= Clearly in Mourning

The NFL has once again proven it's time honored mantra: "African-American players are fine, African-American coaches are not." This offseason there were 10 coaching openings. Final tally: 9 white coaches selected, 1 undecided (Raiders) and 0 minorities. Glad to see that minority hiring policy is working!

It's not as if there are no qualified minority assistant coaches that could step into head coaching roles. The Dick Jauron hiring in Buffalo is probably the most puzzling. He didn't even have a winning record in his five seasons in Chicago. Green Bay's hiring of San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy wins the special runner-up prize. Did you see San Francisco's offense last season? Perhaps McCarthy is saving all his best plays for Green Bay.

So the question remains: what can the NFL do? The current hiring policy is clearly just lip service. Do you think Matt Millen had on the yellow sticky pad on his desk: "Make sure to do obligatory interview with minority prior to hiring so you don't get fined this time"? The development pipeline needs to start with college coaches and college assistant coaches. We need more Tyrone Willinghams. More...you know, I'm hard pressed to think of another African-American head coach amongst the majors in NCAA. With no development pipeline, the ownership in NFL will continue to select from the same list of failed coaches (ie Jauron and McCarthy), rather than hiring the next Lovie Smith.

It's official: Americans spend more than they make. Congratulations, Americans, for purchasing just enough iPods, just enough flat screen TVs and driving up mortgage payments just enough to put us in the red. It's no wonder the rest of the world hates us...it's because we owe the rest of the world $8.1 trillion dollars. At least one person did something about reducing the debt...but had to die first.

And finally...considering that the average person flying on an airplane should have more money than the average American, and more education than the average American, is it also reasonable to expect that person to have better manners? Magic 8-ball says "NO."