Monday, September 30, 2013

Monday Morning Notes

The Dodgers limped out of the regular season on Sunday, and into the playoffs against the Atlanta Braves, starting Thursday in Game 1 of the National League's Division Series. The Dodgers were facing some hard decisions about who to keep on the 25-man playoff roster, but Matt Kemp, who has been on the disabled list several times this season, made it painfully easy for Don Mattingly and Ned Colletti ... painful for Kemp whose injured ankle has apparently not healed enough to let him play centerfield. He will be a cheerleader in the dugout... .


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 Several members of  the media, including newspaper and TV reporters, questioned the hour in which USC told Lane Kiffin that he was no longer the head coach of the Trojans. Athletic Director Pat Haden informed Kiffin that he had been fired at the airport after the team had flown back from Arizona in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
But the reality is, if there is going to be a firing, why wait? Whether it is done in a private room at LAX or in his office later in the day, Haden, according to reports, had made up his mind to let Kiffin go after Arizona State scored 28 straight points in the third quarter of the Sun Devils' lopsided 62-41 win.
As Petros Papadakis reminded viewers on Fred Roggin's sports show Sunday night on KNBC,  former athletic director Mike Garrett appeared insensitive when he  informed John Robinson that he was no longer USC's coach by leaving a voicemail on his home answering machine.


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add USC coaches: Robinson, Ted Tollner, Paul Hackett and  Larry Smith were all fired for various reasons. Smith was let go after USC lost to Fresno State in the Freedom Bowl at Anaheim Stadium. Tollner's undoing was the result of his teams' failure to beat UCLA and Notre Dame. Even John McKay was on the hot seat after two straight losing seasons, in 1960 and 1961. What saved McKay was USC's winning the National Championship in 1962.
But Kiffin's firing is unique: he is the first USC coach to lose his job in the middle of  the season.

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