We can add Bill Cowher's name to the litany of folks who have weighed in on the Jim Zorn situation in Washington. After the 'Skins lost to the then-winless Chiefs last Sunday, Zorn's tenure in DC was pretty much done -- except that Assistant to the Traveling Secretary Vinny Cerrato went on the radio to proclaim that Zorn's job would be safe through the end of the season.
His job description would change, however. Sure, owner Dan Snyder brought in Zorn specifically because of his ability to develop quarterbacks and put together an offensive game plan, but now, 21 games into his first head-coaching gig, Zorn would have to give up play-calling duties to Bingo Grand Master Sherm Lewis.
During Sunday's CBS pregame show, former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher was not impressed. Via Newsday's Neil Best:
In sports, one team's celebration is another's despair. This happens every single game, but sometimes the feelings are more drastic, depending upon circumstances.
The big news from Detroit Sunday afternoon was that the Lions won their first game since December of 2007. The ecstasy felt from those in the Lions organization was likely equal to the rage being felt by Washington Redskins' owner Dan Snyder right now. His Redskins were the first team to lose to the Lions in the last 20 games. This was coming off as bad a win as you could imagine -- a 9-7 triumph over the hapless Rams, where the Redskins appeared allergic to the end zone.
To think, when the Steelers announced that Mike Tomlin -- not Russ Grimm -- would replace Bill Cowher, the biggest concern was that the former Vikings defensive coordinator who had learned the intricacies of the Cover-2 while serving as Tony Dungy's secondary coach in Tampa Bay would get rid of zone-blitz architect Dick LeBeau and scrap the 3-4 defense.
PITTSBURGH -- It's ego. It's jealousy. It's a little of both, or maybe folks just aren't paying attention. Whatever the case, all owners in professional sports should swallow their pride, study the Pittsburgh Steelers over the past four decades and implement the ways of the Rooneys.
I'll excuse the Steinbrenners. They have enough shiny stuff in their trophy case from past and recent years to prove they get it. The same goes for Bob Kraft of the New England Patriots and Jerry Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers.
As for most of the others, not so much -- or not at all.
It wasn't very long ago that the position of "head coach" in the National Football League came with more than just coaching.
Successful, veteran head coaches in the league were able to wrestle away total control of their organizations. Other coaches, like former Green Bay head man Mike Sherman, were able to get that control without experiencing a lot of success as head coaches. They did so with varying degrees of success in the "coach/GM" role. After years of this trend building in the NFL, it appears franchises are moving in the other direction.
This should count for something, right? Hall of Famer and Browns legend Jim Brown likes Eric Mangini. Pretty much everybody was in agreement that Romeo Crennel had to go after a four-win season (even if it was on the heels of a 10-6 effort in 2007).
The most popular choice for the gig? Bill Cowher, naturally. He was an assistant coach in Cleveland under Marty Schottenheimer back in the 1980s, and even though he was a head coach for 15 years in Pittsburgh, he won. And for the hapless Browns, winning trumps rivalry. Except that Cowher, for the second consecutive offseason, said he wasn't interested in an NFL coaching job.
Because the NFL rules the sports landscape in North America, it shouldn't be a surprise that Bill Cowher, former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for 15 years, has worked his way into the storyline of the NHL's Eastern Conference final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes.
Prior to the start of the series, there was some debate as to Cowher's rooting interest for the series, seeing as how he not only coached in Pittsburgh for a decade-and-a-half, but because he was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and now currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Prior to Tuesday's Game 4, Cowher will be sounding the Hurricanes' pre-game warning siren, and, as far as many people in the steel city are concerned, turning his back on Pittsburgh.
It wasn't even 30 seconds into Eric Staal's post game interview on VERSUS Thursday night when we received our first reference to the fact that he and his brother, Jordan Staal, were about to face off in the Eastern Conference Finals. Get used to it, because you're going to hear about it ... a lot. To get you ready for the Staal family reunion, head on over to Puck Huffers to get your set of rules for the official Staal Brothers Drinking Game.
Over/under on number of references in the series: 200
This is just one of the many random story lines you're sure to hear about as the Penguins and Hurricanes fight for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Here are some of the others.
Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.
Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.
Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.
We can add Bill Cowher's name to the litany of folks who have weighed in on the Jim Zorn situation in Washington. After the 'Skins lost to the then-winless Chiefs last Sunday, Zorn's tenure in DC was pretty much done -- except that Assistant to the Traveling Secretary Vinny Cerrato went on the radio to proclaim that Zorn's job would be safe through the end of the season. 
In sports, one team's celebration is another's despair. This happens every single game, but sometimes the feelings are more drastic, depending upon circumstances. 
PITTSBURGH -- It's ego. It's jealousy. It's a little of both, or maybe folks just aren't paying attention. Whatever the case, all owners in professional sports should swallow their pride, study the Pittsburgh Steelers over the past four decades and implement the ways of the Rooneys.
It wasn't very long ago that the position of "head coach" in the National Football League came with more than just coaching.
This should count for something, right? Hall of Famer and Browns legend Jim Brown likes Eric Mangini. Pretty much everybody was in agreement that Romeo Crennel had to go after a four-win season (even if it was on the heels of a 10-6 effort in 2007). 
Because the NFL rules the sports landscape in North America, it shouldn't be a surprise that Bill Cowher, former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for 15 years, has worked his way into the storyline of the NHL's Eastern Conference final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes. 
