Monday, July 28, 2014

Coaches and Managers

Tony LaRussa went in to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY yesterday.

LaRussa racked up an impressive record as manager of the White Sox, Athletics, and Cardinals from 1979 to 2011, but as I've always said, it's the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Numbers.

LaRussa managed his share of performance enhancing drug users.  Those people shouldn't be in the Hall, and they probably won't be.  All pile up anemic numbers in the yearly voting.  The same should be true for their manager.  How did LaRussa NOT see what was going on?

Below is what LaRussa said in an ESPN interview last week:

"I know that there's people that have accused me because of some of the guys that helped us win in Oakland and St. Louis, so the only thing I can say is I know 100 percent that our program was absolutely clean for everything that we could control," he said.

Are you kidding me?

The Hall of Fame retains some integrity because it has so far kept out admitted liar and gambler Pete Rose, but its credibility really took a hit yesterday when LaRussa was enshrined.

And that brings us to former NFL head coach Tony Dungy.

Dungy almost became one of those coaches famous for running decent teams, but failing to win the big one.  He can thank the ineptitude of the Chicago Bears in 2007 for saving him from that.

Last week, Dungy said he wouldn't have drafted Michael Sam because of the distraction an alternative lifestyle player would cause for the rest of the team.

Dungy is clearly entitled to his opinion when it comes to religion and the way it views these matters.  No one is arguing with that.

It should also be noted that this is the same guy who offered to help admitted dog killer Michael Vick return to the NFL.

I really enjoyed how ESPN's Keith Olbermann used Dungy's own words to lay him out.

It sounds like Coach Dungy needs a lesson in compassion and common sense.

And finally, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.  He suspended Ray Rice two games for knocking his fiance, now wife, out cold in an elevator.  TWO GAMES!  Others have received stiffer penalties for doing less.