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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Rams parted ways with embattled coach Jeff Fisher on Monday, a decision Rams COO Kevin Demoff chalked up to an organizational failure and one he said was solely a performance-related issue.Special-teams coordinator John Fassel, son of longtime NFL coach Jim Fassel, will step in as the interim coach for the final three games, with the next coming on the road Thursday against the Seattle Seahawks. General manager Les Snead, who, like Fisher, signed an extension through 2018 before the start of this season, is not guaranteed to return, and neither are any of Fishers coaches.Starting today, well have a complete review of the entire organization, Demoff said during a 45-minute news conference at the Rams facility. We sat down with Les, and again, this team is not where it needs to be. And we need to own up to that from a coaching perspective, from a personnel perspective, from an administration perspective. I think all of us need to get better.Fishers firing came one day after a 42-14 blowout loss at home to the Atlanta Falcons. It was the Rams third consecutive lopsided defeat, and it put the team at 4-9 and handed Fisher his 165th career loss, tying Dan Reeves for the NFL record.In a statement, Rams owner Stan Kroenke said he has great respect for Jeff as a coach, person, father and friend, then thanked him for working tirelessly despite some challenging circumstances.However, Kroenke said, this is the right time to make a change, as our performance has not lived up to my or our fans expectations. We all are focused on improving as an organization and building a team that makes Los Angeles proud.The Rams have dropped eight of their past nine games and have guaranteed themselves a 10th consecutive losing season. Under Fisher, who has six consecutive losing seasons, the Rams have not finished better than 7-8-1. Since Fisher took over in 2012, the organization has been plagued by an ineffective offense and a continual rash of penalties.This was solely a performance-related issue, Demoff said of Fisher, who had a winning record in six of his 20 prior full seasons as an NFL head coach. And when you look at the team, and where it is, and how we get better moving forward -- for the fans, for the players, for the coaches, for the organization -- we wanted to make sure games like yesterday didnt happen again.Demoff said the process of finding a new coach will begin in earnest Tuesday. The hope is to have somebody in place by the middle of January, but the Rams are open-minded about the timeline. Theyre also open-minded about the identity of the next candidate.I think the obvious thing people are going to say is, Well, youre going to hire an offensive coach because you had a defensive coach or The offense is bad, Demoff said. I think we need to find the best head coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Whether thats an offensive coach, a defensive coach, a special-teams coach, the interim coach, a college coach, I think we have to be willing to look under every possible avenue to find the right fit to go lead this football team.In the interim, it will be Fassel, whose father, Jim, coached the New York Giants from 1997 to 2003 and was named NFL coach of the year in his first season. John Fassel has been the Rams special-teams coordinator for five years and held the same job with the Oakland Raiders from 2009 to 2011.Fassel didnt necessarily have aspirations of becoming a head coach, and he admitted to being taken by surprise when the Rams chose him. Asked if he believes there is anything he can show the Rams during these final three games that would give him a shot at being the head coach, Fassel simply said, No.I think Coach Fassel carries tremendous respect from our players and carries tremendous respect from our coaches, Demoff said. Hell bring tremendous energy. And this is about getting the most out of our group for the last few games.Fisher addressed the players shortly after he found out, and the locker room was genuinely crushed to hear the news. Fisher angered the fan base, but he had the overwhelming respect of his players.Middle linebacker Alec Ogletree called the firing a hard pill to swallow. Offensive lineman Jamon Brown got emotional when talking about how well Fisher handled the criticism in recent days. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald said the struggles are on us. Its on us as players. Several others talked about how they let Fisher down by not playing well enough for him to keep his job.I think I speak for the whole team when I say he was very well-liked and very giving, quarterback Jared Goff said. I mean, he treated us the right way. He treated us the way were supposed to be treated, and in return, we didnt do enough for him. And thats really what it comes down to.Fishers firing comes eight days after news of his extension leaked to the media, a circumstance the Rams were never excited to get behind.When Kroenke first gave Fisher an extension, the thought was that he could at least lead the Rams into their new stadium in Inglewood, California, for 2019, and there was a sentiment within the front office that it would be unfair to judge Fisher until he was at least a full year removed from the relocation and had time to groom Goff.Then the Rams first season in Los Angeles unraveled, starting with a blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football and continuing with eight losses in a span of nine games. There was controversy with Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson, who was infuriated by a phone call from Fisher in which Fisher allegedly denied him sideline passes. Then there were Fishers comments about being unaware that Snead, his GM the past five years, had also signed an extension, which reportedly rubbed people in the organization the wrong way.Demoff said the Rams gave Fisher and Snead extensions because they didnt want them to go into the first season of a relocation with lame-duck status. The extensions were agreed to in the summer, but it took a bit longer for the paperwork to get worked out. Then the season started, and Demoff didnt want to announce the extensions because they could have created what he called a distraction.Maybe that was a mistake on my part, Demoff said.As the season went on, the Rams faced increasing pressure from the outside to make a change at coach.I think it would be easy to say that played into it, Demoff said. I think what that overlooks is the fact that all of that is generated off the won-loss record. And when you look at the fans, when you look at anything thats happened these past few weeks, everybodys been frustrated about losing eight out of nine and having some tough losses. And it all comes down to how were performing on the field. Nike Air Max Danmark Billig . