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.

I don't like to toot my own horn, but TOOT, TOOT!

From my blog entry from March 15th entitled, "Why the Skins were right to sign Larry Johnson"...

In essence I’d forgotten about the 2005 Clinton Portis; the guy who made the runs against the Giants and Eagles late in the season where he had defenders chasing him to the edge, and then kicked it up 2 gears. Don’t forget, CP came into the league at 204 pounds. He’s currently listed at 221. Of course, he added the muscle to avoid getting beat to smithereens after he came to DC and Joe Gibbs decided to run him like John Riggins. I’d like to see if Portis slimmed down and worked on his speed (and practiced regulary) what he could accomplish in the Shanahan offense. He was great in Denver. If he slims down and still can’t run away from anyone, we have our answer folks.

From Today's Redskins Insider by the Washington Post's Jason Reid, entry entitled, "Shanahan expects Portis to 'be in great shape' and at a lower weight"

Of course, perfect attendance is not enough for Shanahan. He expects Portis to be in top shape for the season.

"He was 205 or 210 pounds and averaged [nearly] six yards a carry for two years [with the Broncos]. That's what I expect him to be - in great shape and doing the things he's always done with me. He knows he's got to be lighter, sure.

"I think we'll know as time goes on [what Portis's playing weight should be]. ... I haven't talked to him about it, but I would say that he'll probably be shooting at 210, 212, 214 range. I think Clinton knows what's best for him and his body, what type of offense we run with the zone blocking scheme that gives him the best chance to be successful."

Should I do this now or later?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F11rXOUF5o

The stakes just got a whole lot higher...

January 9th, 1988. It's a date that Washington sports fans should never forget; but it’s one almost no one remembers. On that winter Saturday, one of the bigger NFL playoff upsets took place as the Wild Card Minnesota Vikings (who barely made the playoffs that year at 8-7 in the strike shortened season) knocked off the 13-2 San Francisco 49ers, the odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl that year. And it really wasn't that close as Minnesota put up huge yardage totals on the way to the 12 point win. Now the reason this one had significance in DC was that it switched homefield advantage from the Niners to the winner of the next day's game between the Redskins and the homestanding Chicago Bears. Of course you probably know what happened, Doug Williams throws a few TD's, Darrell Green returns a punt and Joe Gibbs squad went from looking at playing 2 playoff games on the road to hosting the NFC Championship game - and winning it to go to the Super Bowl where they beat Denver. Suffice to say, the Skins caught a huge break that year and the turned it into a Lombardi Trophy.

Fast forward to this year's NCAA Tournament. Kansas, pretty much the slight favorite over Kentucky to win it all, goes out in a Saturday 2nd round game, to "traditional power" (sarcasm intended) Northern Iowa. You know who the Panthers face next? The winner of Sunday's Maryland - Michigan State game. Now while Northern Iowa can play some ball, facing them isn't the daunting task of playing Kansas. So it’s very possible, that if the Terps can navigate their way through the Spartans (no gimmie considering MSU's propensity to dominate in rebounding) they could be looking at a relative breather to the regional final...or at least not having to play Kansas.

Why the Skins were right to sign Larry Johnson

To start this off, if you;re anti-Johnson because of his comments on twitter (not going to defend them) I’m not going to change your mind, so stop reading.

All week long I’ve listened to the outrage on sports talk radio and read the anger in print about the Redskins signing free agent running back Larry Johnson last weekend. And while the argument that he’s a bad person (the gay slurs used on twitter, being violent towards women, generally a dick) is a valid one, it’s not the only one I’ve heard. Johnson is done! He’s the same running back Portis is! It just amazes me that people – in a football sense – could be so dumb.

I see three main reasons for bringing this guy in…

1 - Cheap and available – The old Spurrier argument when he picked up every Florida Gator that was in the NFL at the time. While all of those guys had proven (repeatedly) that they sucked, LJ isn’t to that point, yet. On the surface his 3 year, 12 million dollar deal looks expensive, but its supposedly pretty backloaded and if he doesn’t produce, Washington should be able to get out of it pretty easily without being hamstrung.

