| A Dolphins fan shows his disapointment. (photo:The Beacon Newspaper) |
Many disgruntled fans have threatened to boycott certain teams in the past, and to an extent, it's understandable.
Your favorite team isn't performing as you'd like, so you decide to go on your own personal strike by not attending the games or not following the team—that's fine.
But what if you blame only the coach for your team's failures?
You still want to support the team with your attendance, but you have a problem with the man in charge. So, what do you do then?
Make a sign which voices your discontent?
Start your own Fire [insert coach's name].com website?
Wear a paper bag over your head?
Call in a talk radio show to rant for five-plus minutes?
All four of these options are logical for any hardcore fan, and no one can blame any fan who would go to such lengths.
But how far is too far?
Recently, a University of Washington alum put out a bounty, pledging to donate $100,000 if head coach Tyrone Willingham was fired. He even went further, offering another $100,000 should the UW athletic director be fired as well.
The offer was meant to be kept secret, but it somehow leaked to the press.
So, the question is: Is this going too far?
Thankfully, the University of Washington declined the alum's offer, but who's to say that the pledge won't open the floodgates for angry fans and alums who happen to have deep pockets?
Should Bill Gates be a fan of say, the Seattle Mariners, would it be going too far for him to offer $10 million dollars to replace manager John McLaren? After all, it could be a "charitable donation."
Forget the future of disgruntled fans—who's to say that fat-walleted loyalists haven't already successfully fired a coach? If the Washington fan's offer leaked out, could it be possible that other offers were kept secret?
Remember when Marty Schottenheimer was fired after a 14-2 season with the Chargers? They had the best record in the NFL, so could there have been some funny business going on?
Let's not get too carried away here. We know GM A.J. Smith had his reasons, so someone's having a bounty out for Schottenheimer's firing is quite a long shot.
It is fun to wonder though.
Let's just hope that the recent Washington situation doesn't give any deep-pocketed fans any ideas, because that's the last thing we need in sports—more secret agendas.
Information from the Associated Press and ESPN was used in this report.
Robert H. Spain is an Alabama-based columnist for BleacherReport.com. View his entire archive here.
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5 months ago
I don't think this is anything unusual, just working a little backwards from the norm...
Instead of offering to contribute an additional 100k, most boosters threaten to cut off their standard donations if a change isn't made.
For example, I would bet that some Notre Dame heavy hitters threw their weight around a little bit the last time Willingham was canned.
5 months ago
What's the common thread here? Willingham isn't a good coach. All anyone wants to see are results. You don't want to sacrifice your public image/reputation in doing so, but if you're not producing on the field, the consolation prize of being a highly regarded institution isn’t going to suffice.
Can we get a public apology to ND for their apparent "racism" in the firing of Willingham?
from 5 months ago
No public apology to Notre Dame. While I don't think racism was the deciding issue, I bet it was a factor. They should've given Willingham another year or two. Look how well Charlie Weis did with Willingham's recruits (such as Brady Quinn). Notre Dame had been in terrible shape before Willingham got there, and look what shape it's in now.
That said, Notre Dame was most guilty of what Washington boosters are feeling: impatience. Give a coach a few years to get his feet on the ground and his recruiting going before passing judgement.
5 months ago
The thing I still can't get over is the fact that Tyrone made a winner out of the Stanford Cardinal. He hasn't done well at Washington and fielded decent teams at ND, but to his credit he was pretty successful at Stanford.
Like, imagine as a coach only being able to recruit players that had over a 3.0 and 1200 on their SAT (Stanford's minimum requirement). It's by no means impossible to find athletes that fit these requirements, but other schools don't have to deal with a player's academic issues nearly as much as Stanford does.
It seems like Ty would fit best at schools like Stanford or Northwestern because its all about emphasizing the student athlete as opposed to just the athlete (and winning).
Because Ty seems like a great man and a class act, but as a coach and a winner there are probably better guys out there.
5 months ago
It's ridiculous.
It could start a trend. But I don't think anyone that is that hardcore of a fan has that type of money. If they do they just buy the team. See Paul Allen.
Still this situation is just ludicrous. I hate boosters.
5 months ago
This reminds me off an idea I have for a jukebox. I have long contended that the ideal juke box would allow you to drop money in and stop a song if you don't like it.
Only seems fair. Why should I have to listen to Meat Loaf if I'm willing to pony up to put a stop to it?
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