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Second Thought Everybody has a story about their boss. Usually, it involves a cantankerous, pompous guy with a Napoleon complex that has no clue about what's going on within the walls of the company. The guy has a corner office, special parking privileges, and indulges in three-hour lunches that include drinks and lap dances followed up with a round of golf or a power-nap. The kicker is that he usually shows up for full days of work only on Monday and Tuesday...Wednesday and Thursday are half-days and Friday is an optional workday. Well, I'm here to announce on PackSmack the "Boss of the Year".... Ladies and gentlemen, meet your 2007 winner....North Carolina Athletic Director, Dick Baddour. Nobody in the country is better to work for than Mr. Baddour. Just look at how he handles his fellow employees and you can see why he's been selected the #1 boss in all the land. Last week, Tar Heel Nation announced a pay raise for football coach Butch Davis. Forget the fact that Davis is already being compensated nearly 1.8 million bucks to turn around the fortunes of the football program. The pay hike for Butch is $291,000....that's impressive, when you consider that the Heels just put the finishing touches on another stellar 4-8 campaign...which was highlighted with a come-from-behind win over pitiful Duke (1-11)...at home....in overtime. It should be noted that the win over the Heels' arch-rival was played in front of approximately 45,000 fans...the only problem is that Kenan Stadium seats 60,000. But what makes Dick Baddour the best boss in the land is that he believes the place needs an extra 8,000-10,000 seats...now, that's a man with vision. Spend whatever it takes to keep everyone happy...especially opposing fans and visitors to the Chapel Hill campus on game days. I'm sure Clemson, Virginia Tech, and N.C. State fans will love bringing in another ten thousand friends to help support the local economy. Butch Davis should be thrilled with all the attention....why would he ever dream of leaving for greener pastures, when he can be treated like a king in the heart of basketball country? If Dick Baddour was willing to up the salary nearly 300K for a putrid 4-8 season, just imagine what he'll do if the Heels actually have a winning season. I can see it now: UNC qualifies for a bowl trip to Boise, Idaho with a sterling 6-6 mark in the ACC...up the ante to Butch and let's build a dome over Kenan Stadium. Forget a bowl game on the blue turf; let's think big...UNC wins their first ACC football title since 1980...goes to a major bowl game for the first time since the 1950's in the days of Charlie Choo-Choo Justice...Butch will have to be paid along the lines of A-Rod. Don't get me wrong; I like Butch Davis....he will do a fine job in Chapel Hill...and there's no way he should say "no" to the bonus....but before you increase his pay to the $2 million per year range...he needs to prove that he can beat the elite teams in America. Right now, his team can't beat N.C. State, Wake Forest and East Carolina....but thank goodness Duke is right down the street. It's a good thing that Dick Baddour is the boss and not Sue Estroff....Sue is not very happy about the Butch Davis pay hike. She was quoted in the Raleigh News & Observer, stating "I understand why they're doing this; they made a commitment to football, but I think we ought to quit doing football altogether...we're no good at it." Ms. Estroff is the former UNC chairwoman of the council and professor of social science....she also has no chance of being nominated for "Boss of the Year". With that kind of attitude, she should resign immediately and head over to Duke University, where she could not only teach, but could also moonlight as their athletic director, too. But thanks to "Boss of the Year" Dick Baddour, UNC fans and coaches are in good hands. Tar Heels have more pressing issues, like working out the details for the parade down Franklin Street for beating Duke. I don't usually do this, but I've got to give props to former "Runner-Up U" coach, Earl Bruce. The week of the "App State's Beeyotch"/"Runner-Up U" matchup in Ann Arbor, Bruce stated that the Buckeyes would not only win the game and the Big Two title, but they could play for the national title. I thought Bruce had lost his mind, much like former legend Woody Hayes - but this time, it didn't involve a Buckeye coach hauling off and hitting somebody in public. He stated that LSU would not be playing in the national title game, but his Buckeyes would be in N'awlins....it looks like he might be right on both fronts. Since that brash prediction, we've seen the Buckeyes beat up their little friends to the North (again)...not to mention higher-ranked teams like LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma and Kansas all lose while the Big Two champs take their traditional 50+ days off to get ready for their bowl loss...err, opportunity. My hat goes off to Earl Bruce...one of the best predictions that I've seen in some time. By the way, Earl, if those mean people in the old-timers home don't allow you to stay up late to watch the Buckeyes in