History on Parade

I went to college about 3 hours south of DC just outside of a town called Farmville. I was smack dab in the middle of Virginia and many of my classmates were from the surrounding area. So it stood to reason that most of them were Redskins fans. On my college football team I’d say 60% of us rooted for Washington. While we had other folks who cheered for the Patriots (this was at the turn of the millennium so guys were rooting for them because they were from New England and not because they won all the time) and the Steelers, the majority of the non-Skins fans rooted for Dallas. That seems to be the norm across the DMV so it wasn’t a shock, rather a minor nuisance as Washington was in the middle of that long losing streak to the Cowboys.

I remember two Dallas fans on that team most vividly; one was your typical bandwagon jumper and the other was a true Cowboys fan (despite the fact that he grew up in South Carolina). Anyway the second fan didn’t bug me as much, even though he rubbed the losses in plenty, because he could tell me about Roger Staubach, or Tony Dorsett, or Tom Landry – aka legends in Cowboys history. The other “fan” really pissed me off one day with his trash talk so I started peppering him; “What do you know about Landry, Dorsett, Randy White…hell Danny White?” The response, “ I didn’t watch the Cowboys then.” Since he was about my age I took one thing away from the conversation; he started watching Dallas games when they were winning Super Bowls, and probably was a 49ers or Skins fan before that.

It’s a simple proposition people; learn about the history of your team. I know I’m a sports nerd and my standards are ridiculous, but it’s not hard to find out about a few great players from your franchise so that you don’t sound ignorant if someone questions your fandom. Now your old buddy Huber usually has a solution to things and that’s the case today. NFL Films has a truckload of old stuff now up on Hulu. In addition to the America’s Game series (the awesome documentaries about the Super Bowl Champions) and the Super Bowl highlight films, they now have put up season highlights that date back to 1957! So if you’re a Chargers fan and you want to learn more about the Air Coryell offense, you can. If you’re an older Steelers fan and you want to re-live the days of the 70’s dynasty, you can do that too. I’ve already gone through 5 seasons of 80’s Skins highlights today. Whether you’re trying to educate yourself or just wax nostalgic, it’s worth a look.

We've been watching this movie for 25 years now folks...unfortunately the ending doesn't change

That was a line I put up on Facebook earlier in response to some folks telling me I “called” the Caps choke vs. Montreal tonight (after the Mike Green penalty lead to the first goal, I said it was over). I would have loved for Washington to have come back but I knew it wasn’t in the cards. After you sit through all of the depressing, pathetic chokes over the years, where you think it’s going to be different, but it never is, you start to get real cynical. I’m so bad, I stopped watching after the 2nd period. I couldn’t watch another heartbreak. In all the year’s I’ve jumped on the Caps playoff bandwagon (and that nonsense is into its third decade) they have given me one great moment in the face of failure; the Dale Hunter goal against the Flyers in 1988. Any other time they’ve gone up against any adversity they’ve folded totally and completely.

Now, I’m not going to lay blame for this loss, because frankly I don’t have enough hockey knowledge to do that. But, I will say this; it’s the worst loss in franchise history for a number of reasons…not just becoming the first top seed to lose to an 8 after being up 3-1, not just because this loss probably paves the way for another Penguins Stanley Cup win, and not just because their style of play was completely stymied when it mattered most. There are a few other reasons this one is going to sting…

1) Leonsis is going to buy the Wizards – it’s a done deal now and that was what Ted wanted all along (and the arena to make money off the luxury boxes and concerts and other events). He’s a basketball guy and Abe Pollin selling the Caps to him (with the intent to sell the Wizards after his passing) was just the way to get rid of the money loser. With their owner’s attention (and possibly money) diverted, will the Capitals run of success continue?

2) The Skins may be coming back – I’ve been telling everyone I know, “The Skins are going 8-8 this year”. It may be desperate optimism, but with the new leadership in place (and a guy that actually knows how to coach a modern NFL team – probably for the first time since Schottenheimer was here) things are going to get better in DC. Part of the Caps charm is that they are the anti-Skins, namely they are fan friendly and they win. If the Redskins start to win again, they will reassume their 800 pound gorilla status in this town

3) The Capitals are burning people out – this franchise had their original die-hard fan base that would guarantee the building would be about half full for home games (and progressively more full the bigger the game or the closer the city the other team hailed from). I still believe the folks who have been filling Verizon every night were jumping on the bandwagon with the hopes they’d be around for the eventual championship. The new Caps still look like the old Caps (the ones who would choke every year) despite their superior talent.