2 – Johnson is no shrinking violet – Because he was arguably the best running back in college and the NFL at one point, he’s got an ego. Probably bigger than it should be, but its there. Unlike Ladell Betts and Rock Cartwright who silently grumbled while they carried the load in practice while Clinton Portis “rested up” for games I can’t see Johnson being a caddy for CP this year. Johnson is going to make sure he plays and if he doesn’t, it will be because Portis had a resurgence unseen before in running backs his age (he turns 29 in September). Betts and Cartwright likely didn’t say anything because they knew it wouldn’t be good for their careers, considering Clinton’s chummy relationship with Daniel Snyder. You get the feeling Johnson’s the type of guy who will just be a general nuisance to Mike Shanahan if he feels like he’s being shortchanged…or he’ll go up to CP, bitch about him not practicing, and then punch him in the face. Either way, I get the feeling Portis will be challenged in camp for the first time in ages.

3 – a Portis/Johnson backfield is a perfect fit – LJ a 230 pound bruiser and CP the one cut, home run threat. But Jeremy, you’ve told anyone who would listen for the last 3 years that Portis is done! True, but I watched this a few weeks ago…

http://www.hulu.com/watch/124239/team-highlights-2005-washington-redskins

In essence I’d forgotten about the 2005 Clinton Portis; the guy who made the runs against the Giants and Eagles late in the season where he had defenders chasing him to the edge, and then kicked it up 2 gears. Don’t forget, CP came into the league at 204 pounds. He’s currently listed at 221. Of course, he added the muscle to avoid getting beat to smithereens after he came to DC and Joe Gibbs decided to run him like John Riggins. I’d like to see if Portis slimmed down and worked on his speed (and practiced regulary) what he could accomplish in the Shanahan offense. He was great in Denver. If he slims down and still can’t run away from anyone, we have our answer folks.

ZOOperstars

Disclaimer – this blog entry was written under the influence of drugs…though they were just antibiotics so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Do you ever have one of those moments where you laugh hysterically at something that is quite stupid, fully realizing you’d crush people for doing the same? Happened to me when I saw this…

http://www.zooperstars.com/Characters/ZOO_Characters.asp

Inflatable characters, based on real athletes (or pop culture icons), that are here for your enjoyment! Good Grief. Just look at some of these guys, say the names out loud, and try not to laugh. Clammy Sosa! Cow Ripken, Jr! Dick Flytale! Mackerel Jordan! And my personal favorite…Snail Earnhardt, Jr.

On second thought, I’d better check that prescription again.

Bonus Action – a compilation of mascots eating people. Brilliant!

http://deadspin.com/5485997/a-childrens-treasury-of-mascots-eating-people/gallery/

What a Game!

Not much else you can say about the Olympic Hockey matchup between the US and Canada. Just edge of your seat television (just like playoff hockey – if you have a dog in the fight)! Couple things I took from the game;

1) If you’re a fan of any team in the Eastern Conference, you should be really worried if your squad draws Buffalo in the first round. Sabres (and team USA starter) goalie Ryan Miller is REALLY good. If you can make some of the stops he made against Canada (and their Murder’s Row of scorers) you can do it against anyone in the league.

2) If you’re a Caps fan, don’t let your Pittsburgh hatred blind you to the talent of Sidney Crosby. Yeah he’s a twerpy little prick, but damn if he doesn’t know how to put the puck in the net. The goal that made it 4-3 wasn’t spectacular, but knowing when to get to the net and then scoring when you’re there is a huge talent.

3) Chris Drury may go down as one of our greatest American sports heroes. The Rangers captain not only was part of a Stanley Cup winner (Colorado), he also won the NCAA’s player of the year award, and he already has a silver medal from the 2002 Olympics. If he and the rest of Team USA can pull off a gold in Vancouver, he’ll be a major part of 2 world champion teams in 2 sports. Drury was the winning pitcher in the US team’s win over Taiwan in the 1989 Little League World Series (and this was back when Taiwan was putting 6 foot 14 year olds with mustaches out on the field).

BONUS THOUGHT!

I managed to catch some of the Czech Republic vs. Russia game, including Ovie’s big check that laid Jaromir Jagr out; like I said on Facebook, Ted Leonsis probably got a boner when he saw that.

Who Da...(no I'm not doing that crap)

I rooted for the Saints yesterday.

