Steve Mariucci Heads To Arizona

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November 21, 2006

Is a coaching change in the very near future for the Arizona Cardinals? According to well-placed NFL sources, the answer is – yes. The decision to replace Dennis Green after the season has been made, and the Cardinals have set their sights on former 49ers and Lions head man Steve Mariucci. Preliminary talks have been held, although Mooch is denying it, telling a mutual friend that the only thing he's concentrating on now is his work for the NFL Network.

Of course, that was after he asked, somewhat startled, "Where did you hear that?" Green's tenure at Arizona has been a failure, illustrated by his maniacal outburst after blowing a Monday night game to the Bears. Reportedly, the decision to axe him was made the following day.

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I had a chance to do a long interview with 1996 Olympic Wrestling Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, the former WWE star who's now fronting TNA Wrestling after a bitter divorce from Vince McMahon's company. The most fascinating – and troubling – part of the chat were revelations about his past drug use. Having suffered four broken necks in his career – yes, four – he became hooked on painkillers, and he told me that at one point he was taking 60-70 ten-milligram pills a day. That's between 600-700 mg per day. The recommended maximum dosage of Vicodin per day is 40 mg. He categorized it as the "worst painkiller problem in the history of professional wrestling." And he said that when he went to McMahon and asked for time off to go into rehab, Vinny Mac refused, saying, "You're an Olympic gold medalist. You'll get through it. We can't afford to have you off the road." Angle said he realized then that he was just a piece of property to McMahon, and that the friendship he thought they had was strictly one-sided. Angle claims he kicked the habit cold turkey, and has been clean for more than 18 months. Let's hope so, because at the rate he was ingesting painkillers, he was about to end up in cement, rather than cementing his legacy as one of America's greatest wrestlers on the amateur and professional levels.

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Steve Mariucci is keeping quiet, but the Arizona Cardinals have lined him up to coach next season.

Anybody up for Ohio State-Michigan part deux for the National Championship on January 8? I am. Mainly because they are the two best teams in the nation. And USC fans? Put a sock in it. Your team lost to Oregon State. ‘Nuff said on that one.

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The Angels are under fire from their loyal fans after Aramis Ramirez resigned from the Cubs and Alfonso Soriano inked that enormous $138 million, 8-year deal with the Cubs. After missing the playoffs last season, owner Arte Moreno promised to make big deals in the off-season to get the bats the Angels need to become World Series contenders again. Well, their top two targets were Ramirez and Soriano, and they both ended up on Chicago's north side simply because the Angels didn't offer enough money. And Angel fans who were loyal through decades of mediocrity, have become used to being among baseball's elite teams. Lack of run production was their downfall in the first six weeks last year, when they hit .230 as a team and built a deficit they couldn't overcome – even with baseball's best second-half record. Moreno has been an exemplary owner, lowering concession prices and bringing in players such as Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon, who won MVP and Cy Youngs right away. But he's on the hot seat with the public, and reportedly is telling his GM, Bill Stoneman, that some of their coveted young players can now be traded to bring in a bat. They've reportedly zeroed in on Boston's Manny Ramirez, but likely will have to give up sensational right hander Ervin Santana, reliever Scot Shields – regarded as the most versatile pitcher in baseball – and possibly a young hitting prospect like shortstop Brandon Wood. It's a big price for a big talent, and something the Angels wouldn't do when the deal was talked about in 2005. Now they may have no choice, if Moreno and Stoneman want to save face with the fans and contend for a title in 2007.

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Good to see Dan Rather back on network television. Granted, HDNet is miniscule compared to CBS, but the Fox Network started out to guffaws, and is now a major player in the network TV game. Rather is hosting the weekly "Dan Rather Reports" every Tuesday night at 8 pm EST, and will give Mark Cuban's hi-def network a welcome boost. No matter what you think of Rather personally, there's no denying he's a Hall of Fame journalist.

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And speaking of the Fox Network, how gutless was it for them to nix the OJ Simpson interview? Granted, having Simpson theorize how he would have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend, Ron Goldman, is questionable from a good taste perspective. However, it was a chance for the whole world to see this man talking about the murders, and allow us to decide if he truly is guilty. We could have looked into his eyes and made our decisions once and for all. Even Judith Regan, who conducted the interview and was going to publish the companion book If I Did It, said she felt it was Simpson's confession. Why do the networks and people like Rupert Murdoch continue to treat the public like imbeciles who don't have the capability to choose what they want to watch?

If the interview offends you, change the channel. If the book offends you, don't buy it. But don't try to prevent the public at large from having a choice. It's not the American way. And I have to laugh when News Corporation – Fox' parent company – basically cited bad taste as a reason for pulling the plug. Isn't this the same company that gives us the hilarious but politically incorrect The Simpsons? And the immensely entertaining but ultra-violent 24? And a phenomenal medical drama, House, where the main character is a drug-addicted doctor? Oh yeah, isn't it a News Corporation publication, London's The Sun newspaper, which has a naked woman on page 3 every day? Rupert, you're killing me with your jokes.

Next week, I'll have an OJ story for you that might curdle your blood, something that happened right after an interview I did with him nine years ago next week.