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Cardinals Fans Should #OccupyGlendale

While the "99 Percent" around the nation continue to occupy various locations in attempt to invoke social change, one area in dire need of reform are the front offices of perpetually mismanaged teams.

Save for a brief two-season window in which Kurt Warner was able to beat the odds to a degree that the NFL hasn't seen before or since, the Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals have been a disaster of a franchise since their westward move in 1988.

Whether it was awful coaching hires (Buddy Ryan, Vince Tobin, Dennis Green), disastrous personnel decisions (showing Larry Centers and Aeneas Williams the door) or incompetent drafting (Calvin Pace and Bryant Johnson instead of Terrell Suggs, Matt Leinart, taking Levi Brown over Adrian Peterson), the issues that are most problematic have remained. 

Unfortunately, most fans have let a shiny new stadium and some NFC West division title banners blind them to the fact that the franchise is still mismanaged.  Finding a lottery ticket in the salt-and-pepper scruff of Warner made for a fun ride for a little while, but in the end it merely polished the brass on the Titanic.

Now a season that began with optimism finds itself in the midst of a five-game losing streak, and the excuses, clichés and rhetoric are out in full force. 

While the national blame can be debated over Republicans or Democrats, the fingers for the Cardinals' misfortunes should be pointed squarely at the top-Michael Bidwell, Ken Whisenhunt and especially Rod Graves.

All three have done their share to put the Cardinals in their current dire straits, but it's Graves who most needs to go.

Since he took over control of football operations in 2003, the Cardinals have gone 53-81. How many general managers keep their job with a record like that and only two playoff appearances in a decade?

However, in Arizona, that performance gets you a contract extension.

It's time for the Cardinal faithful to take action. Stage protests, stop going to games and make sure that Bidwell knows he must make a move.  Transform the tailgating lawns outside University of Phoenix Stadium into (peaceful) Occupy Glendale rallies.  Turn 95th Avenue and Maryland into the new Haight and Ashbury. Put a red feather into their gun barrels of football ineptitude.

Need proof on what a change in leadership can do?  Look what happened as soon as Detroit finally got rid of Matt Millen.

The question then becomes whether such a movement will. Probably not. Teams with ownership like the Cardinals (i.e. the Bengals) just never seem to learn.

But that doesn't mean it's not worth a shot.  

If just one first round draft pick soon that is not totally wasted as a result, then it was worth it.