"Sarge" 36db.com> wrote in message
news:epdkqr$8f2$1@news.datemas.de...

"Steveo" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:20070119192629.192$9n@newsreader.com...

the world ends Dec.21st 2010. Just when the Browns were going to the Super
Bowl!

but stoned you can do ANYTHING!

Can Browns follow Saints' blueprint?
By Mary Kay Cabot
Plain Dealer Reporter
Thursday, January 18, 2007

The Saints, who face the Bears in Sunday’s NFC championship game, are
the inspiration for every struggling team in the NFL, including the Browns.

If New Orleans can make the leap from 3-13 to 10-6 and the conference
championship game in one season, why can’t the 4-12 Browns do the same?

Under first-year coach Sean Payton and new quarterback Drew Brees, the
Saints are playing in their first title game in the 40-year history of
the franchise, becoming the first team with 13 losses the previous
season to do so.

So, how did the perennial ’Aints morph into the steamrolling Saints
overnight? More importantly for Cleveland fans, how can the Browns do
the same?

Here are five ways the Saints did it — and the Browns’ chances of
duplicating the feat:

1. THE COACH

red dog yahoo.com> wrote:

I don't particularly see this as a hint anyone is going to sell the team.
It can just as easy mean that there are worse owners out there.

Now, every day all over this world people wake up in the morning never
realizing that they will be dead by nightfall.

As the old saying goes, you only have the Now, nothing beyond that is
guaranteed.

Illness or death could result in new ownership of this team as easily as
Lerner deciding one day to sell it because he no longer has any interest in
it

http://tinyurl.com/yvl4cb

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- With one winning season in 19 years in the desert,
the Arizona Cardinals need a new direction.

Ken Whisenhunt believes he can provide it. He's aware of the
organization's troubled history, but isn't intimidated by it.

"You recognize that, but I don't think you live in the past," said
Whisenhunt, who was formally introduced as the Cardinals' new head coach
a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the club's headquarters.

Whisenhunt joins the Cardinals after three seasons as Pittsburgh's
offensive coordinator. The Cardinals hired the 44-year-old Whisenhunt to
replace Dennis Green, who was fired after going 16-32 in three seasons.
Whisenhunt signed a four-year contract with a team option for a fifth.

"This is a dream come true for me," said Whisenhunt, who plans to call
the offensive plays on Sundays.

Whisenhunt becomes the Cardinals' eighth coach since the franchise moved
to Arizona in 1988. He was one of eight candidates interviewed for the
job, but one of only two who got a second interview. The other was
former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman.

http://tinyurl.com/29hcrd

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) -- The Baltimore Ravens extended coach Brian
Billick's contract Wednesday following the best season in franchise history.

The team simply sent out a one-line statement to make the announcement,
and promised no further details or discussion.

Asked about his contract Monday, Billick made it clear he would prefer
the situation remain a personal matter.

"I hope you don't misunderstand why I am hesitant to talk about my
contract going forward," he said. "Beyond the personal side, it's not
very comfortable to sit and pick up the paper and read your personal
finances all over the page."

Billick's current contract was to last through 2007 and his future with
the team was in doubt after a disappointing 2005 season. But the team
went 13-3 before being eliminated from the playoffs Saturday with a 15-6
loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

In nine seasons under Billick, Baltimore is 75-53. His nine seasons as
coach is tied with Philadelphia's Andy Reid for the third-longest
current run in the NFL behind Jeff Fisher of Tennessee (13) and Denver's
Mike Shanahan (12).

http://tinyurl.com/29ly69

http://news.steelers.com/article/73477/

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Mike Tomlin appreciates the opportunity he's getting
as one of three finalists for the Pittsburgh Steelers' coaching job. To
him, no former assistant to Tony Dungy could feel any differently.

The Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator had his second interview
Tuesday with the Steelers, a day before Steelers assistant head coach
Russ Grimm talks to the team again. Chicago defensive coordinator Ron
Rivera, the third finalist, can't meet with them again until the Bears'
season ends.

Tomlin, at 34, is the same age Bill Cowher was before the Steelers hired
him in 1992. He hopes that is more than a coincidence, although he has
been an NFL coordinator only one season.

"Those that support me make sure that I understand that," Tomlin said
after the meeting ended Tuesday night. "But they're looking for a
football coach. That's what I consider myself. My age is my age."

Tomlin is a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive backs coach and calls
himself a disciple of Dungy, the former Gophers and Steelers player and
Bucs coach who has Indianapolis in the AFC championship game.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Marty Schottenheimer might be down to one last chance
to get the San Diego Chargers to the Super Bowl.

Three days after the talented Chargers melted down in a stunning 24-21
playoff loss to New England, team president Dean Spanos decided
Wednesday that bringing Schottenheimer back for the final year of his
contract gives San Diego its best chance to win.

Schottenheimer, though, declined the team's offer of a one-year
extension for 2008 worth $4.5 million, with a $1 million buyout.

The coach didn't offer specific reasons, but they could have to do with
the spiraling salaries given to other NFL head coaches, and perhaps to
his strained relationship with general manager A.J. Smith.

"Right now, I wasn't comfortable accepting it," said Schottenheimer, who
will earn more than $3 million in 2007, the final year of an extension
he received after the 2004 season.

Spanos said Schottenheimer didn't give him a reason.

"I offered what I thought was a fair offer and it was surely up to him
to make the decision as to whether to accept it or not, and he chose not
to, and I respect that entirely," Spanos said.