NFL and the economy

Paul Domowitch had a great blurb in today's daily news about two NFL franchises that have laid off workers.

* To Redskins owner Dan Snyder and Browns owner Randy Lerner for having the gall to lay off some of their employees. Snyder, who hands out $5 million-a-year contracts to head coaches like they're bonbons and who has squandered tens of millions more on overrated free agents, laid off 20 club employees, including the team's director of player development, John Jefferson, who counsels players on off-the-field issues. An assistant strength coach will take over Jefferson's duties. He'll presumably counsel players in between squats. Lerner, who just gave his new head coach, Eric Mangini, a $4 million-a-year deal, gave pink slips to more than a dozen employees, including a writer for the team's Web site. Boy, I bet that really saved Randy a big hunk of money. Seriously, how do these guys sleep at night?

Good for Domo in taking them to task. I recognize that many businesses are struggling in the current economy, but this sounds like simple penny pinching to me.

Add news like this to the news of the New York Yankees asking for hundreds of millions in tax free city bonds weeks after they splash out hundreds of millions on players... and you really have to shake your head sometimes.