SI

Vintage Clip of Marv Levy Eviscerating Coach He Fired Made for Great TV

If you’ve never seen the former Bills coach ripping defensive coordinator Chuck Dickerson, watch it now.

Jimmy Traina

Levy did not hold back about why he fired Dickerson after Super Bowl XXVI.
Levy did not hold back about why he fired Dickerson after Super Bowl XXVI. / RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

1. How about a little Throwback Thursday as we try to get through the dead of summer on the sports calendar?

The setup: In 1992, Bills head coach Marv Levy fired the team’s defensive coordinator, Chuck Dickerson. According to Levy, Dickerson embarrassed the franchise by ripping Washington’s players before the teams played in Super Bowl XXVI that season.

After Buffalo took a 37–24 defeat, Levy axed Dickerson, who then went on to rip Levy on many occasions.

Finally, in 1994, Levy decided to fire back on his weekly show.

The clip is stunning because this would never happen in today’s NFL. Most of today’s coaches are so young and so buddy-buddy with each other, they would never pull the move Levy pulled. Plus, PR staffs are doing everything in their power these days to make sure their people don’t go viral for anything that can be perceived as negative.

If a takedown like this from one coach to another happened today, it would easily dominate your social media feeds for 24 hours and the memes would be flying.

Here’s just a sampling of what Levy said about Dickerson:

“What he did as a member of our coaching staff was destructive to the Buffalo Bills, just as what he did as a member of every coaching staff he’s ever served on, and I talked to many of those coaches, was destructive. That’s why he’s been fired more times than a civil war cannon.”

Levy then went on to list the scores of games that Dickerson was involved in, which you have to see to truly appreciate.

The world was such a better place in the ’80s and ’90s when stuff like this happened.

2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped Thursday morning and it’s an all–Traina Thoughts edition with Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York.

Among the topics discussed on the podcast: The shocking news that Charles Barkley will not retire or join ESPN, NBC or Amazon and remain with TNT after the network loses the NBA; the debut of the new NFL kickoff rule; the news that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are working on a movie about Hulk Hogan taking down Gawker and Deadspin; reaction to my interview with CM Punk from the previous week; the recent booking issues between SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and NBC’s Mike Tirico and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

3. Charles Barkley appeared on Thursday’s Dan Patrick Show and offered some insight about what TNT has planned for him and Inside the NBA. Awful Announcing has a recap.

4. Fast forward to the 5:40 mark and watch Chris “Mad Dog” Russo detail, as only he can, how he had, in his words, “a poor old lady with her husband” bumped from first class on a recent flight.

5. I’m not going to counter Jose Canseco’s ridiculous tweet here.

I’ll just let Larry David do it.

6. You can go one of two ways with this clip from last night’s Padres-Pirates game.

You can think it’s pretty cool that Manny Machado and Aroldis Chapman shared a smile/laugh after Chapman struck out Machado on a 104-mph pitch.

Or you can think it’s not a great look that Machado would smile after striking out with runners on second and third and his team down 6–5 in the eighth inning.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 87th birthday to the great Dustin Hoffman.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina

JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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