R D&C: Redskins' Snyder gets it right with Gibbs

[KDawg]

KDawg thoughts: Bob Matthews is a local columnist, one of my favorites. He isn't really biased towards the Bills at all, or any other team, he calls it like he sees it.

Commentary: Redskins' Snyder gets it right with Gibbs

By Bob Matthews

Democrat and Chronicle columnist

(January 8, 2004) — Kicking off with thoughts on the NFL Coaching Sweepstakes:

Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder finally has done something his critics can’t knock him for. Wednesday’s stunning hiring of Joe Gibbs as coach should pay immediate dividends in the standings. He had much better credentials than any of the dozens of other candidates up for grabs.

The NFC East doesn’t have the most talented players, but it will be the top division in terms of quality coaches: Gibbs, Tom Coughlin (New York Giants), Bill Parcells (Dallas) and Andy Reid (Philadelphia). It would be tough to top that quartet.

The Giants played like a team short on spirit with a poor offensive line in 2003. Coughlin is a legendary disciplinarian and built a terrific OL in Jacksonville. The big question is how he’ll deal with New York City’s often overly critical media.

Jim Fassel would be a decent fit for the Buffalo Bills. He is an offensive specialist, and that’s the unit the team must upgrade. The going rate for a top-shelf coach appears to be around $3 million, roughly three times what Gregg Williams made with the Bills. Considering that the salary cap for players will be in the $78 million range next season, it seems ludicrous for any team to cut corners on the head coach’s salary. Coaches don’t count against the cap, and anyone who can squeeze the max out of the talent on his roster is worthy of a top-dollar contract.

Dennis Green would be walking into a nice spot in Arizona, with a new stadium on the way, a very good young offensive line and the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s college draft. Now if only he could convince owner Bill Bidwell to max out the team’s salary cap, draft quarterback Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger and talk Emmitt Smith into retiring, he’d be all set.

Cheers to Marv Levy for campaigning for the Chicago Bears job, but a young team isn’t going to hire a 78-year-old head coach. He remains among the most interesting people on the NFL scene, and here’s hoping his voice always will be heard, but his days on the sidelines as a coach are over.

The Heisman Trophy is on a bad run in terms of NFL success.

The Heisman winners from 1999 through 2002 were invisible men on NFL playing fields this season:

1999 Ron Dayne (Wisconsin running back) — He was in New York Giants coach Jim Fassel’s doghouse all season and wasn’t among the 10 players on the team with a carry. In his three previous years with the Giants, he had 533 carries for 1,888 yards and 15 touchdowns.

2000 Chris Weinke (Florida State quarterback) — When Carolina starting QB Rodney Peete got off to a slow start in this season’s opener, Jake Delhomme stepped in and never lost the job. Weinke, who started 16 games and played in five others in his first two seasons with the Panthers, didn’t play at all in 2003.

2001 Eric Crouch (Nebraska quarterback) — Was not on an NFL roster this season. He was a broadcaster and University of Nebraska football color analyst for a regional TV station.

2002 Carson Palmer (Southern California quarterback) — The No. 1 pick in the 2003 college draft spent the entire season on the Cincinnati Bengals bench as Jon Kitna was the only QB to take every snap.

2003 Heisman Trophy winner Jason White of Oklahoma seems unlikely to end the latest Heisman jinx when he enters the NFL in 2005 (assuming he is drafted or makes a team as a free agent).

Here are the updated odds on the eight surviving NFL playoff teams to win Super Bowl XXXVIII (courtesy of America’s Line): New England 2-to-1, Philadelphia 5-to-2, Kansas City 3-to-1, St. Louis 4-to-1, Green Bay and Indianapolis each 8-to-1, Carolina and Tennessee each 15-to-1.

Bobby The American’s most tempting propositions at the odds are the Packers and Colts. The least-appealing is Philadelphia after season-ending injuries to linebacker Carlos Emmons and big-play running back Brian Westbrook.

Olympic Sports offshore betting is offering two Pete Rose wagering propositions:

Who will be granted full reinstatement first? Bet $100 to win $280 on Shoeless Joe Jackson; bet $400 to win $100 on Pete Rose.

Will Commissioner Bud Selig grant full reinstatement to Pete Rose by the 2004 All-Star Game? Bet $100 to win $180 on “Yes”; bet $220 to win $100 on “No.”

Has Pete bet yet? Probably not. The maximum bet on each proposition is $100. His typical baseball wager reportedly was $5,000 per game.

Some people think Rose managed the Cincinnati Reds as poorly as he has managed his current public relations campaign. If that were true, his managing record would’ve been 126-688 instead of 426-388. A sincere confession and apology probably would have helped his cause, but he seems to have more detractors now than ever before, and rightly so. I wish he could be reinstated only to appear on the next Hall of Fame ballot and then disappear from baseball forever. Every move he has made and everything he has said in the last week has diminished his chance for any degree of baseball salvation.

