The money isn't even the biggest issue. The Maple Leafs are a financial success, even though they haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967.
It's the idea of a hockey coach lasting eight years with one team. It can happen, but it isn't very likely.
Coaches flame out quickly in the NHL. When the Penguins won the Cup in 1991 and '92, they were in a stretch of eight coaches in 11 years. (One change was involuntary, with Bob Johnson's illness and subsequent death).
Things have been more stable in recent years with a record-setting stay for Dan Bylsma, but they've still had three head coaches in the last seven seasons. That period also included a championship.
Scotty Bowman, the best to ever hold the job, coached five different teams in his career.
Babcock has one Cup victory on his resume, which ties him with Terry Crisp, John Tortorella and Bylsma.
The Maple Leafs are deluding themselves if they think coaching is their problem. They've run a poor organization for a long time and don't have enough players to seriously compete for a championship.
Babcock becomes the Leafs' fifth coach in the last eight seasons, and a likely candidate to spend part of the next eight years being paid a lot of money to stay home.
---
--NOT A CHANCE
Babcock's deal shows how misguided last summer's speculation was that he would wind up with the Penguins.
The assumption was made because of his past association with Sidney Crosby on the Canadian Olympic teams.
Babcock may have enjoyed coaching Crosby in the NHL. He'll enjoy $50 million even more.
---
--OH MY
Simon Despres scored a game-winning goal for Anaheim in the playoffs the other night.
He was also on the ice in the last minute to protect the Ducks' one-goal lead.
The Penguins still have Ben Lovejoy.
---
--'TIS THE SEASON
Ah, summer. Never mind the recent cool weather.
Soon school will be out, and kids will be free to spend those warm sunny afternoons in darkened rooms, being entertained and challenged by the squonks and beeps of sophisticated video games.
Of course, that will be in the moments when they're not texting their friends.
All is not lost, though. Those Little League fields can be repurposed to grow organic zucchini.
---
--SECRET FORMULA
Thanks to Will Smith for providing baseball's throwback moment of the week.
The Brewers reliever was suspended eight games for having a foreign substance on his arm. In a game where sophisticated pharmaceuticals had taken over, it's refreshing to see a guy who seeks a way to cheat using ordinary clubhouse supplies.
The offending material, according to Smith, was a combination of rosin and sunscreen.
His explanation was as peculiar as his choice of goo. He said it was "chilly and kind of windy," so he slathered rosin and sunscreen on his arm. Then, he said, he forgot to wipe it off before he went out to pitch.
A lot of people might have just gone with a long-sleeved shirt.
---
--STUPID HOST TRICK
David Letterman retired last week after 6,028 shows over 33 years, spread across two networks.
It was an amazing run, even though it seemed like the United States Postal Service should have been a sponsor over the last several years because he was mailing it in so often.
Ben Roethlisberger and Jerome Bettis were among the Pittsburgh people who were on the list of 19,932 guests he welcomed over the years. (Mario Lemieux declined his invitation).
But there was another local sports connection that seems to have been forgotten in all the retrospectives.
Steelers founder Art Rooney died on Aug. 25, 1988, which led to an unfortunate attempt at humor on Letterman's "Late Night" show on NBC.
He noted Rooney's passing, then added, "It's terribly sad, and there's a little controversy surrounding this because he died during the exhibition season. So does it count?''
The studio audience groaned at the line. Pittsburgh viewers called local affiliate WPXI to complain, and Letterman issued an on-air apology the next night.
"It was poor judgment,'' Letterman said. ''My heartfelt apologies to them."
He also did a satellite interview with WPXI, expanding on the apology he'd offered on the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment