Probably, by now, you've heard about the ESPN story regarding the Texan's taking some liberties with O.T.A. workouts (allegedly) and you probably had the same reaction as did I. (And the Houston Press' John Royal for that matter.)
Just how dumb IS Gary Kubiak really?
To their credit, despite being scooped the Chronicle's terrible trio isn't pulling any punches after the fact. I 1/2 expected to witness a Richard Justice unloading on Alex Gibbs remeniscent of his "I am the media" tirade (or his un-called for trashing of Stephanie Stradley). Instead he (rightly) laid the blame at the feet of Head Coach Gary Kubiak, who most certainly had the final say in this matter.
For the Texan's part (according to a radio report this morning on 1560 The Game) they're responding to the negative reporting by the local media by questioning why they're saying something now, but didn't say something in May when the drills were taking place? Over on Sportsradio 610 the Texans radio team was busy casting this as "no big deal" and something that "every team does". Yeah, its just the Texans that cut players after they receive career-ending injuries after (allegedly) illegal practice drills right?
The most depressing thing about all this? Imagine you're a free agent and the Texans are on the other line...Would YOU want to play for the Texans now?
The bottom line is that the Texans are in a mess of their own making. Their attempt to cast the blame on the media is lame, as is their radio team parroting the line that these are things every team does. Yes, the writers for the Chronicle should have noticed something was wrong. That's what they're paid to do. According to industry sources however spotting newspaper or TV guys at a Texans OTA is something akin to hearing an Aggie talk about those nice folks over at UT. The notable exception to this rule is Fox Sportscaster Mark Berman (who, coincidentally, often scoops the competition on big stories.) The fact of the matter is the newspaper guys should be there, or have a reporter there, at every practice following up every lead. Unfortunately in Houston it just doesn't happen that way. Maybe our reputation as a bad sports media town is not as undeserved as some contend.
What 3CB is fairly sure of however is that this is another black-eye for a Texans organization that can't seem to figure out how to handle player, executive or fan relations. This is a mess of a team that no, credible, veteran free agent is going to want to sign with because of their track record of handling things in a less-than-first-class manner. Whose fault is it? The coach's fault. Kubiak has almost complete control of football operations. Rick Smith knows perfectly well that its his job to work with Kubiak to get the pieces of the puzzle in place. But Kubiak's got the blueprints. So far all we're seeing are blueprints for mediocrity despite team assurances that the 'talent is in place'. The talent may be there (although I dispute that) but the organizational discipline that's needed to win consistently is missing. After this debacle and embarassment there can be little debating that point.