The Curly R: A Washington Redskins Blog

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Eight

2011-10-14T20:30:00.000-04:00

Not getting any younger

Eventually we get to the part where the Redskins played football in RFK for decades. Then left. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium concludes.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Palace Intrigue
Part Seven: The Stadium Becomes Legend
Part Eight: Coda
References

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Responding to requests for specific RFK memories, many polled for this article did not even cite football games. RFK Stadium held other sporting matches, including spring training baseball and international soccer. Dozens of big names played concerts in RFK, including the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, Aerosmith, Yes, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, U2 and The Who, among others.

Today, RFK is in bad shape. The concrete is crumbling, ceilings are sagging and the stadium's only regular tenant, Major League Soccer's DC United, is complaining. One day soon, DC United will be in their own soccer-only stadium, leaving RFK empty once again.

And then what will happen to RFK? Well probably nothing in the near term. After spending six hundred and ten million dollars on a municipal stadium for the Washington Nationals baseball team, there is not much appetite in the District for a new stadium built on spec, with no guaranteed tenant.

Redskins fans wonder why the team cannot simply move back to that site. FedEx Field is old before its time and rumors have persisted for years that while Prince George's County in Maryland is trying to negotiate back the land rights to the stadium site, the District is also negotiating to get the team back right on the RFK Stadium site.

Why can't it happen? Politics. Logistics.

The Redskins have an agreement with Prince George's County to stay in the county until at least 2027, another sixteen years. Both parties, of course, could agree to nullify that contract. Meanwhile, over in the District, Dan Snyder is far too shrewd to agree to any stadium deal that does not involve him owning everything from the dirt up. That means the federal government, which owns the entire stadium site, would have to transfer the land to the District, which would then have to sell it to Dan. Of course these transactions would come with years of haggling, posturing and environmental studies.

The adjacent campus of the defunct DC General Hospital has been in development limbo for a decade, with plans for a riverwalk-style mixed use community drifting aimlessly. No enterprise redevelopment of RFK and the surrounding parcels would be permitted without attached development requirements for this area, similar to what Verizon Center did for Chinatown and what Nationals Stadium is trying to do for the Navy Yard. Who would pay for what and what guarantees could be extracted for community development add to the complexity of any possible deals.

What do Redskins fans really want? What they already had, what they miss: RFK Stadium.

They want Dan Snyder, the famous deal maker, to get it done, to tear down RFK and rebuild it as a modern stadium: Bigger, with the same shape and allure and all the amenities of modern stadiums. Redskins fans want to see that icon back on the horizon from Interstate 295, coming down East Capitol Street, coming off Metro. Redskins fans will accede to Dan Snyder's demands for luxury suites and all the necessities of making money in the modern NFL, as long as they get their beloved RFK back. Call it Son of RFK.

In the end, all Redskins fans have is memories, sometimes hazy ones, and the oral tradition of RFK Stadium to pass down to the next generation.

In our dreams, we all sit under a giant Budweiser clock.

This concludes Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium, I hope you have enjoyed it. Tomorrow we will publish our list of references used for this series.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Seven

2011-10-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Home cooking

Naming the stadium after Bobby Kennedy was an inside baseball affair, bureaucratic infighting at its best. The name change also signaled a change in the fortunes of a franchise. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Palace Intrigue
Part Seven: The Stadium Becomes Legend
Part Eight: Friday
References

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That first season in the newly renamed RFK Stadium, 1969, serves as a bridge to what fans of a certain age think of as the start of the modern era of Redskins football. Vince Lombardi had come to Washington as head coach. Larry Brown, Pat Fischer, Chris Hanburger, Sam Huff, Sonny Jurgenson, Brig Owens and Charley Taylor were all on a team that suffered fewer losses than any Redskins team in fourteen years. RFK sold out every game. Within two years, Billy Kiilmer, Jack Pardee and Richie Petitbon would be on the team that made it to Super Bowl VII, eventually losing to the only undefeated NFL team of all time, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Many of the traditions we took for granted in the 1980s and 1990s were established in this period: Tailgates in Lots 7 and 8 by the river, walking the promenade of vendors from Metro to RFK's front door, bouncing the north side bleachers, asking the guy with the portable radio what just happened because the sound system was always so awful at RFK.

And that is part of what made RFK so great as a football venue, so appropriate for those great Redskins teams of the 70s, 80s and 90s; it was a downscale facility in upscale town. The team and the stadium never seemed to take themselves too seriously even when no city takes itself more seriously than Washington, DC.

The design of the stadium itself became a character in the drama of Redskins football. From above, RFK is a perfect circle, but viewed from the edge, as you would on approach from parking lots or the Metro, the cantilevered roof has curves, like a 1960s calendar girl laying on her side, a lipstick kiss over the month of September. Inside the halls were cavernous, the food basic and the beer cold. Rowdiness of the type seen commonly at FedEx Field today would not ever come to RFK Stadium.

Built for use as a baseball or football venue, the north bleachers swung in and out on an arc rail to clear the outfield. Once the Senators abandoned RFK for good following the 1971 baseball season, the bleachers stayed in place, even though they were not meant as permanent seating. Their attachment to a rail assembly and not the ground itself made them less stable than permanent bleachers, and fans figured out early when things were going well that bouncing in unison would yield a resonant frequency, the visual effect and resulting noise were somewhat startling and lent to the home field advantage.

Looking up, the inward bow of the cantilevered roof was perfectly angled to bounce reflected sound from the stands directly below onto the field, making the venue much louder for the visitors than an otherwise open air stadium of fifty-six thousand might be. This specific design is cited by many Redskins fans as a key weakness of FedEx Field; despite being more than thirty thousand seats larger, all noise generated in the new stadium simply escapes into the open air above. And the cantilevered roof of RFK gaps over the upper deck, offering those in the last row views outside the stadium of the surrounding area, including the US Capitol.

Small and quirky and without a bad seat in the house, Redskins fans wish it never had to end for RFK.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium concludes tomorrow with part eight, Coda.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Six

2011-10-12T09:00:00.002-04:00

LBJ Stadium?

Team owner George Preston Marshall could hold out no longer, black players were coming to the Redskins, but who expected Ernie Davis and Bobby Mitchell? Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Palace Intrigue
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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There is evidence the Kennedy administration maintained contact with the Redskins even after the advent of black players on the team in December 1961. In January of 1962, players and coaches involved in the new collegiate US Bowl were treated to a tour of FBI headquarters and met briefly with Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Among the guests for this event: Redskins head coach Bill McPeak, the coach of the East squad, and newly signed Redskins rookie Ron Hatcher, the first black player to sign with the team. Later, in December 1963, Redskins players would haul presents at a Christmas benefit for needy kids attended by Bobby Kennedy.

Between these two events, the Redskins would improve, playing their best football in five years, averaging forty-one thousand attendance per game and a 5-7-2 record in 1962. Despite falling to 3-11 in 1963, attendance at DC Stadium continued to climb, up to forty-five thousand.

It was in this time that the legacy of Interior Secretary Stewart Udall was established: The man that forced final integration of the NFL using the power of the federal government to force private enterprise to adopt policies of equality through the use, or withholding, of public facilities. Secretary Udall's story was not done here though, he and DC Stadium would come together once more in history.

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After 1963, integration faded as a football issue in Washington, DC. Between 1964 and 1968, many players that would bridge the Redskins from the integration period into the modern era were brought to the team: Bobby Mitchell, Sonny Jurgenson, Sam Huff, Charley Taylor, Paul Krause, Len Hauss, Chris Hanburger. Attendance continued to rise at DC Stadium: Nearly forty-nine thousand per game in 1964; nearly fifty thousand in 1965 and 1966; cresting fifty thousand in 1967 and 1968, the year the Redskins streak of sellout games officially started, the streak is still alive today at over 350 games.

In June of 1968, Bobby Kennedy, then a Democratic Senator from New York, was assassinated in Los Angeles, thrusting the Redskins back into a political fray.

