From the upper deck

Coaches are overrated. I say that as a former coach. I get sick and tired of fans and the media heaping unwarranted praise and criticism on coaches when it's the players who are mostly responsible for the outcomes of games.

Don't get me wrong. Coaches are leaders and their jobs are important. But most of the important work is done off the court/field, during recruiting and practice. Once the whistle blows, it's all about the players. Coaching decisions within the games themselves have minimal impact. There may be a dozen plays that would work, but the players need to execute. Whichever team executes the best wins the game. It's that simple.

To hear the ESPN types though, you'd think during games, coaches are some sort of genetic mutation of General Patton and Albert Einstein. Sport strategy isn't rocket science. I remember Tim McCarver one time commenting how a manager who had come over to the National League from the American would struggle making pitching changes because of the lack of a designated hitter. Come on, Tim! This guy managed to put his pants on this morning and drove his car to the ballpark. In those actions alone, there were decisions more complex than figuring out how to double-switch.

On the other side, you've got the fans. Let their favorite coach have one bad season (or in some cases one bad game) and you'd think the guy had suffered massive head trauma. Oh sure, just last week he'd been a genius, pushing all the right buttons on the way to victory. But now, in defeat, he apparently lost all that intelligence. What happened? Contrary to popular belief, he didn't lose his coaching ability; his players just didn't execute as well, or (the unthinkable) the other squad had better players who executed better than our team.

This attitude has contributed to the prima donna attitudes many of these coaches carry around. They are immensely overpaid. Their skill set is not all that unique. The media and the culture, however, have set them up on pedestals. This earns them both unwarranted criticism and an awful lot of money.

At least that's how it looks from here.