Bottom of the Bird Cage 4/1
We are now in the 91st day of the year and the start of a new month and we say salute to No. 91s in Chiefs history, led by Tamba Hali, Ken Kremer, Leslie O’Neal and R-Kal Truluck.
It was on April 1, 1891 that the Wrigley Company was founded in Chicago. Soon, gum was everywhere. On this day in 1976, Apple Computers was formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Cupertino, California. They would incorporate in less than nine months and go on to take over the computer world.
On April 1, 1984, the legendary singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father, with a gun that Gaye had bought for him. And born on this day in 1929 was the legendary football coach Bo Schembechler, the man who put the fire back into Michigan football.
Here’s Bo’s most famous quote: “When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing!”
I wonder how Bo would have handled Jay Cutler? Remember what he did as Michigan athletics director when basketball coach Bill Frieder took a job at Arizona State before the 1989 NCAA tournament; he sent Frieder packing immediately and had assistant Steve Fisher coach the team. The Wolverines won the national title.
From the Denver Post:
This is no April Fool’s joke. Pat Bowlen was referring to a conversation Tuesday morning between Bus Cook, Cutler’s agent and Broncos general manager Brian Xanders. According to a source close to Cutler, Xanders told Cook he had better get in touch with his client because Bowlen wanted to speak to his quarterback. By Tuesday evening, Bowlen had reached his breaking point.
Thus, Bowlen, in the 25th anniversary of owning the club, has dismissed iconic head coach Mike Shanahan and is about to dump his franchise quarterback in the same offseason. Shanahan, who had been the Broncos’ coach the previous 14 seasons, was fired Dec. 30 and replaced 12 days later by McDaniels. Here’s a twist — while Bowlen was declaring the end of the Cutler era, Shanahan sank a hole-in-one, according to his former attorney Harvey Steinberg. Shanahan got his first hole-in-one soon after getting fired by the Oakland Raiders in 1989.
Cutler had heard about Bowlen’s statement Tuesday but said by text message, “I’m not talking about it.”
A source close to Cutler said the quarterback was surprised by Bowlen’s declaration. In recent days, Cutler had packed up his car in Nashville and had it shipped to Denver, where he intended to show up for the team’s first minicamp April 17-19.
The source added that Cutler said he has not received phone calls from the Broncos since he received a text from McDaniels a week ago Tuesday. Whatever the interpretation, Bowlen decided to exercise his ownership powers and end all confusion. He’s the boss, and he says the team will trade Cutler.
There’s been so much spinning through the media in this thing, from the Broncos to Cutler, to the quarterback’s agent. Cutting through all the crap, it comes down to this: Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders screwed up, Cutler is too sensitive and agent Bus Cook did his job. If McDaniels/Xanders wanted Matt Cassel, they should have been better prepared, like Scott Pioli was. By scrambling around trying to throw together a three-team trade at the end, and then trying to say they weren’t really interested in Cassel when a deal didn’t go down was a land-mine that went off for them. It’s not hard to understand Cutler’s feelings on this, but the young man has accomplished nothing as a starting quarterback in the NFL. He’s not appeared in the playoffs. He’s thrown for a lot of yards, and that’s nice and all. But it doesn’t give him any more juice than dozens of other quarterbacks in the league. The real question now is who is going to play quarterback for the Broncos in 2009.
From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Brad Childress won’t let public opinion sway him, but the Vikings coach does read much of what is written about his team. And what he’s been reading is this: The quarterback situation is in near-disarray. That would explain the steady stream of Jay Cutler rumors, which will only grow following Tuesday’s announcement that the Broncos will trade him, or 41-year-old Jeff George recently telling Yahoo! Sports, “If I was in Minnesota, I guarantee I’d be wearing a ring right now.” George hasn’t thrown an NFL pass since the 2001 season.
But Childress holds the only opinion that matters, and while he isn’t claiming that Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels are necessarily headed for Canton, he also doesn’t agree with much of what he has read.
“I don’t see it as in shambles,” Childress said. “Now, do you want improvement there? Yeah. We always know that the laser is going to get pointed at the quarterback. But I don’t feel that way. I feel like we’ve upgraded with a guy like Sage, and I think that those two guys will compete. … Would we love to have a guy that could be a 10-year starter? Yeah, we would.”
