Thomas Bugg Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 When a popular or successful coach is fired, or a popular player is cut or traded, it may seem like a good front office decision and at times it winds up being just that. But fans get irate and sometimes turn on the front office management, and at times the players voice their displeasure, creating a contentious locker room environment. Being from Philly I can think of a prime example that jumps off the page. Brian Dawkins. Weapon X was the heart and soul of the Eagles defense, and in 2008 when you go back and look at the season it was players like him that snapped us out of a funk that damn near cost us the season. Now yes, Dawkins was getting long in the tooth (I mean, he did debut in 1997) but the man was still productive, and he was supposed to retire wearing the green. Evidently Howie Roseman didn't think so, and traded him to Denver. BAD MOVE! When lowly employees are blogging and telling you how much you fucked up, it's usually a tell-tale sign that you've made a highly unpopular decision. I've got several more examples that I'm sure someone will bring up later but I'm short on time right now as I type this. Ugh, FUCK 12 hour shifts at Gilster Mary Lee!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Hold up a second Dawkins wasn't traded to the Broncos. His contract was up. He and the Eagles were negotiating a new deal but then the Broncos came in with a 5 year deal with more guaranteed money (which was by far and away a better deal than any other team was offering him). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Tom Seaver and the Midnight Massacre comes immediately to mind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Comedian Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Hold up a second Dawkins wasn't traded to the Broncos. His contract was up. He and the Eagles were negotiating a new deal but then the Broncos came in with a 5 year deal with more guaranteed money (which was by far and away a better deal than any other team was offering him). Not to mention Roseman was at least third down the totem pole after Reid and Banner in terms of personnel decisions at that point... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 I was going to make a No, No, Nanette joke, but found this instead: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hold up a second Dawkins wasn't traded to the Broncos. His contract was up. He and the Eagles were negotiating a new deal but then the Broncos came in with a 5 year deal with more guaranteed money (which was by far and away a better deal than any other team was offering him). My bad, you're right. And yeah, at the end of the day it is all about making money. It just really stung at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 I tagged Buddy Ryan and Charlie Manual in the thread because those are two examples of unpopular firings. Buddy I can kinda understand in retrospect- I mean, he did go 0 for 3 in the playoffs. But Cholly won the damn World Series! He deserved to at least finish the season. Sandberg did a good job in his absence, but us Phillies fans were not happy at all with what we consider a bitch move on the GM's part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Luongo trade to Vancouver was fucking brutal when it happened and only got worse; 7 games of Bertuzzi, 4 unspectacular seasons of Bryan Allen, and a back up goalie in Alex Auld; the only bright spot of the entire God damn deal was the fact that Ed Belfour and Alex Auld got into a drunken bar fight (Belfour allegedly hit him with a bottle). This trade especially sucked because they threw in my favorite player on the team; Lukas Krajicek. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ray Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Mets trading Lenny Dykstra to the Phillies for Juan Samuel. I remember a lot of the rumors were because Dykstra was a dick towards Gregg Jefferies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Oilers firing Bum Phillips There are plenty of stories of folks in Texas becoming Cowboys fans when Bum was shown the door 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lucia Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Not sure how much of an "unpopular" firing this was, but... In 1999, the Orioles fired Frank Wren as GM after one year (78-84), largely because Albert Belle's contract turned out to be a disaster because of a degenerative condition in his hip. The Orioles won as many as 78 games just once from 2000-2011, didn't make the playoffs until 2012, and are on their fifth GM since Wren left. Meanwhile, that Wren guy has been GM in Atlanta for six years, has finished under .500 just once (largely due to the dreck Scherholtz left him with going into his first year), and has earned three playoff berths (which should be four, thanks Cardinals). He ended up doing pretty well for himself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyWhioux Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Warriors dealing Monta Ellis to Milwaukee turns out to have been, in the long run, absolutely the right move for the Warriors and the team has been much better since that deal in every way. At the time it was extremely unpopular with the fans, who expressed their displeasure with the move to the owner the next chance they got. As soon as Mullin sits down, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Ken phelps for jay buhner. So infamous it became a tv punchline. