Month: June 2017

Jackson just the latest to prove that no one can compare to Auerbach

The lack of a sense of history in sports – and in real life – is one of my pet gripes.

Everything that happens today is always the greatest or the best ever. The past tends to be overlooked or forgotten.

That brings me to the firing of Phil Jackson by the New York Knicks after a three-year reign of error.

Jackson showed that, for all his coaching skills when he had Hall of Fame players and won 11 titles, he wasn’t cut out to run a team.

To put it bluntly, Jackson is no Red Auerbach.

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Leftwich faces impossible task grooming Gabbert into legit quarterback

Imagine an NFL team drafting a quarterback with a top-ten pick twice in nine drafts.

Imagine that both of them are busts.

And imagine that one of them winds up coaching the other one.

Sounds a bit far-fetched, but that’s happening with the Arizona Cardinals this year.

Byron Leftwich, the seventh pick in the 2003 draft by the Jaguars, was hired as Arizona’s quarterbacks coach by Bruce Arians in the offseason.

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Reid’s hands look like they were all over Dorsey’s abrupt firing

Clark Hunt was, as they say, to the manor born.

He’s the grandson of flamboyant oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, who was once one of the richest men in the world – if not the richest – and had 15 children with three wives. The J.R. Ewing character in the TV series “Dallas’’ was loosely based on his life.

Clark also is the son of late Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who changed pro football by co-founding the American Football League, which led to the merger with the NFL and the creation of the Super Bowl. He even named the game after a kid’s toy called the Super Ball. Lamar was very down to earth, always wearing a blue blazer and gray slacks and never showing the trappings of wealth.

Clark, now 52, was No. 1 in his class at SMU and took over running the Chiefs when his father died in 2006.

Clark, though, is showing that being smart and rich doesn’t always translate into being a good owner. Or from doing dumb things. In a family run business, the third generation is often the one that has problems keeping things on the right track.

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Bashing of Kaepernick continues to know no bounds

Colin Kaepernick is like the guy at the county fair who sits above a tub of water while fair goers throw balls attempting to dunk him in the water.

Trying to dunk Kaepernick remains a popular sport in the NFL and the media these days.

In what amounts to blaming the victim, Kaepernick gets bashed for teams not signing him after he refused to stand for the national anthem. He doesn’t get saluted for standing on principle.

The latest bashing was by Albert Breer of The MMQB, who quoted a 49ers employee – it wasn’t clear if the employee is still with the team – bashing Kaepernick’s work habits. Kaepernick is gone, but the 49ers can’t stop taking shots at him.

Breer said the employee told him Kaepernick wouldn’t stay late at the facility, saying he would take the work home instead.

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The real reason Elway ended up in Denver? Frank Kush

When Frank Kush died Thursday at age 88, his obituaries featured his role in transforming Arizona State into a national football power and a university during his two decades there.’

He then had his Woody Hayes moment and punched punter Jeff Rutledge on the sidelines and was fired a year later in 1979. His players carried him off the field after his last game.

The way his career ended was obscured over the years by the memories of how he built Arizona State with his hard-nosed style of coaching.

Also overlooked was the fact that Kush leaving Arizona State wound up starting a series of events that helped lead to John Elway spending his career in Denver and ending up as the team’s general manager.

Kush was coaching the Baltimore Colts in 1983 when they had the first pick in the draft, and Elway was the obvious choice. But he let it be known he didn’t want to play in Baltimore.

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