Perusing the news on the NFL coaching firings (which felt a bit like a coaching obituary) gave me flashbacks to the climatic scene in "The Godfather" where Michael Corleone decides to handle his business and liquidate the competition.

Oh come on, dig if you will the picture... of Paul Tagliabue and the owners of the Texans, Vikings, Rams, Chiefs, Raiders, etc at a christening ceremony while Tice, Capers, Sherman, et al get whacked.

"Al Davis, do you renounce Satan?"

(Tice gets Donald Trump-ed on a cruise boat, Super Bowl tickets falling from his hand...)

(Mike Sherman on a rubbing table, redeeming a spa coupon from his friend Brett Favre - BLAM! In the eye!)

"I do."

(Norv Turner gets it between some revolving doors, while Al Davis smiles grimly from across the street)

(Jim Haslett is ambushed in San Antonio, wandering lost as he forgot for the 923^rd time that he wasn't in 'Nawlins anymore.)

(Dom Capers gets it while getting a parking ticket from a uniformed cop who looks a lot like Charlie Casserly...)

The only thing missing from this sequence is much-beloved (heh heh heh) Brian Billick as the treacherous Carlo Rizzi. Imagine...

Ozzie Newsome and Steve Biscotti strolls into Billick's office, while Billick is frantically dialing on the phone, getting "Your number has been disconnected or is no longer in service" when calling Norv Turner

Ozzie: "Brian, you still have Santino, uh I mean Kyle Boller to answer for..."

BB: (pale, sweating, whispering) "Noooo...I'm Brian Billick..."

Ozzie: You think you could fool a real football mind with that farce from Cal? Come on now...

BB: "I swear to you Ozzie, I thought he'd be the next Randall Cunningham..."

Ozzie: "Please Brian. Don't tell me you're innocent. It just insults my intelligence, and makes me very angry. I played with Bernie Kosar, remember?" Now tell me the truth, who pushed you to take Boller? Was it Barzini?

BB: Huh?

Biscotti: Who was it? Modell or Fassell?

Billick: Actually sir, you OK'ed it.

Ozzie: Don't remind me. That will be fixed...now, get out of my sight..."

Billick rushes gratefully into the car.

Lurking in the back of the Ravens-purple Escalade...Rick Neuheisel.

Just then, Rick gets text messaged from Ozzie. "Nevermind. He's gets another year. Why I have no idea."

Rick: "Are you sure this is the guy anyway?"

Ozzie: Why do you ask?

Rick: He looks like our Brian, but I dunno... he looks weird... sort of ...humble...

Ozzie: "It's a start..."

---------------

OK, that was fun. But that is the thing about mass layoffs in any line of work, and I've been through a couple; You knew it would happen. It still doesn't prepare you for the impact.

Monday, five coaches were fired, and Dick Vermeil retired. Today, Norv Turner went down in flames. The bloodletting hasn't ended either, as Dick Jauron is an interim coach facing the likely axe.

Fact is, the NFL usually tends to be the most brutal of meritocracies. Turner couldn't develop a consistent offense with Randy Moss, Lamont Jordan, and Jerry Porter.

See ya.

Jim Haslett might have gotten the rawest deal of all, given Hurricane Katrina, a wacky owner and the non-support of the NFL. However, the (S)aints have been chronic underachievers for the past few years.

Bye Jim.

Given four years to run the show in Houston, Dom Capers couldn't keep David Carr from looking like a Crip crashing a Bloods picnic.

In the immortal words of the late commedian Robin Harris, "gotta go gotta go"!

For all of the offensive brilliance of Mike Martz, he constantly forgot that Steven Jackson and future Hall Of Famer Marshall Faulk were allowed to run the ball on consecutive plays - and we won't even get into the political drama. The Rams may want to hire Dick Cheney or Karl Rove for the front office if it gets any worse.

Mike Sherman had the backing of Brett Favre, but I'm not sure that is an endorsement you want. I mean, Brett led the NFL in interceptions, and is good for at least three really silly throws in a game. Clearly new leadership is needed on the frozen tundra.

