This is Classified

John Feinstein wrote a book with Red Auerbach which was essentially a collection of stories from the coach's incredible career. One of the stories was about Red at his alma mater, George Washington, taking in a basketball game. Auerbach watches the George Washington coach flail his arms, scream and sweat through the whole game. At one point he turns to somebody and says, "Is coaching really that hard?"

I actually believe coaching is pretty tough, especially with all the pressures of this era. But I don't think it's as hard as coaches want you to believe. Too many coaches act like they're CIA operatives, and it's getting tiresome.

I was in my car today and heard WFAN's Sweeney Murti Yankee explain that Joe Girardi didn't want to discuss his reasoning for making his ill-fated 11th inning pitching change in Game 3 because he didn't want to give away any strategy. Joe, the strategy already failed. Besides, I dont't think Howie Kendrick is going to gain a huge advantage for the rest of the series if Joe says after the game "we wanted to throw him some offspeed stuff in that at-bat." Kendrick would never pay attention to what Girardi said in a press conference anyway, because as soon as the Yankees thought he was looking for breaking balls they could exploit that by throwing hard stuff.

This isn't about strategy, it's this annoying trend where coaches need to control EVERYTHING. They want to control the media, they want to micro-manage every aspect of every game, they want to monitor their players' Twitter accounts, etc. Some guys can get away with it, but the majority wind up alienating their players and the media because honestly, no one likes a control freak.

Eric Mangini took this to a new level earlier this season when he wouldn't tell Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn who the Browns' starting QB would be until right before the start of the regular season. How did that work out? Last year, Nebraska football coach Bo Pellini stalked through bars in Lincoln making sure none of his players were drinking. Are you kidding me? Did he have his assistant coaches in camoflauge hiding behind the bar?

"Coach, our starting quarterback just ordered what looks like a coke but could be a rum and coke. Do you want us to move in and confiscate the drink for forensic testing?"

I mean really, might we be taking ourselves a smidge too seriously guys? I say this in the nicest way possible - get a life.