NFL News:

• FITTY’S BACK!
  • He’s due an $11 million base salary on the final year of his contract, so I’m guessing that helps make the decision.
    • Also helping: the future golf career, based on his Pebble Beach Pro-Am victory last weekend.
  • I don’t know who’ll be throwing him passes.
    • The depth chart currently reads (checks notes) (checks notes again) Drew Stanton, Matt Barkley & Blaine Gabbert.
    • Mind you, he’s done so much with so little:

^{(chart courtesy revengeofthebirds.com)}

• Sebastian Janikowski is done with the Raiders.
  • He hasn’t been cut; the Raiders just won’t re-sign him.
  • He was one of three players remaining from the 2000 Draft
    • The others: Shane Lechler & Tom Brady.

• Still with the Raiders – Jon Gruden: not a fan of the CBA rules about player contact during the offseason.

“You’re not allowed to be with your players,” he said. “Some genius thought that would be great, that we’re not even allowed to talk to our players. So that’s been a big challenge. You’re not allowed to do anything. You’re not allowed to coach your players. I’ve called several players, introduced myself. I think that’s legal. I’m not having contact with everybody. … We’re not allowed to have any real contact. It’s pretty clear on what the rules are.”

• The Steelers have decided to ditch the bumblebee throwbacks.
  • They haven’t officially said what they will wear, but “Mr. Rooney” has apparently decided what they won’t wear.

Today is Flag Day in Canada.

In previous years, I have prepared a concentrated post describing the bureaucratic details that befell my great nation as it attempted to redefine itself for the modern era by devising a new symbol of nationalism. Well, since there is so much excellent content today, there’s no need to be selfish & repost the repost, so I’ll link it here if you want to read it.

The partial quote in the header comes from the current Prime Minister’s father, when he was just a Montreal law professor.

The full reference is:

“Quebec does not give a tinkers dam about the new flag. Its a matter of complete indifference.”

Former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, a staunch British heritagist, was more bellicose in his condemnation of any proposed changes:

“A flag that does not contain the greatness of your heritage is no flag for a nation.”

Basically, after all the words were said & written, it came down to this:

                                   ^{1867 – 1965                                                                                                                              1965 – present}

At least people stopped thinking of us as just a former colony.

Tonight’s sports:

• Olympics:
  • NBCSN | 7:00PM – Men’s figure-skating short program
  • NBC | 8:00PM – Figure skating (men’s short program), plus medals in women’s snowboard cross, men’s skiing (Super-G) and men’s skeleton.
  • CNBC | 10:00PM – Hockey (Men’s Group B): U.S. vs. Slovakia
  • CBC | 7:00PM – Figure skating (men’s short program), plus medals in women’s snowboard cross, men’s skiing (Super-G) and men’s 15K cross-country (free).
  • TSN | 10:00PM – Hockey (Men’s Group B): U.S. vs. Slovakia
  • TSN2 | 12:00AM – Women’s curling: Draw 4
  • Sportsnet | 7:00PM – Men’s skeleton (medals)

• NHL:
  • Kings at Penguins – 7:00PM | Sportsnet1
  • Oilers at Vegas – 10:00PM | Sportsnet1
• NBA:
  • Lakers at Timberwolves – 9:00PM | TNT
• NCAA:
  • Purdue at Wisconsin – 7:00PM | ESPN
  • Temple at Wichita State – 7:00PM | ESPN2
  • Tulsa at Connecticut – 7:00PM | ESPNU
    • SEAMUS – DON’T BET THIS GAME!
  • Arizona at Arizona State – 9:00PM | ESPN
  • Oregon at Southern California – 9:00PM | ESPN2
    • Hippo gon’ get burnt!

As with last year, I leave you with the salient words of Eddie Izzard on the concept of colonialism and flags.

INDEED!