Neither picture above is doctored but they both sure seem like it. Somone was already wearing a Skins McNabb jersey at Opening Day yesterday (that still happened,) and you can officially pre-order one off the Redskins website this minute. It will take a while to get used to, but we have to. The picture to the right is a phantom slashing call on Schultz against Matt Cooke who is clearly passing (and surprisingly not taking someones head off illegally in this shot.) We should also talk about Opening Day for the Nats, but lets tackle the Skins first.
Its done, McNoring is a Skin, it is time to move forward and deal with it. I don't think it was a good decision for the Skins, the guy should have been a Viking and that franchise will regret their decision more and more as Favre continues his offseason flip-flops and postseason INTs. I don't think the Skins are Super Bowl contenders, but Shanahan and Allen do, and I am giving them their time to do what they see fit. That is the only explanation for this trade, as well as the Johnson and Parker pick-ups. This is an old team, and they may not even play in 2011 if there is a lock-out. But they still have to build for the future if Shanhan expects to last five years here. I would not be the least bit surprised if they go ahead and pick a QB in the draft anyways, bringing our QB count in DC to a grand total of 6: McNabb, Campbell, Grossman, Brennan, Bartel (who?), and Claussen/McCoy. That is more QBs than starting O-lineman who we are exceedingly thin on. Trade for picks, and sweep the bad taste of the Cerrato era completely under the rug. Apparently Haynesworth and Landry were on the trading block. Get rid of Thomas, Kelly, and one of the TEs to accrue picks along with these guys. Grab Brandon Marshall. And don't get rid of Campbell for nothing. I give the Skins a 2 game improvement with McNabb and a two game improvement with Shanahan to put us around 8-8. With a little luck we might need a decent backup when McNabb goes down if we can make this miracle run that the Skins seem so giddy about right now.
I say 2 game swing with Shanahan, but he is such a vast improvement over Zorn that is being conservative. I love this guy. He identified Campbell's strength as a long ball passer and his inadequacies in the West Coast. Cerrato still hasn't figured that out five years later. He will not commit to a 3-4 defense yet despite hiring Haslett, because he "doesn't know who" he's playing with yet. He is ready to coach to the team's strengths in some areas, and go with what he thinks wins in others. The grimace on his face turns Cowher-esque when Haynesworth comes up. Haynesworth is supposed to be a team leader, but he couldn't bother to show up with the rest of the team for McNabb's press conference. (If Shanahan doesn't like him get rid of him now. Trade, him, cut him, buy him out and figure out a way not to take a cap hit beyond this year. He was the last desperate move by a GM who can't get hired anywhere else so move on. When the St. Louis Rams won't even consider trading anything for him, something is awry.) Finally, Shanahan is a bitter, salty man, He is still angry Al Davis fired him over 15 years ago, and feels he has something to prove still. So let's see him do it. His opening line to McNabb was that "this is a rebirth, which is better than being fired." Translation: Philly hates you, they always did, they fired you, everyone hate me too, lets go prove them wrong. McNabb is not the key pickup, Shanahan is, and I am excited to see what he does.
Lets go to another team that is hated, the Caps. I have documented the bias against them the past two seasons, which have led to a fraudulent Cup, bogus games, and phantom suspensions on a Bellicheck and Tim Donaghy type scale. The picture is just another example. The game against the Pens means nothing tonight, maybe it will effect if we play the Pens in the second round or if they can eek it into the Conference Finals. It would be nice to just try a fair, equitable hockey game for once with the NHL's two hyped stars. Certainly not like the last game where the Pens penalty advantage was five to one. This stretches back eleven games between the two teams, where the Caps have been called for more or equal penalties in each contest. One can argue over which team is more talented, but there is no doubt the Caps are bigger, stronger and faster. So one would think the Pens would need to hook, hold, and interfere a little more, but unfortunately that does not fit into the NHL's marketing plans. The Caps are just too good against everyone this year, even with bad calls and no calls against every team like this one on Perreault that resulted in a penalty on the Cap's Morrisson.
Even though the Caps have overcome this adversity, they are still disrespected throughout the league. While the season is far from over, there has not been one moment where the Caps have not clearly been the best team in the league and deserving of the President's Cup that the league has tried to keep from them but can't. While everyone I have ever known named RJ has been extremely intelligent and charming, unfortunately there is one exception to every rule and Columbus' RJ Umberger is it. These are some of his comments after the Caps victory over the Blue Jackets:
-"They play the wrong way, they want to be moving all the time." (I thought that is how you play.)
-"If you eliminate your turnovers and keep them off the power play, they're going to get frustrated." (In other words, if you play perfect hockey the Caps won't like it.)
-"A good defensive team is going to beat them in the playoffs." (If you can stop the highest scoring team in a decade from scoring you can beat them.)
-"A Western Conference team won't be overwhelmed by them."
The last one is not a problem for a little while but is the most annoying. The Caps have to be sick of hearing that they are good, but just not good enough. Against Western Conference teams who they play once a year and do not scout as heavily, they average 1.28 points (in the standings) per game. That is fourth in the league and good for over a hundred points over the 79 games played thus far. Some say our division is too easy but we can take them out as well. If we had played no one in the Southeast, we are still averaging 1.38 points per game, which is first in the league. Look, no one outside of DC wanted the Caps to be where they are right now but they are. The playoffs are a far cry from the regular season, but I hope the Caps go into the playoffs as not only the best team, but the angriest at the constant slights. They were cheated out of the playoffs last year, they were so good that despite the cheating this year they still are the best, and the cheating in the name of NHL PR will continue into the playoffs. Hopefully they overcome it like they have been doing since October.
Finally, the Nats played yesterday. They aren't really hated by anyone, people just feel sorry for them. They might have been a little salty after the Skins stole their day, but not after the game was actually played. No one missed much. I know that DC is a divisive city and the one thing that pulls everyone together is sports, so I won't go after anyone's politics in particular. But what is the deal with Democrats and baseball? First you have Hillary Clinton switching out her Cubs cap for a Yankee cap when she ran for senator in New York. Yesterday, Obama should not have worn a White Sox cap to throw out the first pitch, it is a breach of baseball etiquette. No one wants to see Obama the fan, they want to see Obama the POTUS. Wear the Nattos gear until you get back to the stands, then you can put on your Sox hat if you like. It turns out he isn't even really a White Sox fan. He joined MASN in the booth, and he had more trouble naming one White Sock than answering how he plans to pay for universal medicare. Its not like Rob Dibble is Bill O'Reilly; Dibble's insightful comment after Obama left was "it cannot be easy to be President, I mean, he's probably on the go all the time." Its great to have MASN back, its going to be a long season.
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