OT: Duk is Fiutaking It

I mean, really, Duk: this?

Duk basically copied and pasted every "Is [Coach/Manager] on the Hot Seat?" article in history, and added a little bit about Detroit's record.

Let's do the checkoff:

• Compare to currently well-regarded retired/retiring coaches

Bobby Cox plans to hang 'em up at the end of the year. 

So does Lou Piniella.

• Rhetorical question left unanswered. Because you're asking the question not really making the case that you're making throughout the article.

Might Jim Leyland join them to make a perfect triumvirate of one World Series title managers to be done in 2010?

It remains to be seen.

• When is his contract up? If this year, say it's the perfect time. If not, say it's worth cutting the deal short.

The Detroit Tigers skipper's contract goes through 2011, but the mounting frustration in Motown makes you wonder if he'll be back for another season.

• Suggest the fanbase is into it by suggesting readers go to places that you actually haven't read. Also: do a quick google to see if there's a "fire[name of coach or manager].com"

Visit Twitter or the comment section of any Tigers blog during a game this year and witness invectives toward Leyland that we haven't seen since the '08 team started 0-7 and firejimleyland.com was ready to pounce into action.

• Mention the team's current losing streak as your evidence for the manager having "lost it" if he's old, or "lost the team" if he's not too old, or "is out of his league" if he's young. Make sure coach's biggests successes are minimized by refuting them within the same paragraph.

Not that Detroit fans don't have a reason to seethe. On July 7, the Tigers' record stood at 46-37 and the team led the AL Central by one game. But they've gone 7-18 in the one month since and now trail the first-place Chicago White Sox by nine games with 54 remaining. And while they've been horrid on the road all season, they just dropped three of four games to the White Sox at Comerica Park.

• Sprinkle in more rhetorical questions. After all, we're not making statements here, we are simply asking questions that people want to know!

It looks like they're done, so does that mean that Leyland is also?

• Cursory mention of career-to-date with team, using overall record and things that you remember from like that one game you saw his team play four years ago.

Since coming to the Tigers in 2006, Leyland's overall record is 396-361. He's been at the forefront of a baseball renaissance in Detroit and took the '06 team to the World Series.

• Present other obvious reasons for team's lack of recent success as weak-ass complaining about shit that happens to every other team.

...you can't blame him for the injuries to Joel Zumaya(notes), Brandon Inge(notes), Carlos Guillen(notes) and Magglio Ordonez(notes) this season. And it's not as if he was dealing with a roster — high priced as it might be — that resembled the '27 Yankees to begin with.

• Throw up past complaints, see what sticks.

Then again, Leyland was at the helm when the Tigers flopped to a 74-88 record in '08 and when the '09 team choked away a seven-game lead with 26 to play. This season will likely go down as another highly disappointing mark...

• If the guy's older than 59, make sure you mention his age.

and you have to wonder if the 65-year-old Leyland has it in him to fight through a long winter of criticism.

• Suggest firing as a hypothetical

Or if he'll even be allowed back.

• Fill to 210 words by undermining the plausibility of your argument.

Leyland has been saying that he'll manage as long as his health will allow, so I don't think he'll voluntarily head for the door. And Tigers owner Mike Ilitch has been plenty loyal to Leyland in the past,

• See if you can work in a back-handed reference to his age again.

so it's hard to see him stopping now and sending a fellow old-timer out into the streets.

• Mention the word "hot seat"

But the hot seat is only going to get hotter if the Tigers continue to sink over the season's final two months...

• Finish by asking readers for their opinion, because we're just discussing here. I'm not sayin' he should be fired, I'm askin' if he should be fired. I'm asking questions!

What do you think? How much blame should Leyland shoulder for Detroit's recent slump?

He made me cringe at Blogs With Balls when he sat on that panel and complained that the people of the Internet have nothing to offer. This made me cringe worse.

This isn't some old newspaperman, or at least he isn't anymore than I am. WTF Duk?