13

That may have been the worst day of Thanksgiving football ever. Thank God you aren’t a Lions fan and if you are God bless you, the Cards couldn’t show up for Skins fans and the Dallas game was a joke. That is the point; why wasn’t our Seattle game a stomping as well? The lines are the whole thing. The absolutely essential part of any football team, especially approaching December and hopefully January into February, are the O and D lines. Ours are atrocious. The O-line is older than Moses and Carter and J. Taylor are skilled pass rushers but can’t stop the run. We have a ton of talent elsewhere, but we haven’t put the biggest pieces in place (no pun intended) and it looks like it is going to come back and bite us in the butt.

Same goes for the Caps. We are atrocious for a few years and manage to pick up Semin, OV, Green and the rest of the cast. Unfortunately we have no goaltending. Johnson is fair but won’t win it down the stretch. Theodore is worse and lets not even talk about him. The Caps and the Skins are teams that assembled a lot of talent but somehow forgot about the most important parts.

As a side note, a year and a day after Sean Taylor’s passing let’s remember him again. Joking about this guy’s death is off limits. He was a guy who had turned his life around from the “U” lifestyle and was taking care of his daughter and the girl he wanted to marry. Joking about his passing to a Skins fan is akin to saying something about a guy’s mother. His passing gives Skins fan one thing. Everyone with a home field has 12 guys. We will always have 13. Can’t wait to see Taylor on the wall of fame at Fedex and hopefully we can win it for him against the Giants.

There may be a few MVPs in town

The first of whom may be Alexander the Great the Second. Semin is having a great start to the season with Ovie taking a secondary role and setting the guy up. The most important thing is the team, which just took first place from Carolina last night, but Semin also took the lead in scoring from Malkin last night and now leads 27-24. However, all five goals came from the under 24 stars Semin, the Great 8 and Backstrom on the ice. That is encouraging news for Caps fans. If they can keep that triumvate together for a while we might be able to hang a bunch of banners up in the phonebooth.

If the NHL was smart, which they clearly are not, they would have the Caps and the Pens playing as often as possible. Ovie and Princess Crosby are the obvious draws, but having other stars on the same teams is great for these franchises. Malkin, as contrasted with Crosby, is actually a real and respectable hockey player. To have two guys who play wingmen to the guys that are "the future of the NHL" racing for the points lead is great. The best PR stunt the NHL has is their outdoor games. The NHL has the 'Hawks and the Wings playing the outdoor game this year on New Year's Day, but honestly, who cares about those teams? The Wings might be the best team in the league but no one cares until the playoffs. Why wouldn't you have two outdoor games between the Pens and the Caps and do a home and home outdoor fiesta? You could hold it at Heinz Field and RFK, watch the Princess cower in fear when Ovie wants to fight him again, and see the top two scorers in the league. The biggest thing is getting to the playoffs and basically starting a whole new season. Beating Carolina twice in six days is huge, even if it is only November. While Theodore shutout the Canes' 13 shots after Johnson went down, I stick with Johnson if he is healthy until he proves he is not worthy of being the starter. Once again it is only November but it is an encouraging November.

The other DC MVP favorite is Portis. The favorite for the league is Kurt Warner, who while deserving, should be second to Kerry Collins and Eli Manning, both of whom have their teams in the driver's seats. But Portis, if he plays, will go over 1,000 yards for the season against Dallas Sunday night. He is having a great year with a team that wasn't expected to do much and has been carrying the Skins on his shoulders, so he is just as MVP-worthy as Warner, Collins, and Manning (Jr.). However, the biggest banged-up guy to worry about this Dallas week is Moss. He is a Cowboy killer. They should have cast him in Tombstone as Wyatt Earp instead of Kurt Russell. He beats them deep every time, shows up TO every time, and has silenced the Norv Turner curse where we lose to Dallas almost every time. Portis is the offensive MVP (I still think if Rogers can rebound from the Pitt game he is the team MVP) but Moss always seems to be the soul of the team when Dallas comes to town. (By the way, the whole reason the Skins used to wear white at home was to make Dallas mad. If our boys do that burgundy on burgundy crap again I am going to be distraught; they look like dirty women's feminine care products, excuse my french. Go back to the white jerseys and burgundy pants at home.)

So on to the Nattos potential league MVP. Ok there is none. I like the trade sending Bonaficio to Florida for Olsen and Willingham. Bowden initially touted Bonaficio as the "second baseman of the future," but Anderson Hernandez hitting .333 in the bigs in '08 looks like a decent replacement for a club that just doesn't look that decent. Olsen is the big pickup. He is the big lefty we were looking for, and at 24 he should be coming into his prime and be around for a while. Willingham is the power hitter we need for the middle of the lineup, most likely will play first base, and raises questions about the futures of Young and Johnson. This is a good trade, considering we got Bonaficio for Rauch, but there is more to do. The Nats still have to sign a big name guy to get people to the park. Prospects are great but they often don't pan out. Look at Josh Smoker who after pitching a 5.48 ERA in Class A Hagerstown just underwent shoulder surgery. These guys may pan out, but there is no guarantee. Get some guys that can keep us from being the worst team in the league again, or keep us around .500, or I don't know, maybe even challenge for a pennant.

As a last thought can we finally be DC sports fans and not even have the O's come into the dialogue? Baltimore copied the Nattos and changed up their uniforms the other day. They put Baltimore back across their jerseys and complimented it with a Maryland flag patch. Its a Baltimore team, not a DC team. I don't care if you grew up an O's fan, if you scream O during the NATIONAL anthem I am still going to want to punch you directly in the face. It is time for the Lerners to buy back the TV rights from that bastard Angelos who stole the rights before the Lerners even owned the team. The last time the O's had Baltimore plastered across their jerseys was 1971, the year the Senators left DC. They changed it to Oriole's in a stupid ploy to gain fans in DC after we had an owner up and leave us much like the Colts did to Baltimore. There is a team in DC now, no one cares about the O's give them up. If you are a DC sports fan, and more specifically a DC baseball fan, there is only one team and they are the Nattos. Even if there is no MVP in sight.

Snyder and Cerrato: At it again

Seriously these guys are like Crockett and Tubbs, except when Crockett and Tubbs were done blowing things up, they had caught the bad guys. Snyder and Cerrato just get bad guys. Everyone was scratching their heads as to why Snyder wasn't burning up the free agent market this year. The answer is that he was apparently waiting for the regular season, where he could make the splashy Taylor signing (good, despite the injuries) and DeAngelo Hall (just plain bad.) Losing before a bye week is the worst, because everyone is miserable for two whole weeks. I still have visions of Santonio Holmes streaking past Carlos Rogers, but Rogers is still having a pro bowl year despite that play and an overall bad game. Bringing a cancer into the locker room of a 6-3 team that is second in the toughest division in the league to the defending world champions isn't the greatest move. Why would you risk jeopardizing a team that has shown more promise than almost all of the Snyder-era teams?

Hall isn't even that good. He has been thrown to 66 times, and QBs have completed 40 of them for over 500 yards. The guy is only 24 and has already been dumped twice. Not by teams like the Giants and Steelers, but such franchises as the pre-Matt Ryan Falcons and the Raiders. When Al Davis would rather eat $8 million dollars than have you poisoning his 2-6 team in the league's worst division thus far, there may be a problem. When the Falcons still retain the rights to Michael Vick, but think you are a cancer, there might be a problem. Maybe the guy hung out with Michael's little brother Marcus Vick down in Blacksburg a little too long and picked up some bad habits.

Let me take you back to December 16th, 2006. There was an incedent where the ever-classy TO, Hall's friend, spit in Hall's face and never got flagged. TO then went to out-muscle the undersized Hall in the endzone before just straight burning him for his second touchdown in the first half. At time Romo was essentially in his rookie year and TO's head coach hated him. What could happen now? To add insult to injury, to make room for Hall, Cerrato released Leigh Torrence. This guy was no Deion, but he was a promising young player that we got for nothing and was improving. When is Snyder going to at least consider the philosophy that has made teams like Philly and Pitt perrenial contenders where you find these little known guys and use them as much as possible for as little as possible before they get the huge contracts? I would be willing to bet Torrence ends up with New York or Philly and it comes back to burn us this year.

Torrence was a Gibb's guy. He was community-oriented, and made such an impression on his teammates one of them cried upon hearing of his release. Instead, Cerrato kept his guy, one of the ten he drafted and kept on the roster, Tyron, who has done nothing. He could have put the nearly invisible Malcom Kelly on IR, but once again, it is his guy and he wants to prove something. I have said that all along Zorny has been winning with Gibbs' team, which is fine. Snyder and Cerrato seem hell-bent on ruining yet another good thing.

There are a few advantages to getting Hall. We paid almost nothing and lost no draft picks for once. Even if he doesn't learn the defense right away, maybe he can take the punt returning job from the anemic Randle El who has done nothing at that position this year. It is essentially a contract year for Hall, so hopefully he works hard to get some money. And finally, with Springs coming back against Dallas from his calf injury, maybe we can put him at safety with Rogers, Smoot and Hall as corners in the nickle package that the Skins seem to employ more than any other team in the league. But even with these positives, you can't shake the feeling that every time Snyder and Cerrato take one step forward, the entire Redskins organization takes two steps back.

Uppercut from the Steelers, left-cross from Snyder

The Skins got smacked around for the entirety of the game Monday night. It looked like an NFC East game from the days of Parcells, Gibbs, Buddy, and Landry except the Steelers looked like they were Super Bowl bound. It was one of the few games you see when you knock out the opposing team's QB and it actually hurts you. There is something about the local players who come back to play against their city's team that never works out well for the Skins; Leftwich on Monday, Westbrook once a year. The Skins were lucky there weren't two starting QBs knocked out, because Campbell not only got sacked seven times, he got sacked hard. Campbell said after the game that he thought the Steelers were a little rough, but that is how the game is supposed to be played, I don't think they did anything dirty. Portis is a little guy, and I was suprised to not see more of Alexander pounding it in there with his big frame and rested body. The defense looked good until they clearly gave up, but the special teams is still bad, and the offense got hit so hard they looked baffled the entire second half.