Now we move to the next phase. The wooing and hiring.

Make 'em an offer they can't refuse.

I'm still in shock, but I'm working on my assignment. All I can say is thank you to many:

1. To the judges, who I think appreicated style and substance. It is gratifying knowing that, while I seldom appears among "the most popular" list, you appreicated what I bring to the table. I think my best writing has yet to come, and I look forward to proving it.

2. To my fellow bloggers for setting the bar high. Especially the following:

Detpack - Thanks for your comments and I enjoyed your posts.

James J Morrisette - Your incredibly classy email to me after the finalists were announced was and is greatly appreciated.

Socalsportsfan - You wrote some provoking blogs. In fact, while I had been writing a black coaches piece, I realized that you actually gave me the "hook" in a way.

TheSportsIntellectual - I'm still surprised that neither you or Socal made it to the next round. I look forward to trading ideas with you down the road.

InTikiWeTrust - Your early support really helped. I march to my own beat, but no one wants to be The Tree That Fell In The Forest (With Nobody Around To Hear It), and I appreicate that.

Finally, friends who wrote to me offline and a few of you wrote to the blog. From the bottom of my heart - THANKS!

Now to the next level...

Every so often, somebody just has to tick me off over something. And people ought to know better by now...

A few weeks back, FOX Sports resident Know-It-All Elliot Kalb wrote a piece proclaiming the late, great, Reggie White as the greatest sacker ever, and he went on to give his top 10 pass rushers ever.

Now, I don't have beef with that per se. It's his opinion, and you can add all of the standard disclaimers. Where Elliott dropped the ball is where he gave short shrift he gave to anyone who played before 1982, when sacks became an official stat.

As Deacon Jones, the Godfather Of The Sack said, "Since when does 'all-time' begin in 1982?"

You see, QB sacks are kind of like blocked shots in the NBA. No one who knows sports disputes that Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain blocked more shots than anyone else in NBA history. In fact, like their rebounding totals, I seriously doubt that it is even close. NBA ref Earl Strom believed that Wilt and Russell averaged at least 8 blocks a game in their primes.

Alas the NBA didn't even keep blocked shots as an official stat until 1974, the year after Chamberlain hung it up. This means that that record will always have an unspoken asterisk behind it. After all, how would it sound if home runs wasn't kept as a stat until 1970, and Barry Bonds hits 800? 

Now the NFL doesn't have to have that problem. An amazing guy named John Turney decided to find out if Bruce Smith really held the all-time sack record when he "broke" LT's "mark". He went through years of film, game charts, play-by-play descriptions since 1960. Eight years he worked on this project (I think we should also give even more props to his spouse/S.O.) and he came up with a list we can enjoy. Be aware though, that it may get modified a bit, and only goes through the 1999 season.

Bottom line: Stats only take you so far. Context is even more important.

First: Any great player, be it Deacon Jones, Jack Youngblood, whomever - if they played prior to 1978 season, they had 14 games to hunt QBs. Prior to 1961, the schedule was 12 games. Second: Defensive linemen probably were able to get away with more in the past. Offensive linemen could not extend their arms to pass block before the mid-1970s. The headslap (pioneered with devastating effect by Jones and Rich "Tombstone" Jackson) was legal until 1977. On the other hand, there are considerably more chances to sack QBs today with increased passing, and offensive blocking techniques and pass protection schemes are more advanced. So it might be a wash, but the longer schedule certainly favors the D-linemen of today, as well as the now-common practice of moving a great lineman around the field to take advantage of mismatch. Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman of SI (who's forgotten more football than I have ever seen) has a great list. Here is mine:

1. Reggie White - The Minister of Defense was one of the first linemen I remember who was moved around constantly so that he could pick on an offensive weak link. Reggie was fast enough to play end, and possibly the strongest lineman ever, and could destroy any and all blocking schemes as a tackle. Dr Z. points out that if Reggie had had the headslap in his arsenal, his numbers would be totally sick. I have to agree.

Trivia for you: Reggie had a 21 sack season for the Eagles. In 12 games. Yes, a 12 game season because of the NFL strike, he got 21 sacks. Damn.