Following the assassination of his brother the president in November 1963, Bobby had stayed on as Attorney General for nine months before resigning to run for Senator in New York. As President, John Kennedy was succeeded by his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson. Tensions between Johnson and the Kennedys were legend. Many of the Kennedy hands resigned before the end of President Johnson's abbreviated term, or were not reappointed when Johnson won the presidential election of 1964.

One Kennedy appointee that did stay through the full Johnson administration was Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. A staunch Kennedy ally, Udall administered his department capably while defending it from political encroachment by a famously strong-willed and self-congratulatory Johnson.

It was during Johnson's full term in office that discussions began on the possibility of renaming DC Stadium in honor of someone, someone worth honoring. President Johnson seemed to think, with no trace of irony that he was the best candidate. The stadium, as the president's thinking went, could be renamed LBJ Stadium, an enduring monument to his political legacy.

Interior Secretary Udall and his coterie of former Kennedy aides, already enduring a difficult relationship with President Johnson, were not pleased with this idea and conspired to prevent the president from naming his own Taj Mahal. Examining laws governing naming of facilities on national parkland, Interior staffers discovered that the Secretary had full naming authority for such facilities, and did not require presidential approval or direction.

Thus did Interior stall any action on the renaming of DC Stadium until the last possible moment, holding the president at bay. Finally, on Saturday January 18, 1969, with two days left in Johnson's presidential term, Udall signed an order to rename DC Stadium after his friend and fellow civil rights activist, Robert Francis Kennedy. DC Stadium would now forever be known as RFK Stadium.

President Johnson was caught by surprise. Secretary Udall's staff had leaked the story to the press with just enough lead time to make reversing the event a political impossibility for the president in his final forty-eight hours in office. Coming just seven months after his assassination, it was the first major monument to the legacy of Bobby Kennedy's accomplishments as a politician.

So no, if you thought DC Stadium was renamed RFK Stadium by the Redskins to honor the man for whom they had developed a grudging respect during the difficult period leading up to integration, you would be wrong. Or if you thought the District, a predominantly black city, renamed the stadium in honor of Bobby Kennedy's fight for racial equality for all, well you would be wrong there too.

Nope, the stadium that became a hallowed football ground to generations of Redskins fans got its name almost arbitrarily, less to honor the namesake than to piss off his rival.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part seven, The Stadium Becomes Legend.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Five

2011-10-11T09:00:00.004-04:00

When Bobby Mitchell came

After deciding to make the Redskins a new home in DC, the government decided to get in George Preston Marshall's business. One way or another, a black player was coming to this team. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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The 1961 NFL season opened for the Redskins with two games on the road before their first game in their new home, the price tag of which had risen to twenty-four million dollars. When Sunday 1 October 1961 finally rolled around, the Redskins lost to the New York Giants in a game that featured Washington scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter behind rookie quarterback Norm Snead to take a commanding 21-7 lead. The Redskins would not score again as New York quarterback YA Tittle led the Giants to seventeen unanswered points.

More than thirty-seven thousand people attended the game, sixteen thousand more than had attended either the 1960 season opener or closer.

Media opinion of the new stadium itself was mixed; DC Stadium was the first of a new breed of stadiums and most viewed it somewhat as a curiosity; its nonstandard lines were off-putting to some and the reflection of noise back from the cantilevered roof was instantly noticeable to others.

There were others at this inaugural game besides fans and media: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people. Angry NAACP supporters picketed the stadium over the team's lack of black players, fifteen years as it was after black players came back to the NFL following the 1933 lockout, and nine years after the next to last team had begun using players of any color on its roster.

Still unsatisfied with the team's position on integration, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall pledged publicly following that first game in DC Stadium that he would personally boycott Redskins games as long as the NAACP continued picketing, which was of course by the NAACP's own position until such time as the Redskins signed black players to the active roster.

It was two more long months before the 1962 draft was held, during which time the Redskins went 0-4 in DC Stadium, averaging nine points per game on offense. When the 1962 NFL Draft was finally held on December 4, 1961, the Redskins famously drafted Ernie Davis first overall. Ernie, a Syracuse tailback, was the first black football player ever to win the Heisman Trophy and was highly coveted in both the NFL and AFL. A bidding war for his services was expected to ensue between the two leagues.

As the story goes, the Redskins traded Ernie's rights less than two weeks later to the Cleveland Browns. In a sad twist of fate, Ernie would never play a down in the NFL, he was diagnosed with leukemia in the 1962 offseason and would succumb to the illness a year later in 1963. In exchange for Ernie, the Redskins would receive Bobby Mitchell, a tailback and flanker who would come to revitalize the Redskins franchise, Bobby was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1983 and remained in the Redskins organization altogether for more than forty years.

But before that trade even happened, something else memorable happened following the draft: The Redskins signed their first black player, eighth round pick Ron Hatcher, a tailback out of Michigan State. Ron was not heralded, and certainly would never have garnered the headlines of an Ernie Davis, still he will always be remembered as the first black player signed by the Redskins, the last team to include players of color in its roster. Ron would appear in three games, amassing no plays for no yards in his one year NFL career.

The cynical eye may regard Ron as the exact token black that Bobby Kennedy and Stewart Udall had no interest in seeing.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part six, Palace Intrigue.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Four

2011-10-10T09:00:00.003-04:00

Colored players need not apply

An intractably racist owner, a presidential administration committed to equal rights. The Redskins and the government were on a collision course. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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Washington's rising new multipurpose venue was at the center of a complex federal-local government partnership, one that thirty-five years later would be a factor in thwarting Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke's efforts to keep the team in the District once RFK was no longer a viable NFL stadium. District of Columbia Stadium would be built on federal parkland, Anacostia Park, a reclaimed spit of land at the far end of East Capitol Street. Managing the stadium and the revenues from its use would be the DC Armory Board, a branch of the DC government created by Congress in 1949 to administer federally owned properties in the District for non-military and commercial uses.

Although the stadium was to be managed by the District, the ultimate authority on its use, or nonuse, was the US Department of the Interior, the federal government entity responsible for administering US parkland resources. Stewart Udall, John Kennedy's Interior Secretary, shared Bobby Kennedy's concern for the Redskins' resistance to integration, and as Interior Secretary, had the authority to back his concern with action.

In March of 1961, as DC Stadium was rising and the Redskins were planning their inaugural season in that new home, Secretary Udall wrote a letter to owner George Preston Marshall, alerting him to certain recent civil rights laws, and the penalties of prosecution for violating them.

Whatever response George and the team offered were not sufficient, for five months later in August of 1961, Secretary Udall wrote a second letter, this one to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. This letter was right to the point: Department of Interior would consider using its authority to prevent the Redskins from using DC Stadium if they did not hire black players. And not just any black players, talented black players, ones that would not simply ride the bench as tokens of compliance.

The Redskins owner shot right back, swearing the Redskins had no hiring bias, it was simply that the Redskins had not yet come across the black players they wanted. To bolster his argument that the Redskins did not actually have a no-blacks policy, George publicly displayed interest in Syracuse star tailback Ernie Davis, a player who happened to be black. And the Redskins had the number one overall pick in the upcoming 1962 NFL Draft, to be held in December.

The government relented and approved the Redskins use of DC Stadium for the 1961 football season.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part five, Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Three

2011-10-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

Colored players need not apply

With the government already agreeing effectively to bail out the Redskins in the form of a new stadium, all that remained was to work out the details. The absence of black players happened to be one of those details. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
References

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While the Redskins were struggling in the present, a famous and influential figure was examining the Redskins past. Senator John F. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, had been elected president in November 1960, upon taking office President Kennedy named his brother Robert, or Bobby, Kennedy as attorney general. Both the president and his brother were vocal proponents of civil rights and racial equality, the president having been in office as a senator during the passage of the first two major civil rights bill in Congress since Reconstruction, in 1957 and 1960.

Bobby Kennedy was personally appalled by the failure of the Redskins to integrate, the team still had not had a black player in George Preston Marshall's entire tenure as owner, dating back twenty-eight years to 1932.

Prior to George joining the fraternity of NFL owners, there had been a handful of black NFL players between 1920 and 1933, most notably Fritz Pollard. At his first meeting as an NFL owner in February 1933, George floated a package of proposals, many of which individually would be seminal in the development of the NFL as a sport of mass appeal: That the league should be split into Divisions, better to host a World Championship game; that the old school 'fat' football should be slimmed down so as to facilitate the passing game; and that the goalposts should be moved to the goal line so as to increase scoring.

George's package also included one unfortunate proposal: That roster spots should be denied, indefinitely, to black players.

The proposal before the owners was approved, with the inclusion of the lockout of black players. The proposal might not have passed were it not for the endorsement of the plan by Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas; many believe Halas was agreeing to take the bad with the good for the better of the league.

And so the NFL did not have any black players between 1933 and 1946, thirteen long years. By 1952, every team but the Redskins had at least one black player. And nine years later in 1961 the Redskins still were all-white.

But Bobby Kennedy had found a way to exert influence on the team and its headstrong owner: Threaten to take away DC Stadium from the Redskins before they had even played in it.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part four, A Complex Relationship.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Two

2011-10-08T09:00:00.003-04:00

Shovel ready

By the 1960 season, the Washington Redskins had long faded from their heights of the 1930s and 40s, attendance was winding down and the city was rapidly falling out of love with NFL football. Who better to rescue the team than the government? Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Race and Football
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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With Griffith Field already forty-six years old and no new local stadium projects on the horizon, in June of 1957, US Representative Oren Harris, Democrat of Arkansas, proposed legislation to authorize construction of a fifty thousand seat, municipal stadium in the District of Columbia. Representative Harris was a well known supporter of sports business, also proposing in 1957 that the NFL be granted an antitrust exemption in the style of baseball's, in place since 1922.

By June of 1958 the US Treasury had agreed to guarantee bonds worth up to six million dollars, the principal projected cost of the stadium project. One month later in July President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill authorizing construction of the stadium into law. The new venue would be called District of Columbia Stadium, or DC Stadium for short. It would be located at the end of East Capitol Street, hard by the Anacostia River.

The first shovel went into the dirt on the site of RFK Stadium in July 1960. What emerged over the next fifteen months was the first of a generation of multiuse, or 'cookie-cutter' stadiums. Round or slightly oblong, with cantilevered roofs and miles on concrete, these venues were designed to accommodate 1960s appetites for both football and baseball, though in the end by modern standards they did both relatively poorly.

Other stadiums that would rise in the decade that followed and look an awful lot like DC Stadium included Shea Stadium (1964), Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (1965), Busch Stadium (1966), San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium (1967), Three Rivers Stadium (1970), Riverfront Stadium (1970) and Veterans Stadium (1971).

That fall and winter the Redskins would stagger through their 1960 season, finishing 1-9-2. In a move trumping even future owner Dan Snyder's postgame firing of head coach Jim Zorn in January 2010, team owner George Preston Marshall fired head coach Mike Nixon before the team's 38-28 season ending loss to future Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgenson and the Philadelphia Eagles.

In coach Nixon's place the owner would promote 34 year old Bill McPeak, an assistant under Mike Nixon with no previous head coaching experience.

The Redskins were limping into their new home by the river.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part three, Football and Race.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part One

2011-10-07T09:30:00.005-04:00

What came before

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, former home of the Washington Redskins, celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2011, on October 1st. Fifteen years gone are the stadium's football days of tailgates, bouncing bleachers, noise and home field advantage. Today RFK sits, an aging memorial to past glory, slowly decaying by the Anacostia River, still looking down East Capitol Street toward Capitol Hill and the government that gave birth to it, then nearly took it away.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Race and Football
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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When quarterback Ralph Guglielmi and the Redskins jogged off the field for the last time to end the 1960 season, a 38-28 loss to Sonny Jurgenson and the Philadelphia Eagles, the once-proud Washington NFL franchise was in complete freefall. The team had won one game that season, and a total of four over the two season tenure of head coach Mike Nixon.

Season ticket subscriptions had been below ten thousand for three years and Griffith Stadium, the twenty-five thousand seat baseball stadium the Redskins had called home since moving to Washington in 1937, was showing every bit of its fifty years of continuous service.

Much as it must seem a generation ago to today's fans that the Redskins were a feared team in the 1980s and early 1990s, so it must have felt to those fans in 1960 about the dominant teams of the 1930s and 1940s, when Slinging Sammy Baugh and the Redskins appeared in six NFL Championships in a ten year span. The Redskins had fallen on hard times.

The horizon was bright though. Washington had the number two overall pick in the 1961 draft, and were set to move into their new, fifty thousand seat, federally funded municipal stadium just down the street from the US Capitol for the 1961 season.

But before the field that would later be known as RFK Stadium could become the new home of the Redskins, before it could assume its place of honor in the hearts of Redskins fans and be iconic in the NFL community by its name alone, the Redskins would be forced to confront the modern realities of racial integration, risk losing the stadium altogether, and navigate a playing field as political as the city of Washington itself.

In the end the Redskins would integrate, the last NFL team to do so, and be rewarded immediately with a future Hall of Fame player. Later the team would be forever linked by tragedy with the man most responsible for the team's racial integration.

This is the story of RFK Stadium.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part two, Government Intervention.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Coming Tomorrow: The History of RFK

2011-10-06T09:00:00.002-04:00

Sunday best

Last Saturday, a Washington milestone passed: The fiftieth anniversary of the opening of RFK Stadium. It was precisely fifty years ago, 1 October of 1961, that the Redskins played their first game in what was then known as DC Stadium. The Redskins would play every home game there for the next thirty-six years, through the 1996 season.

The stadium, the experience, the emotion, the home field advantage all became part of the culture of the nation's capital. Redskins fans over a certain age (40? 35?) get wistful just at the mention of RFK.

Now, it has been fifteen years since the Redskins played at RFK. Fifteen long seasons in Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, later known as Redskins Stadium, now known as FedEx Field. None of it is the same, nothing in that stadium captures anything of the experience of RFK.

I worry that Washington and Redskins fans at large are losing this part of our history. Why do I worry?

Because this milestone went largely unnoticed. Last week, Tom Boswell of the Washington Post wrote a column on the occasion, it was mostly a misty eyed revisitation of his youth, the early days of RFK and what it meant to have that thing in your neighborhood. A colleague told me Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban and Thom Loverro discussed the occasion on The Sports Reporters on ESPravda 980 this week, wondering aloud if RFK was not drifting out of memory and into lore.

It should not. I will not be letting this moment pass without giving RFK Stadium its proper due. All through the Redskins bye week, we will be running a special eight part series on the history of RFK Stadium, how it came to pass, how it was almost taken from us, and how the Redskins became forever intertwined with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Starting tomorrow. Only on Curly R.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Curly R: The Year In Exile

2011-09-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

Outside looking in

*Sigh* I've been downgraded.

At first I thought it was just one level, from superfan to fan.

Later though I realized I have no idea what is happening with the 2011 Redskins and who plays for them. Barry Cofield is the last addition I remember.

Tim Hightower? You mean the guy from Arizona with the fumbling problem? Donte Stallworth? Isn't he the guy that ran a guy over in Florida?

Nope, don't know any of them, not the draft picks, not the post lockout pickups. That is when I realized my downgrade was a two level demotion, from superfan through fan straight to casual fan. There is only one level left below me now, observer, before sweet football oblivion.

And I do not even care. I was already mad at the team for botching the post Joe Gibbs transition, sandbagging Gregg Williams from the job by trumping up some bullshit story about betraying coach Gibbs over the Missing Man Formation after Sean Taylor's death, note carefully here that Gregg Williams IS NOT the guy I thought should have the job.

Dan Snyder then promptly turned the team over to the one guy everyone knew could not manage his way out of a paper bag, shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato, they wait around for a top shelf candidate that was never coming and promote Jim Zorn, the coordinator they had stupidly hired before a head coach, as the candidate of last resort.

