What the Hell is a feeler?

Just what the hell is a "feeler"?

profootballtalk.com:

WHAT NEXT FOR GRUDEN?

In light of our current items relating to the Eagles (scroll up) and the Falcons (scroll down), there's one guy who might be able to help the current roster of players in each town to squeeze the most toothpaste out of the tube.

Jon Gruden.

A league source tells us that the book on Gruden is that he will energize a team in the short term, firing up the troops and getting everyone focused and excited.  Over time, however, the message gets a little stale -- as it possibly is/has in Tampa.

Fans and media in Philly would welcome back Gruden, who served as the offensive coordinator in Philly from 1995 through 1997.  (Indeed, we've caught wind of unconfirmed rumors that owner Jeffrey Lurie regrets in hindsight that he didn't fire head coach Ray Rhodes after the 1997 season and elevate Gruden into the job.  Gruden took the head coaching gig in Oakland in early 1998, and Rhodes was out at the end of that season.)

Although we think it's not working for Gruden in Tampa, it perhaps would work in Philly.  For a few years.  Which might be enough to get the most out of Donovan McNabb before the rest of the gas runs out of the tank.

How about Atlanta?  Sure, Rich McKay is the G.M. of the Falcons and he wouldn't want the guy who pushed him out of Tampa coming to town.  But McKay was the G.M. of the Bucs five years ago, and he didn't want Gruden coming to town.  But McKay was overruled -- and if Blank thinks that Gruden is the best guy to make Mike Vick into something more than a running back with a decent arm then what McKay thinks won't matter, again.

But isn't Gruden under contract to the Bucs, you ask?  Sure he is.  But the process is already starting.  Reports of Gruden sending out "feelers" for possible openings have conjured memories among members of the Bay Area media, who have reminded us that similar rumors and reports surfaced in late 2001,when Gruden was leading the Raiders toward the playoffs.  First, the talk was that Gruden would land in South Bend.  "Then seemingly every week after that," a Bay Area media source tells us, "there was another rumor about Gruden going somewhere else." 

Along the way, Gruden constantly denied that he was looking to leave the Raiders, just as he has denied that he's looking to blow off the Bucs.  And then in the offseason Gruden jumped to Tampa.

So the handwriting is on the wall, and if Gruden can get out of Tampa, we have a feeling that he will.

[jerseybucsfan]

A feeler is what we put on the hot chick in the back of our dad's car in high school.
Other than that, it's what Prefer said: putting yourself out there to potential employees in case you get fired. Maybe Mr. Smart Aleck, Mr. Kauffman, should be fired WITHOUT feelers. Let's see him go 6 or 8 or more months without a job, without a paycheck coming in and he'll KNOW he should have put out some feelers.

[bradentonian]

[karen anderson]

I grok that, but I'm thinking of someone asking Lamonte how he thinks Jon would fit in in big D and him giving a nice but non-commital answer vs. Him calling owners. Which is it?

  Grok?  Are you a stranger in a strange land?

[Boid Fink]

(Insert GIANT fart noise here)

[caradoc]

I grok that, but I'm thinking of someone asking Lamonte how he thinks Jon would fit in in big D and him giving a nice but non-commital answer vs. Him calling owners.  Which is it?

In this case, LaMonte was likely sending out the "feelers".  LaMonte was probably trying to get a head start in case Gruden should happen to get whacked at the end of the year.  Agents are always looking out for their clients....the clients' contract is how he (LaMonte) gets HIS payday.

It's like putting your resume out to different prospective employers.  You are known as sending out "feelers" to get a feel for the job market and how much your skills are in demand.

[caradoc]

I haven't bothered too much with this story, because I don't get it.  Just what the hell is a "feeler"?  What defines a "feeler"?  I'd like to know, because different people read different things into different statements.  So what do most people think a "feeler" is?  And then, what does Ira think one is?

I don't think it's a lie, I think he thinks something is going on, and I wouldn't be suprised at some checking and some gossip and some ambiguous statements by his agent.  But just what the hell is REALLY being said?

[Boid Fink]

You felt the need to define, Boid? I guess some people here are to young to remember that book when it came out! I remember loving it!

Touche!  Good deal.

[karen anderson]

You felt the need to define, Boid?  I guess some people here are to young to remember that book when it came out! I remember loving it!

[Boid Fink]

Grok (IPA /gɹ¨»k/ (GA) or /gɹɒk/ (RP), both rhyming with rock) is a verb that connotes knowledge greater than that which can be sensed by an outside observer. It is an understanding beyond empathy and intimacy. In grokking, one experiences the literal capabilities and frame of reference of the subject.

Robert A. Heinlein originally coined the term as part of a fictional Martian language in his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land, where it literally means "drink" and figuratively refers to the merging of essence that encompasses the theme of the book. The term has become part of the English language, attested in dictionaries and used most by certain counterculture groups and in hacker culture.[/b]