Trivia Point 2: Not too many people get rules passed because of them. Larry Allen so frustrated Reggie with a "jam" move to the face, especially in playoff games against the Packers, that the NFL finally banned that move.

2. David "Deacon" Jones - The man who did the most to market the sack was also one of the best. Maybe THE best, as he had 173.5 sacks in 14 seasons. The cornerstone of the Fearsome Foursome had consecutive seasons with 21 and 22 sacks (in a 14 game schedule), and I'm fairly sure that Bart Starr didn't lie down and give him any free ones either. Once beat Hall Of Famer Forrest Gregg for four sacks in one game. Lombardi double-teamed him regularly after that.  And watching his footage and listening to him, I am convinced that the man was slightly crazy and took great pride in that.

3. Lawrence Taylor - I'm putting LT here simply because he was a revolutionary. 142 career sacks in 12 seasons, including at least one 20+ sack season (16 games). He did it from the right outside LB spot, although the Giants would move him around as well. Too strong for running backs, and most tight ends. Too fast for linemen. Too crazy for anyone other than Bill Parcells. When he talked about hitting somebody so hard that "snot bubbles" came out, he was serious. And you knew it. Some say he made the left offensive tackle position a glamour one because you needed one to handle him and the LT clones that every team sought.

4. Jack Youngblood - We all know he played a Super Bowl (and well) with a broken leg. Take that T.O. What most people don't know is that he racked up 151 sacks (mostly in the 14-game season era) as the strong side end (it was Fred "Hunter" Dryer on the other side). Youngblood got tagged by TEs as well as O-linemen most plays, so that makes his numbers especially impressive. The man was a bad-ass, okay?

5. Bruce Smith - 200 career sacks, and 14.5 more in the playoffs according to Kalb. He probably hung around a bit too long (19 seasons), but if they are going to pay you, I quote Tupac; I ain't mad at cha. Incredibly quick, a conditioning freak, and relentless. Some would say he wasn't as complete as the men ahead of him on the list, but Smith actually got tougher against the run as he got older. I still can't believe the Oilers passed on him.

6. Gino Marchetti - Dr. Z. and I believe in rating this Old School destroyer this high. He was voted one of the best ends in NFL history at the league's 50th anniversary. Gino was another revolutionary who used incredible speed to nail at least one 20 sack season. Also pioneered the "grab and throw" move that is commonplace today.

7. Alan Page - Yes, I'm a Vikings fan. But hear me out: 15 seasons, he racked up 148.5 sacks, most of those in a 14-game season.

As a defensive tackle.

As a 245 pound defensive tackle. In fact, he played effectively late in his career at 228. And in case you are wondering, yes, that was really light even then. He also was the first defensive player to win a League MVP in 1971. Extremely intelligent, His Honor (he's currently a State Supreme Court Justice in Minnesota) also added superhuman quickness to take down enemy QBs. No other full-time DT is close to his totals. Given how seldom DTs turn in double-figure sack seasons, this record may stay a good long time.

8. Willie Davis - He was the best pass rusher on probably the best defense of his decade, the 1960's. The Packers had at least five Hall Of Fame starters on defense, Davis was one of them. Unofficially had at least two seasons with 20+ sacks. Can't wait to see the ultimate numbers, but he has to be on this list.

9. Al "Bubba" Baker - This list isn't about complete linemen, okay? I want to know how many heads you can collect when it's a passing situation. And for the first six years or so of his career, Bubba Baker was a wrecking crew. They used to keep a stat on how many sacks he racked up vs. games played. Understandable. He had 22-26 his rookie year, depending on whose numbers you used. Had 84.5 through his first 84 games. Finished with 128.5

10. Michael Strahan - I finally woke up to my fellow TSU (Texas Southern University) alumni in the 2000 NFC Title game. He absolutely embarrassed the late Korey Stringer; the Vikes Pro Bowl left tackle. I was ready to trash Korey, shame on me. Strahan is that good. I still don't like calling him the record holder. Can you imagine the uproar if Barry Bonds deliberately struck out to give Randy Johnson a strikeout record?