The team then spent two years eating itself as Vinny tried the old dodge where he was responsible for hiring coach Zorn but not for his results, those two stopped speaking, then Dan soured and fired Vinny then fired Zorn on the plane ride home from the last game.

In come these two football professionals, general manager Bruce Allen and head coach Mike Shanahan, both of whom have great football pedigrees, their first move? To trade two picks to a Division rival for a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback they can count on for a couple of seasons until they get the offense where they want it.

But they don't do that. Instead they nitpick Donovan McNabb's footwork and practice ethic after the guy had only been to six Pro Bowls, won five Division titles, been to five Conference Championships and one Super Bowl, while not giving him any new targets to throw at and utterly failing to plan at the tailback position.

And in so doing squander an opportunity to install and stabilize a new offense and develop young players by focusing like a laser beam on how this guy that has been successful his whole career is just not perfect for us. Wah fucking wah.

Donovan had to be sacrificed because the Shanahans can do no wrong, that is axiomatic.

Meanwhile over on the other side of the ball Jim Haslett was busy destroying a perennial top ten defense, one with experienced players and a history of savvy coaches that could flex with talent, forcing the switch from an historical 4-3 to the more trendy 3-4. Players were moved into new positions and out of places where they had performed well for years.

And in so doing squander an opportunity to maintain some continuity in what is historically the best part of the team while a new offense can be installed and stabilized.

Too many variables in play, too many plates in the air.

And so the result of that 2010 season was an unmitigated disaster, one in which those two picks for Donovan were squandered to the Eagles, Donovan was benched and dragged under the bus, those Eagles, Donovan's former team, went for 59 on Monday Night Football, the night the team announced Donovan's quote contract extension unquote. Three games later Donovan was benched for the rest of the year.

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That's just the stuff in the game. Off the field the team was busy pushing fans away as well.

The owner is suing newspapers. All these years and the guy cannot just sit back and let the football do the talking.

They ripped out ten thousand seats from Redskins Stadium, the somewhat absurd plan announced at the time was to create standing room only party decks, yet now that the seats have been ripped out along with supporting sections of upper deck concrete, and construction on no decks has begun, it seems transparently obvious to me that the team has no intention of building decks, that removing seats was all about reducing capacity because people are not renewing tickets and no one is there to buy them in replacement. As anyone that has read this blog or listened to me over the past decade will tell you, the million mile long season ticket waiting list simply does not exist.

Sure ticket prices did not go up, thank you Mr. Snyder sir, a beer bought at your seat is now nine bucks.

And I did not even mention Albert Haynesworth. Until just now.

=====

The season then ended and the lockout began, two greedy camps, owners and players, arguing nakedly right in front of you over who should have more of your money, in all the negotiations, the recriminations and pontifications, which party was not at the negotiating table for those six months? You. And then the lockout, after a summer of grim warnings of ZOMG NO FOTOBALL IN 2011!!!1!! just COINCIDENTALLY happens to end right as training camps were to open, the only game that was lost to the whole drama? Yep, the Hall of Fame Game, the one played in a neutral stadium where no one gets guaranteed ticket revenues.

So now, after the players did not work out all summer while coaches could still meet and overthink their gameplans, after a hurried free agent period of extreme player movement, do you really think we are set to see quality football in the NFL before Thanksgiving?

Going to be a sloppy season.

=====

And so I went poof and that was it, I have not had the energy to put pen to paper for this blog since February 2011, and that was for a 2008 story. In the offseason I found other things to occupy my time:

I coached my sons' lacrosse team, the under-nine Fort Hunt Purple Pelicans, we went 2-5-1 with nine rookies on a thirteen man roster, we peaked at the end of the season and I expect we will improve heading into the 2012 season.

I also watched a crapload of college lacrosse including my alma mater the University of Virginia winning their fifth national championship.

I bought a decent bicycle and recommitted to bike commuting, my ride is twelve miles each way each day, I logged 1242 miles on the road from the start of the lockout to the end. My wife also bought a road bike and now we go on vacations based on where and how far we can ride. I have not lost any weight but all my dimensions have changed and I look a hell of a lot better.

I also spent another crapload of time watching Grand Tour bicycle racing, the Tour de France and currently the Vuelta a Espana, I missed the Giro d'Italia because it was during lacrosse season.

I bought a bunch of bicycle tools and taught myself bicycle maintenance, many summer nights I would have spent writing about football, instead I spent in the shed with Tony Almeida refurbing old bikes, I have tuned up all five operating bikes we own, rebuilt two others from the hubs up and have three in queue for complete refurb. Just last night I FINALLY finished my first bartape job. Ever try wrapping bartape on a drop handlebar? To do it right is a fucking bitch.

Now I am working on a public policy slash advocacy project to increase bicycling's profile in the nation's capital. Maybe someday I can ride my bike to a Redskins game.

So yeah, while football was forgetting about me, I was forgetting about it.

=====

And then when it came back, I was not one of those guys in a forgiving mood. All the league apparatus cared and care about was getting back to status quo AND FAST! Do you read the papers or listen to sports talk radio or even the league owned Sirius NFL Radio? Do you ever hear about the lockout and what it meant and means to football this season? Of course not, it is not in anyone's interest to dwell, have you seen the NFL commercial that's all like, It's Back to Football?

So that brings us to the 2011 Redskins season, I did not follow the post lockout frenzy of signings or training camp, I watched some of the Colts preseason game and also one other one that was on in the background at a party, I think they won that one too, I missed final cuts and read with a yawn that Rex Grossman was the guy over John Beck, the shrieking ExtremeSkins fanboys will be calling for Becks within four games. I may even be at a preschool open house when the Redskins kick off against the Giants on Sunday afternoon.

=====

So here is where I say thank you for all the emails, comments and text messages wondering where Curly R has been all offseason, to everyone reading this, I am not signing off. Curly R is not gone, it is, has been and forever will be, my creation and my outlet, all I ever wanted out of Curly R was to be a part of the discussion, to help make the Redskins a better football team. Over the past five years I have learned a lot about football and I am grateful for every pageview, every comment and every email.

Five years and I do not think the team really wants to get better. Maybe they do and this Bruce Allen slash Mike Shanahan regime will hit an upswing, it will not happen this year, I am looking at a 5-11 to 8-8 record AT BEST this season, another season with temporary players in key positions.

Curly R is not gone, it just has nothing to say right now, superfans have blogs, casual fans do not. As any Redskins fan over the past two decades can tell you, winning is not the only thing that draws fans to a team, what draws fans to a team is the feeling that their emotional investment is rewarded with smart football people making good decisions for both the short term and long term health and success of the team. We all know Dan Snyder does not own the team, we do, Dan is just the steward.

When the Redskins and football win me back, you will see Curly R back to daily posting. Do you hear that guys?

Win me back.

Photo by me.

Game Journal: Redskins at Bengals, 12/14/2008

2011-02-21T17:00:00.001-05:00

A good friend in the Cincinnati area, the Redskins playing at the Bengals, why not a road trip? The two day excursion continues, on day one we visited a bona fide Bengals bar, shopped downtown and drank whiskey out in the country. Day two was all about the game...

=====

So much for sleeping in on a road trip away from the kids, like me, my good friend Lee from the old school of Charlottesville who relocated to Cincinnati where he got a good job and his wife's family lives, has three kids and he was sure to send them in at first light, there was fresh coffee, eggs and toast, we shook off the effects of a late night before packed our things for the game.

Our tickets and parking pass, note the distinctive pink color of the pass.

Lee's wife, she can fieldstrip a guinea fowl and grind wheat berries for bread at the same time, if it ever come to a The Road type situation I am headed to her house, she has canned enough food to last a year on full rations.

Lee's mascot for his 1-11-1 football team, and a plastic tiger.

