Short & Quick, J’9, '10

Browns
So the Walrus decided to keep Mangini. It doesn’t make any sense to this observer for reasons already provided, unless the guy he really wanted didn’t want the job and/or MH himself plans on taking it easy one more year before going back to the sidelines himself in 2011 if Mangini posts a 6-10 campaign next fall.

Regardless, we hope it works out.

One positive sign from the '09 season – the Browns started, I said started, to form an offensive identity at the tail end of the season. Jerome Harrison stepped up and played exceptionally well. Many forgot he rushed for over 100 yards against the Steelers early in the season when Pittsburgh was healthy and playing well.

The guy looks like the real deal. Regardless, he’s earned the right to carry the load in 2010. One suggestion however – give him 20-25 touches a game, not 35. At 5-9/200+, he’s not built for 30+ carries a game – no one is at that level for long.

The Bullets & Agent Zero
We laughed when Washington gave quirky, injury-prone and one-dimensional Gilbert Arenas a $100 million deal several years ago. And now people are surprised this known goof-ball pulled a gun out in the locker room.

First, I’d venture to guess more than a few NBA players packed heat at work until this incident became public. These guys are used to doing what they want. However, most aren’t stupid enough to go Clint Eastwood on teammates. It serves the Bullets right for signing this guy when they could have saved a ton of money and even more headaches years back.

Pete Carroll
So Pete Carroll, who is just two games over .500 as an NFL head coach, is about to be given total control of the Seahawks. Why? What’s Carroll going to do when he doesn’t have 15 of the 22 best players on the field at any given time as he did at USC?

Tony Dungy, a true class act, said it best - "It's a lot easier to coach poor 19-year olds than rich 25-year olds!

Coaching in the NFL is a totally different animal. Call me cynical, but something tells me the USC program has more skeletons in the closet than is currently known and Carroll is skipping town before he has to answer some tough questions.

The NCAA does not like to come down hard on its flagship programs like USC, but they may not have a choice if more allegations become public and there's smoke and fire ivolved.

Baseball HOF
How does arguably the game’s best second baseman ever, Robby Alomar, not make it into the baseball HOF on the first ballot? I guess that spitting incident is still having its effect.

At least, Andre Dawson (“The Hawk”) finally got in. Dawson was a true five-tool player through much of his career before the knees went. One moron talking head commented that Dawson was a “marginal Hall of Famer.” Right.

If he played in New York/Boston his whole career, he would have been in the HOF long ago. Dawson was a Gold Glove right fielder, had the game’s best throwing arm and he stole three hundred bases while hitting 400 homers. The only other players to go 300/400 are named Mays and Bonds. Marginal my ass!

Underwear Bomber
Call me simplistic, but how is a 23-year old Muslim, from Africa, buying a one-way ticket with cash, with no checked luggage ALLOWED to get on a plane headed to the U.S.?

You don’t need high tech equipment or throw billions at the problem to figure this one out. It’s just common sense to pull this dude out of the line, make him strip and ask him a few directed questions. It’s like a Saturday Night Live skit come to life. If it wasn’t so ridiculous, it would be funny. Fortunately, it was just ridiculous and not tragic since the bomber failed to detonate his load.

Actually, you would think the terrorists who planned this were amateurs based on their approach. Unfortunately, the only ones more amateurish were those responsible for stopping this attack. Heads should roll.

Speaking of those responsible for protecting us - is it just me or why do I feel less safe every time I see Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security, speak publicly? This woman looks like she couldn’t keep her 10 year-old nephew from getting into the X-mas cookies she baked, let alone keep Americans safe from Islamic terrorists who want to kill us.

Never mind she stated ‘the system worked” a few days after the incident. She just looks wrong for the job. Add the fact that she had no background in this line of work and you wonder why Obama picked her for this important job – protecting Americans. The only thing I can think of is he needed one more to check off the overweight, middle-aged woman quota for federal employees.