Fairbanks clones...I am back out of the basement. For those wondering what the hell happened to me, well, being a current active-duty sevicemember I had to be flexible in my schedule. So a last-minute change a couple of weeks ago had me going with my current organization for a field training exercise away from the area for a couple of weeks and I just came back late Friday afternoon. So thanks for your small, long-awaited patience with me (yes, I am also talking to you tens of soccer fans out there) and thanks again for all of your support.
WILD DRAMA IN ANCHORAGE
Well, we can safely say for the record that David Weatherholt is Alaska's most dumbest person / businessman (and I hope that the Fairbanks Daily-News Miner, Anchorage Daily News, and every media outlet in the state puts my quote out...and hope like hell that Weatherholt hears about it). When you are the one who is responsible for racking up debt to the football organization, trying to pretend that you know a thing or two about football (what team goes thru 3 coaches before the second season of existence), pretends to be Jerry Jones, etc., you obviously have no idea what you are doing.
On Friday May 2nd, Weatherholt fires Hans Deemer as the head coach of the Alaska Wild, over something that has nothing to do with him being the head coach. (Note to the blog readers, Deemer is also the Wild's sales representative) At 4-2 AND in a playoff position, he decides to pull what New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamariello did to his other head coaches...fire them during a playoff run. According to local sources, Deemer was fired just because he was missing some administrative meetings outside of his head coaching duties. Hey David, ARE YOU THAT STUPID???
And for that, the Wild players, cheerleaders, and the rest of the organization were considering a strike over Weatherholt's decision to fire Deemer, which Sunday night's game vs. the Lousiana Swashbucklers was in jeopardy thanks to the Weatherholt. To make matters worse, Weatherholt didn't have the balls to tell Deemer IN PERSON that he was fired. Deemer found out thru KIMO-TV / ABC Alaska News' sports anchor Mark Drake on their 5 pm newscast: (video clip here at http://www.aksuperstation.com/sports/18521279.html?video=YHI&t=a).
Then after the firing, Weatherholt decides to sell the team. He leaves the team in debt, he leaves the team during a playoff run and so forth. Go figure. Now an oral surgeon, Dr. Frank Deeter, is running the team as its new owner and completed his first order of a business by doing a what smart new owner would do...re-hire the coach that improved the team to begin with, Hans Deemer. Strike over, drama over, let's play ball.
As of last check, Weatherholt has done the Ken Behring style (former owner of the Seattle Seahawks)...bolted out of the Anchorage scene and probably trying to find a way to get out of the state, never to be heard from again.
Game Update: Wild drops to 4-3 by losing Sunday afternoon's game at Sullivan Arena to the defending IFL champion Swashbucklers, 55-49.
AND THE NEW 2008-09 NANOOKS' HEAD COACH IS...
By Friday we will know who will be the next head coach for the Alaska Nanooks' hockey program. Current interim coach and former Nanook defenseman Dallas Ferguson, and University of Wisconsin Badgers assistant coach Kevin Patrick are your current finalists.
Let's get this straight, if I were Forrest Karr, I would not have any hesitation in choosing Dallas as the new head coach. Ferguson knows the university inside and out. He has the experience within the hockey program. He knows the community. He knows the support the community provides to the program and the university's athletic department.
Patrick, no disrespect, has won an NCAA championship with the Badgers during the 2005-2006 campaign in his first season with the hockey program as an assistant coach, was a four-year defenseman at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as the team's captain during his junior and senior seasons, and is also a former member of the American Hockey Coaches Association (2004-2006). I just do not think the Nanooks would hire someone, despite championship experience, who does not have local ties to the university nor the community.
If it was Election Day in Fairbanks, my vote would definitely go for Dallas Ferguson.
-LZV