Lee rocks the Volkwagen Eurovan, after taking it cross country from Charlottesville Virginia to Union Kentucky, around the time my own family was in the market for our first minivan, Lee gave me a summary review: A good car except for the high maintenance costs, rough ride and terrifying sway of the elevated center of gravity on hard turns or in high winds. So basically an expensive, uncomfortable deathtrap. As I was processing this information I could have sworn I saw him checking my expression out of the corner of his eye, leaving me later to wonder if the Eurovan is not an awesome car that all owners are sworn to keep secret through lies and misinformation.

Lee's wife's brother arrives and the party is ready to roll. As an fyi to the reader, most of the photos in this Game Journal, including this one, were taken with my crappy Nikon seven megapixel point and shoot, the balance of them were taken with Lee's awesome ten megapixel Canon point and shoot with the bigass lens, it should be obvious once we get to the game which are which, and a big thanks to Lee for letting me download his pictures before I left town.

As we were heading down the road from Union Kentucky to Cincinnati Ohio, we listened to the local pregame station, 102.7 FM, this video captures the end of a bit where one of the hosts plays at being a crazy young dude, after every silly thing he says we hear the sound effect of a beer can opening, it was really funny and unfortunately does not come across well on video. The second half of the video is some pregame statistics on the Redskins, Clinton Portis' last game against the Bengals was while he was with Denver in 2003, he had 120 yards and two touchdowns, also to this point Clinton's teams are 33-10 when he has 100 yards, as for Jason Campbell at this point thirteen games into the 2008 season, he has only six interceptions, during the 6-2 run to start the season Jason had eight touchdown passes and zero interceptions, in the 1-4 streak since, Jason has had three touchdowns and six interceptions, all six interceptions coming in the four losses.

The trip in to the stadium continues...

A view from Interstate 75 northbound heading into Cincinnati from the Kentucky side of oblivion. Despite the overcast skies and attendant dull grey appearance of everything, the weather was shaping up smashing for a December football game.

In this video I record the approach to Cincinnati from the south, picking up from the moment of the photo above. We see the sights of riverside Covington Kentucky, cross the Ohio River into Cincinnati Ohio, then circle toward Bengals Stadium, which is conveniently just off the highway. We admire the design of the stadium, witness Bengals fans shuffling dejectedly and observe a high concentration of Redskins attire before Lee runs a red light right in front of Cincinnati's finest. Throughout this video the printed hardcopy of Curly R's game preview for this game can be seen reflected on the dashboard.

We circled and parked in lot D and rolled out our tailgate, which consisted principally of four bottles of bourbon and a small tin of mixed nuts.

First thing I saw, couple of locals enjoying a beverage with the keepers oh the peace.

Your author, photo by Lee, pretty sure I was banging out a text message to lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery who would be settling in to watch this 1:00 pm ET game, his beloved Eagles would not be playing until the next night, Monday against the Browns.

Your author again, with the John A. Roebling bridge in the background, see the day one game journal prelude for more detail on this major Cincinnati architectural feature.

Lee's wife and your author.

Your author with his hosts, Lee's wife and Lee, note Lee's holiday appropriate jackass headgear.

Continuing my perusal of the parking lot here we see a Redskins flag flying proudly at center and at right a dude in the back of a pickup wearing tiger striped pajamas and a hard hat talking on a mobile phone. Are you starting to get what kind of awesome Cincinnati is?

Three great photos coming here, all of Lee's wife's brother and Lee's wife with the Cincinnati skyline in the background:

Number one...

...number two, the classic me taking a picture of Lee taking a picture of his brother in law and wife...

... and number three, the picture of his brother in law and wife that I was taking a picture of him taking.

Moving on, I poured another drink and wandered the lot looking for Redskins fans.

I found these guise pretty quickly, let us break this one down:

Optimistic young dude superfan in a Redskins hoodie and Sean Taylor woolly hat? Check.
In burgundy and gold Redskins logo kicks? Check!
Wearing burgundy and gold Mardi Gras beads? CHECK.
Driving a 1993 Jetta with Redskins paint scheme and no hubcaps? CHECK!
WITH MOUNTED LOUDSPEAKERS? CHECK!
Bag of trash no extra charge.

With a Dallas Sucks Virginia license plate? FLAWLESS VICTORY GENTLEMEN!

The 93 Jetta was accompanied to the game by this old VW bus in full Redskins regalia, this shot from the left...

... and from the right...

... and from behind with the full on BOSS HOGG imprimatur.

Bye bye burgundy and gold bunch of helium balloons, see you on the other side.

Checking my watch I see it is very close to kickoff though I do not believe we have consumed our rations of whiskey. I head back toward the tailgate.

A good look at the stadium from our tailgating spot, it really is a good looking stadium, wide open at both ends, so the upper decks do not connect like many modern football stadia, with a cantilever on the edge roof that recalls the multiuse stadiums from the 1960s, of which Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and Washington's RFK Stadium were two.

Endgame for the tailgate, time to put up, toss back and head in.

That is not Lee in anger, it is Lee after a straight pull off a bottle of whiskey that he then proffered to me saying, try it, it's great.

Last drinks before we head in, Lee shares two of his favorite whiskeys with me, the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and the Pritchard's Double Barrel. As our party is passing the last round, two marketing goons from Cleveland based Key Bank approach and give us dollar bills in bank envelopes. Once in the stadium I spent that dollar first.

At last, with the game already under way behind us, time to head in. We made last second adjustments for the balmy weather and made for the stadium.

Lee and Lee's wife heading in to the stadium with Covington Kentucky across the Ohio River in the background.

One sad little Bengals glove, lying on the concourse all alone, missing its mate.

First of four obligatory I'm taking a picture of you taking a picture of me taking a picture of you taking a picture of me pictures.

Number two...

... number three...

... and mercifully number four.

The Hogettes were in town to root on their beloved Redskins, or at least a midwest facsimile of the Hogettes, I was not able to get a quote.

Still heading to our seats, now down under the upper deck on the way to our section we ran into this couple of Bengals fans, including the guy with bag reading BUNGALS over his head, they were more than happy to pose for the Redskins blogger.

Finally down to our seats, section 111, row 8, nine minutes left in the first quarter, Washington was already down 7-0.

I grab a quick pano of the stadium from our seats, it really is a good looking stadium.

More photos from right when we say down...

Here is injured Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer, after partially tearing a ligament in his throwing elbow in September he still has not played, in his place in this game is Ryan Fitzpatrick. If you click out this photo to full size over on the Redskins sideline you can see, from right to left, since the action is over at the Bengals goal line to my right, Danny Smith, Colt Brennan, Andre Carter, Shawn Springs, Joe Bugel and Mike Sellers. Interestingly enough I cannot find head coach Jim Zorn in this photo.

The Bengals cheerleaders, in Naughty Santa attire, this photo also captures the theming of the stadium, lots of bright orange and black with the Bengal stripes appearing from under the team insignia as though ripped open by claws, and the jungle high grass of the creature's habitat.

A wider angle shot of the same corner at the same time, this one by Lee and capturing the open corner of the stadium, facing into Cincinnati.

Another one by Lee, this one captures the escalator up to the club and suite levels, Lee has framed it as an escalator to nowhere, with a pier of the John A. Roebling Bridge across the Ohio River in the background. The escalator can be seen in context in the pano video above.

Couple of Redskins fans in our section, there was no shortage of Redskins jerseys at this game.

Still first quarter and things are already starting to get out of hand.

3:10 left fist quarter, Bengals now up 14-0, Redskins just about to commit their third straight three and out. Dude I love my old Santana Moss jersey as well, it is from 2005, this Clinton Portis jersey cannot be more than four years old. Looks rode hard. Time to get a new one dude.

3:05 left first quarter, Clinton Portis over right guard for two yards, photo by Lee.

My face when Clinton Portis is averaging less than two yards per carry and the Redskins have a fumble and three three and outs on four possessions so far. Photo by Lee.

1:16 left first quarter, Jason Campbell finds Chris Cooley for a four yard gain... on third and eight. Nother punt. Photo by Lee.

12:09 left second quarter, Bengals huddling, second and ten on the Redskins seventeen yard line, photo by Lee...

... and the Redskins preparing to defend on the same play. Photo by Lee.

