No, it's not a typo or misspelling. In my house, it often seems like we've spent more time lately talking about the other Chaney--that's Don, the just-fired coach of the New York Knicks, not Dick, the should-be-fired-Vice president.
(My daughter is a basketball junkie. Like her father, she knows stats I've never heard of; she can tell you where some NBA player played college ball; who famously failed in what playoff series or who coached which championship team in 1986. In the mornings, as I scan the news pages, she's got her nose buried in the New York Times sports section. She frequently ends her days with Pete Vecsey's New York Post column "Hoop du Jour." In between, she plays small forward for her JV team. Her ambition is to be the first woman coach in the NBA.)
Irate Knicks fans have been recently calling for Chaney's scalp for misleading the team into one too many losses. At last Friday's blowout home game against the Houston Rockets, the unforgiving crowd began chanting "Fire Chaney" before the first quarter even ended. The taunts re-surfaced this past Monday toward the end of an overtime loss to Dallas. Then, today, the axe finally fell (even though, as my daughter stresses, any coach needs a couple of weeks after a team gets new players, as the Knicks just did, before they can be fairly judged.)
So, if this Chaney can be fired for misleading a basketball team, shouldn't the other Cheney go as well for a far more serious offense--misleading the country?
Let's take a cue from Knicks fans and start calling for the other Cheney's scalp. Hell, isn't it time that America had some new coaches?
Katrina vanden Heuvel
No, it’s not a typo or misspelling. In my house, it often seems like we’ve spent more time lately talking about the other Chaney–that’s Don, the just-fired coach of the New York Knicks, not Dick, the should-be-fired-Vice president.
(My daughter is a basketball junkie. Like her father, she knows stats I’ve never heard of; she can tell you where some NBA player played college ball; who famously failed in what playoff series or who coached which championship team in 1986. In the mornings, as I scan the news pages, she’s got her nose buried in the New York Times sports section. She frequently ends her days with Pete Vecsey’s New York Post column “Hoop du Jour.” In between, she plays small forward for her JV team. Her ambition is to be the first woman coach in the NBA.)
Irate Knicks fans have been recently calling for Chaney’s scalp for misleading the team into one too many losses. At last Friday’s blowout home game against the Houston Rockets, the unforgiving crowd began chanting “Fire Chaney” before the first quarter even ended. The taunts re-surfaced this past Monday toward the end of an overtime loss to Dallas. Then, today, the axe finally fell (even though, as my daughter stresses, any coach needs a couple of weeks after a team gets new players, as the Knicks just did, before they can be fairly judged.)
So, if this Chaney can be fired for misleading a basketball team, shouldn’t the other Cheney go as well for a far more serious offense–misleading the country?
Let’s take a cue from Knicks fans and start calling for the other Cheney’s scalp. Hell, isn’t it time that America had some new coaches?
Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.