The World Cup According to Grande: Fall is in the Air

Fall is in the air.

It’s September and there are all kinds of indications that we are almost there.  We are almost to the new race season and full of the anticipation of showing our improvements, putting our newly developed strength to work on the hill, making the new equipment work, finding the fastest speed skis and anticipating that season opener in Soelden, Austria.

It’s funny how August just seems to be there as another month of summer. The domestic camp season was still going strong at Mt. Hood. The national teams had all headed for the Southern Hemisphere. But then the calendar turns to September and all sorts of things happen. School starts, college football begins, the National teams head south again for more winter snow or to the glaciers in Europe where it has already snowed and made everyone excited over there.

And in my little world, the NFL teams have made their final cuts and the US Ski Team Men’s Alpine Fantasy Football League has had their draft and posted our teams in anticipation of tomorrow’s opener. Now, I am not an NFL blogger, and I am not an expert in NFL doings in any way. But I do watch coaches and coaching decisions, and I am a fan. Unfortunately of late I am a fan of the less than successful Seattle Seahawks. And last year my team hired Pete Carroll, the long-time and highly successful coach at the University of Southern California. And we know that college is one thing and the pros are another. Coach Carroll is a very rah-rah guy and there are a lot people who don’t think that plays in the pros. They might be right.

But Pete Carroll is also a very loyal guy, maybe to a fault. This weekend, Coach Carroll cut TJ Houshmandzadeh from the Seahawks who had just signed him to a 5 year, 40 million dollar contract the season before in a highly publicized free-agent chase. The reaction was that the Baltimore Ravens signed “Housh” to a 1 year deal worth slightly over $800,000. Now, while most of us would love to make 800k, this is not a lot of money to someone like TJ. And the reason he agreed to play for that pay from Baltimore is that the Seahawks STILL have to pay him the guaranteed money from the previous contract. The loyalty side of the coin is that TJ is a possession type receiver who makes a lot of catches in a shorter yard range. The player Carroll kept in that role was Mike Williams. Mike Williams played for Carroll at USC. He was drafted in 2005 by the Detrioit Lions with the overall 10th pick in the draft.  This seems like a bad move and one tainted too much loyalty and not enough objectivity.

Here are some statistics: Last season TJ caught 79 passes for 911 yards from a back-up quarterback on a very bad team. Mike Williams caught 7 passes for 90 yards. So, Williams needs to improve by 90% to equal last year’s output at that position. Ok, here’s the best part, Mike Williams has caught 44 passes for 538 yards IN HIS CAREER, about half of Houshmandzadeh’s seasonal output last year, in a sub-par year. And the ‘Hawks are paying for it! It would be like sending Ted Ligety to Canada and paying for it!

But I bring it up here in a ski blog because our national team coaches will make decisions regarding World Championship teams this year based on discretion. They will use their “feel” and their “eye” and sometimes their loyalty while likely ignoring some statistics to make those decisions. Some of the decisions might turn out right, but others will not. When it comes to those decisions, the 4th spot is the one that is a discretionary spot and arguments and discussions always take place to decide who will race. And a lot of times the staff will go for youth over experience like drafting someone in the NFL. It ends up like buying futures by giving experience to someone for the sake of getting experience.  And then assuming that same athlete will use the experience to springboard his career. AND then feel more comfortable at the next big event. The big gamble is that you cannot guarantee that the discretionary selection for Garmisch in 2011 will even be in the picture in 2013 in Schladming.

Tomorrow night, the US Ski Team Fantasy Football League kicks off the season. The players are: Greg Needell (The Commish),  Chris Brigham (Head DH Coach),  Forest Carey (Europa Cup Coach), Pete Korfiatis (defending champ and World Cup DH Coach), Dave Coombs (EC Service tech and Coach),  Tommy Eckfeldt (Europa Cup Coach) and the athletes in play are: Steven Nyman, Ted Ligety, Marco Sullivan, Andrew Weibrecht, Tommy Biesemeyer and Will Brandenburg. It should be a fun season and my assessment as League Commissioner is that the draft was very equal and the season should be very competitive. Good luck to all of you!

Click here to go to Alpine Race Consulting

Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain,
Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St.
Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg
returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head
Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to
Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program
Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg
became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.

In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World
Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski
Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the
helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and
experience to clubs nationwide.

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