Woody drops a deuce on the mattress

So Mr. T gets the axe, and Sexy Rexy gets the spoils.

This is one of the most asinine decisions I can think of.  Forget the fact that Rex needs to go--the Jets clearly need a better Head Coach--but that's not even my main problem with this decision.   

The organization needs a reset, so that starts at the top by getting the right General Manager for the job.  Someone with experience.  Who knows the league.  Who knows how to fill a roster with athleticism and skill, but also mesh personalities into a group that can exemplify dedication and character.  

How many guys are out there who fit that bill?   And of that group, how many want to come work for Woody, in the three ring circus that is Jets-ville, under the white hot glare of tabloid journalism?

So here's an idea: before beginning your search for the new "head" of the organization, the guy from which all success or failure will ultimately flow, let's take this incredibly small available talent pool for the GM and layer another IMPOSSIBLE precondition on it: that this GM would choose and/or be fully supportive of having Rex as his head coach.   Remember--it's not like the GM can just endure Rex, he now has to tailor his team around Rex.  Because the owner didn't just fire T and stay silent on Rex--the owner said Rex is the guy who can get the job done.   No GM can come in and blame the coach, and hire a guy who fits the GM's system.  Not after the owner just said Rex the right guy for the job.

Talk about cart before the horse.

Then again, "horse" leads to "horse's ass" leads to "ass" leads to "buttfumble" leads to Jets.  So I guess it all makes sense.

Just End The Season

This game was real throwback to the 6-3 Colts/Jets games of yore.

Pure #fail with both teams competing to regurgitate the win.  The Jets succeeding by committing 5 turnovers.

I could rant and rave about the fact that Ryan needs to go.  That new offensive personnel is needed.  That this team's character deficiencies cannot be surmounted by the reasonable defensive talent they've assembled.

But why bother?  I said it a year ago.  Hell, any Jets fan with eyes said it a year ago, when star players were quitting on the field with the playoffs still in reach.

The only thing we've really learned this year, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that Sanchez is not and will never be the answer at QB.  It's too bad.  He's a good guy.  But he's done.  Let's start McElroy the last two, to see if he can be a serviceable backup going forward, and bring in a new playcaller next year.

The Day the Big East died

The 7 B-ball only Catholic schools have voted to kill or leave the Big East.  The league will be disbanded, and those 7 schools will together re-form a new conference that, per NCAA rules, will maintain its automatic bid to the Big Dance.  I would guess they will seek to selectively add some schools from other conferences, probably the A-10.  Butler, Xavier, U Mass, VCU, Dayton and St. Louis seem to be possibles.  My guess--and it is only that--is that they are very selective and add only Xavier to get to an 8 team conference.

What the football schools (Conn, USF, Cincinnati) and the incoming schools like Houston, UCF, Temple, SMU, Memphis and Tulane are supposed to do now, I have no idea.  Maybe they will stick together as a group of 9.  Adding the 4 incoming "football only" schools--Navy, San Diego State, East Carolina, and Boise--gets them to 13.  Enough to qualify for a championship football game and the money that comes with it.  So maybe those 13 will just stick it out despite seeming to have no natural rivalries, geographic consistency, or other common elements between them.

Truth be told, I don't really care what happens to the football schools (although Duke could end up with them if the ACC is poached to death).   What's important here is what the 7 are doing.

This is a brilliant, visionary move by the Catholic schools.  They are forgoing football revenue, which flies in the face of the new math of collegiate athletic economics.  In the place of a massive 12-16 team superconference, they will likely be returning to a more manageable 8-10 team conference.  A conference where there can be a double-round-robin schedule, which will enable a superior regular season product.  From a basketball standpoint, these teams are well matched.  The schools are sensibly combined from a geography standpoint.  There is a cultural commonality to big city northern schools.  They are all big-time basketball programs.   Where all the other conferences are trying to out "big" each other for football revenue, this group of 7 schools have just positioned themselves as the premier basketball conference in the country, playing by a different set of rules than the rest of the money-chasing gridiron guys.

The superconferences are the product of accountants.  This league will provide a product that pleases someone else--the customer.

Old Big East looking to "kick out" new Big East?

And get back to a non-football, power bball conference.

Link.

Here's the money quote:

At issue is whether the Big East basketball-only schools have the power to dissolve the league, and retain all the assets and brand name. A source with knowledge of the situation said that until July 1, the seven have the majority votes and the necessary three-fourths to have controlling power. There are only three remaining football members -- Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida.

But a number of sources couldn't confirm whether Temple, which is a football-only member this season, has a controlling vote. One Big East source said Temple has a vote on football issues but wasn't sure whether the Owls could use that vote for membership. If the Owls could, Temple likely would be the fourth vote preventing any dissolving of the league.

The move would also disassociate the traditional Big East teams from the yet-to-join-but-admitted merry band of misfits:  "Memphis, Tulane, Central Florida, SMU and Houston, and football-only member East Carolina."

So...apparently, the remaining (real) Big East schools want to go back to what they do well, and stop cobbling together crap.  Makes sense.   Only wish they had the foresight to see the wisdom of this path earlier.