Woodson and Brown: Fired For Cause

Written by Chad Potier
May 25, 2010

Well, we are still in the NBA Conference Finals, and 2 head coaches, who were both eliminated from the playoffs in the 2nd round, have been fired. Coach Mike Woodson, of The Atlanta Hawks and Coach Mike Brown, of The Cleveland Cavaliers. Woodson went 206-286 since taking over the Hawks in 2004-05, but has not made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs in 3 straight attempts. Brown has a 272-138 record with the Cavs since taking over in 2005-06, including unsuccessful trips to the NBA and Eastern Conference Finals. And therein lies the problem.  Neither coach seems to have what it takes to reach the ultimate goal of a NBA Championship.

No doubt, the predicaments of the two teams, when the coaches took over, were very different from one another. The Hawks were 28-54 the season before Woodson took over. In his first season they went 13-69, but the organization was behind him and the rebuilding of the team. In 2007-08 the Hawks began a 3-consecutive season playoff run that consistently stalled out in the 2nd round. Despite the team having made such huge strides, The Hawks parted ways with Woodson.

Brown on the other hand, took over a Cavs' team that had gone 42-40 the previous season and had a player by the name of Lebron James. While Brown was coach, they had a 5 year run that included a trip to the NBA Finals in 2006-07, which ended by being swept by the Spurs in 4 games. This season, after adding Shaq in an attempt to help the team go all the way to an NBA title, they were dismantled in the conference semifinals by The Celtics, due to what appeared to be "GIVING UP" by the team, and Brown was let go, as well. There was also rumblings of a mutiny by some of the team leaders as well, and that I would chalk that up to frustration.

The bottom line is, both men were hired to win NBA titles, not lose in the playoffs. Both teams appeared to be at an impasse that these two coaches couldn't seem to get them through. So, while I do applaud the effort they have given and the success they had, these moves had to be made. I would like to say to whomever takes over these two teams, "good luck and be careful, because these organization want to win, and they want to win NOW!"

*Special thanks to Justin Davis for inspiring my to write this.

Introduction "Guest Blogger" MMA

I have been given a great opportunity to work with James King III & Justin Davis on this blog to bring you the world of MMA. I am a hard working father of 3 boys who are all active in sports and academics. I have a wonderful fiance who puts up with my hours of following the sport I so love. I have been watching and keeping up with MMA since 1994. Around a year ago I signed up for my twitter account and found a whole world of people who are as in love with MMA as I am. It was the catalyst to my blogging and listening to MMA sports radio, in turn it has given me the opportunity to network about the sport with other fans and fighters. I have watched the Sport of MMA grow from its infancy in the early 90s into the huge phenomenon it has become today. I remember when Senator John McCain called it "Human Cock Fighting" and tried to bring the sport of MMA down. He made many attempts to strike a blow to the UFC and the brutal combat fighting sport of MMA but I personally believe he helped it. In 1996-97 the UFC made huge changes to its rules of fighting to make it safer for the fighters and to help its image. They did away with hair pulling, groin strikes, headbutts and kicking an opponent while he was down and a few others. The UFC also jumped on board with this new Reality craze sweeping the country and launched "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 1 on Spike TV, with its coaches, Chuck Liddell & Randy Couture. It debuted on January 17, 2005. It was loaded with 8 light heavy weights & 8 middle weights. This essential partnership between Spike TV and the UFC is what brought MMA to the world. It was genius to put this show on a channel like Spike. It gave the UFC the opportunity to showcase new talent and great fights, all for free. The first season finale was broad-casted Live for free on April 9, 2005 on Spike TV. It was able to punch a 1.9 overall rating which was impressive. On this night the public was exposed to the world of MMA and what it was all about. In the finale fight of the evening you had Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar. It is in this 3 round war that I think people got an idea what kind of sport MMA truly is. This fight had such an impact people were talking about it way after it happened. Griffin & Bonnar became celebrities, and so did the coaches. From that moment MMA had a new platform to showcase the sport and the ability to give the fans fights for free and a show of their own.
I will be blogging about all the major organizations from UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Dream and local MMA organizations. This sport is my passion and my life. I hope that you all enjoy, and feedback is welcome. Follow me on twitter (@Chingon3).

B.T.S

Behind The Scenes of ThaSPORTSKRIB courtesy of JersmyMikeJr

Thursday's show was awesome! We gained a MMA correspondent to go with our baseball correspondent. Also we have another sports personality in Dwayne Dunham Jr. Hopefully all will result in great lifelong partnerships!

