I feel like I have to say something about the firing of Gregg Berhalter, since this is SportsFirings.com. Even though I hate soccer.
On a happier note, here’s a fun article from The Society for American Baseball Research: “You’re Out of Here: A History of Umpire Ejections”.
Yes, I don’t like baseball either. But I dislike it less than I do soccer, and a history of baseball ejections is the kind of weird thing that appeals to me. Much like Disco Demolition Night…
Monty Williams out as head coach of the Detroit Pistons after one season.
After starting the season 2-1, the Pistons went on a historic 28-game losing streak…
…The Pistons ultimately finished with a franchise-low 14-68 record, leaving Detroit with the worst record in the league for the second consecutive season.
Tucupita Marcano has been fired.
Okay, that’s not quite the whole story. Tucupita Marcano has been banned for life from Major League Baseball.
Why? He committed baseball’s original sin: he bet on games.
Even worse, he bet on his own team.
MLB said Tuesday that Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 in October 2022 and from last July through November with a legal sportsbook. He became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.
Marcano appears to be the first active major leaguer banned under the sport’s gambling provision since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Pete Rose, baseball’s active career hits leader, famously agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team.
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Marcano bet almost exclusively on the outcomes of games and lost all of his parlay bets involving the Pirates, winning just 4.3% of all of his MLB-related bets, according to the league.
MLB Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, states betting on any baseball game in which a player, umpire, league official or team employee has no duty to perform results in a one-year suspension. Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform results in a lifetime ban.
Four other players have been suspended for one year, also for betting on baseball. They only got one year suspensions because they were minor league players betting on major league games.
Ángel Hernández has retired as a baseball umpire “effective immediately”. ESPN.
This seems more like one of those “retirefirings”:
I do so love a good classical reference:
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Hernández has been a lightning rod for controversy and is universally viewed as the worst umpire in the game by players, managers and fans of the sport.
The poor reputation he has dates back almost two decades with player polls by Sports Illustrated in 2006 and 2011 ranking him as the third-worst umpire and an ESPN poll in 2010 putting 22 percent of the respondents as viewing Hernández as the worst in MLB.
Hernández umped just 10 games during the 2023 season because of a back injury, but he got 161 calls wrong, according to Umpire Auditor.
He sued MLB in 2017 alleging racial discrimination, but the case was thrown out of court.
And since I have the song stuck in your head now…
J.B. Bickerstaff out as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
170-159 regular season, 6-11 in the playoffs. Cleveland’s made the playoffs two years in a row and seems to be improving, but they got knocked out by the Celtics in the second round this season.
ESPN.
Some people might question whether these are actual “flames”, but I think they’re close enough for government work.
1. Here comes the judge?
No. There goes the judge.
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Investigations began into Ademiluyi on Sept. 27, 2022, after allegations arose that she bypassed the judicial nomination process and vetting, ultimately beating a previously seated judge.
Court documents noted concerns from the Commission of Judicial Disabilities with a campaign ad from Ademiluyi that detailed her personal experience as a sexual assault survivor, claiming that the ad could “reasonably be perceived as inconsistent with the independence and impartiality of judicial office.”
While in office, two of Ademiluyi’s employees told the commission that the judge would routinely “demand, demean, and belittle” them, leading to both seeking medical attention for stress and anxiety
In 2023, Ademilyi was suspended without pay and barred from a courthouse.
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She has alleged in complaints and court documents that her outsider status drew hostility from her judicial colleagues, creating a working environment that prompted her to file what she said was a whistleblower complaint against her supervisors in 2022.
In a statement, she asserted that her removal from the bench is retaliation for that complaint. After reporting her supervisors to the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, they responded with a complaint of their own, alleging misconduct by Ademiluyi in hundreds of pages of documents that the commission and Maryland Supreme Court deemed valid.
Her fellow judges alleged that she behaved inappropriately at the courthouse, including insubordination, unprofessionalism, tardiness and lack of participation in critical judicial training sessions.
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Soon after Ademiluyi became a judge, tensions with her colleagues began to develop, according to court and commission documents.
But Ademiluyi took the first action before the commission, filing a complaint against Sheila Tillerson Adams, then serving as the county’s longtime chief administrative judge, and Daneeka Varner Cotton, who would soon take over for Tillerson Adams.
Ademiluyi alleged that Tillerson Adams forged her signature on a ruling and that the two had been monitoring her emails in an attempt to sabotage her, according to commission and court documents. In a letter to the commission, Cotton replied that it would be “extremely difficult to respond to the blatant falsehoods” alleged in Ademiluyi’s complaint.
