always on the cutting edge of the major sports issues:


1) tyrone willingham

i can say without hesitation that notre dame has essentially tarnished a once-great program with their early firing of tyrone willingham. for years, the program has tried (mostly successfully) to uphold the high moral ground, and now they've backed out of years of tradition by firing willingham before he even got through his first contract.

we all know that notre dame is not the program that is once was, and i think that we can agree that they will probably never match the preeminence that they enjoyed, but they still were a legitimate, ethical program. with willingham's firing, i think that they're now lumped in with all the rest of them. (like indiana, who canned dinardo after three years...maybe jeff genyk's next)

certainly, the grass is always greener on the other side, but it might be time to ask nebraska how it feels with a new head coach.

i think the implication of racism is an important one, one worth examining, and one that was a factor. not the factor, but a factor. let's think back to when willingham was first hired: the school's first choice was george o'leary, a white, irish man 'straight out of central casting.' it was only after that complete embarrassment that it was time to save face, and they did that by hiring the first black coach in any sport in the history of a mostly-white university. the fact is, in 2002, tyrone willingham was the best possible candidate for the position...far better than george o'leary. the fact is, it took a mistake of epic proportions to get that more-qualified black candidate in the door.

a few other things, as grounds for comparison:
through three years, bob davie had a 21-16 record, had gone to one insignificant (independence bowl, '97) and one new year's day (gator, '98) bowl game. he was limping off of a 5-7 season which included four straight losses. there was some discontent, but he lasted through the end of his contract.

willingham had compiled a three-year 21-15 record heading into his bowl game, had gone to a gator bowl and was due for an insignificant one. he was coming off a disappointing loss to usc, but had gone 6-5 on the season. like davie, his team limped through it's last four games but, unlike davie, his team had toppled a top 20 opponent on the road during that time. he lasted...two more days.

the way i see it, there are two significant differences between davie's 1999 situation and willingham's 2004 situation:

1) willingham is black
2) the alumni base is further discontented (after all, 17 years since a title, as compared to 11 years)

i can see how the situation might be a little more dire for alumni at this point in time, but i don't think that's grounds for his firing...i thought the place was a little classier.

2) jason giambi

he won't be the first, and i'm sure hoping that king george is stuck with his contract for the rest of the time. i don't think that they can legitimately void his contract.

i also don't think that his mvp award should be *'d, because he got away with it, right? i'll probably think more about this later, but that's my initial reaction.

most importantly, i just hope that george is stuck with the giambi contract

3) the 'cats

boy, they stink. hoopsters, that is. they stink.

what makes no sense to me is why mr. parker is held in such high regard. i understand he's got nice bloodlines, but even his older brother can't shoot. it's incredible to me that parker hasn't learned to shoot anything other than a knuckleball in his 2 1/2 years in evanston.

of course, it's also incredible that vukusic and hachad have shown no significant improvements from 03-04, and that duvancic's only improvement is that he's more assertive, which only leads to wild (and sometimes accurate) shots. i sure wish vukusic would pass the ball a bit crisper, because that laziness (watch him on with the ball on the right wing) slows possessions and disrupts any flow.

oh yeah, seacat's the exact same player he was when he arrived, and, despite being small, white, and from indiana, he's not really a great shooter. b.lee's not ready for primetime, but, then again, neither is anybody else.

the only hope is that michael thompson really is that good.

the good news is that the schedule's strong through the end of december, giving them a chance to make a run and make up for some of this disappointment. the bad new is, of course, that the schedule's strong.