This Thursday Jacquez McKissic will be on the show live. Jacquez aka Big Jock who played DT/DE for the Clemson Tigers now plays Arena Football for the Harrisburg Stampede. Thats just the tip of the iceberg. For more about him follow him on twitter @Jayfifty. He will be sharing his story and hopefully we will have a new friend of the show!

In the months of June and July we will be starting our Inspiration Station segment of the show. We encourage listeners/readers who have a such story to e-mail it at ThaSPORTSKRIB@gmail.com. T. Monts will be on the show on June 17th, but there will be more about that soon. If you have a better name for our inspirational segment, please send an e-mail.

We will also have a comedy segment on the show as well. Our first guest on June 3rd will be Jeremy "Burpiee" Alsop and his partner Darren Brand. Both of these young comedians are tearing up their respective local scenes. You can follow then on twitter @Burpiee and @DarrenBrand.

That is all for now.

ThaSPORTSKRIB show notes

This is yet another Behind the Scenes look into the show ThaSPORTSKRIB courtesy of JersyMikeJr.

This is late and wasn't talked about much. The show is now a 2 hr show. Based on the amount of guest and demand we upped the anty stretched the show. Now airing 6-8pm PST (9-11pm EST) we hope to gain more listeners and "friends of the show."

This coming weeks show will feature Jason a sports nutritionist who will answer questions and give insight into healthy side of things. I personally have some questions so can't wait for that. Next we will have Michael Felder from InTheBleachers. Mike will provide insight into Tarheel football and the state of ACC football.

As usual Chad's In The Dugout segment will be featured and is brought to you by FireflyVodka (www.fireflyvodka.com). Chad will discuss the state of baseball right now and the All Star break rules. We can't wait.

We have more features coming soon.

Do We Need More Wacky Rules In The MLB All Star Game?

Lost in the shuffle of all of the emails that were sent to me last week from MLB about All Star voting and MLBtv, was the one about the changes to the rules of the All Star Game (ASG) itself. In an effort to make the event more watchable, 4 new rule have been introduced:

1. The DH rule will be used EVERY year.

Let's face it, the DH is used in every level of baseball and should probably just be used in MLB all of the time anyway. No one expects a pitcher to be making a run at any records involving hitting anyway. I know people are very passionate about both sides of the DH debate, and I admit for a long time I was opposed to it, but seeing the futility of pitchers at the plate has moved me to this side of the fence.

I like this rule.

2. Pitchers who pitch on the Sunday before the ASG Can Not participate.
This was done to take the pressure off of managers. Nothing like putting the "arm" of the franchise in the hands of your competition.
I like this rule, also.

3. Roster expanded to 34.
It is already rare to see starters play past the 6th inning - last year's ASG had only 3. Fans vote for the players they want to see PLAY, and we are going to get a lot less of that now.
I don't like this rule.

4. Each Manager can designate one position player re-entry into the game if necessitated by injury.
A rule already allows a catcher to re-enter the game if the team's other catcher is injured. I am not sure how I feel about this one so I am going to hold my judgment and take a "wait and see" attitude about it.
I'm 50/50 on this rule.

So it seems like MLB is trying to add a bit more flaver to what has become a watered down version of what used to be a fun and entertaing game. For me, this year will be like years past; I'll be watching and thinking "boy, that Home Run Derby last night sure was good."

My Interview with John P Wise from OneGreatSeason.com

John P Wise OneGreatSeason.com

John P Wise, of OneGreatSeason.com, joined me to talk about his OGS tour. John just spent the entire college football season on the road, at some of the best spots in the nation. Now back in Brooklyn, writing a book about the adventure and blogging about other sports, mixing in an occasional non-sports riff here and there. Check him out at:

http://onegreatseason.com/

So Games In April Are Not AsImportant As Games In September... Says Who?

Written by Chad Potier
May 1, 2010

So we have now finished April, and I keep hearing people say "It's only the beginning of the season; it's not like it's August or September." Really? Every game lost in April and May is a MUST win for August and September. It's that simple. How many time do we get to the end of the season and hear,"well team x" has to win 15 of the next 20 to make the playoffs"? Every year, and from the same people who said April and May are not as important as September.


Let's look at the 2 teams from last season, in each league who finished just out of the playoffs. In the AL we have, Texas and Detroit. From the NL we have San Francisco and Florida.

Records at the End of May, 2009

AL

TEXAS - 30-20

DETROIT - 28-21

NL

SAN FRANCISCO - 25-24

FLORIDA - 23-28

Any of these four teams, if they would have won 10 more games in April and May, would have made the playoffs. Factor in a few wins against teams that did make the playoffs and you could cut that number in half.

My point is simple; ALL 162 games count as either a win or as a loss. So be it in April or September, the teams with the most wins go to the post season. So, win in April, then thank me in September.