Friday Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If the NFL League Offices did go after Jon Gruden to both settle a score and to try and set the table for trying to get rid of Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder they may have sorely miscalculated. There's little chance Snyder will quietly ride off into the sunset like Gruden did. The NFL may find themselves in a no-holds barred fight because billionaires don't like to lose... In 2020 the Democrats wanted to "defund the police." The way things are going it looks like 2021 might be the year that Republicans want to "defund the FBI"... Absolutely admit when it comes to sports I'm a homer and an optimistic homer at that. For instance if you listen to Boston sports talk radio you'd think the New England Patriots were a wreck of a team but I have an opposite and optimistic view of things. I see a team whose defense has given up the 5th fewest points in the NFL. I also see a rookie QB in Mac Jones who actually has more passing yards at this point in the season than last year's MVP Aaron Rodgers (1,243 yards to 1,241). The Patriots literally fumbled away a victory against the Dolphins and if they won that game they'd be 3-2 instead of 2-3 and many people's attitudes on the team would be 180 degrees different... Would love to watch a full length documentary on Internet trolls narrated by David Attenborough... If the NFL League Offices is trying to oust Dan Snyder as the owner of the WFT they may end up learning the hard way that it may be easier to replace the Commissioner than replace an owner... I wish there was a way to bet that the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders will be an "African American" because it's almost a lock that Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders, will feel compelled to hire a black coach as a way to distance himself and the organization from the Jon Gruden controversy... According to the Labor Department, 4.3 million workers quit their jobs in August including nearly 900,000 in the restaurant industry. Not sure about where you live but where I live I'm personally aware of one restaurant that was open 7-days a week that's now only open 5 days, another that has stopped serving lunch, and a third that has closed altogether - all because they cannot hire enough help. This is not an indication of a healthy economy... I put "African American" in quotes above because after more than a year of everyone using the phrase "Black Lives Matter" (not "African American Lives Matter") I'm pretty sure the need to use that phrase to be politically correct is dead. However, I wanted to be careful not to be cancelled by the same people who are still trying to make "Latinix" a thing... The firing of Jon Gruden probably cost many Chicago Bears fans a lot of money who bet on their head coach Matt Nagy being the first NFL coach fired this season. That had seemed like a sure thing too... Was driving behind a car that had a "Proud Democrat" bumper sticker. The car also had stickers supporting a number of candidates but no "Biden/Harris" bumper sticker. Wonder if there's a message in that... Had to go to upstate Vermont for work. Though I'm no leaf peeper the foliage colors are probably at almost their peak. Disappointed to learn that the Urban Dictionary doesn't have a more colorful definition of "Leaf Peeper" though... So the Brooklyn Nets have told Kyrie Irving to stay home unless he gets vaccinated. They'll still be paying him roughly $16 million to do so. How can I get a job like that?.. You know Joe Rogan will get at least 5 minutes of material for his next comedy special from his observations on CNN and Sanjay Gupta. Looking forward to that... As always if this column has made you smile or think - don't be afraid to hit the like button. Also please subscribe and share with your friends. Thanks in advance...