11. Derrick Thomas - Another great pass-rushing LB, who came closest to matching LT's pass rushing fury. Great first step and overall speed. When the Chiefs beat Houston 28-20 in a key 1994 playoff game behind Joe Montana, the real star was Derrick, who had 4 sacks of Warren Moon (the team had 9) as he just destroyed rookie (and future Pro Bowler) Brad Hopkins. In 12 seasons, he got 126 sacks, and holds the single game record of 7.

Trivia point: DT had those 7 sacks against Dave Krieg, but missed an 8th. Pity too. Krieg ducked under the sack attempt and fired the game winning TD on the final play of the game. Ouch. 

12. Mark Gastineau - Part of me wants to add him just to get people riled. That is fitting, since he riled a lot of people in his day. Again, I'm rating pass rushers, not the amount of class you showed doing it. Mark got a lot of chances to stir the pot too. According to Dr. Z, he averaged over 20 sacks over three full seasons, between 1981-84 (1982 was the strike year, and he won the Defensive MVP).1984 was the year he set the "official" sack record with 22. Gastineau did it with sub 4.6 speed (!) and great use of his hands. In fact, some people think it was Mark's sacks and dances that made the Jets push the NFL to make sack totals official.

I'll add a few more names to my list, Mean Joe Greene, some call him the greatest tackle ever, but I was surprised that his sack totals were so relatively low; Randy White, the "Manster" (1/2 man, 1/2 monster). 111 sacks in his long career and the total package at tackle. Only Page had more; Fred Dean, possibly the fastest pass rusher ever. Perhaps too light to be a great run defender, but was unstoppable when turned loose on the passer; Richard Dent, a Super Bowl MVP at DE for those great Bears defenses of the 1980s; Coy Bacon, who had 130 sacks in 14 seasons, all after the age of 26! Also had 21.5 sacks one season; Chris Doleman, who had 151 sacks splitting time between DE and OLB; L.C. Greenwood, a Hall Of Fame pocket crusher for the Steel Curtain, who probably lost sacks to some of his Hall Of Fame teammates; Kevin Greene, the all-time sack-holder for linebackers (160 in 15 seasons), although he spent some time at DE; Carl Eller, who had 133.5 in 15 seasons, most as Page's teammate; and Bob Lilly, the all-time great Cowboy DT.

Last night, ABC called it a wrap for Monday Night Football, a TV institution on a par with I Love Lucy, Seinfeld, and The Cosby Show. In fact, it outlasted the lot of them combined. It moves to ESPN, and let's face it, even if you have cable and hang at sports bars (for the women or men I'm sure), free football moving to cable is never a warm moment.

I mean really, image Cheers or Living Single moving to the Wifetime, uh Lifetime Network. Yeah, I thought so.

Of course MNF was two entitles. The Game and The Show. The first 15 years, the game was secondary to The Show. And if you are under 35 or so, I pity you, because you'll truly never get it. Dandy Don Meredith, Frank Gifford, and the legendary Humble Howard Cosell created a dynamic that will never, EVER be duplicated. Don't think that ABC didn't keep trying to do so either. When MNF-The Show jumped the shark, MNF-The Game lived on.

But when the show was about The Show, Lord help us. It was Don deflating Howard, Howard pontificating, Frank (or Keith Jackson) marching forward through the flak, not quite oblivious, but knowing that SOMEBODY had to keep the show grounded in this reality. At its best, it was by a thread.

It was the impromptu moments that made even a dog game worth watching, because you just didn't know what would happen next.

And since it was on free TV, you knew you could talk about it with a co-worker, and even a female one. My mom would have paid good money to throw a brick through the TV set at Howard, just like a bar in Denver famously did. Mom didn't hate Howie either - it was the toupee that irritated her. The Voice just closed the deal.

You wonder about the future of The Game though. Monday Night was a sign of Respect. I'm talking La Costa Nostra respect. When your team played on Monday Night, it was like having 45 instant Made Men. Instant national recognition. The entire nation would be watching, and in the pre-cable, pre-Direct TV-NFL package era, that meant EVERYTHING.

