Shawn's Favorite Five: Pro Football

     Shawn's Favorite Five will be a series that will look at my five favorite coaches from a sport that isn't my pick for the five greatest or best coaches; it's just a list of my five favorites in no particular order.

Pro Football will be the center of this version of Shawn's Favorite Five.

1: Buddy Ryan, Philadelphia and Phoenix 

The irascible and downright hilarious master of the "46" defense, Buddy Ryan, built one of the best defenses ever with the 87-90 Eagles, and it was Ryan who gave the Cardinals their first non-losing season (8-8) in the first of his two years in Arizona.

A terrific judge of talent, Buddy Ryan only had one problem as a head coach- he didn't like offenses, and it often hurt his teams in the clutch.

Ryan was 0-3 in the playoffs for Philadelphia, and his teams were known for playing up or down to their competition.

Still, I loved Buddy Ryan and his willingness to take on anyone ( he called Eagles owner Norman Braman "The Guy In France" and as the Houston Oilers defensive coordinator, he punched coaching staff member Kevin Gilbride during a game) and in his own way, Buddy Ryan was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin a decade before telling off your boss was cool.

Except that Stone Cold eventually won the championship.

2) George Allen, Los Angeles Rams, Washington, USFL Chicago, and Arizona

Known for his fanatical obsessions in looking for every advantage and his willingness to stretch the rulebook (Allen once traded draft picks that his team didn't own), Allen despised younger players lacking the patience to develop them for the future, famously uttering the phrase "The Future is Now!"

Allen traded draft picks like kids trading sports cards and usually obtained players near the end of their career, building a franchise with veterans known as "The Over The Hill Gang".

The vaunted Dallas-Washington rivalry was one created by Allen, who emphasised the games against the Cowboys to a manic level, and his greatest victory came versus Dallas, Washington's 26-3 victory in the 1972 NFC Championship.

Allen's clean-cut but intense style made him wear out his welcome in his NFL stops in Los Angeles and Washington, and when he received a second chance in Los Angeles in 1978, Allen lasted only two preseason games and would never coach in the NFL again.

3) Jerry Glanville, Houston Oilers and Atlanta.

Glanville's star blazed quickly through the NFL as he led the Oilers to multiple playoff berths and even the Falcons to a playoff victory, but "The Man in Black" would never coach in the NFL again after the Falcons fired him after consecutive 6-10 seasons following the 1992 season.

Glanville's teams were known for his quick wit, dressing in all black, and were known for their "aggressive" defensive play.

After being fired by Atlanta, Glanville worked in NFL media until 2005, when he returned to coaching as Hawaii's defensive coordinator under former Glanville assistant June Jones.

Glanville's post-Atlanta coaching stops include head coaching stints at 1-AA Portland State, and minor league TSL Conquerors (The Spring League), and the Alabama Airborne (Major League Football), and defensive coordinator positions with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (CFL), Tampa Bay Vipers (XFL) along with his current job at Division II Northwestern Oklahoma State.

4) Dan Reeves, Denver, New York Giants, Atlanta

A winner at all three stops, Reeves's teams always ran into better teams in the Super Bowl.

A Tom Landry protégé, Reeves was a bit more fiery than Landry and won with both great quarterbacks (John Elway), very good quarterbacks (Phil Simms), and average quarterbacks (Chris Chandler).

Reeves coached iu four Super Bowls, three with Denver and one with Atlanta losing all four to better teams (Denver losing to the 86 Giants, 87 Redskins, and 89 49ers, Atlanta losing to the 98 Broncos).

Reeves's teams may have fallen short in the Super Bowl, but they were usually reliable in big games other than the biggest games.

5) Bum Phillips: Houston, New Orleans.

"Bum", known for his cowboy hat for outdoor games that he wouldn't wear for home games because both teams that he coached played inside domed stadiums, took the Houston Oilers to their first three playoff appearances in the NFL, and two AFC championship appearances, and the start of the "Luv Ya Blue" Oilers behind the power running of Earl Campbell.

Phillips was surprisingly fired by Houston after the third playoff appearance in 1980, and after a few unsuccessful seasons with the New Orleans Saints, he retired from coaching.

The folksy Phillips was perfect for two southern franchises and helped to make his teams easy to root for, even for fans without a dog in the fight.

Cleaning out the inbox

Time to dump the inbox with things filling up!

We start with the documentary Blackfish,which looks at the Sea World trainers of killer whales,their deaths,the whales themselves and the questions involving whether the whales should be in captivity at all.
Blackfish definitely has an agenda,which is to have killer whales never be in a captive situation and one could make a compelling argument agreeing with them,but I'll allow you to make your own decision on that.
However,the filmmaking is top notch and whether you agree with the premise of keeping whales captive or not,it is enough to make you at least consider the idea of placing animals this large in a situation that could result in a loss of life...

There is only one of the original members of the astronaut program left after the passing of Scott Carpenter at the age of 88.
Carpenter flew just one flight in the Mercury program and never flew again after a controversial trip that saw Carpenter fail to get all of his tasks completed and was well off his landing target as in 250 miles off target.
Only John Glenn is still alive of the first set of NASA astronauts....

As some of you know,I've become more of a weather geek through the years even if the Weather Channel is a pale imitation of its once strong self.
Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean has written a children's book "Freddie the Frogcaster" that intends  to make weather more interesting for kids.
I'm all for whatever makes things more viable for kids to want to learn and children's books are an effective way of getting material into the developing mind.
I know when I was small,I devoured all types of books and it opened my mind to almost anything through the written page.
Dean discusses the book here.

The first year that the Washington Nationals came to Hagerstown,their first round pick and hot prospect was Chris Marrero and Marrero had a high school teammate that was a top prospect for the Phillies in Adrian Cardenas.
So when the two faced off in Hagerstown,it was a big deal to those of us that care about such things.
Cardenas was a super nice guy,a willing signer and even gave me a bat that he signed that is still in my dining room today.
I rooted for Adrian after that through his days with the Phillies and following trades to the A's and Cubs
and was excited to see him finally make to the bigs in 2012 with the Cubs.
Cardenas spent parts of the 2012 season with Chicago and then decided he was through with the game at just 24.
In a terrific essay,Cardenas explains just why he was done in the New Yorker.
Highly recommended..
ESPN has an article on Kliff Kingsbury and how excited the Texas Tech fan base is about having a young coach that is excited about being there.
The article looks at Kingsbury,his ideas to be connected with the things that connect with young players and what helps in recruiting.
The former Red Raider passing star as the first star off the Mike Leach line talks about his career at Tech and his years wandering around the NFL.
Good read....


Two goodbyes from the sports world before we go.

Goodbye to former Oilers and Saints head coach Bum Phillips at the age of 90..
Phillips was the leaders of the later 70's Oiler teams that were good enough to win titles,but played at the wrong time and in wrong place as they played in the same division as the Pittsburgh Steelers,who were just a little better.
Phillips and his folksy image was popular with players,fans and media and one liners were never in short order with the Bum around.
Phillips was not as successful with the Saints as the Oilers,but set the table somewhat for the Saints teams that turned the corner under Jim Mora...

Terry Pluto in the Cleveland Plain Dealer recalls Rodney "Buckethead" Craig who passed away at 56 in Los Angeles.
Craig had been homeless for most of the last ten years and was stabbed to death in August,but Pluto's article was the first I had heard of that.
Craig was thought of as a serious prospect when the Indians got him from Seattle,but never did much other than be a decent pinch hitter in 1982...