Weighty matters...

Well, I seemed to have plateaued at 179.5 for the time-being. And on to other things, it's been a busy couple of days...

Andy Reid is taking some time off to deal with personal issues. Better too late than not at all in this case.

It was announced this morning that the relationship between Marty Schottenheimer and AJ Smith finally came to a head. With five members of Schottenheimer's coaching staff headed elsewhere for next season (offensive coordinator and strength coach will be in Miami, defensive coordinator in Dallas, tight-ends coach in Cleveland, and linebackers coach is heading up to San Francisco), ownership decided that it is time to end the dysfunction that is the brain-trust of Charger land.

I have to admit to a level of uncertainty in regards to this move. I think it was foolish for the front office to assume that Marty's staff was not going to pursue other openings considering the fact that the Chargers didn't offer Schottenheimer an extension, they offered him an option year (the team's option, not his as I understand it). In essence, the Chargers sent a message saying, "we don't really want you back, but the NFL braintrust has said that it would be an embarrassment if we fired you after taking our team to a 14-2 regular season record. So here's a cosmetic offer to make us look good to the general public."

To give an idea of what the Chargers have done - no coach in the history of the NFL has left a team after a season with a higher winning percentage (.875). That list includes John Rauch of the Raiders in 1968 (.857), Dick Vermeil from the Rams in 1999 (.813), Bill Parcells leaving the Giants after 1990 (.813), and Paul Brown in 1975 when he left the Bengals (.786). All of those coaches won at least 11 games in their final season with their respective teams. His post-season record not-withstanding, I think it's safe to say that there is no candidate currently available with Schottenheimer's cache.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Chargers make the playoffs next year, but they aren't going to have the best record in football. Learning a whole new system will do that to a good team.

The New York Giants new GM Jerry Reese is wasting no time in retooling his roster. The Giants announced the release of LB's LaVar Arrington and Carlos Emmons as well as T Luke Pettigout. With the retirement of Tiki Barber, that's four players that were either opening day starters, or were expected to be starters when last season opened. Arrington, a former first rounder and one-time pro-bowl pick, is becoming more and more likely to go down as one of the big draft busts from Penn State and is probably never going to get another fat contract like the previous ones that have always been predicated on his physical gifts and not his production.

Beer Me -

Okay, so it seems like Boston's newest headline grabbing athlete is grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons. Daisuke Matsuzaka shot a beer ad in Japan for Asahi Beer while wearing a Red Sox jersey. To call the Dice-man in hot-water over this would be overstating things, but there is some warm water involved and the simmering pot smells of hypocrisy.

Matsuzaka was granted permission from MLB to wear his Sox jersey in the ad (the endorsement deal predates his contract with the Red Sox). In the United States players are not allowed to endorse alcoholic products - however, that little tidbit extends only to the U.S. (for example, if a company in Mexico wanted to shoot television ads for Mexican TV with Nomar Garciaparra endorsing tequila...no problem).

The Red Sox evidently aren't happy about the use of their uniform in the ad and were only made aware of it when it hit stateside on YouTube. My problem? Year in and year out we are bombarded with ads for alcoholic products while watching sports. According to Forbes the four biggest corporate sponsors of both Major League Baseball and the Boston Red Sox include Anheuser-Busch. As a matter of fact, according to Forbes, in 2003 sixty percent of Anheuser-Bush's advertising budget was spent on product placement and advertising during sporting events.

I guarantee that the Sox were a recipient of a fair number of those advertising dollars, so I think it's safe to say that the team needs to get off its high horse in relation to this ad.