Who Calls The Shots?
By Brian Miller
Is there any substance to the media frenzy surrounding who pulled the strings in the Jason Taylor trade or is this just another attempt to find something to write about? Should there even remotely be a question of who is calling the shots in Miami? Bill Parcells or Jeff Ireland? Does it really matter, short term or long?
Personally, I am growing tired of the slapstick comedy “blogs” that some of the local Miami writers see fit to pen. Without throwing out names, it seems that anything positive will immediately be over analyzed until a shred of negativity can be found within the fabric of the original story. What message does it send to the youthful exuberant writers in our children when you can so callously toss the journalistic pride that at one time was distinguished and honorable and replace it with tabloid journalism for the sake of selling papers or getting that next big Yahoo promotion? There is no excuse, but apparently we “bloggers” have brought that on ourselves by having even the slightest modicum of success on the internet.
Todays case in point is the harping of more that a few writers who are now questioning the real decision maker in Miami. Bill Parcells or Jeff Ireland? While Bill has said that he is not the man in charge of team decisions, he is also the same guy who said he would not trade Jason Taylor. It’s Bill Parcells. That along should tell you that one, he is going to lie if it benefits his plans, and two, he is going to make all the decisions that he feels he needs to. So why so upset about the name Parcells being linked to the JT trade?
If you listened to the JT/Skins presser yesterday you would have heard Redskins GM Vinnie Ceratto say he talked with Bill Parcells all day and no mention of Miami GM Jeff Ireland. You would have hear Ceratto say that Parcells is the one who faxed over the “let’s make a deal” paperwork. Is that really a surprise to anyone? Not to me, and it shouldn’t be to anyone else either.
Parcells has been the brainchild behind this overhaul in South Florida. From the canning of Mueller for Ireland, Cameron for Sparano, the 4th rounder for Fasano and Ayodele. This is Bill Parcells team with a rather large handful of handpicked assistants to do his work. When Parcells leaves this team, then it becomes a Jeff Ireland team. A Tony Sparano team. Until then, as we all have known, this is a fingerprint marker for one egotistical Tuna. And there is nothing, I repeat nothing, wrong with that.
In reality, who cares? The fact is simple, Bill Parcells hired his own people, is buying his own groceries, and has people in place that are first timers in their position and now learning from one of the greats in the game. Where is there negativity in that? Where is there a story from a journalist hack who seems to feel the need to point out that Bill Parcells is in charge and not Jeff Ireland? Are they trying to create a rift between the two? Are they trying to get Jeff Ireland to stand up and say “I’m tired of you taking the glory, let me do my job!”? It won’t happen. These two men are so much alike that the focus is on the team and their goals for it. The beneficiary will not be Jeff Ireland or Bill Parcells. If it all goes well that honor belongs to the Fans and the franchise.
This is what Miami has needed, what fans have wanted, and the media begged for. Now that they have a more limited access to the team and it’s players, no longer in the loop on what really is going on, they feel the need to nit pick. It’s funny really, you see a writer do a “blog” on a paper site and they say one thing, have a negative slant, or point out something that will stir up the masses. Then they link back to their “print” article that tends to be more “newsy”, real, less objectionable. It’s a bait and switch. What it really is, is nothing more than journalistic irresponsibility from a bunch of college graduated journalists who are realizing that with the modern invention of spell check and on-line thesaurus’s, a college education no longer is the only way you can write and voice your opinion, it’s just the only way you can get paid…and even that may not be profitable as time goes on.
Next thing you know they will be posting pictures of half-naked women and tagging them for hits. The shamelessness of what some people will do for a few numbers.