12:01 left second quarter, two plays later and the Bengals are still stuck on the Redskins seventeen yard line, not a lot of great football happening so far. Photo by Lee.

Two photo sequence of the Shayne Graham's 32 yard field goal to put the Bengals up 17-0 with 11:24 left in the second quarter, photos by Lee.

About this time Lee came back from the bathroom, normally I would not be compelled to tell you about my friend coming back from the potty, however Lee came back with an artifact:

The WhoDey Revolution urinal cake. A brief history:

There were a couple of guys that started a Bengals blog in February 2008, it was called WhoDey Revolution and it had a very simple reason for being: To improve the Cincinnati Bengals football team.

Immediately I felt a kinship with WhoDey Revolution, as Curly R was founded on the exact same principle two years earlier in 2006, to make the Redskins a better football team.

There was a major difference between the two concerns though. While Curly R was geared toward reporting and commentary, the journalistic act of relaying events and placing them in a context of good-for-team or bad-for-team, WhoDey Revolution was principled on demands and action, breaking down team improvement into steps and harassing the team when progress is not obvious.

They began with a manifesto and moved quickly into a series of actions dubbed Project Mayhem, actions intended to show the team a section of its fanbase, fed up with mediocrity and the poor stewardship of owner Mike Brown, was willing to show its defiance directly to the team, force Mike Brown to remember that, while he may own the team, the Bengals actually belong to the fans.

WhoDey Revolution's Project Mayhem actions so far have included reporting Mike Brown to the Bengals Stadium game day Jerk Line, buying a billboard demanding the team hire a real actual general manager and posting it right outside the the team's practice facility, calling for a boycott of all Bengals merchandise and stadium concessions, calling on ticket holders to donate their tickets and stay home on gameday and encouraging fans to carry signs with messages of the Revolution into a road game.

For the Redskins-Bengals game, WhoDey had a special Project Mayhem: Recruit dozens of volunteers to mule in hundreds of urinal cakes with a custom message and place them in the stadium's urinals, thereby forcing male gamegoers to see the message whenever they go pee pee.

The message on these urinal cakes reads 98-196-1 Get Pissed! This is the record of the Bengals since Mike Brown took control of the team in 18 years ago in 1990, though if you read the page on WhoDey Revolution the record reads 98-186-1 (op. cit.).

I reached out to the WhoDey Revolution guys through the secret underground railroad of NFL bloggers and had planned to carry in some cakes, because we were running late I never hooked up with them. No one knew in advance what the gag would be so when Lee came back from the loo in the second quarter with a urinal cake I thought it was brilliant and Lee assured me it was thoroughly washed.

Moving on...

5:32 left second quarter, second and seven from the Cincinnati thirteen yard line, this play went to Clinton Portis up the middle, on the next play Jason Campbell found Santana Moss with a ten yard bullet for a touchdown to put the Redskins on the board, 17-7 Bengals. Photo by Lee.

4:43 left second quarter, as you can see Lee's wife was well on her way while Lee was still ramping up. His most obnoxious had not yet arrived.

Nearing half time, Lee's wife's brother and Lee's wife are engaging in a conversation over me while I bang out another text or tweet on my phone. The game was just not that exciting and lots of people were asking me for updates. Photo by Lee.

Two minutes left second quarter, waiting for the Redskins to come to the line at the Cincinnati 43 yard line. Along the Redskins sideline in the background you can see cornerbacks Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs, both seated, kick returner Rock Cartwright, rookie cornerback Justin Tryon, special teams coach Danny Smith, safety LaRon Landry, also seated, rookies Fred Davis, a tight end, and Devin Thomas, a receiver, once again no Jim Zorn visible. Photo by Lee.

The ensuing play, Jason Campbell, right, is about to hand off to Clinton Portis for nine yards.

Next play, 1:32 left second quarter, second and two from the Bengals 36 yard line, you can get a good look at the GU sticker on receiver Santana Moss' helmet, worn all year by most teams to honor late NFLPA union chief Gene Upshaw, who died suddenly from pancreatic cancer just four months ago, while sitting at home in August he began to feel ill, after some cajoling his wife got him to go to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with the illness right then and there and was dead three days later. While we are moving about our lives thinking the end will never come for us, or if it will that it is still a long way off, think about this: If I publish this Saturday and I get Gene's diagnosis that means I am dead by Tuesday THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A FUCKING MINUTE.

Finishing the play which was Clinton Portis through the middle for five yards.

Me and the WhoDey Revolution urinal cake. Who would think to smuggle in three hundred urinal cakes to a football game just to make a point? Freaking serious football fans, that is who. Photo by Lee.

Halftime mercifully arrived and we took off to check out the stadium and find a beverage.

Wandering the halls.

[IMAGE REDACTED]
Lee taking a picture of himself peeing on an unrescued WhoDey Revolution urinal cake.

We found some really great awful dark beer on the concourse and I felt pressure to have one. Everywhere we wandered, Bengals fans were pleasant if somewhat dispirited, even their team was winning 17-7 at the half. I mean come on, the Bungals were 1-11-1. Photo by Lee.

Lee's wife, Lee's wife's brother and your author outside our section at the end of halftime, photo by Lee.

6:27 left third quarter, Redskins ball, second and goal from the Cincinnati one yard line, fullback Mike Sellers carries it through the middle for the touchdown, as the Washington extra point team comes onto the field, in the foreground Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis tosses the red challenge flag, I try to get a look at the replay on the big board in the opposite end zone, it does not come out on video and I have no idea what happened on the play. This is also when Lee started to go off the rails and he gets his first taste of dealing with a big time NFL blogger.

During the aforementioned challenge review, no football significance to this photo other than there is a fairly elegant looking woman two rows in front of me wearing a houndstooth pattern coat and standing next to a slob in a tattered Redskins jersey.

Still during the challenge review, as the game went on Lee's wife and I began to have discussion on deeper levels, and I swore to hold her confidence, even if she does not remember our talk.

The touchdown was overturned and the play ruled no forward progress, the Redskins were back on third and one from the Cincinnati one yard line...

After giving Mike Sellers, a guy who had all of four carries in thirteen and a half games so far this season, a shot on short and goal and he did not make it, Redskins head coach Jim Zorn elects to RUN THE SAME EXACT PLAY AGAIN, only this time Mike Sellers does not not make it into the end zone, Mike fumbles into the end zone, the ball is recovered by Cincinnati, as you can tell from the jubilant crowd. Jim Zorn elects to challenge the play which is not overturned and the Washington gets two plays from the Cincinnati one yard line and gets nahthing. Lee continues his downward spiral and the kid sitting in front of Lee is obviously self conscious about his giant fur hat, once he realizes I am running video he removes it all cool and tries to play it off.

Me filming that last video, from the look on my face I have not yet realized not only was it not a touchdown, it was a turnover, photo by Lee.

Waiting around on the ultimately unsuccessful Jim Zorn challenge.

Lee's wife's brother seems less than thrilled with Lee, who took this picture, which would not necessarily surprise me at this stage of the game. Lee's wife is gesturing to him while talking to me as if to say, take my brother here for example. I do not recall what it was that he was exemplifying at this moment.

5:20 left third quarter, Bengals ball after the Mike Sellers turnover, second and three from the Cincinnati 27 yard line, Cedric Benson carries the Redskins defensive line for one yard. Photo by Lee.

At this point Lee decides, what the hell there are just not enough photos and videos of Ben in the world, so he goes on a run of me..

... one with beer bottle in hand, sky in background...

... closeup of ongoing Major Talk with Lee's wife...

... one of the better photos of me in a while if you hold the computer back a little further, me best friend is another few feet...

... and going out of my way to make some long, involved and likely unnecessary point.

And this was not the end, two videos at the end of the run, besides my mug, each notable for a different reason:

Continuing to keep the camera on me, at least temporarily, Lee, with the camera in portrait for some reason, captures a moment of my ongoing MT with his wife before losing interest, he quickly finds the Bengals cheerleaders in the north end zone and with audible grunts and mouthbreathing nearly falls over himself trying to zoom in hard on one particular blonde.

