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.