CountChocula

Knucklehead Wilbon tries to make the case (unconvincingly) that old fart Shula's comments carry weight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...110702763.html

nummit

I USED to like Wilbon. Now I see him as just another windbag

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tuckeverlasting

more like a douchebag. i just heard shula on espn radio backtracking and moonwalking like michael jackson.

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sieglo

Wilbon is a baby. He has no journalistic integrity to go listing the coaches criticising BB but offering no counterpoint from the coaches who say the Spygate thing was completely blown out of proportion.

hambone1818

Funny how he failed to mention that 1) Shula himself was involved in controversy when he accepted the Miami job (costing the team a--does this sound familiar?--1st round draft pick), and 2) there might be some resentment--indirectly--because Belichick's pupil, Saban, helped to destroy what was left of the Miami team then bolted to the NCAA ranks, only to take Shula's sons job.

I'm sorry, but unless you tell the whole story you're leaving the reader with a fuzzy picture, no real perspective on the entire thing.

I can't wait until this season is over....honestly. As much as I love the 19-0 talk, the domination of this Patriots squad and the historic numbers being put up all over the place, I just can't escape the media. They simply do not allow Patriots fans to enjoy what should be the crown jewel for any franchise.

bradmahn

There's nothing terribly egregious in that article. Nothing that makes him a douchebag. It's just a bad article. Full of contradictory nonsense and cherrypickings.


That's a very viable reason to not take Shula's words seriously, Michael, and his stance has absolutely nothing to do with how the "coaching fraternity" feels about Belichick, it is Shula trying to degrade a threat to "his" record.

Speaking of coaching fraternity, the very concept of such a group is highly exaggerated in this piece, more specifically that many of them have a problem with what Belichick did. How many coaches can you name in the NFL who have an issue with it? Tony Dungy? Maybe Mike Tomlin? Mangini (but that's highly debatable). For every one coach that has voiced disconcert with what happened, there are others that have come out and said that it wasn't as big of a deal as it is made out to be.

I did, however, appreciate his description of Belichick outside of the realm of football. It's kind of similar to the interviews Belichick does for some members of the local media. If the national chumps were to see that side of Belichick it would ruin their image of him as a kitten-killing, baby-beating barbarian (but perspective doesn't sell).

MrTibbs

After the 1969 season, Joe Robbie, owner of the Miami Dolphins, signed Shula to a contract to become Miami's second head coach. As a result of Shula's signing the team was charged with tampering by the NFL, which forced the Dolphins to give their first round pick to the Colts. The decision was controversial because Shula and Robbie's negotiations and signing were conducted before and after the official NFL/AFL merger, respectively.

shmessy

Exactly.

And he did that ON PURPOSE. Wilbon isn't a neophyte. He knows all that about Shula. He is being disingenuous here by purposely leaving out half the story. It's the Skip Bayless School of Journalism and it's the only way to make money in the newspaper business today.

Today's journalism: Keep the masses stupid and we can get away with $100 per barrel oil and sell them on Britney Spears. The dumbing down of America has necessitated the trashing of journalistic values.

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Bella*chick

The real embarrassment here isn't Shula's comments (I mean, could his interest in this be any more obvious and self-serving?), it's what the media has once again done in blowing it up. I bet Shula wishes he hadn't opened his big mouth.

It's our bye week and we are the number 1 story in the NFL. We've been number 1 all year long....even in the offseason. Jeez, I guess flying under the radar was never a realistic option with this team even before all this stupid "spy" stuff.

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Armen Da Pats Fan

Actually, it really wasn't a bad article. Wilbon reported straight up and Shula is just trying to remain relevant as he fades off into the sunset.

Let's not forget (and I live in SoFla, so I remember it well) that Shula was basically forced into resigning so Wayne Huzienga could hire Jimmy Johnson.

Everyone understood, save for the old ball coach himself, that the game had passed him by. Long ago.

What makes anyone think that now, some 12 years after his de facto firing, he understands the game any better than he did when H. Wayne canned his arse?

Yes, Shula won 328 games, but he also coached for THIRTY-TWO SEASONS!

That's an average of 10.25 wins per season.

He was basically a .500 coach when it counted most (19-17 in the playoffs) and won two Super Bowls - in 1972 & 1973!

1973!

Nixon was president!

"Scarface" was still 7 years away! Al Pacino still thought "Dog Day Afternoon" was his best work!

(Did they wear leather helmets in '73?)

So, basically, Shula went 22 years without winning anything and somehow became an icon in South Florida, which goes to show you what Cubans know about football!

How did he keep his job for 22 years without winning anything?

DolFans are delusional and their owners (Joe Robbie & H. Wayne) pandered to them, to their own detriment, that's how!

Shula should have been fired many times between that last Super Bowl ring in '73, but most certainly in 1989 after he went 8-8, 8-7, 6-10 and 8-8 with teams that had Dan Marino, Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, Andra Franklin, John Offerdahl and Louis Oliver!

As a talent evaluator, this is the man who gave John Bosa and Eric Kumerow a chance to play in the NFL!

Belichick, in his 8 years with New England, has won 84 games, for an average of 10.50 wins a season.

If Belichick coaches 32 years like Shula, he will shatter Shula's all-time coaching record for wins.

And in the playoffs, when it really counts, Belichick makes Shula look like an embattled high school coach, going 13-3 in the postseason and winning three Super Bowls, the last of which was as recently as 2004. Look for a fourth this season.

And that doesn't even take into account his work as a defensive coordinator in leading the Giants to two Super Bowl wins.

So, if Shula wants to rant, let him be.

Of course, he's worried. Belichick and the Pats are set to take away the only thing Don ever did well in his life, which was go 17-0 way back in 1972.

I think we should all just leave old Don Shula alone and let him enjoy his Gold Digging wife and his over-priced, s h i t t y steakhouses.

If he wants to pop off every once in awhile about a game he really knows nothing about anymore, let's give the old gum-biter his time in the spotlight. It makes him feel connected or something. Why take that away.

When Don speaks, we should nod our heads and say "Keep coming back, Don."

Shula. A name synonymous with the $18 baked potato!

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