Bitter Sweet Week of being a Sportsfan

This week was a good week, in fact a damn near amazing one. As a sports fan, a couple of major shake-ups caught me completely off-guard, one was great and one was not so great, and one was just plain surprising.

In Bomberland, after a bitterly disappointing loss last week in the East Division semi-final to the Edmonton Eskimos, The Winnipeg Blue Bomber Football club parted ways with Head Coach Doug Berry, and demoted talent guru Brendan Taman to Director of Player Personnel. The goal now will be to lure a major league candidate to Winnipeg, to be both Coach and General Manager. And the front runner, get this... wait for it, is Mike Kelly.

First, let me say I was the biggest supporter of the Bombers firing Doug Berry. He lost his players probably prior to this season even starting. His treatment of future Bomber Hall of Famer Troy Westwood was offensive at best. His pass at all costs offense completely stifled Charles Roberts (the best running back this team has had in modern history). What was absolutely most unacceptable for me as a Bomber fan was how Doug Berry would single out one player after a loss, and never acknowledge his coaching decision as a major factor, see Mike Quinn's release in Berry's first year as a prime example. Quinn threw a critical 4th quarter interception in the end-zone with the Bombers in striking distance of beating the Toronto Argos. The two points lost in that game was the separation that forced Winnipeg into 3rd and a loss on the road in Toronto in the playoffs. Mike Quinn was released the Tuesday following the game, but Berry never accounted for the team losing that game on the sideline from bad coaching. With 10 minutes left in that particular game, the Bombers lead and with the ball in their own territory sent Quinn out to throw two incomplete passes, leading to a punt, and a major momentum shift. Had Charles Roberts run the ball twice, the clock would have been far better managed and positive yardage may have been obtained. Either way, the team went on to lose the game, after Quinn in scoring range threw a pick in the end-zone when he supposedly read bad coverage with 2 minutes left from about the 30 yard line of the Argos. Of course it wasn't do or die at that point and first downs would have eaten the clock and given the offense more options to get the TD to win the game. Doug Berry or the OC at the time lost that game, not the talent on the field but that first rate asshole would never "own" that loss. And from that day forward, I welcomed the day he would be fired. To have it happen after a season where the team made the playoffs was even better.

After saying that, let me say, that Berry didn't deserve to lose his job based on his performance. This season the Bombers finished 6-2 in their last eight to make the playoffs. They hosted a playoff game (granted Toronto's implosion was the reason). It was Berry who pushed out Westwood, and Alexis Serna may well have kicked better. It was Berry who pushed Taman to get rid of Charles Roberts, and Thunder and Lightning, Joe Smith and Fred Reid got more results (in defense of Charlie, he didn't benefit from Kevin Glenn calling his own plays for long, and Reid and Smith benefited from a balanced pass/run offense). Berry succeeded in my opinion this season, and definitely over 3 years will go down as one of the better Bomber coaches since Cal Murphy (though he can't be compared to Dave Ritchie).

What he lacked was likability. This guy was a complete prick who lacked human decency. And the local media, the fan base and even his players had begun to hate him. And that made him expendable. Thank god. But there is a far bigger problem in Bomberland.

Brendan Taman is a guy who I believe has succeeded in his role of bringing in the right talent to win. Jerome Haywood, Javon Johnson, Fred Reid, Terence Edwards, Zeke Moreno, and Kai Ellis over the last two seasons are shining examples of a GM who accomplished his goal of putting the best team on the field. The problem is a cocky son of a bitch named Lyle Bauer who is the single biggest reason this team has not been successful in 10 years. Firing Dave Ritchie in 2004, demoting Brendan Taman (which will ultimately lead to Taman ending up with another franchise in one years time), and now making Mike Kelly front and centre on our coaching radar are all examples that this guy shouldn't be running a lemonade stand let alone a Professional Football franchise.