It’s really sad to see this team squander another chance (one that may never come again). With DC really a captive market until Skins training camp in July, the Capitals had it all to themselves…but they fell on their face, again.

It’s the same old song and dance…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/capitals/longterm/1998/stanleycup/articles/tkpens96.htm

As you can see by the headline, that article was written back in 1996. Those squads were gritty, tough and maybe a smidge undermanned; they have morphed into a highly skilled team….but the problem is they still choke.

To paraphrase Andy Pollin, you can hold my hockey knowledge in a thimble, but you can tell something is wrong with this team. When you score 2 goals in a two game span with all the firepower they have you’ve got a big problem. An even bigger problem now might be the fact they are rattled, as evidenced by Boudreau’s rambling post game 6 press conference. When the coach is shaken, everyone else is.

And the saddest part of it all is this is the redemption setup; you can knock out the Flyers who beat you in 2008 and then you get a chance to knock off your all time tormentor Pittsburgh to go to the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately it looks like the dream scenario may go by the wayside.

There’s still a good chance they’ll catch a little bit of luck tomorrow and find a way to win. And if they do, they may just run the table because the matchups are better. But as someone who sat through the Pittsburgh collapses in the 90’s, and heard about the Islanders losses, and sat through the Easter Massacre 3 OT loss to Tampa (I could go on) I have a feeling something bad is coming. The only question is will it be deflating or the swift and sudden gut punch?

Live from the Press Room at Redskins Park

Skins draft observations from tonight

1) Glad Washington took a tackle…he may have more miss potential than the others but his ceiling seems to be higher and the last time Shanny got a first round OT (Ryan Clady) he turned out pretty good

2) Would have like to have seen them trade down, but Shanahan said in his presser there weren’t any partners

3) Would love to see them dump Fat Albert for a 2nd round pick but some are saying they overplayed their hand…I’m hoping that’s not the case.

As for the rest of the draft…

I kinda think that Belichick throwing out the Tebow love tricked McDaniels and the Broncos into taking Timmy at 25 (i.e. “Oh crap, my mentor wants him, I HAVE TO HAVE HIM!”)…The Raiders and the Bills reached for McClain and Spiller, but unlike past years (Heyward-Bey and Whitner anyone) they actually got good football players…again the Steelers stay patient and get the guy they want, and again the Lions panic and give up picks to move up, when their target probably falls to them anyway.

Also, I'm glad Goodell didn't try to rub Drew Brees' birthmark off his face

/Oprah'd

I'm feeling a draft

As a rule I usually don’t analyze the draft; even when I hosted a radio show, the most we ever got into the realm was my “mocking mock draft” where I would crib someone’s best guess and make bad jokes about each of the picks. But, I’ll be helping out with WTOP’s coverage Thursday night (likely making an appearance or two on air) so I guess this qualifies me as some type of expert. So without further adieu, here goes…

As with most teams, the Skins will be looking at 3 different scenarios in round one, trade up, stand pat at 4 or trade down. Let’s start with number one

- Skins trade up to take Quarterback Sam Bradford: since they traded away their 2nd round pick in the McNabb deal, and gave up their 3rd to pick Defensive End Jeremy Jarmon in last year’s supplemental draft they don’t really have a lot of ammunition. Washington could package their pick and Albert Haynesworth (and possibly Jason Campbell) to move up to number one. If I’m St. Louis I do that in a heartbeat as I’d be turning my #1 overall pick into three starters (Haynesworth at DT, Campbell at QB and the Offensive Tackle I take at #4). But I think Shanahan’s too smart (or Allen will keep him grounded enough) to not go after a quarterback after trading for one weeks ago

So if trading up is out of the way standing pat seems to be the course of action…or does it

- Skins stay at number 4: likely this would mean the Redskins would have their choice of the two Okie Offensive Tackles, State’s Russell Okung or OU’s Trent Williams. Either one is a solid pick and they would immediately solidify the offensive line. The wild card here is if the Rams for some reason decide not to pick Bradford and no one trades up to get him. I think Washington would then have to think hard about getting a possible franchise QB, that they wouldn’t have to give up anything extra for.