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Tillerson Adams told investigators that dealing with Ademiluyi had been a “nightmare.” The commission ultimately dismissed Ademiluyi’s complaint, ruling that there was not sufficient evidence to support her allegations.
Then came a second commission complaint from Tillerson Adams against Ademiluyi, alleging misconduct. The commission would ultimately find that, among other conclusions, she refused to talk to certain judges, instructed her law clerks to not speak to other judges and sent emails saying, “I don’t look forward to meeting you or communicating with you at anytime.” They also found that her election campaign content could have led to perceptions of her not being impartial in sexual violence cases.
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The Maryland Supreme Court’s decision Monday went far beyond the punishment the commission had unanimously recommended in February, which included a censure and six-month unpaid suspension, with two months served immediately and four months suspended depending on her compliance with certain conditions.
Those conditions included that the Supreme Court institute a one-year probation with a monitor; an assigned mentor judge who would provide monthly reports; “a complete emotional, behavioral and prosocial assessment” followed by Ademiluyi’s cooperation and compliance with any recommended treatments; and attendance at Maryland judiciary, educational and ethics trainings.
As I understand it, she beat Jared McCarthy in the 2020 general election for the position. Mike the Musicologist, who tipped me off to this story, also sent over a tweet:
"McCarthy had led by about 7,000 votes on election night, but with a large number of mail-in and provisional ballots remaining to be counted, he finally lost by 5,200 votes."
History will come to know this as THE BIDEN MANEUVER.
— Byl Holte (@SirBylHolte) May 8, 2024
2. Troy Finner, the chief of police for the Houston Police Department, retired yesterday.
This sounds more like a “retirefiring” than an actual retirement, even though he’s been on the job for 31 years. The HPD has been under a lot of fire recently over closing 264,000 cases. The cases were “suspended” with a code indicating “lack of personnel”…
Former Chief Finner had said repeatedly he knew nothing about this, but an email surfaced recently in which he was told that a road rage incident had been closed with that code:
And, as a special bonus for reading all the way to the end:
Darvin Ham out as head coach of the Lakers.
Why can’t LeBron James make change for a dollar?
Because he doesn’t have a 4th quarter.
This kind of stretches the definition of “firing” just a little bit, but I claim noteworthiness.
Jontay Porter, forward for the Toronto Raptors, has been banned from the NBA for life.
The NBA said that Porter provided confidential information to bettors, limited his own participation in games for gambling purposes and bet on NBA games.
“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game,” Silver said.
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Porter, the league said, gave a bettor information about his own health status before Toronto’s game on March 20. The league said another individual, known to be an NBA bettor, placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sportsbook. That bet would have won $1.1 million.
Porter took himself out of that game after only a few minutes, claiming illness, with none of his stats meeting the totals set in the parlay. The bet was frozen and not paid out, and the NBA started an investigation.
The NBA’s investigation found the Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s account, with the bets ranging from $15 to $22,000, totaling $54,094. The NBA said the total payout from those bets was $76,059, a net winnings of $21,965. None of Porter’s bets involved games in which he played. Three of his bets were multigame parlays that included one Raptors contest — and Porter bet that the Raptors would lose. All three bets lost, the NBA said.
“List of people banned or suspended by the NBA” from Wikipedia.
As critical as I’ve been of Gregg Easterbrook’s “pro-topless, anti-gambling” trope, I find myself thinking he’s right: the growth of sports betting has already had a negative impact on major league sports. And I think it is likely to just get worse.
Kellie Harper out as head coach of Tennessee women’s basketball.
108-52 in five seasons.
There’s been a lot of activity over the past two days. I guess the period between the end of the tournaments and Selection Sunday is the NCAA basketball equivalent of the NFL’s “Bloody Monday”.
Why don’t we get to it? In violation of my general rules, I’m using ESPN links mostly because I just don’t have time to go through the local papers.
Juwan Howard out today at Michigan. 8-24 this season (3-17 in conference), and an overall record in five years of 87-72.
Jerry Stackhouse fired yesterday at Vanderbilt, also after five seasons. 9-23 this season (4-14 in conference).
Jerod Haase out on Thursday at Stanford. 14-18 this season (8-12 in conference) and 126-127 overall in eight seasons.
Mike Boynton out at Oklahoma State after seven seasons. 12-20 this season (4-14 in conference).
I think that covers all the firings. If I’ve missed any, please leave me a heads-up in comments.
Kenny Payne out as head coach of men’s baskeball at Louisville. ESPN for the archive challenged.
12-52 in two seasons, with one road win. 8-24 this season, 3-17 in conference.