And the Drama Begins...

Well the usual post season fallout has begun with the firing of three head coaches and the annoyingly persistent question of Brett Favre's retirement. The Browns' Romeo Crennel, the Lions' Rod Marinelli and the Jets' Eric Mangini all received their pink slips today with no real surprise. Crennel and Marinelli are no-brainers, but I was a little surprised with the firing of Mangini since I don't think their downfall was all on him. He was not the one that threw three interceptions and I'm sure he wasn't solely behind the off-season spending spree that everyone had expected would get them to the Super Bowl. However, apparently Mangini's coaching style is a sore topic among players, as well as the team's effort to mold everything around #4. I guess the only problem I have with this decision is that same ol' excuse owners give for why they fired their coach..."we're going in a different direction." And what direction would that be??? Ummm, how about winning? According to Jets owner Woody Johnson, this was a decision they had been chewing on throughout the season. Really Woody? You mean, when you all were sitting around in the off-season coming off a 4-12 record and decided to buy your way into the Super Bowl by paying for all this fantastic talent and then figured you'd guaranteed the win in Tampa Bay by signing Brett Favre, was that when you thought of going in a different direction? Or was it when you got off to a phenomenal 8-3 start with Favre having one of his best games ever throwing for six touchdowns in Arizona? No, Woody, I'd be willing to bet this didn't come up until you went 1-4 badly over the last five weeks. Frankly, if you look back on all the teams' records after they fire their head coaches a day after Week 17 is in the bag, and their reason is "because they want to go in a different direction," I'm guessing that's code word for "we're pissed, you're outta here!" As I mentioned before, Crennel and Merinelli were obvious. Merinelli said it himself - "You can't go 0-16 and expect to keep your job." But you can always tell when a team's ownership is just pissed because they just realized that they're not as good as they thought they were and they're probably embarrassed. Oh well, hopefully they'll be going in the right direction this time. But yes, that question still remains - will the new direction include Brett Favre? Well the Jets don't think he was the problem (hmmmm, 22 interceptions?) and they really want him to stay. Personally I don't think they want to admit they made a mistake putting so much on the Brett Favre band wagon. But believe it or not, I think we've finally seen the last of Favre - although he still wants to drag it out. I think he's finally realizing that even though he still has the passion and drive for the game, he doesn't have the body. I'm really disappointed that he didn't realize this last year because, for me at least, his reputation has really been tarnished by the long drama that played out in the off-season and the dismal end to this promising season. And just to top it off, he didn't even go shake Chad Pennington's hand after the game! How classic for the quarterback who literally got kicked off the team because Favre had something to prove and then got the sweetest payback by beating him and taking his team (after a 1-15 season) to the playoffs! But Favre, I won't go as far as saying you're "old, washed up, and gray." You've given us 18 years of spectacular football and we'll never forget it. You're guaranteed a place in the Hall of Fame for all to see. It's really not worth another couple seasons full of pressure and pain for...well, what? So it's only been one day. We've got eight more months until the start of the 2009 season that I'm sure will be filled with more drama. I'll be sure to keep putting in my .02 cents:)