Bottom of Bird Cage 3/6
It’s Day No. 65 of the year and we raise our flag to former 65s in Chiefs history, especially Jon Gilliam, Tom Condon and Remi Prudhomme.
On March 6, 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise, which allowed Missouri to join the United States as a slave state, while the rest of the Louisiana Purchase territory was slavery free. On March 6, 1964, Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad gave boxer Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali, meaning Beloved of Allah.
Born on March 6, 1923 in Detroit was Ed McMahon, the greatest straight man in late night TV history. Born on March 6, 1947 was Dick Fosbury, American high jumper who invented the Fosbury Flop method of going over the bar backwards. He won the gold medal at the 1068 Summer Olympics.
On March 6, 1836, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis and James Bonham and many others were all killed at the Battle of the Alamo. The Mexican Army breached the Alamo walls on March 6 and killed everyone inside the structure.
Remember the Alamo.
From ESPN.com:
Being a quarterback legend gets you a decent haircut, a corner booth at the most prominent sports bar and a nickname that sticks for four decades. In Kansas City, it makes you one in 1.9 million. “Lenny the Cool” isn’t sure how his beloved Chiefs got here, stuck somewhere between Todd Blackledge and Brodie Croyle. At some point, he says, they gave up drafting quarterbacks high. He’s watched one of the NFL’s most intimidating venues turn half-empty, watched a town turn cynical. During rush hour one night this past December, when news broke that their general manager was resigning, Kansas Citians responded by honking their horns in glee. “Something had to be done,” Len Dawson says. “You’d like to see some hope here.”
A warm front has pushed through the Plains, teasing people in these parts that this long winter might finally be over. Dawson is at the barbershop, and, for the first time in at least two years, the groans are replaced with eager men asking, “Hey Lenny, what do you think about the trade?” The enthusiasm is everywhere, from the watering holes in the suburbs to the freshly painted sheds bearing arrowheads. Matt Cassel is coming.
Never mind that he was a career backup before filling in for Tom Brady last season in New England and that he will command at least $14 million this season for a job new coach Todd Haley claims is up for grabs. In a town that has struggled through failed draft picks, stop-gap solutions and a carousel of battered faces in last year’s 2-14 season, the Chiefs might finally have a young franchise quarterback.
Is Cassel ready? Does he know what he’s getting himself into? That, in a week when season ticket sales got a bump and a struggling sports city momentarily got to celebrate, doesn’t need to be answered now. “The Chiefs fan was waiting for some evidence,” Dawson says. “They needed something. When Cassel came in here with that trade, right away they got very, very excited about that.”
Interesting that ESPN.com and the Kansas City Star both have Matt Cassel pieces appear the same day. If you have to choose, then read Liz Merrill’s piece on the web because it’s quite superior to what you can read in the fish wrap. Both stories have minimal quotes from Cassel himself, since he’s done only the one conference call last week. The real question is whether Cassel is ready for what’s going to hit him. It’s one thing to be thrown into a void when the NFL MVP goes down and nobody is expecting anything. It’s quite another when a whole town and fan population believes you are finally going to bring sunshine to the quarterback position. It will be fun to get to know Cassel – if that’s allowed – over the next year and find out whether he has the mental makeup to handle the role.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Over the past 1½ years, Shaun Gayle has relied on his former Bears teammates for support during the most tumultuous time of his life. On Oct. 4, 2007, Gayle’s longtime girlfriend, Rhoni Reuter, and their unborn child were murdered in her Deerfield condo. “In a million years, I would have never thought this was possible,” Gayle told the Tribune on Wednesday. “At times I still find myself waiting for the phone to ring and have it be Rhoni.”
Marni Yang, “a business associate and friend,” was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder. Throughout this horrific ordeal, many of Gayle’s teammates have supported him. Many of Gayle’s teammates from the Super Bowl champion 1985 Bears have been there to listen, to console and to commiserate: Emery Moorehead, Keith Van Horne, Jim Morrissey, Otis Wilson, Jim Covert, Richard Dent, Tom Thayer, Steve McMichael … the list goes on.
“You can’t put a value on something like that. To hear from the guys. … it means a lot,” Gayle said.
Until the arrest of the murder suspect this week, this was a story that had never crossed my radar screen. What a horrific set of events and what a story that Shaun Gayle has to tell. This country was built on the precept that we are innocent until proven guilty. But human nature leads us in the opposite direction: we assume guilt until someone is proven innocent. Sometimes that can be very instructive for a guy like Shaun Gayle; he learned who his true friends were.
From the Wall Street Journal: This season in the NBA, there are five teams who can still be considered legitimate title contenders. The other 25 are a mix of the unproven, the banged-up, the raw, the disappointing, the apathetic and the catastrophically bad.
More than 80% of the league’s 30 teams have no realistic shot at winning the championship, even with more than a quarter of the season left to play. Beyond the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic — all of whom have won at least 70% of their games — only the San Antonio Spurs have better than a 10% chance to win the NBA title, according to lines offered by Las Vegas oddsmakers. Four teams are on track to lose at least 75% of their games, which hasn’t happened in 11 years.
For the first time in NBA history, team owners, executives, and fans in numerous markets say they have resigned themselves to the idea that their teams are not going to be competitive this season and that, given the state of the economy, they could not make the sorts of expensive moves that would help them improve. “We all want to win, but we have to be aware of the uncertainty of our future revenue,” said Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Beyond the obvious disappointment for fans, what’s most troubling about this situation is that for the first time in the long history of North American professional sports, the majority of the teams in one league have no financial incentive to improve. Most will be better off financially if they do nothing, and in many cases, will fare even better if they make personnel moves that are certain to make them worse.
When a business has more financial success doing nothing, then it’s time to blow up the model and make another. That’s what happened when the NHL shut down for a year. There were many owners in that league who lost less money not having a season than would have had the NHL played a full season. Sounds like the NBA may be in the same spot. It’s professional sports, and that means it’s a business. If success doesn’t bring more revenue, then why bother? In the NFL, it’s nearly impossible for a team to lose money with the huge yearly TV rights payments. But winning NFL teams can make their owners a lot of money, because they can charge more for premium seating, for sponsorships, for tickets. There remains an incentive to win. If there’s no reason for an owner to chance a few dollars, then there’s no reason to watch the games.
Thanks for the link to Liz Merrill’s article. She’s a very good writer.
hey bob…
did that guy really win a gold medal in the 1068 olympics??