I understand that the Skins are beat up and had played more games than any other team before a bye week if you include the preseason. That isn't really a plausible exscuse; how many starters did you see playing in the Hall of Fame game, or playing much at all in any preseason game for that matter? Its November, everyone hurts. So far this season has been a pleasant suprise, and at 6-3, you can be realistic about trying to contend, (once again I said CONTEND) as in try, for a Super Bowl run. Say we actually do it, with the Giants likely to the win the East. Thats three playoff games as a wildcard team after playing our final seven games, while inheriting the compounded injuries from the first half of the season. I don't expect the team to be feeling much better then. Being beat up is not a valid excuse for getting beat up more in a football game. Getting beat up is a part of football, it happens to everyone.

What is an excuse for the Redskins is that their owner is a stupid idiot. Two out of four home games the headsets have malfunctioned. For a guy that is supposed to be as detail-oriented as Snyder, you think would think he could send in a tech before the game to make sure that kind of thing didn't happen. The fact that the other team has to turn off their headsets when the Skins' malfunctions means nothing. If Campbell has to take a timeout because he doesn't know what the play is, that timeout is gone, with or without headsets. This happened on Monday night. If Rodgers hadn't gotten burned, and the punt block unit punt blocked, it could have been a close game where we needed timeouts. Furthermore, the coaches could not communicate between each other. For a coach that designates responsibilities to his assistants as much as Zorn does, (as he should) it might be nice to talk to his assistants. Those headsets may have come in handy.

Granted, the coaches could have ran all over the sideline trying to find each other to talk things over instead of using the headsets, but it is kind of hard to hear each other when there are 20,000 Steelers fans screaming behind you. Next time the Steelers come to town can we at least hand out some burgandy towels so it looks like burgandy and gold waving through the stands, not just gold. Maybe Skins fans could save some face on national TV. Wait no, I forgot that Snyder is not just an imbecile, he is a greedy imbecile and that will never happen. Pack in 90,000 plus seats, including the nightmare seats, obstructed view, and seats so high the players look like ants and no wonder a fan base like the Steeler's can make a home game like a neutral site. This game might as well have been played in London, only Snyder wouldn't make as much money.

Some people are blaming Redskins fans for being to fickle, I blame Snyder. Why would they come? Hours upon hours of traffic both ways, paying for the parking passes on top of the tickets, paying for the five dollar hot dogs, and dealing with the worst stadium staff in the city, if not the nation. Smoot opined that the reason for so many Steeler fans was the economy, but the steel mills are still empty in Pitt while the recession-proof government is still up and running. Perhaps it is the drunks who roam around the stadium, knocking over women and cursing at children. And that is just on Sunday, the night games are worse. I literally had to step over a puddle of blood to get out of the stadium. Maybe it is time to slow down the flow of alchohol. Except you can buy Buds in bulk for fifty cents a piece while selling them for $8. More gas money for Danny's private jet.

Having to use a silent snap count in your own stadium is ridiculous, and was a reason we lost that game. The only defense of Snyder is that he really cares about the Redskins. I am of the opinion he cares a little bit more about his wallet. There are 3,000 seats left on Stubhub for the Dallas game. Do you think you might see some blue in the crowd two Sundays from now?

Still Horny for Zorny!

So Sunday's game wasn't the blowout we wanted to see to prove we are among the league's elite. The Skins are not a great team, but they are a winning team, and that is all that counts. As long as they keep eeking them out, I'm content to watch nail-biters all year long. This team is a fired-up, high-octane team. Seeing Zorny yell at his star player on the sideline was a little worrisome, after all, at the midway point of the season, this guy would finish top 3 in MVP voting and I don't want the coach to lose him. But Portis and Zorny said it was just a misunderstanding and its behind them so I will take them at their word. But Zorn is so intense that Jason Campbell relayed the story he was told that the first time Zorn the player threw a pass to a cheerleader she ended up with a bloody nose. I like that kind of intensity in my coach.

I will be the first to admit that when Snyder bungled and hired Zorn as QB coach and then said "actually lets just make him head coach" I was worried and wrote off the season. I was wrong. He has managed to make Campbell look like Montana with no INTs, while also having Portis lead the league in rushing, and having a defense as stout as any in the league. Most importantly at the halfway point they are 6-2 in the toughest division in the league. When he was promoted to head coach despite the fact that he had never even been an offensive coordinator we all thought he was out of his league. The fact is, he stands above half of them.

By my calculations, half of the league's coaches should or will be fired. Lets start in the East, where Reid's tenure in Philly may be up if they finish last and Phillips has taken a page out of Snyder's book and bungled every step of the way this year. Garret will be wearing the head coach head set next year if not by next week depending on how badly the Giants stomp them. New Orleans was supposed to be one of the front-runners in the NFC and Peyton is on the hotseat, same goes for Childress in Minnesota. Whoever is in Detroit should be fired, and Singletary in SF is not guarenteed any job next year. Holmgren already said he is leaving, and Dungy in Indy has been wavering ever since he lofted the Lombardi.

The Jets went all-out to get Favre and big things were expected, so the Mangenius should be worried if his team falls apart. Del Rio has showed signs of promise but done nothing, and Houston doesn't look so hot either. Crennel in Cleveland has disappointed again, and Marvin Lewis is the one guy I can guarentee will be ousted. That leaves Oakland and their crazy owner, KC and Edwards who has done nothing with that franchise, and Norv Turner in SD who is once again proving that he is a great O coordinator and horrible head coach. That is half the league. Some of these teams will have a upswing and the coaches will save their jobs. The Redskins can always have a downswing, but right now Zorn looks good. At least ten coaches will lose their jobs this year, two already have. Its nice to have our guy with a little job security under the ever volataile Snyder.

So Philly finally won one. Your city is still a town full of losers for losers. Congratulations, you finally won a championship the same year a black man is about to be elected President. African-Americans were oppressed for over 400 years, what was your exscuse? This does bring a point to the forefront. DC is now tied with Minneapolis as having the longest period of time without a championship while having four major sports franchises. No pressure Zorn or Ovie. And the Nattos,.......... never mind.

Smashing

Another good game yesterday. Actually, that is a lie, it was a yawnfest for the entire first half. 4 first downs through the entire first quarter is not the recipe for entertaining football. I don't mind watching a low scoring game, but for a while there it was getting ridiculous. But our defense looks good, and watching them stuff the Browns on the goal-line stand was exciting. Losing to the Rams was deppressing, but after they beat down the Cowgirls, maybe Haslett has them going in the right direction. If that guy somehow finds a way to have those guys make a run he deserves to win coach of the year even if they don't make the playoffs. In the meantime he gets my coach of the week for not only beating but smashing the Girls.

What the last two weeks have proven is that the Skins are good, but not great. Lets not get carried away, but the Giants were good but not great last year and look what they ended up with. They have to play hard, practice hard, study hard, and focus every moment for the next three and a half months if we are going to do anything big. For example, if Randle El was as good at returning punts as he was stopping drunken idiots from running onto the field, we would have great field position all of the time. I don't understand risking an NFL career tackling a guy that is not in an opposing team's uniform, but maybe it gets you out of your next ticket as the cops chasing these stupid idiots did not look like they were going to catch them until they ran out of room. But maybe we should think about putting Devin Thomas back there for a few punt returns I'd say Moss, but I don't want to risk that guy getting injured with the season he is having.

Sidenote to aforementioned drunken idiots, and not just the guys that ran onto the field, but every stupid drunken idiot that comes to Fedex every Sunday; stop. If you are falling down aisles, spitting on opposing fans, running into people at halftime because you can barely walk, talking incoherently, swearing in front of kids, fighting guys in an opposing jersey just because, or just generally acting like a jackass, this does not make you a man. I enjoy a few libations at any sporting event, but chugging a fifth of Crown Royal in Fedex's parking lot at 9 in the morning is only impressive if you can conduct yourself like a human being throughout the football game. I take a lot of pride in being a Skins fan, and the guys acting like this bring shame on the whole Redskin community and ruin the experience for everyone else that wants to watch what is shaping up to be a good season in a town that hasn't seen one in a while. If you can't handle your alchohol have a few less or watch it on TV.

In a season that looks like it will be close all year, the defense is the glue that is holding this thing together. Portis looks like the obvious MVP of the team thus far while leading the league in rushing yards and carries. I think the MVP has to come from the defense that has kept us in every game, even the Giants game. Ironically, the Giants game was his worst game. Carlos Rogers could not shut down Plax, but he has been lights out since. Since then he has shut down Desean Jackson, TO, Holt, and Edwards. He shut down Edwards by draping him, so much so that he got in his head and Braylon might as well have been the Land o Lakes girl with the hands he had. London Fletcher says he is the best corner in the NFL this year, which is great, we drafted him high so he is supposed to be able to cover the top guys. But he is not just pussyfooting around and sticking to his guy like glue. The hit he put on Cribbs yesterday must have left him wondering if Sean Taylor was still hanging around in the secondary somewhere. That guy couldn't get up for a couple of minutes, and it came from a guy who isn't all that large but is showing a lot of heart.

A win is a win, wether its all finesse or smash-mouth West Coast "ground Zorn." Zorn has these guys playing well and with heart, and the possibilities for this season are limitless. Congrats to the Rays last night as well. As always, smash the hearts of every man, woman and child in Philly.

The good, the bad and the should bes

How great was that comeback last night? Not the Red Sox, although that was one of the most entertaining baseball games since ZimZams walkoff in the opener, but it may have been better than that one; I am a little biased. Fortunately that comeback started after the hockey game. The Caps scoring four unanswered was great to beat the Pens in the Igloo, because the division rivalries still don't seem quite as important after the league restructuring as beating those teams from PA. Theodore seemed shaky early but settled down, but we will see how he works out over the season. Johnson is always there to take over. Pitt is becoming like the Cowgirls though. You cannot get an unbiased official crew in any game that you play there. I understand protecting your stars, namely Crosby and Malkin, but the bias towards the Pens is getting ridiculous. The boarding call against Semin was without a doubt a five minute major under the new rules, not a two minute "sorry Caps you are in Pitt" that was called. The Igloo is the only place in North America where the puck can hit the back of the net and it isn't called a goal until a few minutes later. Video replay showed what the refs get paid good money to see, and then the Pens were losing so they put the time back on the clock.

The turning point in the game was Matt Bradley's fight. He got beat. Badly. But it fired the Caps up and hopefully is a metaphor for the whole year; you can knock us down, pour our blood down our faces and onto the ice but you can't beat us when we want it. And hopefully our boys want it every game. You saw what happened in Chicago last year when we took the night off with our one loss during the streak to the playoffs. The Caps are good, but not enough to take games off. They took the first 30 minutes of last night off, but showed how good they can be the last 30 minutes against a team they might contend with for the East in what would be the NHL's wet dream.