But even if Bradford did slip, the Redskins wouldn’t want to anger McNabb by already bringing in his understudy. That leads us to scenario 3…

- Skins trade down: I know you’re asking “Don’t they have to have a partner to trade down”? Yes, but that could happen. Flashback to last year’s draft; when Oakland passed on the lock pick of Michael Crabtree at number 7, and reached for Darius Hayward-Bey instead, a Rube Goldberg mechanism was set in motion that let Brian Orakpo slip all the way to number 13 (which in hindsight he had no business falling to). If one of the top three (Bradford, Suh or McCoy) isn’t picked by the top three teams (best bets, Rams take one of the tackles instead of Bradford at #1 or the Lions grab an offensive tackle at #2) then the Skins should have a nice bargaining chip to grab some picks in rounds 2 and 3.

So remember, root for the first 3 names called to not be Bradford, Suh and McCoy; if that’s the case, things might get awful interesting for Skins fans.

Now this is an affont to god!

Sorry Jerry...at least your stadium is for a pro football team...

http://thepigskindoctors.com/2010/04/texas-high-school-gets-60-million-football-stadium/

Good Grief.

I was drunk...IN A BAR

When Jerry Jones first bought the Dallas Cowboys back in 1989, at least on the national stage, he had a lot of similarities to the fictional character J.R. Ewing; namely he was a flamboyant oil man who was ruthless (at least that was the impression after he fired the legendary Tom Landry). Of course as time went on, Jerry would become successful in the football business as the teams built by he and Jimmy Johnson (most say almost entirely built by Johnson) would go on to win 3 Super Bowls.

And after that, things started to suck. Slowly the Cowboys went from being number one to 5 and 11. Three straight seasons of it. After that was done, Jones made a good move, and hired noted turnaround artist Bill Parcells. The Tuna comes, goes to the playoffs twice and makes the team respectable, but more importantly drafts the talent that is fueling the current run of division titles (07 and 09) for the Cowboys. Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Marion Barber, Miles Austin, DeMarcus Ware, Terence Newman and Bradie James (aka THE CORE OF THEIR TEAM) all brought in by Parcells.

So after that little history lesson we fast forward to this week where JJ let this gem fly in some Texas watering hole (sounds like a piano bar – nice choice Jerry)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHcK3D3HsEE

First off, doesn’t it seem just a smidge unbecoming of a multimillionaire to not only be drunk, but piss drunk at a bar. Now I can’t say that I disagree with him about Tebow, because I don’t think he’s going to be any good either. But let’s get to the fun part of this thing; his comments about Parcells. One of the patrons asks him, if he owned the Jaguars, would he bring in Tebow to sell jerseys (to all the Florida fans that would immediately become Jags fans, if they aren’t already). Jerry responds,

That's the only reason I brought in Bill Parcells…Bill's not worth a s**t. I love him. (good to see that Jerry says his friends aren’t worth a shit – come to think of it, this is probably what happened when he got drunk at that bar after the Super Bowl, talked crap about Jimmy Johnson and Jimmy ended up quitting)… Not worth a s**t, but I wanted — they were on my ass so bad. J's (Jerry’s) gotta have a yes man. So to get this f**kin' stadium, I need to bring his ass in.

That my friends is class personified. A guy who’s been to three Super Bowls and won 2 isn’t “worth a s**t”. This guy is freaking delusional. I never like to praise Parcells (not after what his Giants used to do to the Redskins) but I have to give the devil his due; he’s a great coach. In a sense Jerry saying he had to bring Parcells in to get the stadium built is true, but not for the reasons he states. He says it’s because he had to give the impression to the powers that be that Dallas was headed in the right direction. No Jerry, you had to have the Tuna come save your ass from the mess you had made (3 five and elevens in a row folks) so the taxpayers actually felt like helping pay for the affront to God you built in North Texas.

Obviously, I want to see the Skins win the Super Bowl this year, but I’ll be rooting for the Dolphins as well. I’m sure Parcells (the football czar in Miami now) wouldn’t mind getting the Lombardi Trophy at the stadium that his “ass” helped build.