January, be sure you don't slug any of them. One of my favorite coaches, Steve Spurrier, ended the year on a sour note. The Old Ball Coach was looking to make history in another way this past Saturday night. You see, the Gamecocks had a chance with a win against arch-rival Clemson, to beat the Tigers in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1970. You heard me, 1970...it had been 37 years since South Carolina had bragging rights over their arch-rivals for more than 365 days. Clemson showed up in Columbia coming off a heartbreaking, last-minute loss at home to Boston College, that prevented them from playing for the ACC title.....the Gamecocks and Spurrier had two weeks to prepare for a Tiger team that was certainly bummed out about the chance to win their first conference title since 1991. The biggest problem for Spurrier is that the game was in Columbia. Normally, homefield advantage is huge when it comes to playing big games, much less matchups against one's biggest rival. Clemson has owned South Carolina in Columbia....in fact, the Tigers are now 9-1 in Columbia against the Cocks since 1989. Clemson's last-second 23-21 win over Spurrier was history in the making. It marked the first time ever in Spurrier's brilliant college coaching career that the coach lost 5 games in a row. It's hard to believe that on October 13th, the Gamecocks were ranked 6th in the country and were leading 21-3 at halftime against North Carolina.....Basically 6 weeks later, Spurrier and his program are 6-6...and could be home for the holidays. I hate writing this because I like him so much...but Spurrier and company laid one of the biggest eggs in college football in quite some time. Name the last time a football team started that hot, reached a national ranking in the Top 10, and proceeded to miss the post-season? Ironically, it wasn't due to an injury to the starting QB; it was a team that completely unraveled in almost every department...offense, defense, special teams and coaching. As it stands right now, South Carolina and Alabama are both a disappointing 6-6, and it looks like they will battle it out for the last remaining bowl spot....it should be noted that those teams are on 5-game and 4-game losing streaks. Gamecock fans can't be happy, and the infamous "Chicken Curse" is bound to be discussed. At the same time, Clemson fans continue to question if Tommy Bowden can lead them to an ACC title, but one thing is certain...Tommy Bowden has a knack for beating Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier and South Carolina. He is now 7-2 against the legendary Gamecock coaches. On Sunday, when I turned on the television to kill some time watching the pitiful Carolina Panthers, I couldn't help but notice that Jerry Richardson's stadium looked like UNC's Kenan Stadium reincarnated. To claim that there were 25,000 empty seats in Charlotte at kickoff would be a conservative guesstimate. When the game approached the fourth quarter, and the hometown team was being beaten to a pulp, Jerry Richardson's stadium looked like Duke's Wallace Wade Outdoor Stadium. There couldn't have been 5,000 people in the stadium...and that includes players, coaches, concession workers, cheerleaders and the tacky flag guys. This is the absolute low point of another terrible year of pro football in Charlotte. To make matters worse, the folks from Fox television who were televising the game so tight (it must be against the FCC rules to show any crowd shots) actually had the gumption to give us a view of Jerry Richardson in his luxury skybox. I was stunned to see the "Big Cat" wearing an identical pair of David Carr gloves with his tailored suit in his skybox.....you've got to be kidding me. Embarrassing. But, getting back to the Panthers: their home ineptitude has reached an astonishing new low. The Panthers are one of three NFL teams that are winless at home this season...the others include St. Louis and Miami. I decided to look even deeper into the home field disadvantage that exists in Charlotte. Since the NFL moved to a 16-game schedule thirty years ago, back in 1978...there have been a total of 9 teams that have had winless 0-8 home records in the regular season. Here's the list:
I'm sure Jerry Richardson is thrilled to know that the last team to go winless during an NFL regular season is his beloved franchise...and unless the Panthers find a way to beat the hapless San Francisco 49ers this week, they might add another chapter of home futility. If it makes you feel any better, the team with the worst back-to-back home records in the past 30 years is the Dallas Cowboys. They were 1-7 in 1988 and followed it up with their perfect 0-8 record in 1989. The two-year mark of 1-15 might give something for Richardson and company to aim for heading into the 2008 season. Based on the number of empty seats at kickoff for any Panthers home game, and the new traditional "optional fourth quarter viewing" for PSL'ers...it makes you wonder if Carolina fans will even hang around to watch the team win their potential first home game since November 19, 2006. |
Packman
on Sports Commentary
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