The worst thing that happened last night was Crosby's actions at the end of the game. He took a cheap shot at Ovechkin after the final horn had blown for the Caps victory. The Great 8 tried to square up with him and the Princess retreated behind the goons that are hired to protect him. Crosby forayed into the actual NHL when he sparred with Andrew Ferrence, who is all of '5 "10, and was soudly beaten by him. He was scared of physical confrontation before this, and has been ever since. Crosby didn't get his way against Alexander the Great again and threw another temper tantrum, much like five year olds do. Then, as a grown man, he was afraid to face the consequences. The NHL needs to get off this guy's bandwagon and treat him like just another player, because he isn't even a man. Peca, another guy of questionable character, just got suspended for five games for assaulting a ref. He is supposed to be a star. Suspend Croby for trying to injure OV after the game was over because he was beaten. Then suspend him again for not being man enough to face up to the Great 8, who is the cornerstone of the league and is the guy who should be protected but does not even need it. Crosby as the face of the league takes away the tough guy image the NHL has. The Great 8 makes plays, the princess whines for them.

The Skins did not make very many plays last Sunday. They came back and I thought they were going to win, epsecially after their O-lineman got the personal foul, but it was not to be. I think it is a good thing. The Giants and the Cowgirls (who are in disarray) lost so we only lost ground to the Eagles. But we are up on them. Losing to the Rams is hopefully a wakeup call that once again, a pro team in any sport can't take a day off. If we lose either of the next two weeks then maybe we start to panick a little bit. Its fun being a Skins fan right now because you can believe in them. I thought we had it won, and did not doubt it. Granted, I was wrong, but it is different from the Gibbs era where maybe we would take a 10-0 lead in the first half and then try to run out the clock for three quarters. I love Gibbs like any other Skins fan but Zorny (who I'm still horny for) seems to go for the jugular. It did not work last game where the defense seemed to fall apart inexplicably on the last drive, but if they are as good as they have shown the last few weeks this loss could be a positive. "Any given team, any given Sunday" is one of the most over-used cliches in sports. Hopefully the Skins do not take any more teams for granted, and take it to heart in a year they could potentially be great.

Getting Jake Peavy would be great as well. It just so happens he is on the trading block. He is an ace on the Padres who were in the playoffs just a few years ago. The Nats need to sign two guys who can draw people to the park. This is one of the guys. You can make a big free agent signing with CC, but Pevey is just as good. He is 27, so he fits into the whole young theme that the Nattos are going for. When the Nats start to contend he will still be under 30 (I pray God please!) The Lerners are selling the team on the notion that the prospects on the farm system are good, so trade a couple of prospects to get Jake Pevy. At least there will be 1 out of 5 games at home that you can go see a star wearing a W on his cap but not an 11 on his jersey. I think the Skins and especially the Caps might start taking away ticket sales from the Nats when we can go see the Great 8 and assortment of players Gibbs organized for Zorn. Bowden; sign baby sign!

The most wonderful time of the year

There is sports everywhere and it is awesome. As a Nattos fan and DC resident you have to be disappointed that the Phillies won last night. Don't despair, they are supposed to win with Hamels on the mound, and Torre always has some tricks up his sleeve. But as a Nattos fan you have to be pulling for the Rays. Before this year they had never been above .500 in the history of the franchise. Sound familiar? They have a compilation of young players and castaways that no one else wanted and no one in the league has ever heard of before. Sound familiar? And they were the worst team in the entire league last year. The Nats took that dubious honor this year. If these guys can somehow push past the Sox as they have done all year and then win the Fall Classic (which they have home field advantage for) it would be great. It wouldn't offer that much hope for Nattos but maybe just an over-optimistic glimmer after a season that offered none. Best wishes to Tampa.

Except for hockey (and football) as the puck drops tonight against division opponent Atlanta for the Caps. Barry Melrose is behind the bench for division rival Tampa and fortunately for us he was a great analyst but bad coach on his first stint. And he has a mullet. Florida and Carolina round out the division, and neither are as loaded talent-wise as the Caps. The Caps are the DC team that you can be most optimistic about going into the season. I don't think Ovechkin's numbers will be as inflated as last year because it is hard to keep that pace up, he is already a little banged up, and for the first time I disagree with Boudreau and how he is using the Great 8. He was tinkering with him in the preseason on the power play kill unit which is a mistake. If we had drafted Princess Crosby I might put him there. I understand they both have great skate speed and can close on the puck quicker. But while Crosby would duck away from a slapshot quicker than T.O. used to duck when he heard Sean Taylor's footsteps because he has never shown any toughness or grit since he joined the league. Ovechkin has too much competitive spirit to show that type of cowardice; he doesn't need the spotlight, he just needs to win. I just don't want the cornerstone of my franchise jumping in front of 100 mph plus pucks. I'd rather see him show up Crosby yet again. Fortunately we only have to wait until Thursday to see them head to head, and maybe Crosby won't be scared to drop his gloves when the reigning MVP challenges him again.

On challenges, the Skins don't have one this week. This is not neccesarily a must-win, but it is a statement game. It states wether we are a legitimate team or if Zorny has these guys overacheiving. We should blow the Rams out, they are horrible. Fedex will be rocking after two big rivalry wins; after the Giants game I literally could not give away a ticket, now I have people fighting over the same seat. If we win close, a win is a win and once again the Skins show some grit. But if we win big, then Gibbs put together a dominant squad and Zorn is utilizing them about as well as he can in such a tough division. If we lose, or get that big injury that we haven't gotten since the first day of training camp and can always happen in the NFL, this town will be dstraught again. Thats why they play the game and there a a whole slew of great games in several different sports all week. Its a good time to love sports.

Letter to Donavan McNabb

Dear Mr. NoRing,
You suck. You choke left and right through every phase of your career. People in Philly can barely stand you, and you are the biggest star that has ever dimly lit that cold, soulless crap town. They booed you when you were drafted, and they booed you last week. Yes they boo Santa Claus, but he is about as real as a Super Bowl ring will ever be on your finger. After the game against the Skins you said "I'm embarrassed the way we played the last two weeks. I believe we lost to teams we should have beaten." Go have your mommy make you some Campbell's Chunky and keep your mouth closed, because you have a million dollar arm and a ten cent head.

You were lucky to even have a chance in that game; the refs practically handed it to you. This started with the block in the back on Jackson's punt return where the flag got thrown and then picked up, because the refs got confused when talking about the flagrant foul because it involved two players wearing number 50. This put you up 14-0 against a division opponent at home. Only you could lose this game, because you lose at every important point of your career. The score should have been shifted by 14 points in total after no one touched Randle El as he sprinted to the endzone, and once again the refs seemed confused and blew the whistle when he was 20 yards past the nearest Eagle defender. For some reason every NFL game we have watched this year seems to have a major botch by the refs in it, and your game Sunday was no exception. But you got two and still could not beat the Skins. Who is the lesser team again?

As a Redskins fan, our only goal is to get in the playoffs and see what happens from there. People down here are getting mighty excited. You are 2-3 while we are 4-1. Who is the better team again? All we have to do is not finish in last place because it looks like all of the wildcards will come from the East in the NFC. Fortunately, the Skins are two games up on you with a game in hand. And then you have to come to our house. Come to think of it that might not make that big of a difference as we have won 3 of the last four in Philly, and Lincoln has basically become Fedex north. Oh yes, and your little comment about losing to a lesser team might motivate the guys that kicked you around last Sunday just a little bit more. At least if you miss the playoffs it saves you of the embarassment of maybe making a run in the playoffs and choking when it counts again.

Other than giving up a 14 point lead at home in a crucial game and then never having the ability to produce a touchdown after the first quarter I hope everything is good. Tell you Mom I said hi and thanks for the soup. I really can't wait to see you again.

Sincerely,
RJ

Cautiously optimistic, but kind of?

OK so the "maroon and black" comment is forgiven. So is opening week against the Giants that threw us into despair. We are all now officially horny for Zorny. He coached a hell of a game against the best team in the country during the regular season, and beat them up good. He even showed flexibility from his version of the West Coast offense, running Thrash in motion (which almost bit them in the butt when he slipped on the crap Texas Stadium turf while doing so) and making him the only receiving option as Campbell tossed it to him in the corner of the endzone. Zorn's offense counts on multiple receiving options (which Campbell doesn't always see) and it was nice to see him veer away from his own philosophy to win a game. But not just any game, but Dallas, in Dallas, for (maybe) the last time in Texas Stadium.



I say maybe because Dallas is still the best team in the league unfortunately. If we can sneak into the playoffs, Dallas is still more likely, due to the talent on the team, to win the East and have homefield advantage. (I'd love for the Skins to close down that stadium in January.)Fortunately for us, a lot of Dallas' players are as crazy as Jerry Jones, Snyder, and Al Davis. TO complaining about not getting the ball enough even though a third of their plays went to him and a run game with two of the most talented backs in the league got nothing going is great for the self-destruction of Dallas. Tank Johnson having to be physically restrained from going after Rock Cartwright as he danced on that stupid star after the game, narrowly avoiding another suspension in a third strike you are out league, is great for the self-destruction of Dallas. Wade Phillips looking lost the entire game, sending 12 guys onto the field after a timeout for a field goal, completely getting out-coached against their biggest rival who happens to have a rookie coach, and not being able to control your biggest stars from getting so angry that they take out their angst in front of the media is great for the self-destruction of Dallas.



Unfortunately for us, the Bengals are one of the best teams to play against while trying to get out of a (1 game) funk. Dallas might self-destruct, but its not likely at this junction. The Skins might beat Philly in what should be an easier game than last week but we will see. I'm excited about being 3-1, I'm excited Wilbon thinks we are the second best team in the pros next to the Giants, and I'm even more excited about the potential that Zorn and Campbell have. However, the last time we were 3-1 we had just beaten the Pats for the last time that season before they ran the table en route to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Under Spurrier we finished 5-11 that year. The consensus is if we beat Philly in Philly we should mow down the Rams, Browns, and Lions to end up 7-1. I remember heading up to Rich Stadium in Buffalo to play what was supposed to be an inferior Bills team that beat us while Norv Turner was the coach to go 7-1. We didn't make the playoffs that year either.



