Flores follow up
Not sure if you heard, but Brian Flores is suing the NFL. It made a few of the news shows yesterday and I think ESPN had a segment or 12,000,000 on it.
I wrote here yesterday - great comments, by the way; wow 41 is the most we've had in a while - that Brian Flores was courageous.
I believe that - then and now - and here's why. Whether you agree with his lawsuit or not, a person staking his life's work and risking ever landing another job in their chosen field to stand for what they perceive to be noble, takes courage.
By definition.
I also wrote that I did not think Flores will ever land another job.
I have changed my mind on that second one.
The NFL is an 11-figure operation with revenues in the tens of billions of dollars a year. They may be a lot of things, but dumb is not one of them.
And, as lines are drawn and sides galvanized, hiring Flores by Monday would be the best defense against the damning numbers and trends and the almost indefensible Belichick text chain.
(Side question: Even as powerful as Belichick is, you have to think the NFL powers that be are now gonna make every NFL power player over the age of 65 hire a teenager to work their phones, right?
Can you imagine the conference call when Belichick realized he has sent the congrats to Brian Flores rather than Brian Daboll?
Bill: Uh, morning Mr. Kraft, there's a situation.Robert Kraft: What is it? Does Tom want to come back to Foxboro?
Bill: Uh, no. It's a bad situation.
Robert Kraft: What is it? Does Tom want to be inducted to Canton as a Buccaneer?
Bill: Uh, no. It's worse.
Robert Kraft: What is it? Are you going to make me promote another one of your sons to assistant GM or something?
Bill: Uh, no. It's even worse than that.
Robert Kraft: What is it? SpyGate, DeflateGate, Asian Massage parlor, uh, Gate?
Bill: Uh, no. It's a Text Wreck. I sent a text to Brian Flores that I meant to send to Brian Daboll congratulating him on getting the Giants HC job and, as it turns out, Brian Flores had not interviewed
(Quick pause followed by elevator music while a Pats secretary politely says "hold please" and followed by another female whispering.)
Female No. 2: Roger Goodell's emergency line, what's the pass code?
Robert Kraft: Jerry Jones is short and looks like a cartoon.
Female No. 2: Please repeat for confirmation.
Robert Kraft: Jerry Jones is short and looks like a cartoon.
Roger Goodell: Hello, what's the issue.
Robert Kraft: Belichick has, well, he's made it clear that the Rooney Rule is as hollow as our measures against concussions.
Roger: I see. Is there evidence?
Belichick: Uh, text messages.
Roger: I see. OK. First, Bill, turn in your iPhone pronto. Second, Bill hang up the phone. You don't want to hear the next part. Plausible deniability and all. Plus, I don't want it to be texted to Adam Schefter when you're trying to message Adam Viniteri, no offense, which is kind what you guys are without Brady - no offense. See what I did there. Even in crisis I still got it. Seriously, Bill hang up the phone.
Goodell then leaves Robert Kraft on the phone and conference calls the owners in Minnesota, Houston and New Orleans and says, "Gang, we got a situation."
(Scene.)
What's the most plausible way to deny a league-wide conspiracy against hiring Black head coaches even when the numbers are overwhelmingly against you?
Make sure the guy who is leading the lawsuit gets hired before the first deposition is issued.
Speaking of signing day
It was rather uneventful, but congrats to Vader's band of merry Tigers in Red Stick for getting the nation's top linebacker at the 11th hour.
I actually thought there was a real chance Coach Prime was going to lure Harold Perkins, the nation's five-star LB who flipped from Texas A&M to LSU on Wednesday, and pull off another coup. But he picked Brian Kelly's bunch.
It was one of the few ripples from players and their decisions on what used to be a frenzied day that had us college football fans glued to screens like political junkies on election night.
Now, all the head-turning announcements came from coaches.
Last week, Lane Kiffin fired off verbal assaults - Kiffin? Verbal assaults? The heck you say? - about teams with rich NIL pots and their ability to land star-studded recruiting classes.
He directly referenced Texas A&M, which still landed the nation's top class without Perkins.
Earlier this week, Nick Saban discussed the NIL practices and how he draws the line at offering recruits NIL deals in the luring process with no direct mention but a wink-wink, non-nod West to College Station.
Last night, Jimbo Fisher fired back and he left nothing in the clip. Here is his news conference and it's a fiery five minutes that likely made Kiffin giggle and send the speech writers into the lab and made Saban fume and send Butch Jones' replacement in the analysis room brew some copy and get the game film running.
(Side note: Of course, since it's a college football topic du jour - that sounds good, I think I'll have that - everyone's favorite college football writing All-American David Paschall is Davey on the Beat. Here's his prose on the NIL and recruiting in today's fish wrapper.)
Gang, Jimbo ain't scared. And SEC Media Days - which I believe are in Dallas next year - will be a hoot.
Better or worse
OK, somewhat rhetorical question and somewhat on the up and up:
If you had a monster issue with layers of complexity and deeply entrenched emotional sides, could you think of two worse groups to be in charge of making policy than the NCAA and the IOC folks?
