SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:31 P.M. ET: 

A COACH'S WISDOM – FROM FOX:  Legendary football coach Lou Holtz recalled to "Fox & Friends Weekend" how he told his teams every fall to leave their causes at home.  "The first thing I told the football team every fall, we'll not use our football team to promote any cause, whether it be abortion, gay rights, gun laws," Holtz remembered. "You're not going to bring girlfriends, you aren't going to bring a slogan, you aren't going to bring a cause under our football team."  The National Football League's approval ratings are down again after more players protested the national anthem this week.  Good words from a great coach.

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP – FROM FOX:  A Massachusetts elementary school librarian rejected First Lady Melania Trump's “National Read a Book Day" donation of ten Dr. Seuss books.  Liz Phipps Soeiro, a librarian at a public school in Cambridge, wrote a letter to Trump, informing her that her school would not be keeping the books for their collection. She explained that her school didn’t have a “NEED” for the books and that Dr. Seuss's illustrations are steeped in "racist propaganda, caricatures and harmful stereotypes."  Stephanie Grisham, director of communications for the first lady's office, said in a statement that it's "unfortunate" to turn the gesture of sending young students books into something divisive.  A picture surfaced showing the librarian in a Dr. Seuss costume.  The hypocrisy flows.

REAL CLASS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   Once The Juice is loose, he’ll put the squeeze on TV networks for millions for rights to an exclusive interview, sources close to O.J. Simpson told The Post.  “He’s not talking for free,” a longtime confidant told The Post a few days before Simpson’s expected Monday release from High Desert State Prison near Las Vegas. “It has to be the big one because he’s only going to do it one time and it has to be worth his while.”  The disgraced gridiron great is expected to ask for $3 million to $5 million to sit down with the likes of NBC’s Matt Lauer, Megyn Kelly or Lester Holt; ABC’s Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan; or CBS’ newest “60 Minutes” correspondent Oprah Winfrey, the source said.  If Oprah can get him to admit his guilt, the country might make her president. But I hope nobody pays a cent to this guy.

September 30,  2017