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Just another reason to hate pink

Black Mondays firings

By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer

he NFL had its annual

Black Monday last week. There were more firings going on than a series compilation of The Apprentice. Cue the only Boomtown Rats song you know. It was an ugly one.

Seven coaches were handed their pink slips: Philadelphia’s Andy Reid, Chicago’s Lovie Smith, Arizona’s Ken Whisenhunt, San Diego’s Norv Turner, Cleveland’s Pat Shurmur, Kansas City’s Romeo Crennel, and Buffalo’s Chan Gailey. In addition to this, several GMs were released as well: Arizona’s Rod Graves, New York Jets’ Mike Tannenbaum, Cleveland’s Tom Heckert, San Diego’s A.J. Smith, Jacksonville’s Gene Smith, and, more recently, Kansas City’s Scott Pioli.

But despite it all, none of the moves came as any real shocker. Andy Reid has

had two miserable seasons at the helm of the “dream team,” and after this year’s 4-12 record, the writing was on the wall. Reid had been with the Eagles for 14 seasons, including a Super Bowl appearance in 2005, but his strong history with the club wasn’t enough to save his job. His unemployment turns out to have been short-lived though, as the Kansas City Chiefs hired him on Friday. Good luck turning that one around, Andy.

Some would like to call Lovie Smith’s firing a surprise, but it really wasn’t. While Smith did manage a Super Bowl appearance in 2006, he’s led the club to only one playoff appearance in the last six years. Add to that the epic second half collapse this season (7-1 to start, 3-5 to finish), and it would have been a surprise if he had kept his job.

Ken Whisenhunt is the last of the Super Bowl appearance coaches to be fired, as he led the Cards to the championship game

Kicking out racism

AC Milan takes a stand

By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer

na recent friendly against

Italian fourth-division side Pro Patria, AC Milan’s Kevin-Prince Boateng left the pitch after being subject (along with several other black players on the team) to racial abuse. His entire team followed him in his protest, and the match was abandoned.

It was refreshing to see

a player take such a stand against racism, and there has been no shortage of public support and praise for Boateng. However, peo-

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ple seem to be losing sight of the fact that it wasn’t

so much his action, as it was the team’s that made this event so powerful. If Boateng just walked off the field by himself, nothing would have happened. They would have simply subbed him and went

on playing the game. No harm, no foul, and probably not even a mention in the news that night; after all, it was a friendly against an unknown side. If he didn’t have the support of his teammates, Boateng might even have returned to the pitch. Messina defender Marco Zoro once stopped play by handling the ball

in 2008. However, three years of playoff-less football ended up sinking him. This season's 1-11 finish after

a 4-0 start certainly didn’t help his cause.

Norv Turner has consistently led the Chargers to decent records, but never really threatened in the post-season; one could dub him the master of high mediocrity. An AFC Championship game was the highest achievement of the Chargers under Turner, though his tenure is likely better remembered for two disappointing early playoff exits, followed by three years of early golfing to close out his time as head coach.

As for the last three coaches, there’s not too much to say. They all inherited terrible football teams and failed to do much with them in their short times with them. Gailey was only on the payroll for three seasons, Shurmur for two, and Crennel just had one full year. I highly doubt even Bill Belichick could have

in a game in which he was being abused, and informed the referee that he was fin- ished playing. However, he had no support in his out- rage, and was actually con- vinced to continue playing. Similarly, in a 2006 match against Real Zaragoza, Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o tried to leave the pitch, but was eventually persuaded to keep playing. It can be argued for the last two cases noted that having the player leave the game is just giving the racists what they want, but if the whole team leaves, that’s definitely not true. Racists or not, everyone in the stands is there to watch

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done anything with those miserable squads.

The one firing that should have happened but didn’t, would be Rex Ryan in New York. The team had a losing record (6-10) and was easily one of the least watchable teams in the league. The Jets don’t

soccer. Soccer with one team on the pitch is pointless. Abandoning the match both scores a moral victory, and forces UEFA to do some- thing, or show that they’re all talk. UEFA has said for years that they’re against racism and that there are procedures in place so

that events such as AC Milan’s never take place, but I’ve never seen or heard of any significant action taken. For example, when some English U-21 players were abused in Serbia, the Serbian FA was slapped with a mere £65,000 fine. When Mario Balotelli faced racism in a game against Porto, the end result was a

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a

Youre fired! | Photo illustration by Joel McCarthy

look to be going anywhere fast and have now missed the postseason two years in a row. However, this one reeks of a power struggle. With GM Mike Tannenbaum getting the boot, it looks like Ryan won this one. Jets fans, my condolences.

paltry £16,000 fine. For com- parison, Nicklas Bendtner received an £80,000 fine for displaying a pair of spon- sored briefs during a match. These miniscule fines do nothing, and UEFA has to realize this, though it’s becoming obvious that they’re already aware and simply refuse to do anything. With this in mind, the only way racism will ever be eliminated from the game is by teams following AC Milan’s example. An active, and very public, approach is necessary. UEFA has to be embar- rassed into taking action. Until that day comes, soccer will never be free of racism.