Mangini Never Stood A Chance

When Mike Holmgren took over the football operations for the Cleveland Browns Head coach Eric Mangini was pretty much toast. He was already on thin ice since the players weren't responding positively to him and there seemed to be a near muitny on his hands. Considering what happened when he left the New York Jets things weren't looking good for him.

Mangini was fired after going 10-22 the last two years. In my opinion Mangini never stood a chance once Holmgren was hired. See, Holmgren has a winning pedigree coming from the Bill Walsh coaching tree in San Francisco and being part of Super Bowl winners there. He led the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks to Super Bowls, winning one. So when the Cleveland Browns asked him to run their football operations it wasn't a point of if Holmgren would get rid of Mangini, but when.

Mangini comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree. They too have a winning pedigree, but it hasn't worked in Cleveland. First Romeo Crennel, now Mangini. Belichick coaches also seem to have a know it all attitude which hasn't helped any of them. I don't know too much about Crennel, but take a look at how Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniels, and Mangini are perceived. Boorish, prickly, and like the smart-aleck that you knew in school. I'm pretty sure that didn't help Mangini in Cleveland. Neither did back to back 5-11 records. I'm sure some of the players are glad he'll be gone.

Look on the bright side though, Mangini still had two years and $8 million left on his contract, so he'll still get paid not to coach.

Stanford Band Not Allowed At The Orange Bowl

The Stanford band has a history of doing some crazy tricks, usually going with a theme of a particular momemt. Like the white van with bloody handprints during the O.J. Simpson ordeal. Or how about the "Hearst Burger" incident. Or poking fun at the UCLA football team over the handicapped parking scandal when the band formed a handicapped symbol on the field and wheeled the Stanford Tree out in a wheelchair. Hell, they've been banned form the entire state of Oregon. They're also famous for being on the field on the wackiest kickoff return in college football history.

They're now banned from performing at the Orange Bowl. Speculation is that bowl administrators don't want the band to ridicule LeBron James. I say let them perform and have some fun. I would love to see what stunt they would pull tonight.

Delmas Riding Shotgun In Road Rage Incident

Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas was indirectly involved in a road rage incident. Delmas was a passenger in a Nissan Titan driven by Ravelle Sadler of Cincinnati. Sadler waved a gun at people in another vehicle. The incident happened at 2:15 am on December 21 in Canton,Michigan.

Delmas didn't have to play the "do you know who I am" card since officers didn't know who he was. To Delmas' credit he did cooperate with the authorities when asked if there was a gun in the car. Police didn't arrest Delmas but did seize the gun. Let's hope he has a license for that. 

Pearl Laying Down The Law Before His Suspension

With his team looking shaky in the last six outings, including two wins in that stretch, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has made it known that those who play defense will get the majority of the minutes. With an upcoming date with Memphis and the SEC season starting in a week Pearl has to do something to get things in order in Knoxville.

I know it may seem like I'm picking on the Volunteers. I just call it as I see it. I believe they started reading their own press clippings and got fat and sassy. i watched the game against Charleston and the defensive intensity was lacking. They played a lot of one on one basketball on offense. I don't see them attacking and wearing teams out like in previous years. I don't know what it is with this year's team. Maybe they miss the leadership of J.P. Prince and Wayne Chism.

“It’s no longer about fatigue,” Pearl said. “The minutes will be played based on over a period of time who needs to be out there.”


That means there will be some angry players picking wood on the sidelines. I do believe Pearl when he says it's fixable. Maybe he should try selling the players on what got them to a No.7 ranking earlier. Which means team play and defense.