Teams that weren't MNF regulars like Dallas, Oakland, and Miami knew the deal - don't screw that #$%# up. Win! At least be competitive! The Oilers got smoked bad on Monday Night in the early 70's and didn't show up again for years. Somehow, the Chargers made Monday Night in the mid-1970's when they stunk, and it was big news. The city didn't want the stigma of a blacked-out Monday Night game, and bought up the extra tickets.

Back in the day people. Back In The Day...

Alas, you will never have a Howard Cosell again. We're far too PC a society. Bill Walton probably comes closest in sheer obnoxiousness, and the TNT NBA crew has amazingly funny chemistry with Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith. But they're on cable.

With that in mind, here are my favorite memories of MNF, in no special order:

1. Earl Campbell's Coming Out Party - The Perfect Storm of The Show and The Game. Houston and Miami. Don Shula and Bum Phillips. The Tyler Rose already was a sensation his rookie year, with a package of power and speed not seen in the NFL since that Brown guy was blowing up linebackers in Cleveland. The Fish featured Delvin Williams (out of Kashmere High in Houston), who was the number two rusher in the league behind Campbell. Houston hadn't been that amped since Santa Ana rolled The Alamo. That night over 53,000 lunatics packed the Astrodome and actually silenced Cosell for a minute with a 60 minute roar that seldom let up. Powder blue pom-poms. Love Ya Blue signs. A corny but infectious fight song.

If  you ever wonder why the NFL wanted football back in Houston, just pull out a tape of that game.

Oh, and Earl rolled for 199 yards and 4 TDs, including a clinching 83 yard run that still sucks the breath out of the room. Houston 35, Miami 30. Some still say it was the greatest game in Monday Night History. You will get no argument from me.

2. Halftime Highlights - For those of you born in the ESPN era, you don't understand how it was to see maybe 2-3 games a week. And that was IT. No ESPN, very little footage of other games. Except for when Howard would do his halftime highlights from around the NFL. Years later, we all find out that he was watching a monitor and recording what he saw, just as we would do it. And we didn't care.

"Joe ...Willie...Namath throwing to THAT MAN - RICH-ARD CASTER, down the middle, touchdown JETS!"

Don't act like you didn't do a "Cosell". We all did. I knew a girl in junior high who did.

3. Bo Knows The Boz - Some called it the Irresistible Force and the Immovable Object. Bull. It was the Phenomenally Talented meeting the Phenomenally Hyped. Since Earl, only Bo Jackson could come with the power (6-1 225), and the speed (allegedly 4.25) like that. His rookie year, he met the Other Rookie. Brian Bosworth. A tackling machine in college, his talent was only exceeded by his mouth. I never saw a white guy channel Ali like that, so I can't be too mad at him.

Then came the game. Bo smoked Boz on a short TD run, I mean blew him up, and it was showed repeatedly for the next....hell, I think I saw it this morning. Jim Brown grumped, "You'd think that Bo was the first man to run somebody over..." Jim, it wasn't his fault (or yours) that MNF didn't catch up drilling Sam Huff my brother.

Then the exclamation point, Bo turns left on a pitch, and goes 91 yards, posterized the Boz again, and ran away from half the Seahawks as he took it to the house. It was capped with the greatest Non-Celebration Celebration, as Bo ran through the end zone and into the tunnel. Rumor has it he made it to the Bay Area before coming back. A perfect ending, demanding a curtain call. In a road game.

4. Sky Fan - Bears-Packers game. Pretty ordinary game...can't remember the year (it was the early 90's) but an extra point is attempted. And this was the tunnel end of Soldier's Field. The net hadn't gone up, and it was all this guy needed to leap from the stands and catch the ball as it passed through the uprights - at least 15 feet off the ground before gravity took over and he crashed to earth. That is an American hero!

5. Tony Dorsett Takes It To The House - My Vikings and the hated Cowboys. Danny White hands off to T.D. from his own 1. Dorsett, who might have been the fastest great back in NFL history got a seam, blasted through hit, veered right to the sidelines, and it was over. 99 yards. A record that can be equaled, but not surpassed.