The point is last week was awesome and everyone should enjoy it. There is still 3/4s of the season left to go, not counting the ultimate goal, in which case we are only 4/5s of the way through. A lot can happen. Hopefully our boys, mostly veterans, can keep focus every week whether they are playing the Cowgirls our the Lions. Hopefully the cracks are starting to show in the nutcases that Jerry Jones has brought on board down south. They should get a win this week but at some point it has to burst. There is no point in getting to excited, I can sympathize with Cubs fans; somehow the Skins always seem to screw things up. But if you have lost your job, the wife is sleeping with the neighbor, you wrecked our car, lost your wallet and your dog died it is ok as long as it takes place the week after beating Dallas. Dammit it feels so good.



What did not feel good after waking up to read the Post Monday morning and reveling in the Skins victory was the article on the Nats hierarchy. Apprarently Kasten is mad at the Lerners for not spending enough money. This is crap because they have made a fair share and have an (almost) free stadium. As crazy as Snyder is at least he will spend money after he has lifted the fans wallet. ( If anyone gives any credit to Snyder or Cerrato for this recent but brief success they are crazy. This is the team Gibbs built and took to the playoffs last year. The concern was if a rookie coach would be a dropoff in the toughest division in the league. So far Zorn has done well with Gibbs' players while Cerrato did nothing. Case in point is the "go up and grab it" pass to Moss in the corner of the endzone despite just having drafted Thomas at 6'2" and Kelly at 6'4". The Skins settled for a fieldgoal. Moss had a great game, but at 5'9", maybe one of the big receivers would have been better to go to on that play. Or maybe Fred Davis, who got nothing as the backup to Cooley, but Todd Yoder did, to the tune of six points. Cerrato and Danny have still done nothing, maybe Gibbs set up a chance for Zorny.)



But at least Snyder will spend money after raiding his team's fans wallets. The Lerners have to spend money or else risking losing a fan base that is last in the bigs in TV and radio ratings and has the worst attendance for a inaugural year at a ballpark since the early 90s. But how are they not getting along with Kasten? And how is Kasten not getting along with Bowden? And how is Bowden not getting along with Acta? And are the players not getting along with Acta but not saying anything about Acta because there is the "super-secret ballplayer code" that they all adhere to about the skip? Guess what this kind of disconnect gets you. A 102 loss season and it is hard to watch. Cubs fans are abandoning their team in droves because they are down 0-2 in the series. Do you know what diehard Nattos fans would do to be in that position? Watch every game of a 102 loss season for one. Some of us are buying optimism for the future, but with a disconnect from the top to the bottom it makes things tougher. The Nats finished as the worst team in the league so we get the first pick in the draft. We got the ninth pick overall last year but could not sign him because of a $500,000 dispute in contract negotiations. If we can't even sign the top picks there isn't even a point to being this bad because the few advantages that league rules provide us do nothing for us unless we pay some cash. Even if the Lerners decide to pay the top pick in the draft this year we won't see the guy for a couple of years. Sign 2 stars in the meantime and make some memories in the brand new park. They might not be there when we go to the classic but just ask the Cubs, it doesn't happen that frequently. Give us something to watch! Its a future that can be huge for the Nattos. In the meantime as a Skins fan don't forget the past. No one was happier than I last Sunday. Lets hope Zorny, despite the fact that he did not know the team colors when he was hired, can make a brighter future for DC sports. This town has been waiting 17 years for something like that.

No Championship Parades in 17 years, shake it up

DC is the seat of democracy in the free world and has, as it should, some of the best journalists in the country. However, sometimes they are atrocious. Try to find somone with a press pass to say something insightful about the Caps and you will get blank stares. It seems that no one at the Post has a real grasp on baseball other than Boswell. Selig is scratching his head as to why 30,000 people are paying to go to Nattos Park, but only about 10,000 people are watching MASN for free, but the answer seems somewhat obvious. And every sports journalist seems scared to death of losing their free tickets to the Skins games if they say something bad about the Redskins due to Danny Snyder, who has just about the same tolerance for free press as Joseph Stalin. Danny boy is the guy who has tried to buy up every sports radio station in the area so its all Skins all the time, but no one says anything bad about Danny and his crony Vinny. He actualy has yanked tickets from the Post after something bad was said about him. Boo-hoo for young Danny.

So when something comes out that you never heard before, it is refreshing. Did anyone else know that Zorny was a Cowboy? He has been the Skins coach for seven months now and unless I missed it, I never knew that before until Mike Wise reported it today in the Post. He played under Landry, with that stupid star on his head, before he played for Chuck Knox with the Rams and eventually Seattle. I'm horny for Zorny, and will be even more so if he can somehow figure out a way to beat Dallas Sunday. However, thinking about a Skins coach with a Star on his helmet is akin to thinking about your girlfriend or wife with a guy like, say TO, the suicidal cowboy. It just makes you feel a little sick even if it happened before you knew them.

So I'm going to help Zorny out, to get that image out of my head. I'm sure every team in the league has a little bit of a heads-up after the Miami upset over New England but it is worth a shot for a drive or two. The Skins have the perfect offense to run the "spread-wing." Ronnie Brown ran for four Tds and threw for one more after lining up for the direct snap for Miami as the QB spread out as a flanker. A hapless Miami team stomped the defending AFC champs 38-14 because of this trickery, which would not work against USC, because they are ready for it. However, at the pro level, they are not. It is worth a shot. I hate Dallas more than any other team in sports, but we have to face facts; they are the best team in the league right now. Trickery and deception has to be used to get that extra touchdown or two to beat the Cowgirls. It should be high scoring because the 'Girls secondary is about as good as the Rams, so we have to put points on the board. I think the Skins are a lot more talented than the Dolphins, Campbell is more athletically gifted than whoever plays QB for ther Dolphins, Randle El has a better arm than any other receiver in the league to take the direct snap, and Moss has the legs to outrun anyone one-on-one if the Cowboys bite in. Its worth a shot, before someone else copies the Fins and every defensive coordinator in the league installs a package to combat an offense that hasn't seen the light of day in the NFL in almost 50 years.

I had tickets to see the final home game this year at Nattos Park, but unfortunately it was rained out. I thought that this would maybe help us from avoiding the unenviable triple digit number in the loss column but we hit that tonight in Philly. Thursday was supposed to be fan appreciation night, but just like the Nattos season, it was washed out. You can redeem the tickets next year for seats to any home game, but I think there is an even better way to show appreciation to the fans. SPEND SOME MONEY! Anyone works. Sabathia is getting his arm burned out in Milwaukee right now, but any one or two big name free agents works. I love going to the ballpark but it can get painful. Hopefully our farm system is as great as it has been hyped up to be, but they are still two or three years away from making a run with the kids.

A decade ago Hockey News had Jan Bulis ranked as the 9th overall prospect in the world. No one knows who this is because he played for the Caps, did nothing with us, and obviously did nothing afterwords. The moral of the story is a lot of prospects, even the top ones, don't work out. Chris Marrero, the Nats top prospect, had a bad first half of the season, and then got hurt and missed the rest of the year. The Nats never pulled some of these guys up to see what they could do in the bigs, no matter how loudly guys like me and myself beat our drums. The Lerners need to give us a guy like Soriano who you want to drive down into Southeast to see. Zim -Zam can't do it by himself. As much as I love the guy, and as great as the opening day walkoff was, the guy didn't hit 15 dingers this year. No Nat did. Spend some money; dropping Lopez, Lo Duca, Ayala, and Rauch dropped our payroll from $55 million to $35 million. There is cash to spend. Sagging TV revenues mean nothing to anyone other than Angelos, which makes it a great time to buy the TV rights from him and put a quality product on the small screen. Zim-zam is up for arbitration; don't let it go to that, just sign him long term. And just get two stars. Its a brand new town to baseball. It probably won't put up with another 100 loss season next year.

Baby things change

Yesterday was fun again. Sweeping at home won't happen in our division, but beating up on the lesser divisions is fun, even if we didn't win by much. Campbell looked solid again, espcecially during the first drive and especially during the second half. The end of the second quarter and the storm in the second half seem predicated on one guy that Campbell was throwing too; Chris Cooley. He is a fan favorite because most Skins fans have probably never met him in person, and as soon as he started getting the ball the offense opened up. Moss is a beast who has been playing great since Cerrato essentially traded for Lav Coles and then back again for more than a few high draft choices to the Jets. He opens up the field vertically and scares the hell out of opposing safties, which gives room for Cooley to open up the game horizontally. It seems like Zorn (who I am increasingly horny for) waits until right around halftime to start utilizing him. I don't know if he is strategically saving him, but if he starts opening up the middle of the field from the get-go, who knows what the rest of the offense can do.



Like Devin Thomas, who had a huge 66 yard touchdown called back because of a stupid forearm to the head courtesy of Stephon Heyer. According to Portis the guy Heyer clubbed was playing dirty all game and deserved it, but it still could have drawn the ire of Zorn. However, Heyer was the guy Zorn picked to start over former fan-favorite and second-round pick Jon Jansen, and is probably one of "his guys." Instead Zorn picked the new punter, Durant Brooks, to release his fury on the sideline for the first time in his head coaching career when he called for the snap on a kick when the ref had not even given the center the ball yet. According to Zorn, "we iced our own kicker." Brooks was picked by Cerrato, Daniel Snyder's best friend because he doesn't have any others that are not on the payroll, in the 6th round this year while we had glaring needs at several other positions. No one actually drafts a punter in the NFL; Brooks was the only one. One can only deduce that Zorn wanted nothing to do with Brooks and would have stuck with Frost if it was his choice, and it would have been a wise choice as Frost was promptly picked up by Green Bay and has been booming coffin-corner kicks ever since.



This is the disconnect that is the Redskins. After the last two weeks it looks like we have a guy that may have some genius in him coaching our team. (I said looks like, not genius yet, but I say a prayer every night.) We have this ass-hat who insisted on keeping every single pick that he made this year. Can Cerrato really tell me that every guy he picked is an NFL player? If so, our second pick in this year's draft, Fred Davis, surely would have been the second tight end option after Chris Cooley and our other five receivers right? Congrats to Todd Yoder on his first TD catch. I didn't see a whole lot of Davis, but I was at the game so maybe they spotlighted him on FOX. I'm sure Cerrato highlighted him to Danny-boy in some way.



While speaking of young Daniel, let's not forget that even though he bought the stadium and the franchise from the Cookes, who were competent owners, in as far as they knew that they did not know as much about football as guys that have been around football, that he still re-named Jack Kent Cooke Stadium Fedex. Dan Snyder is the only guy in the world who you can stand next to Jerry Jones and Jones wins the "not the biggest horse's ass contest." Jones was at least around the game, so he can have some input.