Not because of Katrina (a truly devastating situation, but like Pittsburgh in the 70’s, did Terry Bradshaw touchdown passes help the steel industry; no, not really).

Not because the Saints had been putrid for years.

No, I rooted for the Saints on Super Sunday, because the Colts had offended my sensibilities.

When Indianapolis coach Jim Caldwell, pulled Peyton Manning and the rest of the Colts key starters at halftime in his team’s second to last game of the year (a game that THEY HAD THE LEAD IN by the way), it, for the lack of a better term, pissed me off. To paraphrase someone else, when the Colts removed Peyton Manning against the Jets and put in Curtis Painter (Who? Exactly!) they spit in the face of perfection. Indy was 14 and 0 going into that game, and considering the way they beat New York in the AFC Championship game, they probably would have run their record to 15 and 0. While I despise Bill Belichik, I respect the fact that he figured out a basic premise; there are now 44 Super Bowl winners (42 when the 2007 Patriots were playing the Giants), there’s only one NFL team with a perfect season in their back pocket (’72 Miami). If you can do both why not shoot for it? That’s why America still remembers those geezers that played for the Dolphins. If not for the fact they all start getting interviewed the minute someone makes a run at perfection, no one would know most of those players.

But when I think more about it, it wasn’t just the decision to pull everyone and give up a game; my anger came as much from the faulty logic that resulted in the decision. Reportedly the decision to pull starters at the half came from the Colts Team President, Bill Polian. This guy is a genius at picking players; he’s built three franchises from the bottom up (early 90’s Bills, expansion Carolina and the Colts). But he never was the coach of a football team at any type of high level, so I can’t understand how he was qualified to make a day to day decision about a squad that was contending for a Super Bowl. It’s comparable to Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein telling his manager Terry Francona, “I want you to go to a 7 man pitching rotation down the stretch”. Francona (the guy who actually deals with the players day to day) would probably not like that since he wants his pitchers to stay in their normal rhythm in a 5 man rotation. If Epstein made him do it, he’d likely be pilloried in the press. Polian should be too.

The main point behind the Colts pulling nearly half of their team and virtually guaranteeing themselves the first loss of the year was so that they would be fresh and not suffer any injuries – of course this didn’t matter the next week when Manning, Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne all played on a treacherous snowy field in Buffalo to pass individual milestones. I find two things wrong with that hypothesis. One, guys get hurt all the time, randomly; Dwight Freeney getting hurt for the Colts was huge, and oh yeah, it happened late in the AFC Championship when Indy already had the game in hand. Two, I still don’t think giving football players more than one week off from their regular schedule has any benefit. This year’s win by the Saints was the first time a top seed in conference has won the Super Bowl since 2004 when the Patriots took home the title. It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that teams who have clinched the top spot (and who have gone on to rest players during their “meaningless” end of season games) have all not managed to make it to the big game. When you get out of rhythm in this league you lose, and to me, there’s not a better way to get out of rhythm, than to go three or four weeks without playing hard for an entire game.

So that brings me back to my original point. The Colts were wrong for basically tanking a game, and giving up their undefeated season. And if they had won yesterday, the Indy “braintrust” (and I use that term loosely in this situation) would have claimed their approach was right. Peyton Manning would have had to sit there and be happy about having the Lombardi Trophy, all the while knowing that he and his teammates would have been immortal if they had gone 19 and 0. Instead, the Saints, a team that also made a run at perfection, gave their best shot but lost, ended up winning the title. Karma or Katrina they took home the win. Hopefully, other teams that have a chance at going for an undefeated season will follow their lead, and not the team from Indiana, that might have just outsmarted themselves.

Absolutely Favre-u-lous

So I realize that I haven’t written anything in a month and a half…but only one thing could get me back to writing; Brett Lorenzo Favre. Yes the “heroic” quarterback of your Minnesota Vikings (after his one year detour in New York, and..ahem…his career in Green Bay). As you can tell by my tone, I’m not much of a Favre fan. His act of blaming everyone else for the Packers bad play – even though he had let his mechanics go to pot and was about half the quarterback he was in the Holmgren glory days – got old with me pretty quickly. The sad end to his Green Bay tenure and his tour around the NFL after the fact was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In other words, you can probably call me a “hater”. So in the interest of fairness, I want to lay out the positives from the Vikings overtime loss to the Saints on Sunday.

