The National Football League has serious problems. Some of it came to light last year during the NFL’s investigation into the culture of the Washington Redskins, specifically the emails between Jon Gruden and the president of the Washington Redskins, Bruce Allen. The emails by Gruden were homophobic, racist, and misogynistic. Gruden was forced to resign as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. The results of the investigation of the Washington Redskins showed a culture that operated in a highly unprofessional manner toward women that included bullying, intimidation, sexual harassment, and a general lack of respect in the workplace. The team was fined $10 million. Gruden was the only person in the NFL who lost his job because of the investigation into the Washington Football Team, and he was not even part of the organization. Gruden is now suing the NFL alleging that the league and commissioner Roger Goodell deliberately leaked Gruden’s vulgar emails to the news media to force him out of his job. The lawsuit described it as “a Soviet-style character assassination.”
Yesterday, former Miami Dolphins, head coach Brian Flores, 40, sued the N.F.L. for racial discrimination. Flores was recently fired by the Miami Dolphins even though he had led them to winning seasons in the last two years. He is alleging that no other team will hire him as a head coach because he is black. I am no lawyer, but it is obvious to my simple brain that Flores has a case. Here is why.
When it comes to being a head coach in the NFL, there are a few truths that are hard to overcome.
- No former head coach of the Detroit Lions has ever been hired as a head coach in the NFL, even though former black head coaches Wayne Fontes is the winningest coach in Lion’s history and he led them to the NFC championship game, and Jim Caldwell had a winning record in his four seasons as head coach for the Lions. Caldwell was dismissed because the Lion’s organization wanted to go in a different direction. The Lions have not had a winning season since Caldwell was let go.
- Only a few black head coaches have ever been rehired by other teams once they are let go as a head coach. This is not true for white head coaches. There are eight white head coaches who have been the head coach for three different teams and did not win a Super Bowl with any of the teams.
- The league is made up of 70% African Americans but there is only one black head coach of the N.F.L.’s 32 teams and that is Mike Tomlin, of the Pittsburg Steelers. The Steelers have had only 3 head coaches since 1969.
- Teams are reluctant to hire Black coaches as offensive coordinator — a job that often leads to head coaching positions. This is similar to the attitude that the league had toward black quarterback prior to recent years.
- Even when Black offensive coordinators succeed, they are sometimes passed over for white candidates with weaker résumés. In last year’s Super Bowl, both offensive coordinators — Eric Bieniemy of the Kansas City Chiefs and Byron Leftwich of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — were Black. Neither has become a head coach, even as 14 teams have hired new head coaches since the end of last season
I hope the Flores lawsuit can force the NFL to make the changes that allow its leadership positions to closely reflect the racial make-up of the players. The National Basketball Association has been able to do it and still flourish. The NFL can do it if it wants to.
It used to be said that so goes GM so goes the U.S. In recent years it seems to have changed to, so goes Facebook or Amazon so goes the U.S. Anyone who follows the market knows that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, lost more than $237 billion in market value Thursday. It is the biggest one-day drop in value in the history of the U.S. stock market. Meta’s plunge, based on a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast, topped the prior record set by Apple, when it lost $182 billion in market value in September 2020. Meta’s drop in value comes as the company is looking past its current businesses, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and toward the metaverse, a virtual world based on new technology. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday, Meta had a net loss of $10 billion in 2021 attributable to Meta’s investment in metaverse. This caused the market to take a major bath today as the DJIA dropped. 1.45%, the S&P dropped 2.44% and the NASDAQ dropped 3.74%.
There is no need to panic. Stock futures rose in overnight trading Thursday. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%. S&P 500 futures added 1.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rallied 1.9%. Several technology stocks, including Amazon, posted huge after-hours gains following strong quarterly results. If your heart cannot stand the daily, weekly, and monthly swings in the market, you probably should be investing in something else.
As I indicated in September 2021, Michael K. Williams, who played my favorite character, Omar Little, in the television series “The Wire” died of an overdose. Today, per the NY Times. a Brooklyn man was charged on Wednesday with selling a deadly dose of fentanyl-laced heroin to Williams. The man who was charged, Irvin Cartagena, and three others were accused of being part of a drug-trafficking crew that knowingly continued to sell the drug after it killed Williams. The sale of the fatal dose to Mr. Williams in a hand-to-hand transaction in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood on Sept. 5, 2021, was captured on security video, the authorities said. See my Quote of the Day.
What are you doing to stop the violence? Get vaccinated and get your booster.
Orchid of the Day: Brian Flores-See above story
Onion of the Day: The National Football League
Quote of the Day: “This is a public health crisis, and it has to stop. Deadly opioids like fentanyl and heroin don’t care about who you are or what you’ve accomplished.” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement announcing the charges against the men accused of selling the drugs that killed Michael K. Williams.
Video/Song of the Day: Brian Flores interview on CBS