Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wednesday 01/21 A.M. Quickie:
Obama, Gruden, Parcells, Duke, More

OK, so back to work. Or get started working.

But it almost felt like the sports world -- along with everyone else -- came to a standstill yesterday for the Inauguration. (Leads today's SN column.)

No matter: No. 44 is at work, and the rest of us are, too.

Should Jon Gruden be at work...at Notre Dame? ND fans unhappy with Charlie Weis may see Gruden as a fun alternative, but pro-to-college coaches tend to...well...suck.

Bill Parcells is still at work for the Dolphins: And it sounds like he will be, at least for the next year.

College seniors are looking for NFL work at the Senior Bowl: Is Pat White auditioning as a QB or a Wildcat specialist that every team will want/need next season?

(And will Oklahoma exile Rhett Bomar pull off the Comeback of the Year in college football?)

Gerald Henderson is hard at work for Duke: I don't expect Coach K to tell Singler and Scheyer and Paulus to defer to Henderson, but they should -- he is the best player on the team.

Bill Self might be working a little TOO hard: John Wall IS awesome, but Self knew better than to talk with him -- he even said so when he talked with him.

Can we get Theo Epstein in the new administration in some capacity? His ability to avoid arbitration shows that he can generate consensus and results. (It's not like Papelbon got the short end: From $800K to $6.25M.)

Does Ryan Howard's work in '08 deserve a huge raise in '09? He made $10M in arbitration before the '08 season; then he had another monster season. Does that qualify him for a raise to $18M? Maybe on the open market, but probably not in arbitration if the Phillies do the right thing and at least offer him a raise into the mid-teens.

Complete SN column here. More later. Back to work, everyone.

-- D.S.

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