1) Favre played great; he threw for over 300 yards and for most of the game was the smart, ageless QB he’s been all year long. Some of his throws were just amazing for any quarterback, much less a 40 year old

2) His offensive teammates let him down big time. The Vikes were credited with 6 fumbles with Adrian Peterson leading the way with 2 (the fumbled exchange was credited to Favre, even though AP clamped down on the ball with his hands, instead of letting Brett put it in his breadbasket – where I come from, that’s on the running back)

But with all that said, I have to talk about the point I’ve stressed with Brett Favre for years now; he has a funny habit of throwing away the biggest games at crunch time. Happened 2 years ago against the Giants in overtime…happened in 2003 against the Eagles when he threw that moon ball that Brian Dawkins picked off to set up the game winning TD…happened with his 6 interception game against the Rams in 2001…and it happened again on Sunday.

Now some folks, whose opinions on football I respect, have had all kinds of rebuttals on the final interception against the Saints, mostly ranging from his team let him down, to no one play lost the game, to he was in the heat of the moment. Can’t say I agree with any of those, but people are entitled to them. Here is what I saw…

After the Vikings got that horrible 12 men in the huddle penalty, they had a 55 yard field goal in their pocket, with a pretty good kicker on the sidelines, and this is key, the ability to run the clock all the way down to hardly any time left before using their time out. Not to say a 55 yarder is a chip shot by any means but it’s worth a shot if a miss leads to overtime. The 3rd down play, which according to Favre was called before the penalty and the time out that preceded it and was unchanged, was a roll out (quarterback moves toward the sideline – usually makes for an easier throw and he has the ability to run for yardage if there is some there). At this point I’m sure the coaches said the following; “make a safe throw, run it if you’ve got open space (because they still had a timeout to stop the clock) or throw it away”. At first Favre followed number one (as he didn’t force the intended throw), he didn’t do number 2 (because he wasn’t sure if he could get enough yardage to matter) but he sure has hell didn’t do number 3 as he threw across his body, back into the middle of the field (the cardinal sin for a quarterback). Anyway the ball gets picked, no field goal try for the Vikings, and the Saints get the ball first in overtime and never give it back. In this case, even a short run wasn’t death for Minnesota as remember, they still had a timeout, good field position and a chance to let Favre sling it to get another first down.

In my 4 most recent years of coaching youth football (ages 8-11) we’ve run a variation of the same roll out that Favre did on Sunday. We always tell the kids, if the guy isn’t open, run it. Most of the time (I’d say 80%) the kid either hits the open guy or takes off running. You’d think that a future Hall of Famer, who’s had almost 20 years of NFL football under his belt would be able to make the decision 100% of the time, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case for Viking fans on Sunday.

I told pretty much everyone I knew, that for reasons I outlined earlier, I wished that Favre’s 2009 season would end like it did in 2007…throwing the game losing interception. While there was a lot of hope in that, there was also some insight to the dream/prediction; after all, I’d seen the movie before.

Brett Lorenzo Favre – leader in Career playoff interceptions: 30 (2 on Sunday broke his tie with Jim Kelly); His playoff record since losing to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII at the end of the 1997 season…4-7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHbh-kt-PFA

Why you HAD to cut the Kicker

After Shaun (yeah that's actually how he spells it) Suisham missed the chippy on Sunday, that eventually spelled doom for the Skins after LaRon "What is this position of Safety you speak of" Landry botched another coverage, I said to myself, "This tool needs to be cut". Bottom Line, you miss a 23 yarder, with any game on the line - unless Tony Romo is your holder - your ass needs to be on the next flight out of town. Anyway, the Skins waited a couple of days, mulled the decision over, and brought in some kickers to tryout, before they cut Suisham, negating the "accountability" message that you try to send by cutting a kicker before he gets on the bus after a loss.

Since Shaun got the axe, I've seen way too much of the following..."He's just a scapegoat for the team blowing the game to the Saints" or "Great idea Danny and Vinny, everybody else screwed up, so fire the kicker" or "he had made 18 straight to start the season...and he'd only missed three field goals...and he's nice...and he's Canadian...and, and, and". E-NOUGH! Seriously folks, that "hoser" (Canadian Tribute) has missed every big kick that he's ever tried.

