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Posts Tagged ‘Rooney Rule’

Madden 14? No. Madden 25

NFLSpinZone reports that EA Sports has announced that Madden ’14 will be released on August 27, 2013 and titled “Madden 25″ in honor of the 25th year anniversary of the game.

“There’s no better way to celebrate and mark the culmination of 25 years of innovation than by naming this year’s game Madden NFL 25,” said Cam Weber, General Manager of American Football for EA SPORTS, via EA.com. “This year’s game will push the boundaries with gameplay and feature innovations that will lay a very strong foundation for the next 25 years of this storied franchise.”

EA is going to let the fans decide in a vote. But the eligible winners won’t be strictly limited to players currently playing in the NFL, they’ll have to compete with NFL legends as well for the cover spot. Voting will begin March 11th.

I think Madden 13 took great strides this year in being a complete sim football game. Madden 25 should be a good game if EA takes the suggestions of the Madden community.

Jim Caldwell: NFL needs to give Rooney Rule a look

Ravens Offensive Coordinator Jim Caldwell knows that the top jobs in the NFL are still a rare position for minorities. “Fact of the matter is, there’s just not many minority playcallers and minority coordinators,” Caldwell said on Wednesday when asked about the Rooney Rule. According to Gregg Rosenthal,

Caldwell said there are plenty of guys “in the pipeline” right now that are deserving of opportunities. It’s a hot topic because of the potential changes that are coming to the Rooney Rule after a NFL hiring cycle this month that didn’t include one minority hire for a head-coaching job or a general manager job.

Caldwell said that there are a lot of running-back coaches that would make great candidates because they have to know the running game and the protection schemes well in the passing game. It sounds like Caldwell supports a possible change to the Rooney Rule that would require minority interviews for coordinator positions.

Rosenthal also asked Caldwell what changes he’s seen in terms of hiring minorities during his career. Caldwell’s answer is quite telling of how overlooked minority coaches are not only in the NFL but in college as well,

“There are some similarities (to 10-20 years ago),” Caldwell said. “I was the first African-American head football coach in the ACC. That was 1993. That wasn’t 1956. That wasn’t 1965. That was 1993. That wasn’t long ago. … Here’s another instance that it’s come full circle again and something needs to be done, needs to be talked about, and needs to be implemented.”

While some will continue to argue that the best person for the job should get the position, if the best person isn’t even getting interviewed because of the Good Ol’ Boy network, then there is a good reason why the Rooney Rule was implemented in the first place and why it needs to be revised.