Division III basketball at its best will be on display for free Friday evening at the University of Rochester Palestra. UR’s women, 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today/ESPN/WBCA (Women’s Basketball Collegiate Association) for the first time in school history, will host NYU (9-0 and ranked No. 19) at 6 p.m., followed by the UR men, 9-0 and ranked No. 4 in the nation, vs. NYU (9-0 and unranked) at 8 p.m.

Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner, who died last week in Los Angeles at age 69, was the first Rochester Red Wing to hit two home runs in one inning. The left-handed slugger accomplished his feat in 1960, when he batted .265 with 16 HRs (including several tape-measure shots) and 48 RBI in 93 games after being demoted from St. Louis. Those Red Wings finished third and led the International League in HRs. It was Wagner’s launching pad to a productive major league career (.272; 1,202 hits; 211 HRs; 669 RBI). He hit .268 with 37 HRs and 107 RBI to finish fourth in AL MVP balloting with the Los Angeles Angels in 1962 and hit .253 with 31 HRs and 100 RBI for the 1964 Cleveland Indians. … Red Wings manager Phil Roof will attend the annual Rochester Community Baseball shareholders meeting on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 10 a.m. at Logan’s Party House on Scottsville Road.

Houston Astros pitcher Tim Redding will enter the Monroe Community College Hall of Fame at the school’s 20th annual Sports Hall of Fame dinner on Friday, Jan. 30, at MCC. Redding was 16-3 in his two years at MCC and led the nation’s junior college pitchers with a 1.02 ERA as a sophomore. Former MCC softball coach and current Harley Middle School principal Nancy Hackett will also be inducted. Dr. Susan Salvador will receive a special award for her loyal support of MCC athletics. Tickets cost $18. Phone Lisa LaDolce at (585) 292-2830 for more details.

Four Canada-based NHL teams played Tuesday night and they all won. The league’s six Canadian teams (Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver) were a combined 122-73-34-14 entering Wednesday night. … Who could have guessed that center court at Wimbledon would get a retractable roof (estimated completion date 2009) before Frontier Field would get a non-retractable roof? … How’s this suggestion for a downtown Rochester renaissance project: transit center on the ground floor, performing arts center on the second floor, casino on the third floor, soccer stadium with a roof on the fourth floor — and a cherry on top. Seriously, cheers to all involved for a united effort to get the ball rolling. It should have happened years ago, when New York state had more money available for such projects.

E-mail address: BOB_MATTHEWS@DemocratandChronicle.com[/email

[KDawg]

KDawg thoughts: Bob Matthews is a local columnist, one of my favorites. He isn't really biased towards the Bills at all, or any other team, he calls it like he sees it.

Commentary: Redskins' Snyder gets it right with Gibbs

By Bob Matthews

Democrat and Chronicle columnist

(January 8, 2004) — Kicking off with thoughts on the NFL Coaching Sweepstakes:

Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder finally has done something his critics can’t knock him for. Wednesday’s stunning hiring of Joe Gibbs as coach should pay immediate dividends in the standings. He had much better credentials than any of the dozens of other candidates up for grabs.

The NFC East doesn’t have the most talented players, but it will be the top division in terms of quality coaches: Gibbs, Tom Coughlin (New York Giants), Bill Parcells (Dallas) and Andy Reid (Philadelphia). It would be tough to top that quartet.

The Giants played like a team short on spirit with a poor offensive line in 2003. Coughlin is a legendary disciplinarian and built a terrific OL in Jacksonville. The big question is how he’ll deal with New York City’s often overly critical media.

Jim Fassel would be a decent fit for the Buffalo Bills. He is an offensive specialist, and that’s the unit the team must upgrade. The going rate for a top-shelf coach appears to be around $3 million, roughly three times what Gregg Williams made with the Bills. Considering that the salary cap for players will be in the $78 million range next season, it seems ludicrous for any team to cut corners on the head coach’s salary. Coaches don’t count against the cap, and anyone who can squeeze the max out of the talent on his roster is worthy of a top-dollar contract.

Dennis Green would be walking into a nice spot in Arizona, with a new stadium on the way, a very good young offensive line and the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s college draft. Now if only he could convince owner Bill Bidwell to max out the team’s salary cap, draft quarterback Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger and talk Emmitt Smith into retiring, he’d be all set.

Cheers to Marv Levy for campaigning for the Chicago Bears job, but a young team isn’t going to hire a 78-year-old head coach. He remains among the most interesting people on the NFL scene, and here’s hoping his voice always will be heard, but his days on the sidelines as a coach are over.

The Heisman Trophy is on a bad run in terms of NFL success.

The Heisman winners from 1999 through 2002 were invisible men on NFL playing fields this season:

1999 Ron Dayne (Wisconsin running back) — He was in New York Giants coach Jim Fassel’s doghouse all season and wasn’t among the 10 players on the team with a carry. In his three previous years with the Giants, he had 533 carries for 1,888 yards and 15 touchdowns.