This video also gives Lee a convenient opportunity to demonstrate a pretty cool feature of his camera, a Canon PowerShot S5, you can take a snapshot during the video, the video pauses to show the shot, then resumes playing video, and the snapshot is created as a separate still image file.

This is the photo of Bengals cheerleader ass he snapped during the video.

In this video, Lee requests I repeat what at the time was about the only statistic a Redskins fan could hold onto, despite trailing 17-10 in the fourth quarter, Washington still had a more than five minute advantage in time of possession. He snaps an in-video photo of me and his wife right before telling me I can use this for the blog. Which I did.

And this is the rather unfortunate picture he took during that video, if Lee's wife is reading this she needs to remember that Lee gave me explicit permission to post this on the blog and under Ohio law I am compelled to do so.

At this point Lee has completed his transformation.

Three hours was all it took.

At this point he is just haranguing me.

Noted without additional comment.

Giggling to himself.

Showing me a picture of me, that photo is posted above.

So proud of himself.

There was still a game going on, it was looking bad for the Redskins who had been stuck on ten points since halftime.

2:25 left fourth quarter, Bengals kicker Shayne Graham kicking a 45 yard field goal to push Cincinnati to a 20-10 lead. Of note, Jim Zorn finally makes an appearance in the background of an action shot, see back right.

The Redskins got the ball back with just over two minutes left in the game and trailing by ten points, at this point I am ready for the end, another weak emergency hurry up series punctuated by an incomplete on fourth down deep in their own territory. But no! Rock Cartwright takes the kickoff 87 yards from the goal line to the Cincinnati thirteen yard line, at this point a quick score and the Redskins can still recover an onsides kick and make another score, if ever there was a time for two minutes of competent football it was now.

Alas it was not to be, here Clinton Portis takes the handoff with 2:07 left in regulation, the Redskins have no timeouts, for some reason instead of trying to make a quick strike on first down before the two minute warning they run the ball and give up the seven seconds. Photo by Lee.

Two more plays, both incompletes and Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham lines up for a 36 yard field goal, even with the clock stopped and the full time between plays Washington is not able to get the play off and they commit a delay of game penalty. Move it back five yards and Shaun still nails it, now the Redskins are trailing by seven points with just over a minute and a half left in regulation and no timeouts.

And the fans are filing out of the Escalator From Nowhere, pier of the John A. Roebling Bridge in background, photo by Lee.

Last seconds winding down, just taking some end of game photos and footage. Photo by Lee.

Time runs out on the game, Bengals win 20-13 to move to 2-11-1 while the Redskins fall to 7-7 after a 6-2 start. This is footage of the immediate aftermath, including celebration by what remains of the Cincinnati crowd, the prayer circle, players wandering around, equipment crews packing out and a final headshot of me closing out Curly R game coverage.

The aforementioned postgame prayer circle, a little bigger in Cincinnati than in other cities.

Your blogger capturing the video just above.

Then from out of nowhere was a trio of cute local girls, like legitimately awesome cute football chicks, I love women that love football. Note of course that they are posing for a different photographer.

Check out her tail, my bet is someone is going to be pulling that tail tonight.

We left the stands and started to head out of the stadium, there was much reveling and rambunctiousness from the remaining fans, though as previously established, the Bengals fans were polite.

This guy seemed inordinately happy to meet a Redskins fan.

Here he is again, I have no idea why my Redskins jersey is off at this point.

We ran into a cluster of Redskins fans and we began to commiserate, I learned in fairly short order that it was Aaron, Josh and John, the guys behind Harry Hog Football, the Redskins fan podcast, blog and social network. I knew of them and they knew of Curly R so we compared notes and became Hollywood friends.

Redskins blogger summit at Bengals Stadium.

For whatever reason I had my jersey off, I removed my camera bag from its secure place on my belt and set it down on a condiment stand, I was not far from the camera at any time, even when the overjoyed guy was insisting on pictures. As I was getting to know my Redskins fan podcast counterparts I realized it was missing from its condiment stand perch. Immediately a cold shot went through me, not because the camera was missing, for that camera was already three hard years old and bought with a gift card received at an obligatory and uncomfortable going away luncheon at my previous day job, the camera had been good in 2005 and now it was barely serviceable.

No the reason the camera missing caused me distress was of course the pictures on the camera, I had invested two whole days on this trip and was not happy about losing those pictures.

Then one of my new Harry Hog friends spoke up, he had seen it lying there and taken it to the gate guards right behind us for lost and found.

That camera those guys gave you, it's mine. Really, can you describe it?

It's the one on the three game losing streak.

Yep that's a match, here you go.

Harry Hog Football and The Curly R together, four guys that spend way too much time talking about the Redskins.

So we discussed how we could work together, they wanted to get me on the podcast, I wanted to get into more multimedia...

...when suddenly two wild Bengals fans appeared and got into our photo!

We exchanged contact info, or more accurately they gave me a business card, which for some reason after three years I still do not have, and we went on our way, heading back to the lot.

On the way out we passed the DALSUK 1993 Jetta and Boss Hogg VW microbus, bumper visible at top, tailgate, those guys were setting back up for postgame activity with no immediate plans of leaving short of the law making them, this is their Redskins themed serving table.

One for the do it yourselfers out there, a car battery, AC-DC converter and rabbit ears antenna sitting in a Dale Earnhardt camping chair, all connected to a seventeen inch flat panel TV showing the Steelers at Ravens game, 3:44 left first quarter with the game tied at zero all, 93 Jetta at right.

Wrapping it up in the lot and we are out.

As easy as it was in, it was easy out, we headed back across into Kentucky across the Roebling Bridge, I got these last three looks at Bengals Stadium as we were heading out:

It really is a good looking stadium, the Redskins would be so lucky to have one like it, and the location cannot be beat, situated right in downtown Cincinnati and walking distance from the nearest suburb in Kentucky.

So the game was over and we were leaving, but we were not ready to call it a day on our game experience, we tuned back in to the local game coverage radio station to see what they were saying..

The official EAT IT REDSKINS segment, all about how awful the Redskins have been the last four or five weeks (actually it was three losses in a row, not four or five), it was not actually 88 yards passing for Jason Campbell but rather 88 yards RUSHING for Cedric Benson. And a musical question about what are they saying about Jim Zorn, Clinton Portis and Jason Campbell back in Washington, the answer to all of it is, Not Good.

Continuing with our postgame ride through Covington...

Continuing the way out of the stadium in Covington Kentucky, we ponder the strength of the smell of the urinal cake I took from the stadium, it was really stinking up the car. We then stop for some snacks.

And that is the photo and video journal of my trip. But we were not done, the trip continued. NOT PICTURED:

Our trip to the Kentucky bar where we got Kentucky size bourbon pours, the WhoDey urinal cake was so smelly that I was certainly not going to bring it in to the bar, and Lee would not let me leave it in the car so I put it on top of the front passenger side tire in the wheel well, I had forgotten about it when we came out, I did not retrieve it and it was left in the parking lot. We then went on to one of Lee's favorite upscale Chinese places to get some takeout, while we were waiting we sat at the bar and drank sake after sake, as it turns out we sort of forgot to order so we had to wait a little longer for the food and so had some more sakes, at some point Lee disappeared, at first we thought he was in the bathroom, when he did not reappear for some time we went looking for him, finally I found him in the car, which was by the way was still in the ten minute takeout spot an hour later, Lee was quote resting unquote in the back, he had reached his exit point, his homing beacon went off and he disappeared. I went back in to get the food and wrangle Lee's wife and Lee's wife's brother, the food was on the bar, we finished our sakes and left. Everyone was pretty well in the bag, it was a good thing we had a designated driver, as we were pulling out of the spot the manager lady came rushing out with a bill yelling You no pay! You no pay! We looked around at each other, well the awake ones that is, I thought Lee's wife had paid, she thought Lee or I had paid, it was an innocent mistake. Lee's wife gave me her credit card, I went back in and paid and came back to find Lee puking into the back of his own van, he assured me he was feeling a little under the weather, after some drama about losing Lee's wife's credit card we got back on the road and made it back to Union and feasted on our Chinese. Water up, lay down, go sleep.

