Playing to Lose
I read today that the Utah Jazz coach has not had his contract extended and is now unemployed. This is after a season which he lost more than twice as many games as he won, so its not that surprising. Having said that, the General Manager of the team was clearly not trying to win when he put the team together. So this seems a little harsh, right? A couple of years ago, in Australia, the Melbourne Demons were fined $500k for acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the sport. Well, technically the club didn't do anything wrong (wink, wink), but it had responsibility for the work of its' staff. The club stood by its unsuccessful coach. For a year and a half, then he was fired mid-season . Now, I really don't have a problem with tanking. It seems contrary to the 'principles' of sport, but if the rules of the League create an environment where some teams are actually better off in the long term doing badly, then there is no logical argument agai