Now that Tribe manager Eric Wedge is about to become history, it's time for frustrated Cleveland sports fans to focus our frustration on another hapless team leader: 0-3 Browns coach Eric Mangini.
Last week, Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated's Web site asked if Mangini (pictured) was the worst NFL coaching hire ever:
I cannot stand the lack of respect he has shown for the team's history, the Mickey Mouse game he plays with quarterbacks, the amazing knack he has for getting his players to not play hard for him or the stupid fines he hands out like he's Principal Vernon from "The Breakfast Club." Don't mess with the bull, young man, you'll get the horns. Posnanski admitted it was a burst of fan hyperbole ("fanbole," he called it). But would he still qualify his statement today, after Mangini's announcement that he's replacing Brady Quinn with Derek Anderson as the Browns' starting quarterback?
OK, we'll admit, this blog has shown some Quinn bias before. But the quarterback-controversy consensus here in the Cleveland Magazine offices is: You've got to give your young talent time to learn and get comfortable, not pull them after 2 1/2 games. Troy Aikman went 1-15 in his rookie year, and the Cowboys didn't bench him. OK, so Quinn might not be an Aikman, but Browns fans know what Anderson can and can't do by now, even if Mangini doesn't.
So how long will Mangini last as coach of the Browns? Please vote in our blog poll, at the top of the right column.
(To read Kim Schneider's January 2008 profile of Quinn and Joe Thomas, click here.)
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