Damn You, Charlie Weis

I may have already said a little bit about the Irish's loss to Navy last Saturday in yesterday's post, but that doesn't mean I'm finished talking about it. The one thing I didn't mention yesterday was how incredibly pissed off I am at Charlie Weis right now.

Last week at FanHouse, I wrote a post about the world ending because Notre Dame was actually favored last weekend. At the end of the post, I wrote this:

All of which makes me wonder if this isn't the year that Notre Dame finally loses to Navy. You would think that the Irish should win this game on talent alone, and also for the fact that they had an extra week to prepare after having last Saturday off, but I remind you: Notre Dame really, really sucks this year.

If the Irish do somehow manage to find a way to blow this one, I'm thinking Charlie Weis needs to be fired on Sunday.

So do I still think Weis needs to be fired?

Well when I wrote that, I don't think I actually believed Notre Dame could lose on Saturday. I thought if there was ever a chance for it, this year was probably Navy's best chance, but I still never fully believed it would happen.

But it did.

And yes, as of Saturday evening I have completely removed myself from the Charlie Weis fan club. Not that I was ever really an avid member. While certain contributors around here hate the man, I've kind of always been on the fence.

I'm off it now, and in fact I'm rounding up some pitchforks and kerosene.

I don't want rid of Weis solely for the fact that this team is 1-8. I'm a Notre Dame fan, but I'm not the type of blind homer that there are so many of when it comes to this school. I didn't expect this team to be very good this season. Did I think they'd be 1-8 and lose to Navy? No, but I wasn't looking for much more than five wins this season.

So I'm not mad at Weis for this team's performance. They did lose a lot of talent from last year's team, and the Irish aren't the type of program these days that just reloads. They aren't Ohio State, where Jim Tressel's program is so well run and mind numbingly consistent, that we're somehow surprised when the Buckeyes start every season 10-0.

That's where Weis is supposed to get the Irish, but after watching Saturday's game, I don't think Weis is the man to do it. Maybe the man can recruit, to be honest I don't know. He gets the talent in, but nothing he's done has proven to me he knows how to turn that into a winning football team.

In other words, Weis is what Ron Zook was supposed to be.

I just don't think Weis is a head football coach. The final straw happened on Saturday evening.

With the game tied in late in regulation, the Irish faced a 4th and 8 from the Navy 25-yard line. They were set up for a 41-yard field goal that would have won the game.

What did Charlie do?

He went for it. He passed up a field goal attempt that would have won the game.

His logic afterwards was that he wasn't sure his kicker, Brandon Walker, could make the kick. I can't blame him for that opinion seeing as how Walker is 1/4 from beyond 40 yards this season.

The problem is that the Irish had nothing to lose. If Walker did miss the field goal, do you know what would have happened? The game would have gone to overtime, which it ended up doing after Evan Sharpley was sacked on the fourth down play.

Charlie's "genius" got the best of him I guess. It's just another decision in what's an ever growing list of things Weis has done that I can only speculate are products of his own arrogance.

Whether it's the way he looks at players who are leaving his program for other schools, or just his all around demeanor, Weis thinks he's untouchable. He's bought into his own hype.

Just read this quote from him after the loss when asked about his job security.

"I'm going to be here for a long time," Weis said. "I'm going to be judged by what happens when I leave, so let's see where I am when I walk out the door."

This is all the school's fault mind you, they're the ones who gave Weis the ten year contract before he'd ever done anything. Now we're all going to have to pay for it.

The more I see Weis coach this team, the more I realize he's an excellent coordinator but not much of a head coach. And to be honest, can we be sure how great of an offensive coordinator Weis is? Was he ever considered an offensive genius before Tom Brady came along in New England?

Nope.

Has Tom Brady struggled since Weis left?

Well the Patriots are 9-0 and Brady has 35 touchdowns and 4 interceptions this season as he's on pace to shatter Peyton Manning's single season touchdown mark. So no, he's not really struggling without Charlie.

So unless Weis can figure out a way to get Tom Brady four more years of college eligibility, and line him up under center, I think it's time the Irish moved on. Let Weis finish the year so his legacy can be a 2-10 record (I'm holding out hope we can beat Duke).

Unfortunately, it won't happen. Yes, Bob Davie and Ty Willingham were fired with similar records to Weis, but there's one big difference between Weis and those two. He's an alum. If Gerry Faust got five years, who knows what they'll give Charlie.

Of course, Faust never finished a season with only two wins.

Foul Balls

NBC Isn't Interested In The Bears - The Bears have already played on NBC's Sunday Night Football twice this season, and though they were scheduled for three games, NBC has decided they've seen enough of the Bears this season. So they've kindly bumped the Bears from the schedule.

NBC and the NFL decided against placing the Bears-Seattle game on prime time on Sunday, Nov. 18. Instead, it will air on WFLD-Ch. 32 at 3:15 p.m.

NBC selected the New England-Buffalo game for that Sunday night. An opportunity to air the 9-0 Patriots was a no-brainer for the network.

Thank you, NBC. Thank you for not spreading our shame across the country for one night. Don't worry though, Bears fans. We'll have another opportunity to embarass ourselves on Monday Night Football against Adrian Peterson and the Vikings in December.

Will Joe Crede Replace A-Rod? - The GM meetings got under way in Orlando yesterday, and though trades aren't generally made until the winter meetings, a lot of the ground work for those deals is done. One of those trades involves the White Sox sending Joe Crede to the Yankees for Johnny Damon.

Ken Williams, entering his eighth year as the White Sox's GM, came to Florida believing he might be able to make a significant trade early in the winter. If he does anything quickly, it could be to trade Joe Crede to the Yankees for Damon. That rumor came out of New York and was not knocked down Monday.

I'm not sure how I feel about this deal. Of course I don't want Joe Crede to be traded, he is my favorite player after all, but it would help the Sox clear the current logjam at third. Josh Fields proved he has the bat to be an everyday player, and with time his defense will improve.

I don't think he'll ever be Crede with the glove, but he'll be good enough. What I'm not sure about is Johnny Damon. On the surface Damon answers the centerfield question, and the lead-off question, plus he'd be cheaper than Torii Hunter. The problem is that Damon had his lowest average since 2001, hitting .270 this season. His power numbers also dropped dramatically, going from 24 in 2006 to only 12 this season.

There's also the fact that a lot of Damon's game is based on his speed, and players don't get faster after they turn 34, which Johnny just did yesterday.

The Revolution Will Be Televised - The Blackhawks announced seven home dates that will be televised this season. Here they are:

November 11, 6:00 p.m. vs. Detroit
November 30, 7:30 p.m. vs. Phoenix
December 9, 6:00 p.m. vs. Calgary
December 26, 7:30 p.m. vs. Nashville
January 6, 6:00 p.m. vs. Detroit
March 7, 7:30 p.m. vs. San Jose
March 23, 2:00 p.m. vs. St. Louis

Clear your schedules now!

Seriously though, this is a great move by the Hawks. A long overdue move, but a great one none the less. It may only be seven games this season, but it paves the way for the Hawks to televise all their games next season. Which could only help the team become relevant again.

Rocky Wirtz may save the family name after all.