One of the cruel twists associated with writing a sports blog, is that when things of a sporting nature happen, you have to give a take, even when you don’t want to. This is especially true if you write for a very specific section of sport, whether that be idiocy, fishing in Texas, or Herm Edward’s (fake??) perm. Therefore, for every significant happening in the world that is Kansas City sports, people expect an opinion. So that’s what we try to bring you.
Sure, we try to enhance it with the tinsel that is unique perspective, sarcasm, and fart jokes, but in actuality, there are not a whole lot of difference in factual content between what you can read here, and what you can get at, say the Kansas City Star.
Unless you’re talking about Jason Whitlock.
If you are talking about Big Sexy, then you’re talking about an agenda driven writer who has no regard for how things work out on the field, and will twist the realities of any given event around his own pre-drawn conclusions. Par exemplar could very well be today’s article: Haley’s Coaching Performance Was Embarrassing.
Now, I agree that it was not good. There were mental mistakes, coaching and personnel errors and suspect play calling. Todd Haley was part & parcel to a discomforting result from Arrowhead Stadium, but it was far, far, FAR from the worst coaching performance anyone has ever seen.
Whitty points out three factors – arrogance, flawed logic and lack of self-control – as being reflective on Haley in the Chief’s bungle, and goes out to provide exactly zero pieces of evidence to back up any of the three planks of his thesis of idiocy.
So, Jason…how did Haley’s arrogance get the best of the Chiefs Sunday?? What’s that?? Nope, a careful pun on Pioli’s last name (Ego-li…get it!!) won’t suffice here!! But he is arrogant. Just ask Jason.
“The arrogance is toxic and counterproductive to winning.”
You see??
“Let’s hope Todd Haley spent Sunday night standing in front of a mirror, screaming at himself.”
Just like he does with his players!!*
* I’ve been looking for a transcript for what Haley was yelling at Brodie Croyle after he was unable to snap the ball after a timeout in week 1, and was flagged for Delay of Game. I don’t know exactly what it was, but from what I can remember from the CBS cameras, and from what little lip-reading experience I have, I think it went something like this: “Jesus Christ Brodie!! Snap the fucking ball!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!! Has anybody ever told you that you look like Demitri Martin??”
So, yelling at your players = arrogance. And, if they fuck up royally, they had better hold themselves accountable by, I don’t know, admitting and taking the full weight of the performance of the football team. Too bad Haley is too arrogant to do that.
“We’re going to have a smart team here…how the half ended, I’d say [I didn’t coach smart]. I’m the leader of this football team, and when you have the ball in an area where you can score points and you don’t get points, it’s all going to fall on me.”
BAH-Huhhhhh??? He took responsibility for the loss?? But I thought he was arrogant and dickish?!?! I mean, Jason Whitlock said so!! I don’t get it. I thought Vic Vinegar was coaching the team, Whit, but you’re right…only an A-Hole would say that he’s the leader of a football team. What an un-self-controlable prick!!
And let’s not forget that the chiefs have cut or traded 31 players from last year’s roster and only THREE of them currently reside on NFL rosters, and one of them is Tony Freaking Gonzalez. Nope…not important. Right, Jason??
“[Pioli and Haley are] so caught up in establishing all the little ‘intangibles’ they think create a winning environment that they’ve lost sight of the fact that players win football games — not head coaches or general managers.”
Wait, but…no, I …room spinnin…[bzzzzzbzzzzz] *smack*
[wakes up three hours later]
Sorry, I was having a dream where I was reading a Jason Whitlock column in which he was laying down scant evidence to his claim that Todd Haley (and Scott Pioli) being an asshole (to him) was the reason the Chiefs lost to the Raiders. Then, while placing the modicum of blame on his ass-holic shoulders, he said something to undercut his entire argument by stating that it’s the players, and not the jackass coach that actually play the games, but the players are reflective of the coach, and if he’s an A-hole then it reflec…uh oh…[bzzzzzbzzzzz] *smack*
[wakes up three hours later]
Sorry, I was having a dream where I was on a fishing trip with Chris Daughtry and he was eaten by a manatee (maybe I should do this more often).
You see what happened, Jason?? You see what happens when you try to trap me in your maze of pretzel logic?? I can only imagine the vitrol had Whitty been a columnist in Dallas 20 years ago when they went 1-15 and Jimmy Johnson, the architect to the biggest collective group of Assholes ever assembled (the Miami teams of the late 80’s) replaced a LEGEND in Tom Landry.
Now, I’m not saying that we’re going to go out and draft three first-ballot Hall of Famers or anything (unless the Vikings want to give us six draft picks for Larry Johnson…please??), but Jeezis man, these things take time. What I saw on Sunday was a bad football team, and bad football teams find ways to lose.
But what I also saw was a young QB in Cassel really taking the reins of the offense, and when granted the request of having the game placed on his shoulders, succeeded. I saw a head coach frustrated by the shortcomings of his players, but also showing genuine excitement for the same ones when they succeeded. Much in the same way that many missed the boat in thinking that the Baltimore game was a success, many have missed the boat in thinking this one was an abject failure.
If you think that the current regime is not the right one, fine, but you had better have more than circumstantial evidence, and you’d better give it more than two freaking games. Or how about the Chiefs invite Jason Whitlock to his own personal all-you-can-eat buffet in Pioli’s suite next game?? At least maybe that’ll save the rest of us by discouraging him to write shit like the shit that I read at kansascity.com/sports this morning.