Any hope for an inept sports franchise?

The Rams weren't in the discussion to begin with.

Replace those three inept franchises with the names of baseball's three most inept franchises heading into this season, the Pirates, Rays, and Royals, and you can say the same thing. Rays in the World Series this year, Pirates were among the sport's best 20 years ago, and the Royals, well they just suck.

 

It could be argued that no salary cap/revenue sharing actually makes it easier to win in baseball -- for anybody. If the Pirates' owners just decided to reach into their own pockets for a year, a la the 1997 Marlins, they could buy a championship. The difference is, the Yankees and Sox don't have to reach into their non-baseball pockets to do it. But there is not an owner of any baseball team that can't afford an occasional spending spree.

 

They've already got one fossil running the team, why would they want to add another?

(I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitresses.)

 

Judging by one camera angle of Al I saw on Sunday, he looked dead already to me.

 

Let's remember some NFL franchises:

1) Chronic losers for decades, never made the playoffs even once in their first 35 years of existence, hired and fired coaches and GMs on a yearly basis.

Finally hired Chuck Noll.

2) Chronic losers for decades, bungled their way through their first 25 years in the NFL, had a few decent seasons in the 1970s and then bombed again.

Finally hired Bill Walsh.

3) Chronic losers for decades, had a couple decent seasons early in the AFL and then essentially checked out for 30 years. Had a brief blip in the 1980s and then returned to the dungeon.

Finally hired first Parcells, and then Belichick.

Any NFL franchise can get good if the owner puts someone who knows what he's doing in charge, and then gets out of the way and signs the checks.

To do that, if you have somebody who DOESN'T know what he's doing running the show, you have to get rid of him.

 

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

How about a franchise with a total of 5 playoff games in the past 60 years, one single playoff win, and no conference championship or Super Bowl appearances. (For comparison sakes, the number of playoff games over the same timeframe for some of the franchises referenced here (Bengals - 13, Lions - 16, Raiders - 43, Niners - 42).

Y'all can talk all you want, but the line forms behind Bidwill's big ol' ass.

And I'm not sure things are all that bleak for Oakland and SF. I agree Al's senility is a huge hindrance, but a turnaround from either or both of those teams in the near future isn't out of the question. Especially for the Niners considering the competition in the NFC West division

 

Yes, really.
From the AP: "Since Mike Brown took control of the franchise following his father's death in 1991, the Bengals have opened the season five times with an 0-7 mark. No other NFL team has done it more than twice."
Hey Noob, fetch me a diet coke.

 

Detroit hasn't fixed its problem until it makes a full-time hire to replace Millen.

 

You still have to make good decisions when you go on that spending spree. You also have to find the right combination of free agents the year you do it.

Since everybody loves using the Pirates, let's try a hypothetical for 2009. Say they mortgaged the entire city of Pittsburgh and got Manny Ramirez, C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Does that guarantee them a World Series championship? Would they even be the best team in the NL Central if the Cubs manage to keep Wood and Dempster?

Also, has anybody else done it as blatantly as that Marlins team? The Diamondbacks spent themselves into financial trouble a few years back as well, but the one-and-done approach wasn't nearly as extreme as what Florida did.

Due to the massive growth in player salaries, it would be much tougher for a low-revenue team to bump its payroll to the higher levels even for just one season than it was 11 years ago. According to USA Today's baseball salary database, the Marlins were 7th overall in total team payroll in 1997 at $47,753,000. The Yankees were number one at $59,148,877. The Pirates were dead last at $9,071,666.

Compare those numbers to 2008. The Yankees are still in the top spot, but the highest total payroll is now $209,081,577. By way of comparison, the Dodgers are seventh at $118,588,536. The Marlins are dead last in total payroll at $21,811,500, about $20 million behind the Rays. By the way, six of the top eight teams in total payroll made the playoffs and one, the Mets, was eliminated on the final day of the regular season. The other playoff team, the Phillies, were still among the top half in total payroll at 12th place.

In 1997, the gap from the top payroll to No. 7 was $12,395,877. The gap from the top spot to the bottom was $50,077,211. In 2008, the gap from No. 1 to No. 7 has grown to $90,493,041. The separation from the top spot to the bottom is $187,270,366.

The model used by the 2008 Rays is much more realistic, even though it takes far more time and skill than what that Marlins team did. It also takes a large group of prospects panning out very quickly and at nearly the same time, which just doesn't happen very often. Obviously, it can be done. It just can't be done nearly as easily by a franchise like the Rays than one like the Red Sox.

 

Presumably they're working on that.

If Mayhew could pull off another deal something like the Roy Williams larceny with the Cowboys, that might show he had the goods for the job, but I'm more likely to chalk that one up to Jerry Jones' insanity than any particular brilliance by Mayhew. His failure to dump off Kitna for a sixth-round draft choice or something is a big negative.

In any case, my basic inclination would be that anyone hired, acquired or retained by Millen must be to a large extent corrupted by his incompetence, and therefore must go.

My guess would be the Lions will name a new GM about Thanksgiving.

Give him a few weeks to look over the current roster in action and see which players (very very few) should be retained, use back channels to feel out potential replacements for the current incompetent coaching staff (which it goes without saying must be instantly fired in its entirety the day the season is over), name a new coach within a couple weeks of the end of the season, and then hit the ground running preparing for the draft.

 

By the way: Payroll/revenue inequity in MLB caused Pittsburgh to Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek and Jay Bell from their division title teams of the early 1990s. Which ultimately cost them Jim Leyland, as well.
Money matters more than anything in baseball.

 

The Patriots are the worst franchise. Their coach wears a hoodie for Christ's sake! The NFL should do something about that. Maybe fold the team as a warning to other franchises not to let their head coach wear a hoodie.

/ sarcasm