Hades – As the Yankees went down in flames last week, I fielded no shortage of japes and jabs from Red Sox fans. The fact that I know so many of them is usually my own personal Greek hell. But this time their snickering and sniggering didn’t bother me in the least.
Why?
Because at this point, listening to a Red Sox fan make fun of the Yankees is like watching a zombie corpse slowly shuffle around in circles. Personally, I’m shocked they have the temerity to even talk baseball after the utterly embarrassing fiasco that was their 2012 season. And let’s be honest. John Farrell ain’t fixin’ this mess any more than he saved Toronto.
Here’s to 2013, guys!
Kansas City Gets BBQ’d: Romeo Crennel is old enough to collect Social Security. Of course that didn’t stop Kansas City GM Scott Pioli from hiring him to run the Chiefs at the end of last year. But it made sense because Crennel is an established NFL head coach with a winning record, right?
Hardly. Crennel is of course a well-established special teams and defensive coach who had successful stints in New York (Giants special teams 1980-89; Giants D-line 1990-92; Jets D-line 1997-99), New England (D-line 1993-96, coordinator 2001-04), and Cleveland (coordinator 2000) before working as defensive coordinator in Kansas City under former head coach Todd Haley.
But head coaching experience?
Romeo had just four years in Cleveland, which featured three losing seasons, two last place finishes, and a grotesque .375 winning percentage.
In other words, Crennel was barely passable as a stop-gap interim head coach when Haley got canned after thirteen games last year. But for Pioli to then give Romeo the permanent position and a three-year contract? Pure cronyism. Plain and simple. Pioli and Crennel know each other from their time in New England, and both are Bill Belichick’s “boys.”
The results have been predictably disastrous. Under Crennel, Kansas City has gotten worse, not better. This despite the return of dynamic RB Jamaal Charles and pro bowl safety Eric Berry, both of whom missed all of 2011 with injuries. Last year under Haley, KC was were 2-3 after five games. This year, coming off the bye, they’re 1-4.
Crennell is an embarrassment as a head coach. As someone who follows the AFC North closely, I can tell you his game management in Cleveland was downright laughable. The results spoke for themselves then, and they speak for themselves again as KC flames out.
Crennell reminds me of guys like Dan Henning and Marion “The Swamp Fox” Campbell; outstanding coordinators but god-awful head coaches who got multiple turns on the NFL carousel because of whom they knew. Henning went 38-73-1 while leading the Falcons and Chargers. He even botched it later at Boston College. And Campbell was so bad during three stints with the Eagles and Falcons (two tours in Atlanta) that his career record of 34-80-1 is still the third worst winning percentage of all time among NFL head coaches with at least 30 games under their belts. His final tally was .292 was actually second worst of all time until David Shula (.268) came along.
Being named Marion probably didn’t help.
Anyway, it’s unlikely Crennell will ever catch the Swamp Fox, Shula, or the grandaddy of them all, Bert Bell (.179). But why give him the chance? He and Piloli should both be shown the door at season’s end. Yes, the Chiefs needs a better QB but there’s some real talent across that roster, and they deserve a head coach who knows what to do with it.
Popcorn and a Movie: A couple of weeks back, Angy Ward bemoaned his wife dragging him to see The Master with Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Now that I’ve seen it myself, I think AW’s bellyaching was a ruse. I just can’t imagine him not liking a movie where the main character drinks Lysol and paint thinner.
You can drink up the thirst-quenching prose of West Coast Craig at 12:45 pm E.ST. today.