The Vikings will be interesting to watch in this situation. They’ve developed a winning defense, but their quarterback position is holding them back. Pair a talented thrower like Cutler with Adrian Peterson and suddenly the offense is making big contributions to winning. On the line is the future of the franchise, because the Vikings need a new stadium but they can’t get anybody in the Twin Cities or the state of Minneapolis to budge on that right now. They need a Super Bowl run to excite the locals and put pressure on the politicos.
From the Lexington Herald-Leader:
“I don’t make a whole lot of promises. Never have,” John Calipari said. “But we make commitments. The commitment being that this will be about players first. I know how big this program is, but it’s only big because of the players who have gone through here. “All of our staff, we’re here to serve them. That’s why we’re here.”
Barnhart said that Calipari’s base salary will be $400,000. The remainder of the guaranteed contract is funded by radio, TV and other sponsorships, as well as conference revenue-sharing. “The marketplace that we operate in, to be the premier basketball program in America, (if) you want the best coach you must pay a premium price,” said Barnhart, who noted that the UK athletics program is self-funded and uses no tax dollars. “And we didn’t mind doing that because we think it’s that important. If done correctly, the investment in a coach will pay for itself and yield returns for the overall program in general.”
UK’s basketball and football revenue is used to fund 22 other sports programs. “We have a completed and signed agreement in place,” Barnhart said. A sticking point in Gillispie’s two seasons at UK was that a formal contract was never signed but, rather, a memorandum of agreement.
Pressure isn’t coaching the Chiefs, or the Broncos, or the Raiders, or the Packers, or the Steelers. Pressure is being the football coach at Notre Dame and the basketball coach at Kentucky. With the exception of a small slice of Bluegrass residents around Louisville, everyone in the state of Kentucky follows the Wildcats. And not just follows, but dissects every move, statement and picture that comes out of the program. Calipari has the type of personality to handle the job and if he wins and wins big – only national championships are accepted – he’ll become a deity in Kentucky. Anything less and no amount money will make it better.
I wonder how Bo would have handled McDaniels. The Broncos seem to be making things up as they go.
This Cutler thing is just a little too strange , we know he likes to change plays and throw long ,like hes trying to rack a lot of points extra quick , running his own game . Maybe to avoid getting tired soon in a game because of meds.
Seems to me like he might get busted by a new coach –wants out to somewhere he can have more control .
there’s a snake in the old wood pile , don’t all add up — Denver is where he got his start , and with 3 more good def. players in the right spots and good -tough def. coach . They could have been a problem .
Nah, Jim…it adds up.
Rookie Head Coach makes HUGE mistake not being discreet + immature, diva Quarterback = implosion of the Broncos.
I like it.
Yeah Scott…It’s a wonderful thing. It warms my heart the more it goes on.
I think I would have given up a second round pick just watch the donkeys implode. Cassel and Vabriel are just icing on the cake.
So going into next season the Raiders are still a joke and Denver is getting rid of there best weapon. All we need is San Diego to continue to underachieve under Turner, and the Chiefs are poised to make a Miami like turn around.
The Cutler Merry Go Round:
“Around & Around she goes, where she stops Nobody Knows”
but the Chiefs better
“Watch her folks, she’s Fairrrrrrrly Dangerous”
In Pioli We Trust, for
“THE RIGHT 53″
I say Denver should get the best deal they can for Cutler and bring their best game. We should want the AFC West to return to prominence as the toughest division in the NFL so that when we do return to contender status - with a roster of the Right 53 starting with the Right 22 - (yeah had to throw D-Dog a bone) - we’ll still be kicking the Raiders’ and Donkeys’ tails when they’re at their best then the winner of the West can be the very best above all the rest.
And while we’re at it, let’s be more original than just want the New Guy to bring the “Patriot Way” to KC - I’m not a big fan of the accents or the attitude. Let’s barbecue the stuffin’s outta every NFL opponent we face in style!
“From Pioli we should expect more!”
SG
Thanks for the “bone”
THE RIGHT 53 (22) 2009