What, was FIFA too busy to take a call?
Well, after the NCAA punted the trans-gender competition rules in college athletics last month - the NCAA ruled that it would no longer have a trans-gender policy and that each sport would use the rules under the umbrella of the various branches of the IOC - USA Swimming made its ruling this week.
Swimming of course is the hottest button in the transgender athlete conversation these days because of Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who was a second-team Ivy League pick a few years ago at Penn when Lia was swimming as a guy.
Now, Thomas is among the favorites to win national titles in multiple events in March at the NCAA event.
But USA Swimming has changed its rule, specifically stating that athletes must be on hormone treatment for 36 months rather than 24 months before competing for championships.
First, there's a lot to unpack in this story as you would expect.
Second, the NCAA championships are in March of this year and Thomas began her hormone treatments in May 2019, which means she would have been in treatment for 34 months
Third, Thomas is not a member of USA Swimming, but whether the NCAA, which again tried the ostrich, head-in-the-sand approach to problem solving, allows her to swim or not is still up in the air.
Ah, Mark Emmert, you and your crew never fail to fail.
This and that
- Bad loss for the Mocs last night at Samford.
- No surprise here that as MaxPreps listed the best high school baseball teams in each state, that Baylor School was the choice for Tennessee. Yeah, that's a program that has some talent, friends.
- So Whoopi got suspended. OK. And gang, suspended is not cancelled. Period. Suspended is disciplined. Cancelled is being forced to find another gig. And I am pleased that Whoopi did not get cancelled. Again, my next viewing of "The View" will be my first, but if we're to a place that you can't misspeak, apologize and move on, then we're all worse for the wear.
- Speaking of signing day, the changes continue. It started way back in the day with early enrollees. Eric Zeier going to Georgia and skipping his last four months of high school is the first one I can recall in the early 1990s. Then that became commonplace. Then so many signed early that the busiest signing day is now in December. Now, not unlike college hoops, some of the top college football players are starting to reclassify and enroll a full year yearly. Two of the top prospects in the 2023 cycle - Milton (Ga.) DT Lebbeus Overton, who is the No. 3 national recruit, and five star safety Sonny Styles - are planning on reclassifying and going to college ASAP.
- There is tone deaf and then there is "Holy Bleep" Jeff Bezos-levels of tone deaf. First, when the words "Jeff Bezos Yacht" are trending you almost have to click, right? Now comes the details that Bezos' $500 million yacht is so massive that he has negotiated with Dutch city of Rotterdam to dismantle a historic landmark bridge that has stood strong since 1927. TripAdvisor calls the bridge a European 'must see.' To get his 412-foot yacht with a 229-foot mast, Bezos says the bridge is a 'must see you later.'
- Hey, I'm all for everyone having their opinion. First Amendment and all. But dang, Susan Sarandon, really? The Oscar winner - she took home the trophy for that laugh-riot "Dead Man Walking" - who for a lot of us will forever be known as Annie Savoy took to Twitter and posted this. In reference to the large numbers of NYPD officers attending funerals for fellow officer Jason Rivera, who was killed in the line of duty, Sarandon posted, "So if all these cops weren't needed for CRIME that day, doesn't that mean they aren't needed ANY day?" Wow. And here's another idea, for all those folks who hate cops and want to do away with police, and I know this can't and would never happen because police are sworn to protect and serve, but the next time someone tries to hurt Susan Sarandon or someone she loves, well, maybe the cops weren't needed that day. And really? This sentiment in relation to a funeral for an officer that was killed in the line of duty?
- Oh and one more thing: Gang, let's not pretend that the protests and vitriol and hatred spewed at the 98-plus-% of noble, decent and courageous cops because of the sins of a immensely small percentage of racist or hate-filled or rage-consumed cops does not play a role in the eye-popping rise in cop shootings recently.
- OK, sports. Loved this stat from ESPN Stats & Info (a great follow on Twitter by the way): Syracuse last night became the fifth team in the last 25 seasons to have every starter score 15 or more points and get 0 points from its bench. Wow. Balance, smalance.
Today's questions
Fire away. Not sure we're going to get to 40-plus comments again, but we can try.
Also, the mailbag is tomorrow and I need to get that done ASAP, so fire away.
If, after losing at College Station last year and the Jimbo smack talk from yesterday, I gave your Aggies plus-14 next year against Alabama, which side you taking?
True or false on a Thursday, Brian Flores gets an NFL offer in the next 10 days, be it from Houston or New Orleans.
True or false again, Lane Kiffin is not done picking at Jimbo on this.
As for today, Feb. 3, let's review.
This is the day the music died when the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and others crashed.
P.T. Barnum bought his first elephant on this day in 1882. His name was Jumbo.
George Nissen would have been 108 today. Nissan invented the trampoline.
Nathan Lane is 66 today.
Rushmore of Nathan. Or Rushmore of 'Lane,' you choose.
Go, and remember the mailbag.