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Nike Air Max Udsalg . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said. http://www.airmaxdanmark.com/ . -- Timbers coach Caleb Porter didnt stray from his business-like approach to the season even after Portland downed the two-time defending league champion Los Angeles Galaxy to gain crucial playoff position. Billige Nike Air Max . At a Manhattan federal court hearing, attorney Jordan Siev said his law office has gotten more evidence nearly every day to support its lawsuit accusing MLB and Selig of going on a "witch hunt" to ruin Rodriguezs reputation and career. He said the defendants went "way over the line. Nike Air Max Tilbud . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. PITTSBURGH -- Josh Bell gave his veteran manager goose bumps. He fired up a sellout crowd at PNC Park, too.Bells grand slam in his second major-league at bat was one of four homers by the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 12-6 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night.Bell slugged a 1-1 pitch from Adam Warren (3-2) over the seats perched above the 21-foot wall in right for his second pinch-hit in two games since being recalled from Triple-A on Friday.What a fantastic sequence, said the Pirates Clint Hurdle, who has more than 1,000 managerial wins. I got goose bumps. Ive got them probably a dozen times since Ive been a coach or a manager.Chills went down my spine. ... Seemed like the stadium was pretty excited, too.Jordy Mercer followed Bells slam with a home run to make it a five-run fifth for the Pirates, who have won nine of 10 and 12 of their last 15 to move within 6 1/2 games of Chicago in the National League Central.Andrew McCutchen and Sean Rodriguez homered earlier off suddenly struggling Cubs starter Jon Lester, the National League pitcher of the month for June. Lester has allowed 13 runs in 4 1/3 innings in July, including five in three innings Saturday.Terrible. Unacceptable. Letdown, Lester said, describing his outing. Offense gives me two runs early and then gives me runs again -- and then I give it right back. Obviously a letdown, not only for myself but for the team.Ben Zobrist had a two-run homer and Anthony Rizzo had four hits for Chicago, which has lost nine of 10 and seen its division lead dwindle to as small as its been since May.I feel like were fortunate to be (up 6 1/2 games) right now, actually, manager Joe Maddon said. I dont believe its a negative; I think its a positive.Chad Kuhl lasted only 2 1/3 innings in his third major-league start, surrendering Zobrists 13th home run among seven hits allowed. But Pittsburghs bullpen was much better as Arquimedes Caminero (1-2) struck out three in 1 2/3 innings and Jared Hughes earned his third major-league save by pitching three scoreless innings.At least one run was scored during eight of the first 11 half-innings played on a night in which the city of Pittsburgh celebrated its bicentennial. A 25-minute fireworks display set off just a few hundred yards away at the citys Point State Park provided a soundtrack of reegular rumbling booms throughout the fifth inning in which Bell and Mercer thrilled the Pirates third sellout crowd of the season even more.ddddddddddddOver the past 10 days, the Pirates have scaled more than half of the 14-game hole it had dug in the NL Central. Before Saturdays game, Maddon said that he learned from former mentor John McNamara long ago that once a division lead became fewer than seven games, it was no longer safe.We werent walking away with our heads down, feeling sorry for ourselves when we were getting beat through June, Hurdle said, and were not going to do backflips now. Were going to keep playing.ALL-STAR COMINGS AND GOINGSCubs OF Dexter Fowler backed out of playing in Tuesdays All-Star game as a precaution as he recovers from a strained right hamstring that has him on the disabled list.Pirates OF Starling Marte was announced as one of the NL roster replacements along with the Reds Jay Bruce for Fowler and the Mets Yoenis Cespedes.ROSTER MOVEThe Cubs recalled INF Munenori Kawasaki from Triple-A and Saturdayand optioned INF Jeimer Candelario to Iowa. Maddon said the move was made to give the team a more experienced bat off the bench.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: Maddon said Fowler did not experience a setback in a minor-league rehab appearance Friday. He also said he would have had no problem if Fowler had made his return from the disabled list in the All-Star game and not for the Cubs -- as long as he was well enough to play, and then we got him on Friday.Pirates: OF Gregory Polanco did not play a day after being removed from a win because of an aggravation of nagging left hamstring tightness. Manager Clint Hurdle indicated Polanco likely wont start Sunday, either. ... 2B Josh Harrison was lifted from the game in the third inning. The team termed the reason as left foot discomfort. Harrison drove in a run the inning prior when he was hit with a fastball in the foot.UP NEXTCubs: Sunday starter RHP John Lackey has gone 0-2 with a 7.56 ERA in his past three starts after going 7-3 with a 2.78 ERA in his first 14 startsPirates: LHP Jonathon Niese has lost his past two home starts, allowing 13 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings during them. ' ' '