The three-man shortlist drawn up by the board had been topped by Sherwood with the other contenders, Derby County's Steve McClaren and the Real Madrid assistant manager, Paul Clement, having since indicated they would not be in contention mid-season.
Despite everything, Coach Mike D'Antoni has them in playoff contention in mid-February.
Viewed differently, of the 15 teams in contention in mid-September, 10 were among the top 12 teams in payroll.
If a team wants to be in playoff contention in mid-September, a viable strategy may be to give up in July.
And though the Sox have been in contention since mid-June, business has been a little off this year — they're looking at their lowest attendance total since 2004.
If the Jets are in playoff contention in mid-November, will Edwards want to make a quarterback switch if Testaverde has been successful?
Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett are on course to begin bids to force their way into Ashes contention in mid-April and give England's fast-bowling resources a double boost.
While there's certainly an argument made against not rewarding mediocrity, but the trade-off has been that we're starting to see new teams actually remain in contention come mid-winter and variety can be worth it for its own sake.
But that doesn't always concern teams at the bottom of the table, some of whom were all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by mid-season this year.
Tony Smith suggested after Saturday's third Test win in Wigan that he already has a few in mind who could come into contention for the mid-season international in France.
Bowie claimed that the photographer simply caught him in mid-wave, a contention backed by a young Gary Numan who was among the throng that day: "Think about it.
