At the start of every new year, I wonder how many people float checks with the date of the previous year and don’t get either punched or a crowbar to the gut. (Hey, checks still do the job, as long as the memo doesn’t say “BRIBE”.) My guess is plenty of folks get away with it  because it’s something that could be an honest mistake, made by anyone. From experience: never trust a babyface.

New Year’s Day is gone, and today is the official start of the 2018 grind.

/looks at papers strewn all around

//Googles “discount flamethrowers”

The NFL folks, I’m guessing, didn’t even get Jan. 1. Manufacturing (or keeping) buzz is a round-the-clock proposition around this time. There are bright spots to be found for all 31 teams, be it in the promise of the playoffs, hires in the wake of Black Monday, or the draft. One group, however, seems to just get stress and little else: the majority of assistant coaches for playoff teams who interview with other teams.

For their current employers, those assistant coaches have to do the same pregame work, at higher stakes. While performing that work, other career-defining tasks emerge for these particular candidates: throw out feelers to get interviews; massage the owner and head coach opportunely to dissipate “You damn ingrate!” thoughts; lurk over the grapevine, to see who are the potential competitors for an opening; aggrandize their merits / cred; measure against the interview lineup; and check if their weasel agent has other clients in the running for open positions. All the while, these assistants in the interview circuit will get their priorities questioned by everyone—fans, owners, supervisors, underlings lining up for their current job (#TheRealEnemy), players, and family. And then there’s a doozy of a Catch-22: being so focused and successful getting the team to the Super Bowl that, in the interim, all or the best openings were already filled.

OK, sure; it’s top-shelf first world problems for those fellas, some of whom will end up making our fandom miserable. And yet, it’s a clear situation that involves getting banged by winning, brought by the start of the new year. We’ll see what 2018 will bring them,  and us regular folks, and what new stuff can be finagled with effort and wits. In the meantime, we can appreciate what we have, like the KILLER playlist assembled from the New Year’s Open Thread.

Many, many thanks to Rikki-Tikki-Deadly for assembling it and to alla youse who contributed songs you’d never, ever, EVER skip. Now,

YouTube:

Spotify:

Original banner, before defiling, via The Notorious RTD