What are the Dolphins up to? The axe finally fell on GM Jeff Ireland, as the team and the now-former GM “mutually agreed” to part ways. In layman terms, that is “leaving quietly instead of getting shit-canned”.
MY TAKE: This dysfunctional Dolphins front office needed an immediate makeover. Everyone has to be on the same page. Bottom line, Ireland needed to lose his job after six years on the job, the last four with total personnel control. Drafting TE Michael Egnew two years ago instead of WR TY Hilton, in itself, should have been enough to get Ireland’s ass fired.
It isn’t going to be easy to bring in a quality football guy to this organization. A tough task for owner Stephen Ross.
I still believe that Dan Marino is the guy to put in charge of everything football here in Miami. I know he walked away from the position a few years ago and he is still gainfully employed by CBS on their pre-game show in what is a primo gig. However, Marino is an extremely competitive guy and the fact that John Elway has had great success in Denver with the Broncos in a similar capacity has to be rolling around in Marino’s head. He would be able to surround himself with quality talent and bring instant credibility and a feeling of excitement and hope for the future that has been missing down here for a while.
The Fins also fired offensive coordinator Mike Sherman. Who’s next???
MY TAKE: I can’t possibly be smarter than the Dolphins’ brass, but my next offensive coordinator has to come from this list of names: Rob Chudzinski, Norv Turner, or Gary Kubiak. My choice . . . Rob Chudzinski. I do not want a guy with no experience as a coordinator, and I prefer a guy with head coaching background. Their purge cannot stop here. They need to replace the Defensive coordinator, along with some position coaches.
Here’s more on the Fins from Armando Salguero:
There’s always next season. The Dolphins will play the AFC West and NFC North in addition to their usual AFC East opponents.
Their home schedule includes a visit from Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay, and they will be traveling to Denver to face the Broncos and Peyton Manning. One game date is already determined: the Fins will play the Oakland Raiders in London on Sept. 28. That will count as a road game. The rest of the exact game dates will be announced in the spring.
2014 Home schedule: Buffalo, New England, NY Jets, Kansas City, San Diego, Green Bay, Minnesota and Baltimore.
2014 Road schedule: Buffalo, New England, NY Jets, Denver, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland (in London), and Jacksonville.
Here is the 2014 draft order, according to ESPN. There are coin flips pending and the final order will be determined by playoff results. The only thing that is certain is that the Houston Texans are on the clock.
The NFL Postseason resumes on Sunday, with the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday. This week’s divisional championship games, with current point spreads:
SATURDAY
New Orleans @ Seattle - 7 ½ 4:35 pm FOX
Indianapolis @ New England - 7 ½ 8:15 pm CBS
SUNDAY
San Francisco @ Carolina +1 ½ 1:05 pm FOX
San Diego @ Denver -9 ½ 4:40 pm CBS
News on the Aaron Hernandez front:
Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
In other NFL news, another coaching casualty as Mike Munchak and the Tennessee Titans parted ways. Munchak turned down a contract extension and a raise because the team wanted him to dictate specific coaching changes and changes in how the team was run. Munchak is the leading candidate to take over the head coaching job at Penn State University, and will be interviewing for the vacant Detroit Lions job.
The National Championship trophy will be residing in Tallahassee this year, as the Florida State Seminoles ended a storybook season with a thrilling 34-31 come-from-behind win over the Auburn Tigers in the BCS Championship Game. Click below for the game stories:
That brings the BCS to an end, after 16 seasons. Next year, a four-team playoff will determine the national champion. Let’s see how long that lasts before we go to six or eight teams.
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Which team won the most football national championships during the BCS era? The answer comes later, alligator.
In other college football news, the speculation is over in Coral Gables. University of Miami head coach Al Golden confirmed yesterday that he will remain at the “U”, after being in consideration for the job at Penn State. Golden announced yesterday that he is retaining all of his assistant coaches for next season.
Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest from Coral Gables.
From FIU, David J. Neal of the Herald has the latest in his blog:
Also from Westchester, excellent article from our good friend Pete Pelegrin on TY Hilton:
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and the national champion Seminoles:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
We welcome the Central Florida Knights to the blog:
In baseball news, Nothing yet on the Alex Rodriguez suspension, but I am still hearing that a decision is coming very soon. Stay tuned.
The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown will announce the class of 2014 today. Voters get to select 10 players on their ballot. If I had a vote, this is what my ballot would have looked like:
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Edgar Martinez
Jack Morris
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Edgar Martinez
Jack Morris
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
The real HOF voters need to face up to the facts that neither Bonds or Clemens were ever proven to have used illegal PED’s by the federal government or by MLB. They were the best at their respective crafts in the major leagues during their careers.
In other news around baseball,
Marlins’ pitchers and catchers report February 16th, position players arrive February 20th, and the spring training games begin February 26th, when the Fish play the University of Miami Hurricanes. They will then play the FIU Panthers on the 27th. Both of those games will be in Jupiter.
Here is the complete preseason schedule for the Fish:
Moving to the hardwood:
The Miami Heat spotted the New Orleans Pelicans an 11-point lead in the third quarter, but outscored the Pelicans 59-26 the rest of the way to take home a 107-88 win. LeBron James scored 16 of his 32 points in the third quarter and Dwyane Wade finished with 22 points, 8 assists, and 8 rebounds. The team now heads out on a six-game road trip.
The Heat’s schedule for the rest of the month:
Heat @ Knicks Thu 1/09 8:00 pm TNT
Heat @ Nets Fri 1/10 8:00 pm Sun Sports, ESPN
Heat @ Wizards Wed 1/15 7:00 pm Sun Sports
Heat @ 76ers Fri 1/17 7:00 pm Sun Sports
Heat @ Bobcats Sat 1/18 7:00 pm Sun Sports
Heat @ Hawks Mon 1/20 5:30 pm Sun Sports
Celtics @ Heat Tue 1/21 7:30 pm Sun Sports
Lakers @ Heat Thu 1/23 8:00 pm TNT
Spurs @ Heat Sun 1/26 1:00 pm ABC
Thunder @ Heat Wed 1/29 7:00 pm Sun Sports, ESPN
More Heat and NBA coverage:
Here is the Heat’s complete regular season schedule:
On the NHL ice, the Florida Panthers lost to the Canadiens in Montreal on Monday night, and will continue on the road with games in Buffalo on Thursday, and in New Jersey on Saturday. Thursday’s and Saturday’s games start at 7:00 pm. You can watch them on Fox Sports Florida.
In boxing news,
Here is Santos Perez’ weekly boxing spotlight column from the Miami Herald. This week’s column includes a story on up-and-coming boxers for 2014:
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I’m selling three lots totaling a little over five acres in the beautiful North Carolina mountains, overlooking the New River, a quick 35-minute drive from Boone and Blowing Rock. Click here to see some photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Which team won the most football national championships during the BCS era?
The Alabama Crimson Tide won three championships in the 16-year BCS era. Here’s the complete scoreboard:
Alabama 3
Florida State 2
LSU 2
Florida 2
Auburn 1
Miami 1
Ohio State 1
Oklahoma 1
Tennessee 1
Texas 1
USC 1
Good representation from the state of Florida, with five national champions. Also impressive to see is that teams from the Southeast Conference won nine of the 16 national championships, including a streak of seven in a row that ended Monday night.
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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