Invincible NFL Coaches

In the NFL world coaches come and go at a staggering rate. Owners and fans demand wins from their teams and have little patience for rebuilding or down years. If a guys doesnt turn things around in 1-3 years he is usually out the door. However in this turbulent world of NFL coaches two men have proved to be almost invincible. They are Norv Tuner and Marvin Lewis current head coaches of the Chargers and Bengals. 

In 2006 then head coach Marty Schottenheimer was fired by the Chargers after his team went 14-2 but failed to advance in the playoffs. His firing was the result of the Charger's continued inability to win in the playoffs. They had done well in the regular season under his watch, but the ownership saw their consistent playoff failures as a sign that a change was needed. So, Norv Turner was brought in by the Chargers to change the pattern of playoff failure and win the team a championship. During his time with the team Turner has gone a respectable 53-37 over 6 seasons. He did make the playoffs his first three seasons (although once as an 8-8 team), but hasnt been back since then. He still hasnt won the big one and his teams are always being talked about as under performers.  Despite this the front office that felt it necessary to fire a coach that went 14-2, still hasnt given Turner the boot. Somehow Norv Tuner has appeared to find a suit of invincibility and avoid the NFL head coach chopping block.

Marvin Lewis' ability to stay employed is even more impressive then Turner's. Lewis has been the head coach since 2003 and has gone 74-79, that is right he has a losing record. Additionally he only has three playoff appearances and no wins. Yet he still has a job. This is almost unheard of for an NFL coach. In comparison Pete Carroll went 27-21, went to the playoffs twice and won a game in three seasons as the head coach of the Patriots and he got the axe. NFL owners have generally have high standards for their lead men. The Bengals appear to judge their coach's quality using a metric other then wins and losses.

Both Turner and Lewis appear to have found a way to avoid the chopping block year after year. We may never know what secret power they possess that allows them to do this, but one thing is clear they arent being judged solely on wins and losses.

Miguel Olivo and Chone Figgins Both Gone, What Now?

The Mariners haven't been a good team in close to ten years and they haven't made the playoffs since 2001. This chronic failure on the baseball field has brought down the interest levels of many fans. Those fans that still exist have grown frustrated and pessimistic. Well now, the main targets for the mariner fanbase's collective frustration have now been let go. This offseason the team announced that both Miguel Olivo and Chone Figgins will not be back next year. 

This is great news for the team's chances of actually winning games. Removing Olivo from the roster keeps Eric Wedge from playing the offensively limited and defensive liable Olivo over the much more talented John Jaso. Removing Chone Figgins from the ends the self inflicted handicap the Mariners were playing with last year. In 2013 they will actually have 25 men on the roster that they can use, instead of wasting a spot to let Figgins say he is a major leaguer. It will be hard, although not impossible, for the Mariners to not find upgrades for these two roster spots.

The question that must now be answered is what will we as fans do with all our frustration? We will have to find a new outlet for venting. My guess is we chose a new player to target, most likely Justin Smoak. The Smoakamotive has been a huge disappointment since he was acquired from Texas for Cliff Lee. In his two plus season he has hit .227/.304/.382 good for a about a 90 wRC+. As a first basemen he has been a detriment to the team, far from the potential allstar the M's thought they were getting. That right there is enough to warrant fan frustration  However, there is more, the stellar defense that we were promised has also been absent during his Seattle career. For his fragile psyche's sake I hope the fans go a little easy on him; he is only 26.

Before we throw too much of our disgruntled comments in Smoak's directions, let's remember the important thing, Miguel Olivo and Chone Figgins are gone. We wont have to watch endless K, passed balls and frowny donkey faces (at least from those two) ever again. Celebrate the change and try not to worry about the future.

Getting Under the Hump

He would make this article too easy.

The hump is an exceptionally awkward part of any sports league.  Every sports writer seems preoccupied with how a team can get over it, and just what new addition will help them do so.  It seems impossible to measure such a thing as the hump and, frankly, it is, because the hump doesn't exist.  It's an arbitrary measure of a team's improvement, and really means nothing.  This will never stop people from talking about the hump, of course.  It's far too much fun to go on and on about just what a team needs to get over the hump, despite the fact that few if any of us are competent enough to truly tell.

Of course, all this talk of getting over the hump isn't really fair.  The hump is there for a reason: if everybody was over it, then there wouldn't be any competition.  Teams need to be under the hump sometimes, to make it all the sweeter when they improve.  As such, we here at Unique Sports Theme Name bring you the most pertinent list for the continuation of the NBA: the players to help teams get under the hump.  These are teams just close enough to be true contenders that need that one player to push them farther away from that elusive championship, so the rest of us can enjoy it.

Where the NFL Fails, Trades

In the world of American sports the NFL reigns supreme. They dominate the TV ratings and have the highest annual revenue of the big four sports. In the world of fantasy sports the also dominate, with legions of fantasy football players all over the world. Another example of their dominance is the Madden video game franchise (the only licensed NFL video game). This game has a huge following and has been able to convince loyal fans to fork over $60 every year just to get new rosters and a few graphics tweaks. However, even with all its might there is one area that the NFL falls short, player trades.