Dear Jed

Dear Jed,

I have never written to the President of any company before so I'm not sure if I should call you "Mr. President, Mr. York or Jed". I apologize in advance if the name I have chosen for you is not the name you enjoy hearing around the office.

The idea for this letter is to pass along some advice for your new job. I like you have no experience running a professional football team but unlike you my parents have not given me the keys to the castle.

Do I think you will do a good job or even a great job? I have no idea and anybody who is speculating how great or poorly you will do is foolish. You have no track record so we will let your work speak for itself. But again I am here to give you some advice and not predict the future.

The first thing I would do is put together a list of ten people who are in the NFL and have run or been apart of running successful franchises. This is import, think long term. Don't go searching for advice from people who have been one hit wonders. My list would include the following people (in no particular order)
1. Art Rooney
2. Bill Parcells
3. Jimmy Johnson
3. Pat Bowlen
4. Bill Belichick
5. Bill Cowher
6. Jeff Fisher
7. John Mara/ Steve Tisch
8. Mike Holmgren
9. Eddie De Bartlo
10. Bud Adams

I would give each one of these guys a call and fly to where ever it is they will meet you. If they only have 5 minutes for you I would take it. Put a list of questions together and hope they share some small nugget of information that would put you over the top and help you build long term success. Certainly not all of these guys are going to take your phone call but like most successful people in their respective fields these guys would love to sit down with you and tell you how great they are.

After you sit down with them I would put together another list, this would be the list of franchises you wouldn't want to mold the 49ers after. I would have three people at the top of my list...Jerry Jones, Al Davis and William Clay Ford. These guys clearly have no idea what they are doing. Again I'm not here to judge but take a look at their track records. Certainly they have had some success but we are looking to build a stable franchise, one that continues to win year in and year out. Ok, I just lied to you...William Clay Ford has had zero success.

I would sit down with them and find out what you should never do when making a decision. The list of idiotic things these three men have done are well documented. See if you can match the owner to the "great decision"
1. Fire Jimmy Johnson after turning around a 1 and 15 team and winning two super bowls.
2. Hire Matt Millen because well, why did they hire him?
3. Hire Art Shell (again) maybe it was the free bed and breakfast conncection.
4. Letting your GM draft 3 number 1 receivers 3 years in a row.
5. Giving Jason Garrett $3 million to never call a running play.
6. Fire and hire a coach every other year.

When in doubt while making a decision take a step back and ask yourself "Would Jerry Jones sign this guy?" If the answer is yes...well you know what to do.

After you've meet with the three of these geniuses you will then probably realize that the wealth of information you received from these 3 guys may actually serve you better in the long term.

And when it's all said and done and you're going over everything these people have shared... you need to make one more phone call. The person on the other end of the line should be your special assistant and a guy who has to answer only to you. His name, Steve Young. Possibly one of the smartest "football " guys out there who is wasting away sitting next to Emmitt Smith.

Sincerely,

Every Jealous Middle Aged Man


PS - If you need to hire me to make these phone calls I'm all in.

"The Answer"

Over the weekend I was able to watch the Celtics prove they are still the team to beat in the NBA and the Pistons have a long way to go before they are considered a serious threat to dethrone the Champs.

Watching the game had me thinking about the Iverson trade and what the possible reasons were for Dumars to make the trade of Billup’s for Iverson. It goes without saying Iverson is awesome to watch and has the heart of a champion. That's like telling your boys, "I'd bang her!" Really?Thank you Captain Obvious. The guy’s motor running is always in the red and with his god given talents he is truly one of the best players in the game. But being talented and greatbasketball player are two different things. I’m a huge fan of A.I. and this next comparison hurts me more than it’s going to hurt your reading but, is A.I. not just a better version of Marbury?

The Piston have gone to six straight conference finals and have a well constructed team yet Dumars was convinced that his team needed a face lift…..but was trading Billup’s “The Answer”? If I was the man calling the shots (no not time for a tequila just yet)and maybe Dumars even looked into this angle but I would have kept Billup’s and traded Hamilton for Iverson. You need a leader in big time games and “Mr. Big Shot” was the guy for the Pistons. Why trade your floor leader? I certainly would not have traded Wallace or Prince but Hamilton is a dime a dozen guy. Most NBA guys could fit that roll on the Pistons. RIP would be average at best on another team. Imagine RIP on the Warriors or Clippers. You’d probably be watching SportsCenter one night and see him on a rare highlight and you’d say to yourself, “that guy is still in the league?” Plus a guy like Billup’s would keep Iverson in check, at least have more command of the ball. Iverson is going to look for his and include other guys because he thinks it’s his job. It is not anything that comes naturally to him. Not convinced just watch a game. A.I. has no intentions of making his teammates better. He's is like a hot chick....they hate other hot chicks.


I’m convinced there is a bigger picture at hand but like all professional franchises they can’t come out and say it. Imagine if Dumars said “I’m not totally convinced we can beat the Celtics and it was time for a change. Iverson sells tickets and will be off of the books next year, a good short term investment. Do I think we will be competitive? Yes, but I’m also thinking about the future.” Fans don’t really take to kind to dropping a couple hundred bucks on a game to find out that the team is rebuilding for another day by acquiring a super star. It’s rather sneaky if you think about it. Certainly the Pistons are going to win some games but does anybody think they are going to win it all let alone the East…no way. Dumars is not a guy who looks for W's, he looks for banners to hang.


Alex James

My Dream

What to do in life when what your most passionate about is not what your doing? Day in and day out I want to punch myself in the face for not following my heart when I was younger. I show up to work everyday not because I love what I do, it's because I have a family and a responsibility to them and myself to provide.

Now that I'm a Dad I continue to find ways to better communicate to my son that to be truly happy in life you should follow your heart. The crazy thing is that my son is only 2. I figure you can never start to young. If I send him the same message for the next 18 years of his life he may actually receive it one day.

My Dad and I never had that talk. I'm sure he knew what I wanted to do and be....he just never pushed me. Do I blame my Dad for working at my current job? No way. I truly only have myself to blame but like most people I would have appreciated a nice little nudge now and again.

What's my point. My point is that I love sports, I love competing and I'm addicted to proving people wrong when they look across the court and think they are going to have the better of me.

My family and friends have always told me that I should write about sports.....so here we go. While I certainly might not be living the dream playing, coaching or writing about sports for a major publication I figure this could be my small way of getting in the game.


The dream has to start somewhere.

Alex James