***Pierre Page UPDATE***

Yesterday, resident St. Paul Pioneer Press curmudgeon Charley Walters began a campaign to bring in our namesake and muse, Mr. Pierre Page, as the new head coach of the Minnesota Wild. As he is our constant wellspring of inspirado, let us wholeheartedly join the one-man chorus lobbying for the job to go to The Pierre Page. Some highlights:

June 17, 1948: Slapshot out of the womb of Mrs. Page in St. Hermas, Quebec, Canada.

1980: Hired as assistant coach for the Calgary Flames.

1988: Hired as the classy (according to Walters, anyways) head coach of the Minnesota North Stars, his first head coaching position. Takes North Stars to 1989 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where they lose in the first round.

1990: Fired as North Stars head coach. That season, under rookie Head Coach Bob Gainey, the North Stars advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to Mario Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins.

1990-98: Recycled as head coach throughout the NHL. In eight seasons, makes the playoffs four times.

2002: Hired as Head Coach of German League's Berlin Polar Bears. Over the next three seasons, his teams go 101-34.

2009: The singular accomplishment of his career in hockey comes with the unleashing of The Pierre Page, a blog inspired by the man, the myth, the legend of Page.

I know these highlights are not particularly high, but I am, and perhaps I can be forgiven for reminding all of the lessons of Bill Belicheck and Pete Carroll: Both coaches, now widely renowned as world-class cheaters, were recently thought to be great coaches. Before that, they both failed in their first head-coaching endeavors. Could Pierre Page be the next Belicheck or Carroll, a modern-day Phoenix, rising from the ashes of a once-failed career? I call on you, Mr. Chuck Fletcher, to give this Phoenix a chance to fly once more. If nothing else, we can hope that he has learned to cheat as well as Belicheck and Carroll somewhere along the way.