann Arbor. I've always thought that when Carr was forced to play from behind was when he decided to loosen the reins.Check the Orange Bowl game against Alabama which would prove my point. Fans always talked about wanting a spread type offense at Michigan. Now they have it and they want to run the coach that's running it out of town. Right now they stand at 5-4, needing one win to become bowl eligible and Wolverine fans are howling for Rodriguez's head. It's not gonna happen. If it does it leaves you worse off than they already are. There's a lot of spread type athletes there now and more than likely they switch back to a pro set. Where does that leave you? Another 3-9 debacle similar to last year or worse because your putting square pegs in round holes. Some of the old time fans never wanted him there in the first place and have looked for anything to discredit him. Let him get some time to get things together. Two years is not enough. After the win over Notre Dame, a lot of the old the "old blues" thought Michigan football was "back". If anything that win alone, along with a 4-0 start, where they never left the confines of the Big House, unfairly inflated expectations. Fans, you conveniently forget there was a freshman quarterback at the helm of the team. As great as Tate Forcier looked earlier this season, he has shown his youth later on when navigating rougher seas in the Big Ten. Overall, this is a young team. They've made some strides this year, mostly on the offensive side of the ball, but they still have ways to go. The fans need to give this operation some time instead of breaking their legs jumping off the bandwagon. If the same problems are going on a year from now then you'll know that there's something wrong. I think next year is when it comes all together for Rodriguez. To the fans, please stop beating a dead horse and calling for Rodriguez to be fired. I'm tired of hearing it and others on the other side of the divided house in Ann Arbor are tired of hearing it. Patience is a virtue and some of you fans need to learn it.