And the Cowboys only had 10 men on field. Damn.

Well, at least the Vikes won the game.

6. Howard Cosell and The Little Monkey - It was the Cowboys and Redskins 1983, and Washington wideout Alvin Garrett, one of the famed Smurfs, was undressing the Cowboys secondary with his running after the catch. At 5-8 and weighing slightly more than Sarah Jessica Parker, he basically skittered all over the field. Howard could nothing but exclaim in admiration, "Look at that little monkey run!" I guess waterbug, squirrel, and jackrabbit were taken. Worse, Alvin Garrett was black. Oops.

But the funny part was, Howard got embarrassed, and took a LOT of heat. But but no one black I knew thought he meant any harm. And well they shouldn't, after all black athletes from Ali, to Carlos and Smith to Ray Leonard never had a better friend in the media. It was just a bad - and hysterically funny - choice of words. Humble Howie survived. But the incident did hurt him. A pity. Howard was no Al Campanis.

7. The Juice Was On The Loose - Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we all liked O.J. Simpson. It didn't matter if he ran through an airport or the Steelers - we wanted The Juice On The Loose. It was a game in Cincinnati and when Riverfront Stadium got wet, everything on the field started to hydroplane. People, footballs, refs...you'd better have an anchor. O.J. gets the ball makes two or three of his patented sick moves, breaks into the broken field - and then it gets fun.

He goes right, puts on the brakes - and slips on his butt. Slides a good five yards, gets up in one smooth motion, cuts back completely across the field and outraces at least four Bengals into the endzone.  At least four others still have groin issues from his cutback.

8. Obi-Wan Montana Strikes Back - Denver and Kansas City met in a 90's Monday Night game with a high level of hype. One of the rare times John Elway and Joe Montana faced each other. And the game matched the hype. Less than two minutes to go, and Mr. Ed led one of his patented drives to put the Donkeys up by four. One small problem. He left about a minute on the clock. And just like Obi-Wan, Joe cut off Anakin Elway and the Broncos off at the knees with a 70 yard drive in about 50 seconds, capped by a TD to Willie Davis (?) with 5 seconds on the clock.

I tell ya, Joe left Mile High Stadium with nothing but smoldering stumps.

Legend has it that Montana whispered to Elway during their post-game hug, "I am the master..."

9. Randall Cunningham Goes Straight "Matrix" - Giants and Eagles. Randall always had a little something special for the Giants. This 1992 game was no different. From around the 10 yard line, Rocket Randal rolled right. Carl Banks zeros in on him and drills him square in the midsection. Knocks Cunningham into a three point stance, but his knees never touched the ground. Uses his off hand to stabilize himself, and straightens up, backs up and fires a TD to Keith Jackson.

The only thing better than the play was the look of utter and absolute disbelief on the face of Carl Banks.

10. John Lennon Visits The Booth - I don't even remember the game. I can't tell you who played. But it was John Lennon, less than year before his death hanging out with Cosell and Meredith. It sounds really trite to say "you had to be there", but you really and truly did. Kayne West might get a similar reaction today, maybe Diddy. But who would play Cosell? Who COULD?

10a. The Lonesome Oiler Fan - It was the early 70's and the Oilers were getting killed (yet again), and in the 4th period, the cameras caught a solitary fan. He caught them too. With a middle finger. Meredith, in a superb moment of adlibbing, said, "He's saying the Oilers are Number One."

11. George Blanda's Last Stand - It must have been 1974. The United States was 198 years old. The NFL was 55 years old. Blanda was 46.

It was late in a game against the Dallas Cowboys, and Blanda comes in to play quarterback. The guys in the booth had a field day with The Old Man. Humor with more than a little love for a guy who inspires me when I play ball in my late 30's.

My mom, ever the voice of sanity and common sense, was in disbelief more than anyone, "That old goat? They're going kill that man, why won't sit down before he gets hurt?" Dad and I were dying laughing. And we all were rooting for The Old Goat to throw one more TD.

