Sports Illustrated posted their top 5 and worst 5 owners in each sport last Friday. So we're going to take a close look at the owners they selected for football. Let's analyze each ranking and see how accurate SI is when it comes to picking who's smooth sailing or who needs to sell their team ASAP!



Top Five Owners


5. Steve Bisciotti, Baltimore Ravens- Now y'all already know... I'm totally biased to this pick and I love it. Bisciotti purchased the franchise from Art Modell as a minority owner in 2000 and took over the team in 2004 as the majority. Since 2000, the Ravens have 5 playoff appearances, 1 Super Bowl championship and a historic defense. Not to mention one of the best GM's in the league in Ozzie Newsome. I've met Bisciotti before, and he is the coolest owner I've ever met (okay... my ONLY owner to ever meet, but he's still cool as a fan). Plus he always has the tannest looking tan you've ever seen!

Bisciotti's tan has the Rick James aura, so you know that means he's great. Love this pick!! I'm The NFL Chick and I approve this message!

4. Jeffrey Lurie, Philadelphia Eagles- I have no real issue with this pick, but I do have 2 slight objections. One, since Lurie bought the team in 1994 the Eagles have had 9 playoff appearances. But 0 championships. And two, Lurie is known to be cheap at times, constantly being way under the salary cap and letting team leaders go to other teams (Brian Dawkins most recently. Is McNabb next???). Hey.. I have an idea! Switch Bisciotti and Lurie's spots and I'll call it even. No?? *sigh* okay (I tried Steve, sorry....)

3. Mara & Tisch Families, New York Giants- Okay, one stat I just saw that blew me away... They bought the franchise for $500 back in 1925. Five hundred dollars??? Okay, I'm sure that is equivalent to a million dollars now, but wow, that sounds like chump change. I'm totally cool with this choice. The Giants helped build the NFL with the 1958 Championship game against the Baltimore Colts, also known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and they pulled a hell of an upset over the then-undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Whenever history takes place, the Giants name pops up.

2. Robert Kraft, New England Patriots- Kraft has done what no other team has been able to do since the salary cap was created, build a dynasty (remember the Cowboys teams were intact by the time salary cap started in 1994). With the help of puppet mas.. I mean, NFL genius Bill Belichick, the Pats are contenders every season.

Even with the loss of QB Tom Brady in 2008, The Pats were still able to go 11-5 with an unknown QB and an old defense. And from what I hear, Patriot Place is an absolute beauty and a gold mine (which I will be seeing in October). Kraft deserves this spot. The Pats have earned it

1. Rooney family, Pittsburgh Steelers- Who else would you have picked for the number one spot?? Six Super Bowl championships and one of the most followed teams in football, the Rooney's deserve this honor. The Steelers are my ultimate nemesis, but I respect the team and the Rooney family a lot. They constantly bring in playmakers and great head coaches, and they never tend to overpay for a player and find ways to move on when they are gone. However, I think this should be a little more specific.

Art Jr and Dan Rooney are responsible for their success, not the Sr. It's no secret that until the 1970's the Steelers were not good at all. When the sons took over, the franchise took off. Hats off to the Rooney's for a great job!


Worst Five Owners


5. Denise DeBartolo York, San Francisco 49ers- See now.... this is why women aren't taken seriously when we lead. When Denise's brother Eddie was involved in a gambling scandal and she took over, she handed the business off to her husband, John York. Like a woman in love, she let her emotions get in the way of business, by giving him the keys to the car. York is a horrible owner. The 49ers were the first team to reach 5 Super Bowls, and has since fallen off the wagon. One of the most storied franchises has since been a laughing stock in this league. From poor coaching, bad draft picks and head coaches pulling down their pants at halftime, they are in bad shape.

4. Mike Brown, Cincinnati Bengals- This should be the number 1 pick out of all of the owners in the league. Since taking over the team from his father, the late Paul Brown, the Bengals have the worst winning percentage out of all the 5 worst owners with .351%. That's beyond sad, that's a disgrace!

In addition to poor ownership, Brown also acts as the GM. Remember Akili Smith, Peter Warrick, Ki-Jana Carter??? All bust picks since Brown took over the team in 1991. While the Bengals seemed to have made strides for change with one of the best drafts last month, their overall record is Gawd awful. SI was dead wrong on this one. This is number 1!

3. Daniel Snyder, Washington Redskins- I'm one of the people that think Snyder is an idiot. I'm not a big fan on how he operates. He loves to overpay free agents (Deion Sanders, Adam Archuleta and most recently Albert Haynesworth) and most of them tend to never pan out for what they are worth. He tends to confuse the NFL with Fantasy Football and he always find ways to bring in players with no cap space available. A football owner he is not. However, I think Snyder is one of the smartest owners when it comes to marketing. His franchise tops Forbes list every year in NFL franchises (sorry Cowboys fans.. it's true) and is at the top in revenue year in and year out. I think he is extremely smart in that aspect of the franchise. If Snyder could allow a real GM to come in and shape the franchise the way it should be done, i.e. smart free agency signings, more draft picks, etc, then the Redskins will be much better off. Is he a bad owner? In my opinion, yes. But #3 is too high.

2. William Clay Ford, Detroit Lions- One good thing about Ford, he's loyal. He hired former-player-turned-broadcaster Matt Millen to take over the handling of personnel of the team and stuck with him for 7 long, horrible years and they were beyond bad during that time. Millen never produced a winning team, drafted a bunch of busts and never gave fans any hope that the franchise was moving forward instead of backward. Yet, in 2005 he gave Millen an extension anyway.

He finally let Millen go during the 2008 season- the same season in which the Lions did something no other team has ever done. Go 0-16. Since Ford's tenure as owner, the Lions have had a .411 winning percentage. It's still better than Brown's, but Ford could be a clear contender for the worst owner in the league. 0-16??? You know that's bad when you can't win ONE game. That's what loyalty will get you... 0-16

1. Al Davis, Oakland Raiders- Now I think, just like everyone else, that Davis is a either a nut case, or he has stage 3 dementia. But I don't agree with this ranking at all. And I'll tell you why. Based on the SI article, Davis has a .569 winning %, 21 playoff appearances and 4 championships since 1966. His winning pct is better than owners of the Steelers (who has more titles), Giants (who's been around since... forever) and Eagles(who still has no championships), all who were in the Top 5 for best owners. Three Super Bowls and one AFL Championship, not to mention the 2002 SB appearance takes Davis far away from being the worst owner. Look, the guy is like 112 years old and reminds me of Skeletor from the cartoon He-Man.

But in his prime, Davis was a winner. Anyone who has a slogan that says "Just Win Baby" cannot be #1 on such list, I'm sorry. Mike Brown and the Fords should duke it out for the worst. And where's Bill Bidwill in this conversation?? The Cardinals had their first playoff appearance since 1998 and he suddenly gets a pass??? I demand a recount... or some new writers to come up with a more accurate list. I'm not buying this one at all!

Let me know what you think. What owners do you think got snubbed as the best owner? Or give me your opinion on Davis being unfairly deemed as worst owner.