We have come upon the first Dallas week, and thus, the last Dallas week that will ever culminate in Texas Stadium. I hate Dallas more than anything; when we lose this week it will take a while to get over it even though I am preparing myself. But Jones never renamed the stadium to make a little more cash after he has already scalped all of his fans. As far as I know he hasn't named the new billion dollar stadium after some corporate conglomarate. I hate Texas Stadium, but it does have a certain majesty that I will miss. One of my earliest memories is the Washington Post picture of a Skin with his hands t-ed for a timeout while the game clock loomed in the background with three seconds left. Sure enough we "never called timeout" and the game ended as our field-goal team scrambled fruitlessly onto the field for a kick that would never come. The refs pulled one out again for who they thought was "America's Team," which is a reviled thought for most Skins fans. I hate Texas Stadium with its weird shadows, its awkward turf, its ignorant fans, and its sideline parading owner. I never really knew what "love to hate" quite meant, but I think I do now; I am going to miss beating the Cowboys in that place. They left a hole in the top so God could watch the Redskins beat the Cowgirls.



The last rivalry game at Texas stadium makes this week even sadder in sports, as Yankee Stadium was shut down last night. I wil preface this by saying that I hate the Cowboys and dislike the Yankees. I hate the Orioles so the Yankees get a reprieve. It was a great ceremony pre and postgame, but was the saddest thing I have seen at a sporting event since the Redskin Band played "Hail to the Redskins" as a funeral dirge after Sean Taylor's passing. It was great seeing the old guys come out, especially Yogi who tried to jog out as fast as he could to the plate one last time. I thought Girardi managed things perfectly, and it was appropriate that Rivera was the last guy to ever come off the mound in the house that a lot of guys didn't neccesarily build but maintained. It was weird seeing grown, and even old men cry in the stands because it was the last time they would be standing on such hallowed grounds. These were guys that probably fought in Vietnam, Korea, and even throughout the world in World War II. If you take these guys back to the battlefields they fought on, where there friends died, where they had to kill other human beings they might cry. If they were Yankee fans, and were at Yankee Stadium last night they definately cried. Those are the only places they would cry. Only sports and a place like Yankee Stadium can evoke the emotion that a battlefield can.

Because as sports fans we know; we live and die with everything that these guys on our fields do. Its why Dallas week is so huge. Maybe the players don't care as much as they used to, but we still do. Seeing the legends of yesteryear, just for one team was inspiring. The Yankees put on one hell of a funeral, and despite my distaste for them (at least they aren't the Mets) it was sad to see the stadium go. In an era where every stadium has a funny name, tickets are going up to almost $3,000 for football and baseball seats, and pro athletes sometimes don't care, it is sad to see Yankee Stadium go away. With the economy dropping out from the bottom things just don't seem right, but Yankee Stadium was always there; through the wars, the depression, Cuban missle scares, assasinations, facing the Eastern Bloc, ultimate terrorism, and all the the uncertainty that came from these things. Yankee Stadium was always a certain thing. It was never Fannie Mae Stadium or Freddie Mac Stadium, everything was always certain. I still don't like the Yankees but America doesn't feel right without the stadium.

The NFC Beast

Sunday was a great game for a half. As much as everyone will tell you that football is a team game, the entire team depends on the qb. Just ask the Vikings, who many predicted to win the entire NFC and are at 0-2 with Jackson. Now they are believing in the decade-old DC adage "in Gus we Trust." I always liked Gus but I hope he doesn't bang his head into the side of the Metrodome. Campbell looked bad the first half. He didn't make mistakes but he didn't make plays which is why we were down 10-9 at half after dominating every other facet of the game. He was telegraphing every pass, had happy feet but wouldn't scramble for time, and just seemed tenuous about everything when he is supposed to be leading. The second half was a whole different story.

Campbell's Jekyll turned into a Hyde of a beast and did everything right. His feet were still moving, not as happy feet but scrambling to the right spots at the right time to create enough time to complete passes to the bevy of receivers the Skins have stockpiled. He started looking off receivers and making second and third reads. The guys sitting in the top row of section 409 at Fedex couldn't tell where the ball was going on every pass play anymore. The perfect example was the Marino-like pass to Moss who barely had to break stride to take the lead for good when Randle El was the first read. Campbell did what he was supposed to as well as the rest of the team and that was win at home. Make no bones about it that was a must-win and they dug down and got it.

Next week against Arizona is a must-win as well. Dropping to 1-2 isn't nearly as dire as 0-2, but it is still a must-win. I think that if the Skins play as well they did in the second half last Sunday, there are only three or four teams in the league that can beat them. Unfortunately, no team can play at that level all of the time; just ask the Patriots last February. In addition to that, at least two and possibly three of those teams are in our division. The Dallas-Philly game Monday night was an eye-opener. McNo-ring played his heart out, dying to beat TO. He still couldn't do it, and you have to give credit to Dallas as much as being a Skins fan made you want the field to blow up. But even in losing Philly looked good and I wouldn't be suprised to see them upset Dallas when they play in the Eagle's neck of the woods. By the way, the Giants are defending champs and even though I wrote them off, they are undefeated and in case you forgot over the euphoria of winning this week, they beat us pretty soundly the week before.

Everyone said that this is the toughest division in football, and through a short two weeks it is proving to be true. The division is a collective 6-2, with the only two losses being the Eagles loss and our loss to the Giants against other East teams. We all get to play against what look like relatively soft teams in the NFC South and AFC Central, therefore all are must-wins because Dallas probably won't lose to them unless Jessica Simpson is particularly needy that week. The way the Eagles and Giants have played the first two weeks, they will not lose too many of them either. The old adage is that "if you win at home and split on the road you are guarenteed a spot in the playoffs." Unfortunately this does not hold true in the East this year. You have to win out against the weak teams, and hope to split intra-division. We have only had one great half of football while everyone else has had a few. The Skins still have to make sure they are not a weak team as well, and they have to start this Sunday in another must-win.

For a few sidenotes; if the Nats can knock the Mets out again it would be great. They must hate our boys in NY and wonder what is going on. I can guarentee you if the Mets sqeak into the wildcard spot they will not win a championship losing to the minor league players the Nattos have up right now.
Also, happy birthday to Ovie. Can't wait to see him skating, knocking people around, and scoring goals less than a month from now.

NY is bad, DC not better, Philly is the worst

Last night was pretty atrocious. The second half produced less points, namely none, but the first half was even harder to watch. They did nothing right until the last two minutes after a fluke 50 yard kickoff return and Giants penalty put them in the red zone. What scares me is the Giants were atrocious as well. They played so badly that it was unbelievable that we still had a chance to win with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. But we somehow managed to play worse throughout the entire game, but especially those last six minutes. As a Skins fan you have to pause and wonder if Zorn actually implemented a no-huddle offense because we never used one last night. Zorny, who I'm not quite as horny for, look baffled last night. After the last two preseason games I don't know why he does. We have run OTAs, we started training camp before any other team in the league, we have a veteran squad so why couldn't we put together one drive on opening day?

I don't fault Campbell, he has picked up every other offense that was brand new to him 8 out of the last 9 years. In fact his passer rating last year was better than the Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning. But Campbell looked confused the first game this year. Maybe it will get better but someone should remind Zorny that he only has a year. If he doesn't make the playoffs he will be fired and Cowher will be brought in, that is what our owner does because he is an idiot, just ask Schottenheimer. I really don't even blame Zorny for last night I blame Cerrato. Our aged offensive line got blown away by a younger New York defensive line, and they are missing their two best players on that unit. Our defensive line did nothing, except get run at straight to Jason Taylor every play as Madden pointed out until Skins coaches had the linebackers shift to back him up. Maybe in a defensive line-rich draft picking one of them up would have been nice. Devin Thomas got his one catch but could not muscle his way one more yard to get the first down. He was our first pick because we needed a big receiver due to the fact that Cerrato and Snyder ignored that for the last few years. He didn't exactly look like Michael Irvin last night.

I'm not giving up hope, it think we can turn it around but probably not in time. After all we play in the toughest division in football. We don't have five games for the team to get adjusted because we can only lose four or five more all year. Zorny wasn't exactly encouraging after the game when he said "I feel like we learned where we need to improve tonight. If there's anything positive, it's that." What the hell does that mean? We need to improve everywhere? The positive is that it is almost impossible to get worse? I don't mean to be a pessimist I think there is hope but the season seems star-crossed before it even began. Khary Campbell is a backup linebacker for the Skins, but is a phenomenal special team player and therefore a captain on that unit. So he jogged out pregame for the coin-flip, pulled his quadraceps, and was out for the entire game. You can't make things like that up. He knocked himself out of the game during the coin flip! Last night sucked.

As a sidenote, would you like to what else sucks? Philadelphia. Not any particular team from Philly as a whole, but the entire city as a whole. New Jersey is widely considered the armpit of America. I think this is unfair because the stink is only a bridge away over in Philly. If you live or are from Philly you should get in your car, turn on your cd player, listen to more Bon Jovi, drive to your nearest gun shop, purchase one, and shoot yourself in the face. Just because you suck. I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of the Nattos-Phillies series where we took 2 of 3 from them. At one ZimZam at-bat they threw at his body and he ducked it, then the very next pitch they threw at his head. Of course the ump came out and warned the pitcher and both benches. All the while some hurting Philly fan behind me was screaming that if Zim "can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen" while interlacing a word that starts with p and kind of sounds like Stussy, the old t-shirt brand. This guy embodies almost anyone I have ever met from Philly. First off it is stupid. At the time the Phillies were one game out of first place before the Nattos knocked them down a few pegs. The Nattos? 26 out. If you want to throw at our one star's head, we will throw at Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard all day, potentially knocking them out, and thus your stupid Phillies from their pennant race in which they will choke anyways. This fan just embodied everyone from Philly; stupid, brash, no concept of the game being played and therefore no concept of how to win a championship, which of course they have not done since before a lot of us were born. (I know I just broadly generalized, so I grant exceptions to my boy Jeff and his brother, and my girl Katie and her man, but I dare everyone else from Philly to prove me wrong.)