2000 Chris Weinke (Florida State quarterback) — When Carolina starting QB Rodney Peete got off to a slow start in this season’s opener, Jake Delhomme stepped in and never lost the job. Weinke, who started 16 games and played in five others in his first two seasons with the Panthers, didn’t play at all in 2003.

2001 Eric Crouch (Nebraska quarterback) — Was not on an NFL roster this season. He was a broadcaster and University of Nebraska football color analyst for a regional TV station.

2002 Carson Palmer (Southern California quarterback) — The No. 1 pick in the 2003 college draft spent the entire season on the Cincinnati Bengals bench as Jon Kitna was the only QB to take every snap.

2003 Heisman Trophy winner Jason White of Oklahoma seems unlikely to end the latest Heisman jinx when he enters the NFL in 2005 (assuming he is drafted or makes a team as a free agent).

Here are the updated odds on the eight surviving NFL playoff teams to win Super Bowl XXXVIII (courtesy of America’s Line): New England 2-to-1, Philadelphia 5-to-2, Kansas City 3-to-1, St. Louis 4-to-1, Green Bay and Indianapolis each 8-to-1, Carolina and Tennessee each 15-to-1.

Bobby The American’s most tempting propositions at the odds are the Packers and Colts. The least-appealing is Philadelphia after season-ending injuries to linebacker Carlos Emmons and big-play running back Brian Westbrook.

Olympic Sports offshore betting is offering two Pete Rose wagering propositions:

Who will be granted full reinstatement first? Bet $100 to win $280 on Shoeless Joe Jackson; bet $400 to win $100 on Pete Rose.

Will Commissioner Bud Selig grant full reinstatement to Pete Rose by the 2004 All-Star Game? Bet $100 to win $180 on “Yes”; bet $220 to win $100 on “No.”

Has Pete bet yet? Probably not. The maximum bet on each proposition is $100. His typical baseball wager reportedly was $5,000 per game.

Some people think Rose managed the Cincinnati Reds as poorly as he has managed his current public relations campaign. If that were true, his managing record would’ve been 126-688 instead of 426-388. A sincere confession and apology probably would have helped his cause, but he seems to have more detractors now than ever before, and rightly so. I wish he could be reinstated only to appear on the next Hall of Fame ballot and then disappear from baseball forever. Every move he has made and everything he has said in the last week has diminished his chance for any degree of baseball salvation.

Division III basketball at its best will be on display for free Friday evening at the University of Rochester Palestra. UR’s women, 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today/ESPN/WBCA (Women’s Basketball Collegiate Association) for the first time in school history, will host NYU (9-0 and ranked No. 19) at 6 p.m., followed by the UR men, 9-0 and ranked No. 4 in the nation, vs. NYU (9-0 and unranked) at 8 p.m.

Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner, who died last week in Los Angeles at age 69, was the first Rochester Red Wing to hit two home runs in one inning. The left-handed slugger accomplished his feat in 1960, when he batted .265 with 16 HRs (including several tape-measure shots) and 48 RBI in 93 games after being demoted from St. Louis. Those Red Wings finished third and led the International League in HRs. It was Wagner’s launching pad to a productive major league career (.272; 1,202 hits; 211 HRs; 669 RBI). He hit .268 with 37 HRs and 107 RBI to finish fourth in AL MVP balloting with the Los Angeles Angels in 1962 and hit .253 with 31 HRs and 100 RBI for the 1964 Cleveland Indians. … Red Wings manager Phil Roof will attend the annual Rochester Community Baseball shareholders meeting on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 10 a.m. at Logan’s Party House on Scottsville Road.

Houston Astros pitcher Tim Redding will enter the Monroe Community College Hall of Fame at the school’s 20th annual Sports Hall of Fame dinner on Friday, Jan. 30, at MCC. Redding was 16-3 in his two years at MCC and led the nation’s junior college pitchers with a 1.02 ERA as a sophomore. Former MCC softball coach and current Harley Middle School principal Nancy Hackett will also be inducted. Dr. Susan Salvador will receive a special award for her loyal support of MCC athletics. Tickets cost $18. Phone Lisa LaDolce at (585) 292-2830 for more details.

Four Canada-based NHL teams played Tuesday night and they all won. The league’s six Canadian teams (Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver) were a combined 122-73-34-14 entering Wednesday night. … Who could have guessed that center court at Wimbledon would get a retractable roof (estimated completion date 2009) before Frontier Field would get a non-retractable roof? … How’s this suggestion for a downtown Rochester renaissance project: transit center on the ground floor, performing arts center on the second floor, casino on the third floor, soccer stadium with a roof on the fourth floor — and a cherry on top. Seriously, cheers to all involved for a united effort to get the ball rolling. It should have happened years ago, when New York state had more money available for such projects.

E-mail address: BOB_MATTHEWS@DemocratandChronicle.com[/email