What the hell is going on with the Clippers? Just over a month after they relieved Mike Dunleavy of his coaching duties and mad him a full-time GM they have now removed him from that position as well. The reason they gave us that they are tired of losing as they have throughout the Dunleavy era, and that they want to win now. First, I don’t actually believe that the Clippers are determined to win because nothing they have done in the last decade has made us believe that that is the case. Second, how is getting rid of Dunleavy now going to do anything to help them win now? What will help them win is getting Blake Griffin healthy, adding another nice lottery pick this year to play with him, and starting to make some decisions that aren’t moronically driven by being incredibly cheap. That cheapness hasn’t been Dunleavy’s fault – it’s the fault of the ownership. I have no problem with the moving away from Dunleavy, but I don’t understand why they felt compelled to do it in such a dramatic, distracting way.
Do you know what the stupidest thing in sports is? And I mean all of sports. It’s when guys sign one day contracts with a team before retiring. Totally, totally stupid. The latest to do this is Nomar Garciaparra, who rejoined the Red Sox today before retiring to join ESPN as a commentator. I just don’t understand what this gesture is supposed to prove. Whether the legend signs the one day contract or not he’ll still be associated with the team he earned his fame with. All the one day contract does in my mind is remind me that at some point the team thought that they were better served to get rid of their legend rather than keep him around. In almost every case a guy didn’t go on to play better and accomplish more after leaving the original team. It’s all just sad. The Garciaparra deal is especially sad because the move that ultimately lifted the Red Sox to their first World Series win in eons was trading Nomar to the Cubs. Even more ridiculous, he didn’t even sign-and-retire at Fenway. It all went down at spring training in Florida. The first thing I will do when I become commissioner of any league is to ban these dumb displays forever.