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Gretzsy to LA trade. . . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Ban for misspelling please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muhammedboehm Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Where would Jerry Jones firing of Tom Landry fall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Austin Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 First one that comes to mind for me would be the Dominique Wilkins trade to the Clippers for Danny Manning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Where would Jerry Jones firing of Tom Landry fall?Ridiculously unpopular, ridiculously correct decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zheroen Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 The Blackhawks trading away Tyler Arnason, Mark Bell, and Kyle Calder in 2006 drew a lot of moaning from hardcore fans about how the future of the team had been flushed down the toilet, as the ABC line was supposed to have led us to greatness. Fast forward eight years, and none of those players are still in the NHL, while Chicago has won two Stanley Cups in past four years with ACTUAL blue-chip prospects who lived up to the hype. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdA Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Not sure how much of an "unpopular" firing this was, but... In 1999, the Orioles fired Frank Wren as GM after one year (78-84), largely because Albert Belle's contract turned out to be a disaster because of a degenerative condition in his hip. The Orioles won as many as 78 games just once from 2000-2011, didn't make the playoffs until 2012, and are on their fifth GM since Wren left. Meanwhile, that Wren guy has been GM in Atlanta for six years, has finished under .500 just once (largely due to the dreck Scherholtz left him with going into his first year), and has earned three playoff berths (which should be four, thanks Cardinals). He ended up doing pretty well for himself. Wow. That's some re-writing of history. I will be fair to Wren and state no O's GM between Gillick and Duq had a snowball's chance in hell of winning but...yeah...Wren was considered a joke as O's GM. One might want to read this to see how Wren's Baltimore tenure was viewed. And Wren's Braves tenure hasn't exactly been Branch Rickey-esque either. The Uggla contract, the Teixeira deal that built up Texas, BJ Upton being a lemon. Granted, locking young players up to avoid arbitration this offseason has looked pretty good. But we might want to l chill a bit on making Wren the second coming of George Weiss. My nomination is the Reds dismantling of the Big Red Machine in the late 70's, starting with the Perez trade and working through the firing of Sparky Anderson and letting Rose and Morgan leave as FA's (OK, three of the four moves were completely defensible). But God, that Sparky firing... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 The trade that killed the Whalers, and is probably the worst deal in the history of pro sports in North America: Ron Francis (the greatest and most beloved player in team history), Ulf Sammuelson and Grant Jennings for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski (one of the most useless players in NHL history. God did I hate him), and Jeff Parker (who promptly retired). The only 2 people on this planet that I hate more than Ed Johnson are Bettman and Karmanos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 The trade that killed the Whalers, and is probably the worst deal in the history of pro sports in North America: Ron Francis (the greatest and most beloved player in team history), Ulf Sammuelson and Grant Jennings for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski (one of the most useless players in NHL history. God did I hate him), and Jeff Parker (who promptly retired). The only 2 people on this planet that I hate more than Ed Johnson are Bettman and Karmanos. Reading the Wiki page, it seems like Ed Johnston essentially spent his entire tenure as GM fucking the Whalers organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Darius Bagfelt Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 The trade that killed the Whalers, and is probably the worst deal in the history of pro sports in North America: Ron Francis (the greatest and most beloved player in team history), Ulf Sammuelson and Grant Jennings for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski (one of the most useless players in NHL history. God did I hate him), and Jeff Parker (who promptly retired). The only 2 people on this planet that I hate more than Ed Johnson are Bettman and Karmanos. Please not even the worst trade in the history of hockey let alone pro sports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Name another trade that killed a team and a city. I dare you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Name another trade that killed a team and a city. I dare you. Well I can't think of a trade that killed a team or a city, but I can think of games that have done so. The 1977 playoff game between the Raiders and the Colts broke the backs of the Colts franchise as they were never competitive again and Irsay made the ultimate bitch move in sneaking the team off in the middle of the night to Indy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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