The final straw was Chase Utley intentionally injuring my boy Jesus Flowers while sliding into the plate. Baseball etiquette is if you are definately out you don't go in to hurt somone. The play was not even close and Utley deliberately went after a young guy with a bright future's ankle and sure enough hurt him. Jesus Flowers is no slouch so he held on and made the out. It is just a typical classless play, from a typical classless team, in a typically classless city. Seriously if you are from Philly shoot yourself in the face. Can't wait to see the Saints.

New coach, same Snyder

So far Zorny (who I really am starting to get horny for with his dreamy eyes and crisp passing techniques) looks good. I am not going to be the Redskin fan that starts telling everyone we are going all the way during the preseason. 2000, the year of Bruce Smith, Deion, et all, and Osaka with Spurrier were humbling enough. But, Campbell looks solid, Carter and Taylor scared the hell out of the Bills O-line, Portis was tentative but effective, and a lot of guys are still resting for when it counts because the team really beat itself up during camp. The Zorn era hasn't officially started, but he is doing pretty well so far. Betts said that they are running just basic plays, and as long that is true and Zorn isn't showing his whole offense to all the scouts in Philly, NY, and Dallas this season might not be a disaster with a group of old guys who don't have too many years left to make a run.

NY had their run last year, and I don't think they can duplicate it; little Manning's completion percentage so far is about half of Campbell's and there is no Strahan or Barber. Dallas is everyone's pick to win the NFC, still think they are America's team, and are hyped up even more as HBO's team. The "Hard Knocks" documentary seems like such a stupid idea to me. I have to trust the Skins scouts enough to pick up something from watching their training camp that is going to help them beat the Cowboys this year. I would assume that everyone else on their schedule is doing the same. They were the best regular season team in the conference last year, and just like the champs everyone will be gunning for them. No one is looking for the Skins. It is a pressure year for Romo, who has to finally prove that he can perform in a pressure situation. Campbell just has to prove he was worth trading up in the first round for. It is a lot easier for Campbell to do so, and I also think he is more capable. The Eagles are in a similar situation. Donnovan Mcnoring is in the twilight of his career and desperately wants to prove he is a champion. The same can be said for Westbrook with the shelf-life of most NFL RBs and even more so for Andy Reid in Philly if he doesn't produce a playoff season. The Cowgirls and Giants are complacent, the Eagles and Skins are hungry and I think there will be suprises, but the battle for the East will be vicious.

Which means Jack Kent Cooke Stadium will be packed, which is great for Skins fans, but sucks because the owner gets more money. Daniel Snyder is an ass-hat. Raiders fans have no idea how lucky they are. Yes their owner is a crazy ass-hat too, but at least Al Davis is going to die sometime soon. We are going to have Snyder around for at least thirty or forty years to be ashamed of. When we went 3-13 under Norv Turner I still held my head high as a Redskin fan. When an opposing fan mentions Snyder, there is nothing to say or do other than put your chin down and say "yeah he's an ass-hat." Campbell can throw 5 interceptions and I can give you fifty reasons why he is better than Romo. It is getting harder and harder to find one redeeming quality in Snyder.

I've never taken the Metro to JKC (Fedex) but I've never been opposed to doing so. Apparently that is a lot harder to do now because of a new Federal law that prohibits shuttles from going to private events, including football games. So there are no more shuttles to Fedex from the Metro. So what do the Redskins do? Issue a quick statement that the service is no longer available to Redskin fans because the price would be jacked up from $6 to $20 and people probably will not pay that. But maybe they are more likely to pay $25 and up for parking passes, which Snyder has been angling for since he bought the team. The guy tried to outlaw walking on the streets surrounding Fedex before so people would have to buy his passes. He wants that extra $25 plus on top of hundreds of dollars for the actual tickets, $10 for a sandwhich, $8 dollars for a beer, and $5 for a bottle of water. (You can't bring them in because they pat down your who-nads to make sure you pay Mr Snyder.) It makes you appreciate the Lerners and the Nats. All they want to do is get people to Nattos Park. They run a 100% free shuttle from the RFK metro to the Park all on their own dime. For Snyder, it is always about squeezing one more nickle out of Redskin fans. There are a few people left that think he is an asset to this great franchise because he will go out and buy players. I have never doubted that little Danny likes the Redskins, but I also never doubted that he doesn't care much for Redskin fans.

Only the love of the greatest fan base in sports sells out the largest stadium in pro sports despite the hoops this guy puts us through. Thats why when the Nats or Caps get good it will be so great. While it looks like it won't happen anytime soon for the Nats, the Caps are on the cusp. Leonsis might be the most loved of DC owners, in part because his franchise is so fan friendly. He is a delight to meet in person, and will go so far as to answer all Caps fans emails. Try it, but don't try it with Snyder, he doesn't want to talk to you, he just wants your money. Maybe if one of these teams can win a championship, and stirs up a fervor that is usually only reserved for the Redskins, Snyder will pay attention and realize what being a fan friendly franchise is all about. In the meantime he is still an ass-hat and so am I for giving him my money. See you opening day.

Out with the old, in with a great weekend

DC fans came out and showed how it is supposed to be done. People around Canton were impressed by the always loyal fan base that came out just as they do every Sunday of the year they play pro football in PG county. It shouldn't be any suprise that we have the most loyal fanbase in the nation. Thurman Thomas, who knows nothing of the Dallas-Skins rivalry even commented that he was glad that he wasn't a Cowboy on the day Monk and Green were inducted. He may have even remembered his helmet. When Michael Irvin stepped up to the podium and was booed, he smiled in resignation. I hated Michael Irvin with that star on his helmet, prancing around the field and doing a bunch of blow. I hate watching him on ESPN even more. However, he turned his life around, and I don't know if anyone else noticed; he never sat down during the entire Monk standing ovation. For a guy that was a total prima donna, I thought it was pretty selfless to stand with the Redskins fans as they saluted Monk. Especially because some of us are a little salty that he got in before Monk. Monk always conducted himself with class, finished with more TDs than Irvin, and finished with the career reception record for the entire league before Jerry Rice shattered it.

And Monk did it with class. Other fans must have wondered why Monk's ovation was so much longer than Green's. Part of it was because we had to wait so long to get him in. Part of it was the class and dignity that Monk always conducted himself with. While Green always performed on the field and was a life-long Redskin, people who have met him usually have a negative thing or two to say. I dare you to find somone who can say something bad about Monk with a straight face. Finally, we had a different running back and QB to win all three Lombardi trophies. Guess who was the possesion receiver for each of them? Everytime we hoisted the trophy Monk was there. He was Gibbs' first pick during his first tenure, Sean Taylor was his first pick second time around. Gibbs seemed to always get it right the first time he did anything.

I couldn't make it to Canton this past weekend but I really wish I could have. To those who did I am really proud of you and all of Redskin nation. As many Washingtonians know, there are a whole bunch of out-of-towners who love to talk about how bad Redskin fans are. On top of that, there are some people who grew up here and root for Dallas. When you ask them why, they usually say "because my dad was a Redskins fan." Most people get over their daddy issues by about 8th grade. Apparently not Cowboys fans. But what these out-of-towners and Freudian cases claim are that Skins fans are bandwagon fans, that we are a little obnoxious, that we boast too much when we are good, and abandon the team when we are bad.

I think we are critical, sometimes overly so, but fair. Tell me when the Cowgirls went 1-15 that their fans weren't critical of Aikman. I'm pretty sure half of the Giants fans wanted Tom Coughlin out before last season when he won a trophy. Even now, a ton of Eagles fans hate Donnovan "McNo-Ring" McNabb for no apparent reason whatsoever. Yeah we can get down and depressed, but it is our family, our clan, so we can talk about them in a negative or positive light all day long. No one else can. It is like your younger brother. You can make fun, anyone else does and there will be a fight. And we showed this this weekend. No team's fans have ever showed up to Canton to welcome a new inductee like Skins fans did. It was the closing of the old Super Bowl era (even though Russ Grimm should be inducted any year now) and so let's get on with the next one. I know the Skins have a great history and I love to revel in it like we did this weekend. However, let's stop talking about it and make more memories baby. The Cowboys have two more Lombardies than us. The Giants caught up. No one worries about the Eagles because they come from Choketown, USA. Let's make Monk's induction a coronation for the future and make a new past.

They looked good on Sunday. Zorny (who I'm horny for) got a welcome to the league from the Colts with the opening on-sides kick. I'd like to credit Zorny for being heads-up to them doing this before with rookie coaches, but he had no clue, his special teams coach was onto it. So at least he surrounded himself with people that look at things like that. Zorn is concentrating on the QBs, and it showed Sunday. J.Cam was perfect and Brennan looked damned good, even though it was third stringers. Collins had his year last year and no one knows why he was resgined but he was solid as well. It was just good to see the burgandy and gold again, especially crawling all over Canton. Let's get more in.

The Nattos are a long way away from sending anyone to Cooperstown. But they are looking. I commented a couple of months ago that Lo Duca should have never been here. He was a nice guy, very gracious and I think he may have helped the young guys. (Just not selling them drugs.) I have been saying ever since we dipped 10 games out of first place that we needed to just bring up the guys who will be playing the next few years and can help us get our first baseball trophy in DC in 84 years. I was worried about Bowden for a little while but he got it right. We ditched Lo Duca and Lopez, after shopping them to every team that rejected us. I know Bowden tried to trade them, but apparently they were so valuable that we couldn't get anything for them, and thus he did the best thing and cut them. The guys he traded for and brought up are the right move for the future, and apparently, the present. Nats fans could barely spell sweep before this weekend. Bonaficio especially, and Gonzales as well are great adds because they will probably be playing here in 2010. So let's bring the rest of them up, Marrero especially. Lannan can strike out Matt Holliday twice, let's see what doing the same will do for Dettweiler or Smoker's confidence. Maybe we can even best our season-high win streak again. The future looks bright, we just need to delve into it. It was a great weekend to remember the past, but get excited about the future.

You gotta give it to 'em

I think the Redskins did something right. God knows what kind of drills Zorny was running that knocked out two DEs the first practice of two-a-days but it happened. (By the way, Smoot got hurt as well and Rodgers is still recovering and I'd be suprised to see startes at CB against the Giants 44 days from now.) But, all the negativity goes away for a day or so. Injuries are part of football. When people say stuff like "well, the Pats would have won it all if Brady wasn't injured in the Super Bowl" I think they are stupid. Injuries are a part of any sport and are emphasized in football. You have 325 plus pound guys banging into each other as hard as they possibly can. An ACL might go out from time to time, which is a mess for the player, but never should be for the team they play for.