2007 Playoffs against Seattle - botches a 30 yarder that would have put us up by 4; Seahawks take the momentum back, score…we lose

2009 vs. Dallas - Zorn plays for the field goal, (which I knew was stupid, but what does Zorn do that isn't stupid nowadays) Suisham misses from 50, this after he had already missed a 39 yarder at the end of the half.

Last week - you miss a 23 yarder, that would clinch a win over a team, that now may go undefeated...sorry boss, you lose.

Like I told someone Sunday Night; the UFL ended the day after Thanksgiving; the Grey Cup Game ended the CFL season last weekend. That's 12 teams...one of their kickers has to be able to do better than this douche. We'll find out on Sunday in Oakland..."Graham Gano, COME ON DOWN"!

The guy's just a douche...

I played 5 seasons of College Football. Two years of club ball at George Mason, and three seasons in Division III at Hampden-Sydney. When I was first being recruited to HSC, they told me about their quarterback. He was a senior starter who was going have all the passing records by the time he was done. Seemed perfect right? Not so much. Admittedly we didn't have the best talent, but you'd think that a record setting QB would lift us up; didn't happen that way. If you were looking for all the bad qualities in a quarterback, this guy had them. He REALLY didn't like to get hit, he didn't like to work out, and he'd claim injuries bad enough to keep him from practicing, while never managing to get into the training room to get them worked on (which called his injuries into question). Add all of that to the fact that he really wasn't too friendly with most of the guys on the team and the whole situation wasn't good for morale.

Fast forward to the next year. We bring in a Quarterback who hadn't played in three years, but at one point had been a successful high school QB. He was also kinda goofy and deaf in one ear. But the guy played his ass off, was fearless, talked to everybody and played with injuries (separated shoulder in his first game). Despite the fact the guy wasn't the biggest fan of working out, we still loved him and played hard alongside our quarterback.

That story isn't exactly analagous to the Skins fight in the Georgia Dome with Falcons, but it’s pretty darn close. Earlier in the week on his radio show, Lavar Arrington was incredulous about how slow DeAngelo Hall's Redskins teammates were to come to his aid after he was surrounded by Falcons on their sideline (remember, that's after Hall ran over there, to extract late hitting LaRon Landry from the situation - though it looked like Hall was more interested in jawing than peacemaking)

From Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog

"You want to know what type of team you're cheering for, pull that clip up. Pull that up.... You had no heart. I don't care, you hearing me say it? Good. I don't need to be afraid, I don't need to be nervous. I see y'all don't get down like that. Y'all don't get down like no true riders....
"They're swarming DeAngelo, and nobody's helping him. I would have been up in that pile, oh, I'm telling you, it would have been WWF up in there.....I could have counted on one hand how many dudes was standing there, watching it. Watching it. That's why we can't win. You want to know why we can't win? It's clear and simple. That's why we can't win....
"I don't even know that I would rampage the way that I'm rampaging right now if it was the offense, because I know they're soft. I know you've got a bunch of soft dudes on the offensive side. This is the wrong side of the ball to see the behavior that we saw on Sunday. I'm sorry. Bodies should have been flying....
"There's gonna be a head count when I get finished, or you're gonna be picking me up off of the ground, whichever one comes first. I am all in. I would have ran into that crowd 100 miles an hour, smoking. Call me stupid, call me dumb, call me boneheaded, call me undisciplined, call me what you want to call me. That's a coach grabbing on my teammate, that's the head coach pushing on my teammate, saying I'm gonna kick your [behind]. I am running in that pileup head on, 100 miles an hour, let's go, CHOO CHOO! I don't care if I've got to walk in the locker room after that. I don't care. That's heart. We're playing with heart. I saw no heart. I saw no heart. I saw no dedication, no accountability for my fellow man out there on that field, and it came from the side of the ball that I would have never thought it would have came from."

Ok...in most situations I agree with LaVar. You have to stand up for your teammates, especially if the other team is intimidation mode. You have to show they aren't going to push you around.

