How Not To Treate A Coach

July 12, 2011Danny Vinik Leave a comment

The Minnesota Timberwolves hired Kurt Rambis as their coach in 2009. After two years with very little improvement, Rambis was fired today, but not until a lengthy wait forced Rambis to sit idly by while his future remained up in the air.

The NBA Finals ended almost a month ago. The Timberwolves season ended many months ago. What takes this long to come to a decision?

Rambis watched some of the pre-draft workouts, but wasn’t allowed into the draft room on draft night! If you aren’t going to let him in the room, he isn’t going to be the coach next year. Clearly, Minnesota had already made up its mind that Rambis wasn’t going to be its coach so why wait? Why keep Rambis in limbo and prevent him from finding a new job?

How does it help the Timberwolves to start their coaching search in mid-July?

There’s nothing wrong with Minnesota letting Rambis go. The team hasn’t improved in the past two years, although it certainly is better off financially and has more potential on the court. Nevertheless, firing Rambis isn’t up for debate. The Timberwolves’ way they fired him is

Minnesota could have fired Rambis months ago and saved everyone a lot of wasted time. It doesn’t make sense why they waited until today. Is July 12th a special date or something?

So for every other professional sports franchise in the world, I’ll state the obvious (which I guess wasn’t so obvious to Minnesota): If you’re going to fire your coach, don’t wait until three months after the year ends to do so. Do it right away and give him the chance to find a new job

The NCAA Continues To Confuse Me

April 19, 2011June 15, 2012Danny Vinik 1 Comment

I’ve posted very infrequently here the past year, but I’m back and will update more so check back often for new posts.

The NCAA has always confused and angered me. It always seems to have an agenda and never seems to put the students first.

But it may have reached a whole new level of nonsense now as it is trying to prevent North Dakota from following a state law. Here’s the deal:

North Dakota’s nickname is the Fighting Sioux and its logo depicts an American Indian. In October 2007, the NCAA and North Dakota agreed that it would change both by Aug. 15, 2011 or face NCAA penalties unless it could convince the two Native American tribes in North Dakota, Spirit Lake and the Standing Rock Sioux, to approve the logo and nickname. Spirit Lake had no issue with them, but the Standing Rock Sioux opposed both. Now, though, North Dakota passed a state law requiring the school to keep its current logo and nickname.

So the University can either ignore the law and face the penalty or ignore the NCAA and face the penalty. It’s a lose-lose situation and North Dakota has no choice in the matter. Now wouldn’t it be great if given the situation, the NCAA just backed down and accepted the government’s stance?

It’s pretty absurd that the North Dakota legislation got involved in all this, but it’s happened and the NCAA must adapt. If North Dakota ignores the NCAA, it will not be allowed to host postseason games and will not be allowed to wear its logo in postseason games. It’s not a huge penalty and not that big of a deal, but the NCAA is holding firm.

What exactly does it expect North Dakota to do? Defy the law? That’s expecting quite a lot from the University and puts it in an unfair position.

So a message to NCAA President Mark Emmert: let it go.

NHL Suspensions Bewildering

February 16, 2011Danny Vinik 2 Comments

Much has been made over the past week about the suspension following the “game” between the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. After a game filled with 346 penalty minutes and10 ejections, just three players were suspended.

The Islanders’ Trevor Gillies and Matt Martin were suspended for nine and four games, respectively, and Penguins’ forward Erik Godard was suspended for 10 games. The Islanders were also fined $100,000 as a team.

Martin sucker punched the Penguins’ Maxime Talbot early in the game in a classless move that was just the beginning. The punch and ensuing “fight” (Martin just pounded the shocked Talbot as he lay helpless on the ice) epitomized the game. How exactly does Martin only receive a four game suspension?!

This wasn’t just a tiny mistake. It was purposeful and premeditated and has no business in the sport. It should have been a minimum 20 game suspension and I would have liked to have seen Martin sitting out the rest of the year.

Gillies’s cheap shot was similar, but worse. In the 3^rd period, Gillies ran after Eric Tangradi, struck him in the head with an elbow and continued mauling the forward as he lay on the ice. As Gillies skated away, he mocked the concussed Penguin. It was truly disgraceful.

But Gillies only received nine games!! He shouldn’t be playing hockey again this year whatsoever, but the NHL brass just can’t get anything right. Continue reading “NHL Suspensions Bewildering” →