And he did, I think he drilled a strike to Cliff Branch. It was the last TD pass (number 242 I think), of an incredible career.

Ok, gang. Now it's your turn!

"Son, you be prepared to work twice as hard for half the chance."

- Advice given by my parents to me, circa 1972. Repeated on a regular basis ever since.

It was always about The Chance.

When you grow up black in this country, you recognize that race will always Be There. The Pink Elephant in the room that is America. If you don't subscribe to being a victim, you also know that you have to you had to acknowledge it.
 

Then ignore it and work twice as hard. Or else the elephant tramples you.

For too many years in the NFL, the relevant pink elephant was whether blacks could be the acknowledged leaders of their teams. That is why centers, middle linebackers and quarterbacks who were black were such rarities. Centers make the line calls. Middle linebackers were the defensive signal callers, and there is no need to explain the quarterback position. First position to fall was the middle linebacker spot, with Willie Lanier leading a vaunted Kansas City defense in the 1960's and 70's. Eventually we have now got to the point where no one seriously thinks about switching a Vince Young to receiver.  And that is real progress.  You forget a future Hall Of famer like Warren Moon threw his first NFL pass at age 28.

2005. The elephant is not as pink as before. Smaller too. And maybe the elephant is gone from this corner of society for good. Because only the head coaching spot remains.

It is great to see the success of the Big Game Hunters Marvin Lewis, Lovie Smith, and Tony Dungy. It is easy to forget how hard the road was for each man to travel. For example, Dungy was the youngest defensive coordinator in NFL history at 29 with the Steelers. In his stints with Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Minnesota, Dungy's defenses were always among the NFL's best and most opportunistic. Yet, it took 10 years to get his shot. I mean how can anyone explain that? How in the hell did David Shula - David Freakin Shula - get a five year run in Cincy ahead of Dungy? And when he got his chance, it was with the pathetic Tampa Bay Bucs, the worst franchise in NFL history up to that point. All he did was turn them into a perennial contender.

In two years.  

Half a chance.

Twice as good.

In fact, with the exception of Marvin Lewis, every black coach in NFL history to date has gotten his team to the playoffs within two seasons. Art Shell, Ray Rhodes, Dennis Green, Dungy, Herman Edwards, Lovie Smith all did it in their 1st or 2nd season with their first teams. Only Edwards can be said to have walked into a situation that was not marked "Total Disaster".   Half a chance.

Cleveland Browns fans should be inspired. 

I'm sure someone will read this and accuse me of bringing up the so-called "Race Card", as if life is some game of BizzaroWorld game of Texas Hold 'Em that I can win playing it at any time.

Please.

Don't be upset with me. If you're a Lions fan, be upset with Matt Millen because Crennell, Edwards, Smith and Lewis were available, and you got stuck with Marty Morningwheg and Steve Mariucci.

Bills fans, you must be happy with Gregg Williams and Mike Mularkey right now. And Bears fans? Oh yeah, the front office got wise and got Lovie.

The tragedy is that the NFL had to mandate interviews just to get a qualified minority candidate in the front door - which met with some criticism. Not surprising, because doing The Right Thing isn't easy, and seldom painless.

You know, whenever we talk about race in this country, and our efforts to atone - or at least redeem - for past sins, some people usually think it's about getting even.

It's never been about that. It's about starting even. About the simple acknowledgment of The Elephant when it matters. Hell, anyone can acknowledge it 50 years later.

Perhaps acknowledging The Elephant will help Art Shell. The man is still waiting for a second chance - hell he's still waiting for a serious interview - despite a 54-38 (.587) record. You look for reasonable, rational reasons why when Dave Wannstedt goes 82-86 in two tries, and Norv Turner gets two shots to go 58-80-1. Ask yourself why Sherman Lewis never got a chance. I don't want to look in that dark corner, but when the rational explanations are exhausted, what are you left with? But now, just maybe, we're seeing an end to an era. It's why I root for a Colts-Bengals AFC Title Game.

So that when I see it, I can say it. Ding dong. The Elephant is dead. Here's to The Chance.