The Morning According to Us

Isiah Thomas really ought to take the FIU job.

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Pat his head, sure. But can he rub his tummy too?

Right now in America, jobless claims, as reported by the Labor Department via the Wall Street Journal, in their weekly report on state unemployment insurance benefits, released Thursday, noted another increase in continuing claims. Those claims surged 95,000 to 5,840,000, the highest level since the government started keeping track in 1967.

Isiah Thomas was just six on 1967, and he ought to realize his good fortune now and retrieve a part of his once-brilliant name. That's because while a lot of good people are losing their jobs, Thomas may be close to latching on at Florida International as the new head ball coach.

We say good for him. Really. After all, how good must you be if somebody -- anybody -- wants to hire you after your recent stints in the business involve underachieving in Indiana, literally running the CBA into the ground (even though the NBA tried to buy it and get Thomas back his money), trading for stars like Eddy Curry and Stevie "Franchise" Francis, along with signing Jerome James and Jared Jeffries on his way to nuking the Knicks. Then there was that little sexual harassment suit, along with the whole racist comments accusation. And the last big news is for a drug overdose? Let's just say there's been a few better runs in Zeke's time.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a great one left. Minus the cloudy nature of player personnel decisions, who's to say that Thomas can't be a great coach when coaching is all it takes? Maybe he's learned his lessons. Maybe he's just like a lot of guys that couldn't hack it in the NBA. Pitino, Calipari, Montgomery … Vitale. (Sorry, Dick.)

But we say, take the job. In this economy, who knows how long until another team calls. After all, the Clippers seem pretty happy with Dunleavy.

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