As the football-watching world watches and waits for free-agent coach Jeff Fisher to pick between the Rams and the Dolphins, there’s a new development.
And it’s a strange one.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports, citing a source close to Fisher (i.e., Fisher), that Fisher isn’t playing the Dolphins against the Rams, and vice-versa, in order to get the best possible deal. Taking it a step farther, Schefter reports that neither team has even made an offer to Fisher.
So Fisher is going to choose between the Rams and the Dolphins, tell one of them “thanks” and “no thanks” in rapid succession, and then ask the winner to make an offer? If that’s the strategy, Fisher is either lying, or he’s no longer competent to handle his business affairs.
And I’m not sure which one is worse.
Obviously, it’s not true. If Fisher is choosing between the Rams and the Dolphins and neither the Rams nor the Dolphins have made him a job offer, then what is Fisher choosing? Bed sheets?
There’s nothing wrong with exerting leverage, especially when dealing with a billion-dollar organization that is trying to hire someone with highly specialized skills to work long, stressful hours for most if not all of the year. Rarely if ever does one man hold so much power over members of the one percent’s one percent.
So why would Fisher deny it? It appears to be a simple (and misguided) P.R. ploy, aimed at the least-common-denominator fans who’ll digest without scrutiny a flimsy, illogical report that Schefter happily passed along, also without scrutiny. (That’s not a knock on Schefter. Plenty of reporters routinely do the same thing in the name of getting a scoop and/or keeping a source happy.)
Our job is to call it like we see it. And we see -- more accurately, smell -- something that goes by a variety of names, and that often is found lurking in the grass on a farm.