But, this is a special case. Notice a few things from the fight; it seemed like the whole Falcon team was ready to kill DeAngelo Hall. Maybe that's because he was about to get in a fight with their head coach, maybe not. Maybe it’s the fact that the folks left over from Hall's time in Atlanta think he's selfish, overrated and was a bad teammate. Over on the other side of the ball, maybe the Skins didn’t rush to his aid because they’re all soft and have no heart. Maybe the Skins Defense didn’t defend him because they’re tired of DeAngelo getting paid much more than most everyone else, while not making textbook NFL tackles (Carolina game - Jake Delhomme, Atlanta game - Michael Turner, Giants game - Mario Manningham) due to a lack of effort or guts. I know, I know, DeAngelo gets paid to intercept passes, not tackle. Well, he's not Deion (thank goodness, I couldn't go through that again) and I've got 10 and 11 year olds on my B-League team that can make interceptions on tipped balls. Ain't that big of a deal and don’t get me started on how this guy points the finger every week, while never changing the way he plays.

I could be wrong on all of this; it’s possible. But put it this way; if it had been London Fletcher, or Cornelius Griffin or Rocky MacIntosh or LaRon Landry (and remember Landry was on the sideline before he calmly walked back on the field with the man he hit, Matt Ryan) or any other RESPECTED member of the team, would the Skins have sat idly by and let their teammate get roughed up?

The latest story illustrating why the Skins will never win big again...

From Deadspin.com by Drew Magary http://deadspin.com/5401513/if-dan-snyder-sees-bugs-you-better-well-see-them-too

I heard this story on LaVar Arrington's 106.7 FM radio show here in DC last week. A fan called in to tell Arrington and co-host Chad Dukes about an exterminator he knew. The exterminator was called to Snyder's house to spray for pests. When the exterminator arrived, the housekeeper instructed him where to go spray. But the exterminator found no signs of pests in the space. He came down to tell the housekeeper there was no need to spray, and he didn't want to take Snyder's money for a service the Redskins owner didn't need performed (clearly, this man was honest to a fault).

The housekeeper insisted the exterminator spray the area anyway, telling the man that Snyder hated to be told he was wrong, and that it would be better for everyone if he simply sprayed the area, took his money, and went about his business. But, he explained, there's nothing there. There's no need to spray. She insisted. Apparently, you REALLY do not want to tell Dan Snyder there are no pests in his house if he believes otherwise. So the man sprayed the area for no reason, took Snyder's money, and left.

And now you know why the Redskins are considering signing Larry Johnson.

God help us here in DC.

27 makes me think of '97...

Didn't watch a bit of the Yankees take home championship #27 tonight; just couldn't bring myself to do it. Kind of reminded me of the time the Cowboys beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl during my junior year of high school. By that point the Cowboys were established as a super team (even though ironically it would be the final time they would even come close to winning a Super Bowl) and I knew the Steelers - who due to Pennsylvania family ties, I had a rooting interest in - had no shot of beating Dallas. So, I hardly watched the game because I couldn't bring myself to watch the Cowboys celebrate. Pretty much like this series. Once the Yanks won two in Philly, I knew the Phills were done and I didn't want to watch New York be happy.

But when I see the Yankees do well, I can't help but think about my favorite baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles. As a long suffering O's fan, it truly hurts to watch postseason baseball, because you know your team has no shot of making it. Between the fact that our organization is bad, and that we can't compete with the huge payrolls of the Yanks and Sox, no postseason ball is coming to Charm City anytime soon.

There was a time though, when the O's could stand toe to toe with the Yankees and actually compete. In 1996 Baltimore pulled off the upset of upsets, knocking off the defending AL Champion Indians before falling to the Yanks in the ALCS (if you'll remember that was the game where that little bastard Jeffrey Maier reached over the railing and kept Tarasco from catching the Jeter homer...Yankees take the lead and win the next four). Then in 1997 the O's were the team to beat. Knocked off New York for the division and then stomped Seattle in the wild card. We were going to the World Series! And then Armando Benitez blew a couple games and we pissed another one away on a crazy play and the Indians went on to the Series.

