by John Walters*

*Apologies for the tardy column. Recovering from a red-eye flight. When we landed at IdlewildJFK, we had this thought…

 

I am always amazed at how fit most pilots are considering they have to sit on the job all the time.

— Medium Happy (@jdubs88) October 10, 2017

but then we were gobsmacked when our L.A.-based friend immediately replied to that thought at about 2:10 a.m. local time:

 

Sometimes I cringe at the shallow thoughts that evidentiary run thru the minds of me, you & @ralphDrussoAP.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) October 10, 2017

Starting Five

Hill Tweet Blues

You know the deets. Our two cents is that if Jemele Hill SAYS this on her 6 p.m. ESPN program as opposed to tweeting it, few would have noticed. As for ESPN, it signed the most lucrative TV rights deal in history with the NFL a few years back. Whether or not you agree with Hill doesn’t matter much—she already has a highly pronounced anti-Trump stance and she openly suggested, to her 770,000 Twitter followers, that if fans don’t like Jerry Jones’ threat, they can boycott the Dallas Cowboys.

She never said she would. She never said they unconditionally should. But all of that gets lost in the optics. I imagine she and ESPN will part ways soon, and should. These are two strikes in short order. We know who she is and we know who they are. Why pretend the marriage will work?

2. Napa

If you’ve visited northern California wine country, you know that it is one of the loveliest (and most expensive areas for real estate) spots in the U.S.A. Arguably the most sublime that is neither a national park nor a beach.

Now, Napa is an inferno (11 have perished). More than 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed as well as 103,000 acres. Simply devastating. The cause of the multiple fires, outside of drought and record-setting heat, is yet unknown.

3. The Bears Lost, But They Won

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3LV2cN3vBU

The above two-point rugby-style conversion is all anyone will remember from Chicago’s 20-17 loss to Minnesota on Monday Night Football. Da Bears should have received three points for this play, which helped to overshadow DITKA’S comments that there had been no oppression for the last 100 years. Have you ever heard of Harvey Weinstein, coach? And that’s just this week.

4. I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Iceland!

Everyone’s favorite side (and by far the best-selling kit) at next summer’s World Cup in Russia, outside of their own country, will be Iceland. With their 2-0 win over Kosovo in Reykjavik Monday, they became the smallest nation (Pop. 340,000) to ever qualify for a World Cup finals. Team manager Heimir Hallgrimsson is a part-time dentist.

5. What’s A Wedding Without Rice?

This is the type of story that, when I worked at Sports Illustrated, the editors would have handed to Franz Lidz and he would have knocked it out of the park. Jerry Rice, serial wedding crasher?!? Who knew!

Music 101

These Are Days

I first heard this song this time of year, which is absolutely the best time of year in the northeast with the autumn light and the fall foliage. And I remember thinking, you’ve got a point, Natalie Merchant. You definitely have a point. 10,000 Maniacs never approached the heights of their first two albums, but both were outstanding (don’t call me a Lilith fairy; You’re a Lilith fairy!)

Remote Patrol

World Cup Qualifying

USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago

beIN Sports 8 p.m.

The final qualifier in the hexagonal round. Win and you’re in, Yanks. Draw or lose and it gets messy. The pitch, by the way, was flooded as of yesterday, as you can see above. No word yet on whether the match will be postponed.