Mike Kelly? A gifted offensive coordinator for the team in the 1990s, right? Well he did have a Hall of Fame quarterback named Matt Dunnigan behind centre, to achieve those results and was running an offense under Cal Murphy who was an offensive genius himself. When he was graced with Sammy Garza or Reggie Slack or Kent Austin, how good was our offense? The drizzling shits. He's so qualified, that Edmonton found the very important role of Receivers coach for this highly qualified head coaching candidate. So he's their Bob Dyce (no offense to Dyce, the Bombers have the best receiving core in the league, making him more qualified than Mike Kelly at present time). Oh and his brilliant NFL credentials? Ya, sure, he was a scout. 80 year Cal Murphy is a scout for Indianapolis Colts, so that's a credential. Mike Kelly is front and centre, not because he's the most qualified, but because he's Bauer's buddy. FUCK THAT.

Who should be the next head coach of the Bombers? Without 2 hours delay after the firing of Berry, they should have promoted Greg Marshall. This guy has run one of the best defenses in the CFL for the last 3 years. And lets be real, when he gets passed over for this job, and don't be fooled he already has been, will he stay? No, even if its to leave here for another Defensive Coordinators job, rest assured he WILL leave. And he should, for this is the biggest slap in the face this franchise has done since they went with Darryl Rogers in the 91 season over Defensive Coordinator Dave Ritchie. But they didn't and it sucks. The only bright spot maybe that Kelly might be able to lure Matt Dunnigan to town as Offensive Coordinator, and that would be nice.

A dark-horse candidate should have been Rick Worman, Offensive Coordinator for Edmonton. He was the Offensive genius for the Bombers who helped Khari Jones and Milt Stegall establish their dominance in 2001. He left after that season and was replaced by Paul LaPolice, who is another worthy candidate of consideration, having been effective in both Saskatchewan and Toronto since being scape-goated out of Winnipeg. So that's that about the Bombers. A bitter sweet week.

In the NHL, Brian Burke was relieved of his duties in Anaheim as General Manager and Vice President. Burke is my favorite pro sports personality. He tells it like it is, and he's been successful in every role he's had in the NHL (and don't dis his results in Vancouver, they were far better after he got there than before, and if he had a goalie, they would have been contenders).

I don't respect the process that Burke used to become a free agent this week. I wonder if Burke would have wavered forever and a day to sign a contract extension in Anaheim if the Toronto media (sorry David Bastl, good friend but you are one of them), had not made it clear that the GM's job in Toronto was Burke's at the end of the year. It was implicedly unstated by Cliff Fletcher staying on as Interim GM for an extra season that Brian Burke had an open invitation in Toronto. And I lose a smidgen of respect for "Burkey" for not being more loyal to the Ducks.

It was during the NHL work stoppage, that Burke was all too eager to grab the job in Duckland. After being passed over by other teams who didn't even consider Burke, he jumped at the Ducks GM job. After 4 years of him calling the Samuelli's "The Greatest Owners in sports", he really re payed their autonomy by giving them the selfish middle finger, and becoming a free agent.

So enjoy Toronto Brian Burke. Enjoy the pressure of having to win or Richard Pettie being a complete dickface. Remember last year when he was clearly interviewing candidates for John Ferguson Jr's job while stating publicly that JFJ was safe? Poor Fergie was screwed royally, though he was a horrible GM, he was disposed of in a dishonest fashion. The same happened to Paul Maurice this off season. Part of me would love to see Burke end up in Toronto failing with Ron Wilson (though he's getting over-achiever of the year so far) to teach him a bitter lesson. In the end I have far too much respect for him, and hope the best for him. Maybe the Blackhawks can get in the mix and pluck him out from Toronto, that would be a small bonus in this shitty situation.

Finally, Tampa Bay Lightning pulled the New York Islander-Neil Smith debacle all over again yesterday when firing Barry Melrose. He was only two games under 500, and had to go immediately?!? This ownership experiment in Tampa looks destined to fail. Karma's a bitch, and his name might well be Jay Feester, a man who most certainly didn't deserve to lose his job. Rick Tocchet has big shoes to fill in Tampa, and those shoes aren't Barry Melrose's but in fact John Torterella. Good luck. I am a fan of Tocchet.