"Nice guys finish last." - Leo Durocher.
"Nice guys don't get laid, they get married." - Raj, a senior imparting his wisdom on a sophmore and freshman.
Another nice guy bit the dust yesterday, Herman Edwards. But we won't be crying for him. You see, he deserved it.
He mangled not one but two franchises.
He is the 'player's coach,' which is tantamount to a death sentence in professional sports.
He is a masterful purveyor of the prevent, evidenced in its full regalia in January 2005 in a WIN. Yes, as coach of the Jets, Herm's team won a wild card playoff game before bowing out the following week. But as this New York Giants Blog will always preach, it is not about winning or losing, it is about CHAMPIONSHIPS. And Herm's sins in this game were a signature for how not to win in the NFL. Utterly disgraceful, he was in a game of footsie vs another master-of-playoff-disaster, Marty Schottenheimer. You win, said Marty. No, I am a nice guy, you win it, said Herm. No, said Marty, we go way back, you win. No, said Herm. This game went back and forth until finally one of them was going to HAVE to win. What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? You could see before your very eyes the laws of physics trying to bend, trying to find SOME WAY for both coaches to lose the game! This game set back the NFL 20 years. Schottenheimer, for his part, would lead his team to a 14-2 record two years later, only to bow out of the playoffs in their first game. Again. Herm would lose his job the following year...
And somehow get traded to the Chiefs for COMPENSATION. That move set back the Chiefs franchise years, and sealed Cunningham's fate. Now Pioli comes in, and it took all of 9 days (he passed his first test as GM, comment #7) for them to figure out that the Chiefs were going in a new direction. Yes, it is called winning. Pioli wants to win. He wants to win CHAMPIONSHIPS. Coaches like Edwards are nice guys, and nice guys do not win Championships.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Nice guys finish last
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2 comments:
It's ironic you start off an essay about Herman Edwards with quotes. The most memorable thing Edwards ever did as a head coach was give an all time great quote when he said "You play to win the game."
That being said you are right when you say he deserved to get fired.
When he had success it was right after Parcells had left the Jets. The farther removed his team was from Parcells' influence the worse his record got. He's not a good head coach.
The most amazing thing about 2005 with Herm was how he lost the next week in the exact same fashion as how he won the week before.
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