Thanks for Keeping the Seat Warm

Imagine you are the chief executive of a company owned by a wealthy man.

One year ago and before you had joined the company, your boss hired someone young and promising to be your top aide, with every intention of making him the next chief executive when and if you leave the company.

Despite your boss's strange personnel decision, your aide and you get along really well, and the company flourishes after years of mediocrity. But then a hiccup in one of the most important conventions of the year means that your company is not among the participants for by far the biggest show in the business.

Now every other company wants to pry your aide away from your company, which is fine as young talents like him deserve every chance to become the man making the calls. And not surprisingly, he's got offers from not one, but two companies to be their top man next year.

But the problem starts here. Your boss has told your aide that he will match every offer that other companies have made to him. Why? Because your boss wants to keep your aide in the company so that he will replace you once you decide to leave.

What will you do then? Do you want to remain in the company despite missing the biggest show in the business, and get in the way of the protégé of your boss? Or should you simply step down, because you know that you are just a stop-gap solution, one that simply keeps the seat warm for the protégé?

If I were Wade Phillips, I would step down immediately, because I cannot stand the strange and strained relationship between Jason Garrett and you.

And with a career 0-4 record as a head coach in the post-season, Phillips should have known that he doesn't deserve to continue as the head coach of a team with so much talent.

Kudos to Phillips for creating a much relaxed atmosphere in the clubhouse and having a great relationship with all his star players (unlike his predecessor Bill Parcells). But his mellow personality means that his team will never be strong enough to flourish in the post-season.

And thus the 0-4 career record as a head coach in the post-season.

Thanks, and in the same time, good bye, Wade.

Quick Quick Ones

Off the top of my head:

- Now that Bill Parcells has taken over the operations of the Miami Dolphins, expect him to bring over a lot of his former staff from the Dallas Cowboys. The hiring of former Cowboys personnel man Jeff Ireland as the Dolphins' new GM is just a start. An exodus is on the way.

- Kudos to the late-season "surge" of the San Francisco 49ers. Instead of having the second overall pick (from the 49ers) in this year's draft, the New England Patriots will now pick seventh. That will definitely kill off any hope for the Patriots to draft Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, one of the most coveted players this year.

- Who can tell me how to be a good sports commentator?

- And happy new year to those who are naïve and stupid enough to be reading my senseless stuff.