And that would be pretty much be it for Baltimore baseball fans. Peter Angelos would fire the manager the day he won the Manager of the Year award (because he had a rift with Robbie Alomar - the same one who spit on the ump and the same one who would play exactly one more year in B-more) and we haven't had a winning season since.

So pardon me if I can't bear to watch the Yankees win another World Series. It hurts too much. But, it could be worse...I could live in Pittsburgh. Sigh.

OK, so I lied...

So I said that I'd have a post-game wrap-up after the Skins played the Eagles; yes, I could break down what happened at FEDEX on Monday night, but I don't have to. You have eyes! The defense played pretty good but gave up too many big plays, Campbell is regressing behind a subpar offensive line, and the whole team just makes too many mistakes to win. Watch ESPN, NFL Network or Comcast Sports Net and you'll get some form of the former in the next few days.

But an interesting idea struck me as I was watching all the postgame shows on the above channels; what would I say to Snyder right now if I had the chance? What would my plan be if I was one of his trusted advisors? Of course in the real world (because it wouldn't happen) I'd say, "Sell the Team" or "Fire Cerrato and get a real General Manager". But, if I had to come up with a course of action for "Mr. Snyder" for the rest of the season, with those two plans not an option, it would be the following (though it would take some guts and some humility - which reportedly the Skins owner is in short supply of)

Step one - Fire Jim Zorn Tuesday Morning. I know this would contradict Vinny's proclamation about the Z-Man's job security on his radio show Friday, but I would present it with the following words; "After listening to Jim after last night's tough loss to the Eagles, I decided that he just didn't have what it takes to lead us out of our current situation. I do not know if this team is talented enough to compete with the best the NFL has to offer. But I do know this; our team's execution is not up to par and that falls on the head coach. I have decided that we would like to move forward in a new direction" That’s it, that's all you have to say.

Step two - immediately hire Defensive Secondary Coach Jerry Gray as the interim head coach. You can tell the press this; "Jerry Gray has played and coached in the NFL and has learned from some of the best in the business. We believe he will bring some toughness, and attention to detail that our team has lacked over the past few years" Gray makes the most sense, as he's been a defensive coordinator (under Gregg Williams in Buffalo) so he's used to running the show, he's sought head coaching jobs before (which means he'll be interested in doing it to show future employers what he can do), and there's no one else that’s a realistic choice (Greg Blache doesn't want the headaches, special teams coach Danny Smith is a bit too loose of a cannon, and Sherm Lewis has been out of football too long and just got here 3 weeks ago).

Step three - hold an internal meeting on Wednesday morning in the Auditorium at Redskins Park with players, staff and coaches and give the following speech. "Fellas, this is your new coach, Jerry Gray. You've known him for a while; came to us when Coach Joe took over in 2004. The reason I picked him to be the new head man is simple; he's tough. He played at Texas, played in the NFL, coached in the NFL. HE DOES NOT TAKE CRAP! And that's a good thing, because all I've seen over the last few weeks is CRAP (I'm trying to keep this PG so replace crap with the expletive and jazz it up - feel free)! Your execution sucks, the effort has sucked at times. It's not good enough! Don't know if you guys know this, but it looks like we may be headed for an uncapped year next year. I can cut you all at the drop of a hat, and while I'll still have to pay you your money, none of it will stay on our salary cap. So I'm going to let Jerry do what he has to do to whip you all into shape. And if I hear you're not "interested" in following his lead, rest assured you won't be here next year." While I still think the talent (especially on offense) needs to be upgraded significantly, I also think this is the best way to evaluate what we really have in Ashburn.

Step four - stick to your guns. Let the staff work their magic and let the scouting department see who should be kept and who should be sent packing in 2010. With the murderer's row of a schedule coming up, we know Zorn might ride that baby to 3 and 13. At least give yourself a chance to win.

Step five - Then fire Vinny.

Not too appetizing

Random Huber Thought of the Day

Maybe its just me, but how could you ever eat something with the word spunk on the package? Obviously plenty of people do as this company is still in business www.spunkmeyer.com

The wedding post will have to wait, as we're less than 24 hours away from the "debacle at fedex" tm. If I'm bored at work, I'll offer a few words of preview, but I'll definitely make sure I have a post-game wrap...preferably soon after its over; so that the venom is fresh.