The Edmonton Eskimos : A Lesson in How to Destroy a Franchise

The Edmonton Eskimos are to the Canadian Football League what the New York Yankees are to the Majors: the evil empire, the team everyone loves to see lose.

Until two years ago, the Eskimos set a professional North American sports record with the most consecutive playoff appearances—that was until the arrival of Danny Maciocia, or Macaronni as he is not so fondly referred to in what used to the City of Champions.

After two dismal seasons in which the Eskimos failed to make the playoffs, despite having the best quarterback in the league and a host of star players, Maciocia fired coaches, cut players, and blamed everyone but himself for the team's troubles.

After inheriting a team built by former Eskimos coach Tom Higgins, Mariocia took a third place finish in the regular season on a role into the playoffs, and thanks to the heroics of Jason Mass, was able to win a Grey Cup during his first year as head coach of the league's most celebrated franchise.

The following two seasons are seemingly far more of an indication of his football coaching talents—not to mention his recent promotion to head of football operations in the city. Where else but in Edmonton could a coach have two brutal consecutive losing seasons and get a promotion?

Player after player has been cut by a coach who refuses to take any responsibility for the team's troubles. The powers that be in the Eskimos head office seem to have their blinders on. Flush with cash and a season ticket holder base that remains loyal to the team, the Eskimos board has chosen once again to ignore the collective outcry from fans all over the city. They are letting a coach with no business heading up a bantam football team—never mind a team like the Green and Gold—run into the ground the winningest team in league history.

I had the chance to sit and share a few drinks with a now-retired defensive back from the Eskimos last fall at a friend's birthday party. Naturally the subject of the coaching staff came up, and his opinion was that most of the players had completely tuned out the head coach, mostly because he had completely failed to earn their respect both on and off the field. By many he was thought of as a complete joke.

It seemed that it wasn't just the fans who didn't believe in the head coach, the players were also questioning how this guy could have landed a head coaching job in the CFL—and is shows in their performance.

An item of note was that he also mentioned how the fastest way to get shipped out of town was to dare to speak out about who he called "the little man"—a reference to the comedy antics of Charlie Chaplin.

With the Eskimos first preseason game scheduled against the Stampeders on June 13, fans are already bracing themselves for another disastrous season and can't wait to see what promotion Macaronni will receive for another job done not so well done.

One thing is for sure—Eskimo fans are experiencing firsthand the emotions that fans around the league have long felt thanks to the arrogance of the team's board of directors who, despite total loss of public confidence, have chosen to go into the 2008 season with the same gong show approach as the last two years.