It's not very often that you can tell from reading one particular article how exactly a supposedly-unbiased-writer feels about who or what they are writing about. But every once in a blue moon you come across a piece of work that leaves no doubt. You fair people get the pleasure of seeing two in one day, the one I talk about and the one you are currently reading.
Mike Florio has left no doubt on how he feels about Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley, and his decision to attend the Lil' Wayne concert in Kansas City Monday night with Chiefs cornerback, Brandon Flowers. Before I get too far into this little proclamation I think you should all read Florio's masterpiece of professional journalism right here. It takes about as long to come to a conclusion about how he feels about Haley as it does on how I feel about where Florio's foot currently resides.
The article began with this little tidbit.
So how does an NFL head coach who’s trying to cram five months of work into five weeks spend one of the precious remaining evenings before the first game of the regular season?
I'm glad he left the suspense for later on how he feels about the time committment that NFL coaches should show in the weeks leading up to the regular season. Is that a bad thing? Nope. Not at all. But I didn't see any other stories detailing how the other NFL coaches around the league were spending their Monday nights. He goes on to question Haley's answers about going to the concert and the reason for going in the first place. Can Florio get any pettier? Who cares why he went and who are you to question it? Haley talked about how the team made a warm-up video to a Lil-Wayne song and how if he was ever in town that he would try and go. This was Florio's response to that answer.
And so Haley has found a way to try to justify his detour away from his work duties. He owed it to Lil Wayne to be there, because the Chiefs used one of his songs to get excited last year.
Last time I checked Haley's duties were to win football games. Considering the Chiefs had the biggest win/loss turnaround in franchise history from 2009 to 2010, I'd think most fans would want Haley listening and giving props to whatever tools they used to succeed. If that's Lil' Wayne, then give some credit where credit is due.
Is it that different if Haley was at a concert and Mike Tomlin or Norv Turner were out at the movies with their families? Either way they weren't at work and that was the point. Or was it? Florio's point is that Haley was not working and he felt that he should have been. I find it hard to believe that EVERY other NFL coach was in the office working on Monday night while Haley was at this concert. But for some reason they didn't get a front-page story on Profootballtalk. What difference does it make what he was doing if the reason you're calling him out was because he wasn't working?
So is there more to this story about Florio's feelings towards Haley?
Back in February Florio had some more positive things to say about the Chiefs head coach. Via profootballtalk.com
Haley’s tactics are painfully obvious. If the media likes him, the media will be less inclined to call him out, even when he deserves it. If he focused as much effort on not deserving to be called out for, say, running off employees, he wouldn’t need to try to suck up to the media.
Florio seems to take a personal shot at Haley for supposedly running off employees. The whole "sucking up to the media" thing is laughable. Have you ever heard Haley speak to the media? Haley is the last guy in the world that would care what the media thinks of him. I don't think he cared to answer questions about the Thomas Jones/Jon Baldwin fight despite the media's continued attempts to get the inside scoop.
Florio discusses the Charlie Weis departure in a later story and once again calls out Todd Haley. via profootballtalk.
The move raises obvious questions regarding the relationship between Weis and head coach Todd Haley, a coach of the year candidate regarded by some as a first-class pain in the rear.
It's rather funny that in Florio's entire article about Weis leaving for Florida there wasn't one mention of Charlie Weis' son, and the fact that he got a job at Florida. You'd think that a coach leaving for a job where he can spend countless hours with his son doing something he loves would be relevant to the story at hand. But that takes away from the Haley is an ass-narrative so he left it out.
Normally members of the media would at least try and disguise their distaste for some NFL coaches that they really don't like, but Florio doesn't seem to have much of a filter on his anti-Haley keyboard. Florio is a big Chan Gailey fan and maybe that's where he gets his distaste for Haley. He wrote a piece for Bills fans and how "they shouldn't fret, because Chan Gailey's resume speaks for itself" Maybe that's where this all started.
I find it rather entertaining that a week after Haley decides to cancel morning meetings and send the team to the movies he gets called out for personally going to a concert AFTER work. If the point of Florio's article was to say that the season is coming up and Haley doesn't have time to be coercing with rappers, and should be working, then why didn't he write an article about giving the entire team the morning off from practice? Oh that's right, because your problem isn't with anyone else on the team or their preparation, it's with Todd Haley.
If trying to compare the two situations it's gets a little hard to believe Florio's literal comments. Situation "A" is the entire team misses meetings and a half-days workout, situation "B" is Haley and Flowers go to a concert after work. How is it that situation "B" is more worthy of a front-page story on a national website? Is it because it was a Lil' Wayne concert? Is it because you'll just find any reason to bash Haley for anything? Obviously Florio hasn't learned much from the Aaron Rodgers fiasco last season. It only took him three stories to get his facts straight on that one before he apologized.
One guy that Florio won't ever call out....Rex Ryan. They both like having feet in their mouths.