Contractually Speaking

Flip Saunders got the ax Tuesday as coach of the Detroit Pistons with one year left on his contract. A "lame duck" coach, Saunders received a $5 million severance to do whatever he wants for the next 12 months. I'm sure there are about 150 million Americans who would gladly buy out our nation's president, but alas, politics isn't like the NBA, where leaders can be shown the door and handed a big bag of money to boot. (Here's guessing there wouldn't be a problem collecting $5 million to oust Washington's largest lame duck.)

In the NBA, a contract is nothing more than a retainer, a vow that you will fulfill duties not until your agreement says, but as long as you're in agreement with management. Larry Brown, the NBA's version of a transient nomad, was paid $20 million to leave the New York Knicks. To go where he wants — maybe someplace nice like the beach, one of his many homes, or the eternal hell that are the Charlotte Bobcats.

Coaches regularly are compensated after employer breach of commitment, regardless of output. Flip Saunders attained the best winning percentage in Detroit Pistons history. His services are no longer welcome. Avery Johnson took the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA Finals since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and somehow he's off the bench and Erick Dampier still is. Phil Garner guides the Houston Astros to the World Series and he's left hanging no more than two years later.

In sports, loyalty is worth about as much as a 50 cent bus fare (or 60 cents if you're riding the CATA). People forget that the greatest coach in sports, Red Auerbach, spent six seasons on the Boston bench before a title was planted in the Garden. (Yes, Auerbach, not Scotty Bowman, is the greatest coach in sports. Notice the word "sports.") If Celtics owner had a six inch leash on Auerbach the way owners and GMs do in the modern era, Auerbach's fingers would be extremely lonely.

Not to say there aren't ties that don't bind anymore. Jerry Sloan has orchestrated the Utah Jazz for nearly two decades — but then again, if the news out of Texas has taught us anything, it's that Mormons have trouble letting go. Joe Paterno has roamed the sidelines of Happy Valley since JFK was alive and kicking (is it too soon for Kennedy family references yet?). Bobby Bowden has been graduating football players with felonies since before it became fashionable.

But it seems there should be something called "a man's word" in the sports. There are obvious examples of situations where coaches and managers and figure skating...I mean hockey...leaders should be let go. While the word of management officials can wane, so can coaches' words in the locker room (as was the case for Saunders). Disastrous downfalls deserve scrutiny, a word that ultimately lead to firings. Yet contracts are "supposed" to be a binding agreement between two parties. In today's appearance-driven society, though, short-term contracts are taboo. Even DeAngelo Hall gets a seven-year deal.

Contracts nowadays are nothing more than an agreement to no agreement.

A bunch of words without a single word behind them.