WhoDat

Interesting... guys, nobody is dictating who the Lions can or cannot hire. They aren\'t really even dictating who they can or cannot interview. They\'re saying that the Lions, or any other team, must interview at least one candidate who is a minority. Now in this instance I do think that sanctions against Detroit are a bad idea, however the policy is not. You guys don\'t see something wrong in the fact that there are, what, less than 10 black head coaches in Professional and major college football head coaching jobs?

JOESAM2002

Well guys I have to agree with you both. I do own my own business and I wouldn\'t let some outsider tell me who I can hire. To me business just doesn\'t work that way. You have to hire the man best suited for the job. I liken it to hireing a short order cook to cater the President\'s State dinners.
Mooch, like him or not, is a winner. It\'ll be hard for anyone to find fault in that.

billyh1026

My take on this is pretty simple. Trying to force any business into hiring from a pool of people be it based on age, race, gender, etc, etc, etc, with a threat of penalties is pure blackmail, enuthical, and in some way, I\'m sure illegal.

Let me put it this way. How many people who own a business want outsiders telling them how to run their internal business? My guess is none unles they\'re invited to the party.

It\'s like saying \"hey....we know that Einstien is the guy you want to pay to look into how the universe was created. Buuuuuuuut, this other guy he went to school with AND is just as old AND has been in the physics field for just as long ain\'t Albert, but hey...we think you should hire him anyways because we think he could do just as good a job. Even tho old man Einstien is the guy you want. Oh, and it sounds like an even better idea to us, because we don\'t have to live with the consequences or pay him.\"

It\'s a crock.

Dean Vernon Wormer: Mr. Hoover, president of Delta house? One point six; four C's and an F. A fine example you set! Daniel Simpson Day... HAS no grade point average. All courses incomplete. Mr. Blu - MR. BLUTARSKY... ZERO POINT ZERO.
John 'Bluto' Blutarsky: Christ. Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the f@$%ing Peace Corps.

ScottyRo

Well gatorman, you get your wish. Here\'s a quote from an article on espn\'s website:

\"Rev. Jesse Jackson has demanded that the NFL investigate the hiring of Steve Mariucci, saying the Detroit Lions violated the league\'s policy....\"

What I find rediculous about this whole situation is the way Cochran\'s group and now Jackson use their press statements to imply something that really didn\'t happen. They say that the Lions\' organization - by basically annointing Mooch their head coach the moment he was available - refused to consider any minority candidates for the job. Which is only a half-truth. The Lions not only did not consider any minority candidates they did not consider any other candidates, majority or minority.

The Lions simply went after the only coach they wanted. In fact, the situation suggests that had Mooch not been fired by the 49ers, then Morningweg would have kept his job in Detroit for another year. Of course, Jackson and Cochran don\'t want to talk about reality . They only want to show you the situtation as they [want to] see it.

I want to say however, that I like the policy. I think that it is a good way to get owners to broaden the horizons a bit without forcing them to hire based on race. The facts suggest that the owners in this league, who are white, feel more comfortable hiring white GMs and white head coaches - in my opinion because the owners hire people who they already know and feel a bond with. By using this policy it will give the owners a chance to meet with someone who they otherwise might not have considered meeting and perhaps get that person a job.

It\'s just my little opinion.

BuffordT

Detroit Rock City! Had to do it

I wonder what the next feather in Jesse J\'s pimpin hat is. If he can force his agenda into football, is he going to start demanding that the head of Ford be black? GM? Coke?

Seriously, you may think that is silly, but what is the difference between forcing an issue on a football team and on a business? Not as much difference as you\'d think, especially with these jokers. Problem is, anytime that someone speaks out against them, they are automatically put into the \"Racist\" group. If you are white, you can\'t have a contrary opinion to a minority without getting the \"R\" word thrown on you.

These guys are doing more to hurt relations than help.

WhoDat

I think that\'s the point Gator. To crack the door that was otherwise locked.

ScottyRo

Some of the accusations flying from the Cochran/Mehri camp is that part of the problem in the NFL is the \"good-ol\'-boy system\" of hirings in the league. However, just this week we have a high-profile example of this type of system working in favor of a minority getting a good job in the NFL.

This example, of course, is Ray Rhodes, who was hired by his former Green Bay boss, Mike Holmgren. Rhodes is a great coach and may be able to help Seattle, but he got his job primarily because of his relationship with Holmgren. In fact, Rhodes got his last job with the Broncos because of his already existing relationship with Mike Shanahan. That si how things work in the NFL.

Doesn\'t this imply that the good-ol\'-boy system works just as well for blacks in the league as it does whites and that over time the disparity of white to black coaches will decrease? I think so.

I\'ll say again that I think the policy is good in that it gets blacks at the minimum an opportunity to get their names in the mix. That\'s at least a start. Hopefully, one day we\'ll look back on the past and remember these issues as distant memories. Just as we now look at \"taxation without representation\" and slavery as long forgotten troubles. I pray that it doesn\'t take as long.