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The past two weeks have been sports radio nirvana, a veritable cornucopia of drama, mayhem and change. Coaches getting hired after coaches were fired; general managers making moves, personnel men getting promoted, local legends getting snubbed, VPs and presidents boldly putting their stamp on billion dollar franchises.

It doesn't get any better than that in this industry, right?

Actually, it does.

People are outraged. Fans are promising to never support teams they have grown up with ever again. Season ticket holders are shaking their fists with a vow under moon, sun and sky to cancel their renewals. Sponsors have questions and they want answers or there's going to be a reckoning in accounting. Daddy Warbucks don't play that.

But wait, there's more.

Multifarious players are coming, going, being defamed, demoted and otherwise deposed, while others rise up, seize their opportunity and claim their rightful place in the circle of power.

And I have never felt so inadequate.

I have been in a locker room my whole life. I have been a team captain at every level -- in multiple sports. I have an older brother and a younger brother that experienced these same set or circumstances. Combined, we have 15 years of playing/coaching at the FBS level and over three decades at the NFL level, not including two decades of radio analysis. We have been inside and involved in professional sports for over half a century.

And after speaking with my warrior-siblings all I can do is hypothesize in front of a microphone.

I didn't work with Ken Whisenhunt on a daily basis, but I believed he shouldn't have been fired. I wasn't sitting in the room when Ray Horton interviewed, but I went on the air and said I would have hired him as the Cardinals head coach. I have never managed a franchise worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more, but criticized Suns management for firing Alvin Gentry. I have never interviewed a coaching candidate at the highest level our species can generate, but I thought the Suns should have given the interim job to Dan Majerle. I have never managed a clubhouse, but believe Justin Upton was a horrible fit for the Diamondbacks. I have never tried to trade a potential superstar, but believe the Diamondbacks did not get equal value for Justin Upton.

Yet people are up in arms, standing outside the castle walls with pitchfork and torch -- screaming for Frankenstein's head! Retribution is what they want and they want it now, without the aid or comfort of the truth: like Frankenstein's Monster didn't mean to kill that little girl by the pond.

Relax. If the powers that be are wrong, there will be blood (figuratively speaking) because your voice has been heard. If they're right, they'll reap the benefits of what they've sown in the profession they are now employed and we'll all wait for the next opportunity to shred their acumen, ability and attributes without knowing the truth when they make another franchise-altering decision.

Ron Wolfley, Co-host of Doug & Wolf

14 Comments   |   Join the conversation »
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  • Abuse
    Whatashame wrote...
    My Gawd,
    What a bloated windbag you are.
  • Abuse
    Guyinaz wrote...
    Have "our" day?
    Dude, this is Phoenix, outside of the 2001 Diamondbacks this place has been a cesspool of failure. The one man who had any sort of clue, Jerry Colangelo, was run out of town by the D'backs and was lied to by Sarver about maintaining the Suns as a competative team. Our day will come when we get lucky again. P.S. Please get Robert Sarver on the phone and let him face the fans. He seems to have no clue
  • Abuse
    ex-distancerunner wrote...
    The Coyotes
    No failure there. Starting out slow this year.First game I attended was last year, BLEW MY MIND Season tickets now. Don't know the rules, but the excitement is second to NONE...I also have a half season to D-backs and go to several Suns games (going Feb 1 matter of fact) Back to them all! You won't worry so much about 1 single team.. Try Saturday's LA Kings game. Get on-line, get a ticket. You won't regret it. I promise Lets go Coyotes! Lets go D-backs! Lets go Cardinals! Lets go Suns!
  • Abuse
    enforcer wrote...
    Never happen
    Valley sports fans are unlikely to ever have our day. Collectively we are one of the least successful sports cities in the country. One championship for the Dbacks, two championship appearances by the Suns, one by the Cards. This out of 40+ seasons for the Suns, 24 for the Cards, 14 for the Dbacks, and 16 for the Coyotes. That's about a 1% success rate, The teams are in last place much more often than in first.
  • Abuse
    diehardcard wrote...
    What is Wolf's arguments here?
    Is he saying that we don't have a right to be upset because we don't know what we're talking about because none of us have ever run a franchise before? I don't need to have owned a restaurant to know you don't promote a guy who's never been more than a waiter to general manager. (Hunter) I don't need to have run an investment company to know you don't trade your best broker to a competitor for one average broker and a bunch of recent college grads. (Upton)
  • Abuse
    diehardcard wrote...
    Wolf pt 2
    I don't need to have run any kind of business to know you don't fire your top manager while retaining your best assistant manager (who everyone loves and think does a great job) only to fire that assistant after deciding to hire a new top manager from outside the company. (Horton) And I don't need to have run an NFL franchise to know you don't promote a guy to GM who has been involved in scouting and personnel decisions for over 14 years while the team goes 86-138 in that period. (Keim) We are complaining because it's justified, Wolf.
  • Abuse
    Tony S. wrote...
    What's the big deal?
    Valley sports fans only are happy when their teams are winning and they are miserable when they are losing. Seems normal. The increased frustration is due to the fact that the fans and local media think they know all of the answers yet none of them know how to run a pro sports franchise. When, not if, the teams start winning again, they'll settle down until the next big "catastrophe" happens.
  • Abuse
    Tony S. wrote...
    Diehardcard
    By the way, all because "everyone" loves and thinks that Horton was doing a great job still doesn't mean he can make a good head coach. Case in point....Joe Bugel. Remember him? Nice guy. Creator of the "Hogs". But he wasn't a successful head coach. Still a nice and lovable guy. You're not totally justified. If you are basing hiring decisions on how much the fans and media "love" a guy after two years as a defensive coordinator, you're letting your frustration make decisions that you'll regret in the future.
  • Abuse
    JW L. wrote...
    Relax?
    I think better words to use for this situation are "dump them." I quit watching Suns games over a year ago. I rip them on forums like this because I am still upset that Sarver took something valuable from me as a fan, but I wouldn't support his team for any reason. The other teams are just typical "sports businesses" that always track their bottom line before they look at their wins and losses. Sports, in general, is more about money than competition nowadays. Sucks, but it is what it is.
  • Abuse
    azgbayfan wrote...
    Don't Agree
    The Suns might be as far from a championship run as the franchise has ever been. The Cardinals only bright spot was their defense and they let the architect of that defense go. The dbacks seem to have a solid club other than missing that star cleanup hitter. The Coyotes are off to a very slow start in a very short season. Have our day. Take off the rose colored glasses and put down the kool aid
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