The Byron Scott Firing, and the Brady-Manning Debate

Today, the inevitable happened. The struggling New Orleans Hornets, a team that is a mere two years removed from being a championship contender, fired coach Byron Scott in the wake of a 3-6 start to the new NBA season. This move is hardly surprising and has been expected ever since the Hornets went out with a wimper in last year's playoff series against the Nuggets. However, just because the dismissal of Scott is not a surprise does not mean that it is a good decision on the part of the Hornets front office. In fact, this is a thoroughly unjust move by New Orleans.

In sports, the head coach almost always takes the blame when a team is floundering. And in many cases, the firing of the head coach of a losing team is indeed warranted. Just not in this particular case. The Hornets' recent woes have nothing to do with Scott, a terrific coach who has reached the NBA Finals twice as a head coach, in addition to his three NBA championships as a player with the great Los Angeles Lakers teams of the 1980's. We're talking about a guy with tremendous championship experience and savvy. When Scott led a very young and inexperienced Hornets team to the Western Conference Semi-Finals in 2007, it was one of the most impressive coaching feats of the decade, considering the immense depth of the Western Conference. No, the woes of the Hornets are not due to any sort of ineptitude on the part of Scott, but rather to the shocking incompetence of the New Orleans front office. When the Hornets front office decided to treat Tyson Chandler with utter disrespect, eventually trading him to Charlotte in exchange for Emeka Okafor, they made one of the dumbest decisions in recent memory, essentially destroying the Hornets' team chemistry. Now, the great Chris Paul is all alone. Former All-Star David West has all but vanished, and it is looking very likely that the Hornets will not have what it takes to make the playoffs.

So is Byron Scott to blame? Absolutely not. Not even Red Auerbach could win in the face of such adversity.

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Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? That is the question. As the Colts and Patriots get set to renew their heated rivalry Sunday in Indianapolis, it is time to rekindle one of sports most fascinating debates: Which team has the better quarterback. The Patriots have Tom Brady, the three-time Super Bowl-winning QB who is always cool under the most pressure-packed of situations. The Colts have Peyton Manning, the three-time league MVP who is perhaps the most prolific passer in NFL history. The two quarterbacks provide an interesting contrast in style. Brady plays with nonchalant grace, while Manning swings and flails his arms at every snap. Regardless of their differing styles, however, both QB's are equally brilliant. Thus, the question of who is better is simply impossible to answer. Ask any wide receiver in the league and they will say that they would love to play with either quarterback. Sorry to come across as a wimp for deflecting the question, but it's the truth: Brady and Manning are equals.