Many People Taking Photos Of Two Men Hugging

We find it difficult to become too worked up about coaching rivalries. It reminds us of Neal Pollack's excellent Slate piece about the "cult of the general manager;" all told, if there's a genuine blood feud going on, we'd prefer it to involve people who actually play. They can hit each other, after all.

So HandshakeGate, or, ultimately, HugGate, involving Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Jets coach (and longtime assistant) Eric Mangini, seems like a bit of a bore to us, though we did enjoy seeing Belichick shove that photographer out of the way as the coaches approached each other. Unleash your Sean Penn, Bill! Hey, keep the act going, and let us know what you think of the Bush administration!

Anyone who watch the Patriots' victory yesterday realizes that the game was closer than the final score, though that's more of an existential discussion, since a score is what it is and can only contain itself and nothing more. (Whoa!) Jets fans are keeping a positive attitude about the loss, while the Patriots head to San Diego to see if it's possible for a Bill Belichick team to beat a Marty Schottenheimer team in the postseason and have it possibly called an upset.

Jets Fall To Patriots 37-16 [JetNation] The Cult Of The General Manager [Slate]