The reason is because injuries happen all of the time. If you haven't gotten some depth along the defensive line and two DEs go down, all of a sudden you are in serious trouble. The first day of training camp. Yes the Skins got this guy from the Vikings for a pick but guess what, he is injured and isn't practicing. I still stand behind the fact that the Skins should have gotten some guys to bolster both lines in the draft. They didn't and the first day of camp it bit them directly in the butt. But for once, for once, I think they came through. I thought the big trade would bring us Favre and his West Coast O expertise, but the Jason Taylor pickup was somewhat brilliant. As much crap as I might want to give Cerrato from time to time he looked at what happened the first day of camp and reacted. Young Danny boy is in the draft war room with him, and I am sure helped to ignore the gaps in the D (and O) lines.

However, when bad went to worse, Cerrato actually took care of it. A second round pick seems like a hefty price to pay (on top of a sixth round pick two years from now that I could care less about.) But I would take the trade for a chance to contend this year, which would become even tougher with a more anemic pass rush than we had last year. If Cerrato looked at his team and saw this weakness and pulled off this deal after Daniels went down for the year, he is a genuis. Campbell is young. Everyone else is old. This is the year to make it happen with the team Gibbs put together, and I think Cerrato recognizes this. Getting it done in nine hours may not have happened but we will never know because the Skins are the only organization more secretive than the CIA in DC. Heck, we don't even know if Campbell has the whole playbook yet. Cerrato did a good job as long as this guy wants to play. If Taylor is still hungry, if he wants to prove Parcells wrong, if he wants to put a big ring on his finger, watch out.

It may be the sweltering heat that accompanies the Post's coverage of the Skins for at least three pages of the Sports section. Or it could be the fact that we can all go see the Skins work out, or it may be the fact that ESPN has a distraction from the Brett Favre reality show that runs all day every day, but I am ready to watch this team go. Everyone says that this trade means nothing and we will still finish last in the toughest division in football. I agree that its the toughest division in football, and I honestly have no idea if we will finish last. If Eli Manning can win the Super Bowl over the Pats, we can win the division or at least wild card it and knock off the division champs like the Giants did. We are the underdogs to straight out of the gate. I love proving everyone wrong, and hopefully everyone that throws on pads, holds a clipboard, dons a headseat, or tries to cover up a bad draft by making a quick brilliant trade real quick loves to prove people wrong as well. I thought the Skins would make a big trade for Favre, but Taylor is even better.

The Skins need to be scrappy but there is a team that was even scrappier this weekend. How the hell did they put up 15 runs on Sunday? The offense came alive all of a sudden playing the Braves and it was nice. Their fans stole the tomahawk chop from FSU but couldn't get their team to get an easy sweep, much less a series win against the lowly Nats. The Nats are so hurt it is almost a joke. If I were the Lerners or Bowden I would fire the trainer who is in charge of trying to keep these guys healthy. I don't know if there even is a guy who has that job. But I would fire the guy whose job description comes closest to that. Every single position's starter has been put on the DL at some point during the season, most of whom for a long time, so if there is a guy to keep the Nats healthy he sucks. Paul Lo D Duca , of catching and steroids fame is our 1B. D. Young is going on the DL for diabetes. Wilford Brimley has that and he is still doing okay, so are we the unluckiest team ever or does Mr. Brimley have better trainers than the Nattos? However, the guys that should be playing triple A are playing scrappy baseball, not even needing to dig it out, but putting up fifteen. 15! Willie Harris reached base 5 times on Sunday. If these guys can make some type of weirdo run towards .500 it will make watching the first half of the season almost worth it. It would be nice if the all-star break and the Taylor aquisition bring a big chip to every DC athlete's shoulders. I think we might need it.

There's Something about Favre

So Brett Favre sent a letter to the Packers requesting an unconditional release today if the team doesn't want him. When the GM of your team doesn't return your calls because he is on vacation despite the fact that you are probably the greatest player ever for a storied franchise, it becomes pretty apparent they don't want you. So the Pack finds themselves in quite a pickle. You see, both the Bears and the Vikings need a QB badly, and if Favre plays like he played last year, they could wrestle the NFC Central crown away from Green Bay. The Vikings might even challenge for the entire NFC title, which the Pack must feel is within reach. Favre won't want to languish in Miami; Parcells will get that team up and running but it is going to take a few years; Favre doesn't have that. Maybe the Ravens, but they are chaotic as well. Jets? Same story as the Dolphins. When Favre applies to the league for reinstatement, the Pack has 24 hours to decide if they will put him on their active roster before he hits waivers. Who would make that kind of impulse buy?

Oh yeah, young Danny boy who makes more impulse buys than a tabloid reader. Heck, Bruce Smith in his twilight despite the fact that he teed up on every play like it was a pass, even if it was 3rd and one, Deion Sanders in his twilight despite the fact that he is Deion Sanders, and even Jeff George who never saw a twilight because because he never really saw the light; all signed by Danny boy. Flippin' Jeff George, who only got his starting job because Danny forced it on the coaches, resulting in Skins fans getting to watch Brad Johnson win a Super Bowl against Rich Gannon, another ex-Skin. If you think for one moment that Danny boy hasn't been on the phone with Green Bay today, you haven't been following the Skins since '99. Snyder is savvy in the way that the nerdy guy you cheated off of in algebra class in high school was. Not savvy enough to not get beat up in the schoolyard, but savvy enough to let you cheat off him in algebra, lest he see you in the schoolyard. Jersey sales would probably go through the wall for 80 to 200 bucks a pop, and we would just be renting Favre for a year.

Here is why it won't happen. It might actually make sense. I love Jason Campbell and I think we are going to see some great games with him at the helm. However, he is coming off a knee injury, and he is supposed to be a mobile QB. Guess who likes to take off from time to time and hasn't missed a game in a long long time. Campbell excels at throwing it up but struggles at the short throws, which makes no sense in a West Coast offense where the 5 to 7 yard throws are quitessential. That is why hiring Zorn makes no sense but, guess who went to two Super Bowls in the West Coast offense with Mike Holmgren's west coast O. Guess who our new head/qb coach was under in Seattle before he came here and installed the same offense with the Skins. Guess what team is actually pretty old, and could use an old guy at the helm to push for one last Lombardi run. Most of the O-line is hovering around 30, our defense isn't much younger, Portis is in his twenties but Adrian Peterson proved that no matter how great you are, rookies get banged up at RB, and a lot of the Skins backups are products of having no draft picks or wasting them. If you answered anything other than Favre or Redskins to any of the "guess" questions you are fired. Seeing a four in the burgandy and gold might not be too bad. The team line would be "the starting job is open going into camp" and I hope that can be said honestly. This might actually be the right superstar sigining. Let's see if Snyder is smart enough to grab the bull by the horns. It'll make the headlines that he so constantly craves; at the same time, maybe it can give us a run.

Stand up and tune in

What are they doing in Kansas City? This was the toughest place in the world for an opposing team to come in and play football. Apparently, you can't stand up there anymore. This has to be some kind of cruel joke. Larry Johnson pops by the pulling right guard, stiff arms the corner, and out-sprints the safety down the sideline sixty yards for the TD and Chiefs fans can't stand up and cheer for it? Or maybe even see it if you have the occasional watermelon-head that every sports fan seems to sit behind a little more often than they would like in front of you? I really don't care about the average KC fan. The only time I watch them is if they are playing the Raiders and that is if the Skins aren't on and the lawn doesn't need raked. I'm worried about the average fan. If they can do this in Arrowhead, which is supposed to be the toughest stadium in the league, they can do this anywhere.

The way Snyder manages this team, the Skins are the most likely to be second in line to pick up the "no standing" rule. If that happens, you might as well stay at home and watch it on TV. I don't think that a football game is an ideal place to bring a kid under ten, and that is a shame.I remember being lucky enough at 7 or 8 to have my dad come across some tickets to go see the Skins at the impossible to see RFK a couple of times. It was awesome; I was a fan before but being able to see the burgandy and gold in person that young is probably what gets me through the Snyder era. I was even lucky enough to see us beat the Vikings in the NFC championship game to go face and eventually beat the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII. On the way out we watched a car burn in flames simply because it had Minnesota plates and a Vikings bumpersticker. There was no better way to demonstrate the absolute worst in sportsmanship. Not letting people stand up and cheer their team is not going to stop horseasses like the ones that burned that car. Stopping the overconsumption of alchohol will. I won't go so far as to say that beer should stop being sold at the games, but should we really open up the parking lots at 9 AM so the drunks can get started? How about the reasonable fans saying something when a guy gets a little out of line. How about the ushers at Fedex not waiting for the last possible moment to stop a problem when it could have been avoided? How about introducing family sections before not letting fans stand up? Even before family sections I got by being hoisted up on my dad's shoulders when the crowd got up for a big third and one. Family sections work at different ballparks and hockey arenas around the country and seem like a simpler solution to fan misbehavior. Let the true fans, the average joe blue collar, still be able to stand up when Moss hauls in a long bomb for the TD. I may be overreacting, but from sky-high ticket prices, to obstructed view seats, to the field-side nightmare seats, to even trying to shut down the Metro, Snyder has done everything to screw over the average Skins fan. I just don't put doing something as crazy as the folks out in KC are doing now past Danny boy either.

Perhaps because the aforementioned Snyder bought up all the sports radio stations around the area and bombards us with Skins coverage, suprise, no one wants to watch the Nationals. You can't get any good Caps or Nats coverage on the radio, but apparently the Nats coverage on TV doesn't quite cut it either. MASN stinks, but I didn't know it was this bad. Nationals Park averages 30,000 fans a game on average, about 9,000 tune in to MASN. That is mind-boggling, I don't know how that is possible. Not being able to see it in HD doesn't help. It isn't that MASN doesn't have HD capability, it is that they use all of it on the Orioles. Oh yeah, the Orioles also own MASN. Or if you are sitting in front of a bartender kind enough to change the channel over to the Nats for you, you better hope they have the same cable provider as you. If you have Comcast, do you know what channels MASN2 is on Cox or Direct TV? How about vice versa? After these numbers came out in the Post this week Stan Kasten, President of the Nats, said he could care less about MASN's numbers. He gets a check from them regardless of numbers, and then he spends it on players. (Or maybe doesn't at all as evidenced by the last few years.) Maybe Selig should have taken his last chance to stand up for DC baseball and given them the right to decide who was going to broadcast their games, not some guy in Baltimore.

