SB Nation User Blog: guapobob

Furcal (reportedly) Signs With Dodgers

guapobob — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:57:55 -0000

{Editor's Note: I was going to promote this to the front page, but I have decided against it on the basis of not feeding this "attention who*e" any more.} -Nico

Ken Rosenthal is now reporting that Furcal has signed with the Dodgers. I was going to post this in the post indicating that Furcal had chosen the Braves, but there are 380 comments there already! Others on this site have wondered if Furcal was playing off the A's to get an offer from the Braves, but now you have to wonder if the Braves were used to extract an offer from the Dodgers. If so, well done Mssrs. Furcal and Kinzer. I find it entertaining, and am not upset at not getting Furcal since I, also, worried about the combination of Furcal's shaky medical history and the A's well chronicled (here anyways) bad karma with injured players.

Kiffin to coach Tennessee

guapobob — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:55:19 -0000

Lane Kiffin has been named coach at Tennessee, per Foxsports. I was watching the end of the Colorado Nebraska game on ABC when I noticed the news crawl at the bottom of the screen announce it. The Fox report says the terms of Kiffin's contract were not available, but the ABC/ESPN newscrawl says Kiffin will be paid more than the Raiders were paying him. I, as well as many others in Raiders Nation, think this is what Kiffin was angling for all along, a plum college head coaching position. I was neither a detractor nor supporter of Kiffin when he was fired by the Raiders. Given that Monte Kiffin is his dad, and Jon Gruden was available to advise him prior to taking the Raiders job, I'm sure Kiffin knew what he was getting himself into. On the other hand, Al Davis hired someone who had no business being an NFL head coach, though Kiffin is certainly bright enough. It was also clear, to me at least, that Kiffin was trying to get himself fired this year, so that he would at least have a claim on his remaining contract salary. Everybody here will agree that Al Davis has got to make a wiser choice of head coach after this season. But I wonder if the fallout of both Gruden's and Kiffin's departures from the Raiders makes this position so undesirable that the pool of candidates will once again consist of failed head coaches desperately looking for another chance to coach a team (Hello, Jim Fassel!) or somebody else we've never heard of. Oh, well, I had a great Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to this Sunday's game against the Chiefs. I'm going, but since the game is a sell out, I'll also get to record it. I'm hoping it's a keeper recording, like last week's Bronco game.

Javon Walker done for year

guapobob — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:17:46 -0000

I don't think anyone else has posted this, but it looks like Javon Walker is done for the year. According to Fox Sports, Walker hurt his ankle against the Panthers. Even though he finished the game, Walker was injured enough to declare himself out for the year. On a more ominous note, Coach Cable seems not to have been informed of this:

Cable, who is trying to find a way to end Oakland's three-game losing streak, had not spoken with Walker and was unaware of the receiver's status, a team spokesman said.

Makes you wonder if Cable is already being viewed/treated as a lame duck coach.

On the other hand, JaMarcus Russell and Darren McFadden look like they'll play this weekend. I guess this that's good. But I'd just as soon shut Russell down for the year so he doesn't take too bad a beating to his body and his confidence, then wait to see who next year's coach will be and what system they'll be running.