First sports blog

Going to give this a shot and try to keep this as original as possible. It'll be a work in progress.

Headlines:

Kansas City Chiefs fire Todd Haley. I've done some reading on this. GM Scott Pioli and Haley reportedly have had some heat for a while now. Not sure why Pioli is pissy as this was his first hire as new GM for the Chiefs. Unless he's pissy that his first hire didn't pan out the way he wanted. This bears a striking resemblance to how Bill Belichick got started with the Cleveland Browns (not the new Browns, the old pre-Ravens Browns owned by Art Modell). Here's the thing, Haley won the AFC West with that team last year. I know, I know it's the AFC West. It's still a division title. This team has been ravaged by injuries. Even the late Col. Harry Potter said this team should have copyrights to "walking M.A.S.H. unit". Star safety Eric Barry, all-world RB Jamaal Charles, Tight End Tony Moeaki, and QB Matt Cassel all have season-ending injuries. It was a miracle Haley got them to 5-8. The Colts are 0-fer and only lost one impact player.

Bottom Line: Haley deserved to finish out the year. GM Scott Pioli will take a lot of heat for this and barring rehab setbacks the incoming coach will have a lot of talent at his disposal. I am, and have been, on record as stating that QB Matt Cassel was the product of an amazing offensive scheme in New England with a TON more talent than is available in K.C. Cassel will be gone soon and the Chiefs will be on the hook for his salary.

CP3 seemingly untradeable. At least according to the NBA league offices:

New Orleans Hornet PG Chris Paul, one of the premier players in the league, has apparently been traded twice within the last 72 hours, only to have league commissioner David Stern step in and block one trade and sabotage another. The "man behind the curtain" of the struggling, NBA owned, New Orleans Hornets has apparently decided that he'd be a much better General Manager than say, gee, someone designated to resolve labor disputes with his players and union. Paul was set to be traded to the Lakers (which caused me to flip out btw. It may as well have been Paul being traded to the Yankees.) but Stern had a bunch of whiny, small market owners (see Cav's owner Dan Gilbert) in his ear screaming about how unfair it was.

The problem is that Stern doesn't know a good trade any more than Val Kilmer knows to avoid the buffet. The trade would have garnered several top flight players for New Orleans, and at least one top draft pick if not more. Apparently the fear of L.A. getting Paul was so great that Stern was convinced to step in and squash the deal. This despite Hornet's G.M. Dell Demps being told he both authority and autonomy to do what was best for the Hornets.

Paul was then set to be traded today to the L.A. Clippers for a bevy of talent. Stern again made his presence felt, indicating that the Clippers should trade center Chris Kaman, an unprotected 1st round draft pick acquired from Minnesota, 2 prospects, AND franchise player Eric Gordon. This along with 3 parking lot attendants, a cheerleader to be named later and the Clippers insisting that the Hornets take owner Donald Sterling as part of the deal. The whole thing is ludicrous. Stern has no business interceding here. He has no experience as an NBA GM and it makes the owners look even worse, if thats possible. It's also indicating to any other team interested in dealing for Paul that they'll have to give up half of their franchise to get him.

Bottom Line: Sell the Hornets to a legit owner and let Paul play for the Hornets until this can be worked out. Paul is not staying in New Orleans after this season regardless. The NBA has a serious conflict of interest here as  it appears they're trying to dictate where Paul gets traded to. And I thought the NBA couldn't possibly look worse after the lockout....