GRUDEN ADDRESSES TENNESSEE PROPERTY STORY

On Wednesday, we posted an item regarding three pieces of property that Bucs coach Jon Gruden owns in Jefferson County, Tennessee, which is adjacent to Knox County, Tennessee, which contains the University of Tennessee, which is looking for a football coach. Later in the day, Gruden was asked about his property ownership in such close proximity to a potential prospective employer. “My wife is from there, okay,” he said, according to our friends at Pewter Report. “I have three sons and we go there every year. The Smokey Mountains is someplace special to me. To be honest with you I don’t like seeing trees going down. I’m a conservative person that way. [Editor’s note: Um, Jon, tree hugging isn’t exactly one of the planks of the Republican party’s platform.] I like to protect those 30 acres, or whatever it is we have, 25 acres. I’d prefer to have more acres there to prevent anybody from building something there. There is nothing on that land except trees. There is nothing else to it. Hopefully you guys hold me true to my word.” (Actually, the property records indicate that there is a dwelling on one of the three lots that Gruden owns.) We still think that Gruden is going to use this situation as leverage to improve his situation, either in Tampa or, if the job is still open when the Bucs’ season ends, Tennessee. And we think he’s got every right to do so. Unlike 2001, when Gruden had to gratuitously interject his name into speculation for the Notre Dame job by waxing poetically about the Golden Dome and Rockne’s Ghost and Touchdown Jesus (who sheds a tear whenever Gruden says the “F” word), the elbow grease is being applied by schmucks like me, keeping the story alive. Possibly long enough for the Glazers to give him an even bigger pile of their money. So that Jon can save more trees in Tennessee. And if the Glazers choose not to make a large contribution to the Gruden Forest Fund, then they need to keep in mind over the coming weeks that “the Smokey Mountains is somplace special to him.” Damn. We should get a commission on this dude’s next contract.