Thoughts on firings, Shaq and Brian Hill

Take Orlando Magic coach Brian Hill. He was fired yesterday because he had the bad fortune of losing the first four games after the All-Star break. A four-game losing streak - the fourth being Monday night's loss to the Bulls - on a team whose only real player is Anfernee Hardaway, is to be expected. The problems the Magic are faced with are clearly not the fault of Brian Hill.

Shaquille O'Neal, who makes roughly $500,000 per made free throw, bolted from Orlando for the money and bright lights of Los Angeles. Didn't anybody tell him about the state taxes in California?

Maybe he wanted to be closer to the studio to make a sequel to "Kazaam," which Ka-sucked in the first place.

Shaq couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, and he's still not much of a free-throw shooter.

So Hill entered this season without his big man in the middle. Then Horace Grant, Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott all went down with injuries. But still, as of today, the Magic are a .500 ballclub. If the playoffs started tomorrow, they'd be in.

So why fire Hill now?

Hill and most other coaches will probably tell you that being fired comes with the territory. The world of coaching is a crazy business. People want results and general managers want full houses.

Hill was two seasons removed from a trip to the NBA Finals. Now he's gone.

Take a look at the offices of McKale Center. Dick Tomey is three seasons removed from a victory in the Fiesta Bowl and, while the administration isn't saying it in so many words, he is on the hot seat, too.

Just like Hill, the problems of the Arizona football team are not Tomey's fault. If you had to compete with UCLA, Southern Cal, Colorado and Washington every year for recruits, you'd have problems, too. UCLA's Terry Donahue never won a national championship while recruiting from the best high school football prospects in the country. Tomey could bring a championship to Westwood.

In Tucson, Tomey is a good football coach doing the best he can to produce a winner with a young team.

The Brian Hill situation reminds me of that moment in "Major League" when Charlie Sheen storms into his manager's office, thinking he'd been cut, and threatens to shove his fastball where the sun doesn't shine very brightly on his coach.

Hill will find another job someday with a team that recognizes his talent.

And I'm sure he'll take a great amount of satisfaction in stuffing it to the Orlando organization.

It'll be payback for Hill, because they've certainly stuffed it to him.

Sports editor Craig Degel shares his thoughts on sports and life every Wednesday in the Wildcat.