History Says Book Will Be Full of Mistakes

Les Steckel got one shot at head coaching in the NFL. And it wasn’t a season to remember.

Steckel coached the Minnesota Vikings in 1984, and trudged through a 3-13 season. He has spent 23 years in the NFL, but 22 years as an assistant, working for the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans.

He has written about his experiences in “One Yard Short: Turning Your Defeats Into Victories.” As Steckel writes, he has had plenty of practice doing exactly that.

“I’ve heard it said that we learn the greatest lessons through adversity,” Steckel said. “If that’s true, I ought to be a genius by now. I don’t know any football coach who has been fired as many times as I have.”

Add Steckel: He also told St. Paul Pioneer-Press columnist Bob Sansevere if he had to do it all over again, he would not have taken the Vikings job.

“I didn’t realize the scope and dimension of being a head coach,” he said. “I was very sensitive to the fact that some great people, such as Jerry Burns and others, were not offered the job. I was sensitive to it but not very realistic about it. I made mistakes along the way. Not a few, many.”

Trivia time: When is the last time the home run champions from each league played against each other in the World Series?

A Royal sham: Major League Baseball officials and the players union are upset about the federal court ruling that fantasy leagues can use player names and statistics without paying any licensing fees. But Seattle Times columnist Dwight Perry notes there was more bad news.

“Adding further insult,” Perry writes, “the judge refused a motion by baseball lawyers to seal any evidence of the Kansas City Royals.”

On this day: In 1974, Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus by one stroke to win the PGA Championship.

They still fight on: Considering the stratospheric level at which the USC football team has played while winning two national championships the past three years, it’s natural for some folks to expect a letdown this season.

Yahoosports.com columnist Terry Bowden, however, does not believe the Trojans are taking a deep plunge from their recent heights.

“You can’t win at the extraordinary level that the Trojans have won and recruit at the extraordinary level the Trojans have recruited and fall too far from the top of the mountain,” said Bowden, who has the Trojans ranked fifth in his preseason poll. “I’ll move them up as soon as I get to know the names of all their new superstars.”

Trivia answer: 1956. Mickey Mantle hit 52 home runs for the New York Yankees, and Duke Snider hit 43 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the Series, won by the Yankees in seven games, Mantle hit three homers and Snider one.

And finally: From Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post: “So, you figure, right about now, Matt Leinart wishes he were a Bronco and Jay Cutler were a Cardinal? As if [Denver owner] Pat Bowlen would have let Leinart go this far into camp without signing.”