The Nats do need a marquee player to get people excited to watch baseball. Zimmerman can't do it all, especially when he is banged up and riding pine. There is nothing we can do about it this year. So in the meantime, lets pull up the young guys. We can't do any worse than worst in the league and that's where we are right now. Let the young guys do it for us, or heck, maybe they might even succeed and we don't have to finish dead last. Last night's 5-0 win was great. Who were the heroes? Lannan, who wasn't even supposed to be up here this year but is by far and away our best starting pitcher and pitched 6 innings of shutout ball. Jesus Flowers, also not supposed to see the bigs this year, who came up to pinch hit and blasted a 3 run homer to clinch the game. I know that Nieves has played a huge part in Lannan's developement, but Flores will be a long-term Nat along with Lannan. Why is he pinch-hitting when he is hovering around .270 and has the knack for clutch hitting. Bring the young guys who are going to be Nats for a while up and lets see what they can do. Maybe they fall flat on their faces. The franchise is last in the league because of injuries, we have mud up to our ears. Even if we sink further at least it will be less money for the Lerners to buy the TV rights to their own team and thus more to get a decent free agent for a couple of years. Or maybe we just let that SOB Angelos sleep in the bed he made for a little longer. Either way, can't wait to see the game tonight!

I love the Jesus Flowers almost as much as I hate the Orioles

I made it to the game last night. What a game, it was good to win one but even better to win it with a walkoff single from one of our young stars. Jesus Flowers is probably my favorite player on the team. He's gutsy, gritty, young, and hitting right around .300. He's the epitome of this team's future if we are lucky. If we can keep Blastings and Dukes in line, get Zimmerman back healthy, and make a good faith move for the fans and sign Guzapalooza (he's a festival of hits) for at least 2 years we have a nucleus. Everywhere else, let's see who can play and hopefully win a title, say 2010 or 2011 or so.

On Tuesday the Nattos played the most unbearable game since they arrived in town. We went down 6-0 2/3 of an inning in. Hill is a hell of a pitcher but needs to hang it up for the year. He elected to not have surgery, but he just doesn't have the same stuff as last year. In addition to the horrific pitching, we had Lo Duca, catcher, in left field, Willie Harris, left fielder, at second base, Belliard, second baseman, at third base, and basically a DH, "Voodoo Fingers" Young at first. Lo Duca got woozy and left the game. So did most of the fans. So let's pull some guys up. Marrero's already done for the year with a broken leg, lets not waste more young talent. Lets see what they can do in the bigs. The whole philosophy of the Nats should be if you aren't playing here in 2010, you shouldn't be playing here now. We have the Flowers, ZimZam, putupyourDukes, and Blastings, not to mention how awesome Lannan has been along with Redding and Rauch. Everyone else should have to fight for their job, just like Jesus Flowers and Lo Duca did. The winner of that spot worked out pretty well last night.

As a sidenote, I have been negative On Lo Duca. He is actually a good guy. He was excellent in the booth for MASN when he was on the DL and I think he has a career in broadcasting. But last night he was the first guy out of the dugout to laud Flores, and was the last, hugging him by second base as the rest of the team headed back to the lockerroom. Steroid accusations aside, Lo Duca is a good guy and a team player.

As a further aside, the Orioles come to town this weekend. The team owned by Peter Angelos. The guy that kept the national pastime out of the nation's capitol throughout the 90s and half of this millenium's first decade. These are the guys that wanted us to struggle two hours through traffic on 95 to go watch a DH strikeout. I hate them. We haven't gotten into a tight pennant race with the Mets, Phillies, Braves, or even Marlins. I dislike them but do not hate them yet. I hate the Orioles for depriving me of nights like last night. Beautiful weather in a brand new park with the smell of Ben's chili, cotton candy, and Budweiser wafting through the air while hanging out with the pops, your brother, and one of your best friends as one of our 23 year old stars hits a walk-off single to score another 23 year old star to be. God forbid someone in the seats next to me this weekend screams oooo during the NATIONAL anthem.

Horses' Asses and Hoorays

Hank Steinbrenner is a horses' ass. This doesn't come as news to anyone from Boston, but I didn't really realize it until interleague play started up. I really only follow the National League because I think it is the best pure form of baseball you can see. When you have the pitchers hit, it places more strategy into the game and that is all the average fan can really follow. When the average joe sitting next to me in the bleachers and I are watching a game neither of us have any idea how to hit a curveball much less a slider or the knuckleballs the Nattos smacked around the other night. What we do know is that with Willie Harris pinch hitting for the pitcher and getting on base with the leadoff at the plate you probably want to steal him. Steinbrenner's 19 game winner from last year Wang went down running the bases, and he blames the entire NL for not having DHs and "jioning the 21st century." Apparently having pitchers both pitch and hit is "a rule from the 1800s." Which is another reason why it is great. Baseball is tradition. It is still called America's pastime even though the Bills-Browns Monday night game will probably get better ratings then the World Series. The game hasn't changed for over a century, except for a few stupid rules that people have implemented along the way, most notably the DH in the American League. Jerkoffs like Steinbrenner put these rules in place. I am pretty sure every major leaguer was the best athlete in their high schools where most of them were drafted. They are pro athletes making millions of dollars. If you can throw a curveball past Jeter, you should probably figure out how to hit one once every five times or so. Steinbrenner was in his own league and never bothered me until now. Perhaps he is trying to surpass Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones as the biggest morons in sports who never actually step on a field.
Enough negativity. Congrats to the Great 8 for cleaning up at the NHL awards ceremony. In all honesty Malkin was just as deserving, he is just not as flashy. For Malkin to carry the Pens through the regular season while Sid "the princess" Crosby was napping on the bench to get the two seed that propelled them to the finals was great. However, that final run of games after the Blackhawks drubbed us was unbelievable. While it was only to win the Southeast division, that may have been the greatest comeback in the history of sports other than the Sox comeback over the Yanks in '04. Ovie led the charge, but Boudreau orchestrated it. He was the most deserving of anyone that stepped to the platform that night. To go 37-17 after taking over what was the worst team in the league was unbelievable, and that last month of hockey was the best sports this town has seen since 1991. It takes a lot to get Washingtonians to sell out hockey games, but Boudreau found a way to do it. I can't wait for the puck to drop again in October with Boudreau at the helm and Ovie steering.
Finally congrats to the Nats for sweeping someone on the road. Granted it was the Mariners, who got so mad about it they fired their GM, but a sweep is a sweep. Maybe interleague play is the spark we need to get us on track to the goal of .500. Perhaps having pitchers that aren't afraid of taking a little BP is what will keep it going.

Griff the Great

Despite the bats that awoke tonight for the Nattos, they still don't look so hot. Maybe five homers will slap them out of this season-long slump, but something even more amazing has happened than a five dinger game from the Nats. Ken Griffey Jr. is probably the greatest that has ever played and hitting homer 600 was an accomplishment that was well overdue.

This was the guy that did it right. Just take the average sports fan and how much you appreciate a player who will take less money to play with the team that his heart is with. That is exactly what Jr. did when signing a long term contract with the Reds. Other teams offered more money, but Jr. stuck with the city he grew up in. How many players these days turn down money because they like where they want to play more than their contract size these days? Not many if any, much less not the guy who was the face of the game when he signed his contract. He grew up in that city because that is where his father played. And he came back to it the first chance he was given, forgoing millions of dollars.

The bond that will forever follow Jr. is the one with his father. No matter how much steroids and HGH ballplayers pump through their veins there will never be another time when the Mariners or any other team send a father then son up to bat consecutively, and back to back dingers ensue. Thats a one game record that no one will ever break. Bobby Bonds was one of the best, good enough to make Cooperstown. You could only wish that Barry turned out as well as Jr., it would have been great to see the two greatest sons of pro ball players have been inducted at the same time. Barry Bonds should be banned from visiting Cooperstown, Griff shouldn't have to wait anywhere close to five years.

All the records over the last decade and a half are in question, and that is the only reason to bring up Bonds in the same breath as Jr.. Jr. is a guy who missed 430 or so games in the first six or seven years he was a Red, before that, he was averaging fifty homers a year for five straight years. He did not get some random injuries that made him want to sit out for extended periods of time. He has always played hard, chasing after balls and bouncing off walls, sliding to stop balls, diving into bases with no regard to his legs, and of course never backing off a fastball towards the face. While a lot of guys used steroids to bulk up and go from 20 to 50 Hrs in a year (Brady Anderson we are all looking at you) Griff kept the same frame and kept knocking them yard year after year when he was healthy.

If Griff could have only stayed healthy. He could have but he did not take steroids. Through the Mitchell report many guys have said they used these banned substances to get through injuries. Jr. has literally ripped muscles off his bones to play the game of baseball. He knew what kind of records he could acheive if he could take banned substances. He knew exactly what he was doing. Take HGH and you are bigger and can get more homers. Take HGH and injuries seem to heal much better. He had and has done well enough to take the high road. Maybe Barry Bonds has daddy issues.

Personal records are never as impotant as team records as they pertain to that particular year. Griff hitting 600 is more important than the game itself right now. Knock Bonds and Sosa off the 600 plus list and you are left with Aaron, Ruth, and Mays. Griffey did what he did while everyone was cheating. When it was just Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire it seemed like it was just everyday players. Clemens and Pettite proved otherwise. Griff had to hit, field against, and just plain outrun a majority of guys who were cheating. If it somehow comes out Jr. was cheating too I guess I need to stick both feet in my mouth. I'll bet the farm against it. While the top players Griff was playing against were cheating, Griff stayed honest and beat them anyways. Willie Mays was probably the best all around player ever. Ruth could hit but also has the advantage of being a Yank. Aaron broke the unbreakable record at the time and trumped Ruth. Because of the injuries, Griff will never be considered better than Mays because baseball is such a stat obssessed sport. But no blown out knees he is at 700 hundred homers. No injuries whatsoever, which is Cal Ripken impossible, Griff is already over 800. Results are results and stats are stats, so Mays is the best that ever played. I have never had the privledge of watching him play, only Ken Griffey Jr. He is the best to ever step on a pro diamond in the modern era. Once again I'll bet the farm on it.

The farm team looks like the best hope for the Nattos right now. ZimZam is the guy who will be around for a while even though he is banged up right now. He will never get close to any of Griff's records but he is just as lovable. If he conducts himself the same way as Jr. it will make the sweeps by teams like the Giants be a little more tolerable.