Next day, Monday, I got up, more fresh coffee and country breakfast, Lee drove me to the airport, I got on the plane and quivered for two hours in my seat, arrive home, go sleep.

A great two days, thanks to Lee and Lee's wife for a great time, for great hospitality, for the tickets, I am already looking forward to the 2012 season when the Redskins and Bengals do this again.

All photos and video by me or my gracious host and good friend Lee.

Game Journal Prelude: Redskins at Bengals, 12/14/2008

2011-02-20T20:30:00.001-05:00

Several years ago a good friend living in Charlottesville Virginia, home to our alma mater the University of Virginia, pulled up stakes and moved to Cincinnati Ohio to follow an opportunity... to stay married. We had been kicking around the idea of my coming out there for a football or baseball game for some time, and when the NFC Beast came round to play the AFC North in the 2008 season and the Redskins versus Bengals game was scheduled in Cincinnati, Lee challenged me to come out. I squared everything away and bought a ticket, coming out a day early.

Lee had big plans for our two day adventure, this is my journal entry for day one, a sunny bourbon soaked December day in Cincinnati.

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Lee met me at the airport, everything I had was in a carry on, I hate checking luggage when I travel solo, he had two fine bottles of Willett bourbon with which to greet me, both of exceptional character, neither of which can be bought legally in Virginia and both of which would be outside my price range. We toasted our adventure and headed back into Cincinnati.

The plan for that day originally had been for Lee and me and his many brothers in law, all of whom were local, to meet up at a local bar, knock a few back and then head into downtown Cincinnati to do some Christmas shopping for the womens in our lives. As it turned out, this plan did not materialize so Lee and I headed out to one of his favored drinking establishments to get things started.

Willie's Sports Cafe in Covington Kentucky, as it turns out, Lee and his brood actually live in the Kentucky section of Cincinnati.

From the moment I entered I knew it was pure gold for the blog.

Our lovely hostess, I cannot remember her name, she seemed somewhat intrigued by the idea that she and the decor were photodocument worthy. Note the early presence of Bengals flair.

The obligatory Bud Light team themed banner hanging everywhere.

Need to cut his whiskey with something a little less potent, Lee orders a Guinness, I loved these pint glasses and thought very seriously about stealing and/or buying and/or stealing one.

At this point Lee had to take a work call, so I grabbed my camera and left the bar area to check out the rest of the place.

Up on the stage, looks like nights when there is not a Nickelback cover band or open mic nite they set this thing up and toss footballs through it. The more time I spend with midwesterners the more I realize every social activity is derived from Cornhole.

Leaving the bar and stage area and passing into the dining room, there were many jerseys and other items of memorabilia on the wall. From left to right in this picture we see former Bengals punter Lee Johnson's number eleven jersey, Lee punted in the NFL until he was forty years old, eleven of those seasons in Cincinnati from 1988 to 1998, the best years of his career, Lee is best known for expressing frustrations with Bengals management during the 1998 season, ten years after he and Cincinnati went to Super Bowl 23 where he just happened to boot the longest punt in NFL history, saying that if he were a Bengals fan he would sell his season tickets. He was cut the next day. Little has changed here in ten years.

Next is Tim Krumrie's number 69 jersey, Tim played nose tackle for the Bengals for twelve seasons from 1983 to 1994, also helping them get to Super Bowl 23. He is beloved in Cincinnati as a former player and is best known outside Cincinnati for breaking his left leg in three places below the knee in that Super Bowl, he initially refused to leave the game, wanting to stay in the locker room and watch it on TV, only agreeing to leave when the medical staff told him he could be slipping into shock. The put a fifteen inch steel rod into that leg, he was back for next training camp and played another six seasons with a metal rod in him, leading the Bengals defense in tackles as late as 1992. That guy is a football player.

Continuing the theme for this section of the wall, the last two jerseys are tailback James Brooks' number 21, James played for the Bengals from 1984 to 1991, making the Pro Bowl four times in that eight year period, he also played in Super Bowl 23, he is still at or near the top in several Bengals franchise statistical categories.

Here we see Elbert L. aka Ickey Woods' number thirty Bengals jersey, Ickey played tailback in Cincinnati for four seasons from 1988 to 1991 and was the Bengals leading rusher in Super Bowl 23. Two games into the 1989 season Ickey tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, it cost him more than a year of rehabilitation and by the time he came back the team had moved on to Harold Green in 1990. He hurt his right knee in 1991 preseason and was not a factor again for the team. Ickey is a seminal figure in NFL history, his Ickey Ickey Shuffle touchdown dance was a national story, coming as it did in the first officiating crackdown on celebrations, if Ickey did not coin the term then he was at minimum the first person I ever heard refer to the NFL as the No Fun League. The elevation of the Ickey Ickey Shuffle to a pop culture story exposed football to many young people that otherwise would not have been interested.

Moving on, here we see a Jim Brown number 32 Cleveland Browns jersey, Jim Brown of course is that Jim Brown, on of the greatest players ever to strap it on for the NFL.

But wait, why would a jersey honoring a Bengals Division rival's greatest player ever adorn the walls of a bar in Cincinnati?

Because of Paul Brown. Paul Brown famously coached the Cleveland Browns, which had been named after Paul Brown, for their first seventeen seasons until 1962, in that time Cleveland won seven league championships, four in the old All-America Football Conference and three in the NFL after the two leagues merged. Six years after Paul was dismissed by new Browns owner Art Modell in 1962, Paul reentered the NFL in 1968 as owner and coach of the brand new Cincinnati Bengals. Paul would coach in Cincinnati for eight seasons until 1975, Paul died in 1991 at age 82.

So what is the connection to Jim Brown? Jim's career was fully encapsulated by Paul's tenure as coach in Cleveland, Jim and Paul are inextricably linked by football history. You cannot talk about the Bengals without talking about the Browns and you cannot talk about the Browns without talking about Jim Brown.

This one I needed some help to figure out, this is Roger Staubach's Purcell Catholic High School number twelve football jersey, that same Roger Staubach that played for the US Naval Academy then the Dallas Cowboys for eleven seasons. Roger was born and raised in Cincinnati and still honors his upbringing by campaigning for Republicans. Roger's name does not come back up in this story.

Continuing around from the bar to the dining room, I came upon a nook with glass display shelves, the Willie's Sports Cafe Trophy Room

In this video we see a number of interesting bits of Cincinnati sports history and memorabilia:

A helmet from the Cincinnati Marshals of the defunct National Indoor Football League, not of the also defunct Arena Football League as a helpful off camera guest indicates;

A football with the logo of the Cincinnati Jungle Kats of the also defunct Arena Football League 2 aka af2, this team played one season in 2007 and was majority owned by former Seahawks, Ravens, Raiders, Bills, Bengals and Broncos defensive tackle Sam Adams and former Mariners, Reds and White Sox right fielder Ken Griffey Junior;

University of Louisville and University of Kentucky themed basketballs;

An ornate arrangement of Hudepohl beer cans honoring a legacy of Cincinnati's heritage of German brewers, Hudepohl Brewing Company was in continuous operation from 1885 through 1987 catering to regional tastes in beer, ownership of the facilities, labels and recipes bounced around for years until recently when a group of local investors banded together to purchase the intellectual property and bring it back. For those that have heard the cry WhoDey from Cincinnati heads, including the famed WhoDey Revolution blog, this term is derived from the nickname given to the Hudepohl beers, Hudys. Although the Hudepohl brewery is long closed, artifacts remain in the Cincinnati skyline, from the parking lot of Willie's Sports Cafe you can look north across the river and see smokestacks at the old brewery site clearly emblazoned with the Hudepohl name, Google Street View also captures them from Gest Street, the location of the defunct brewery here.

Most interesting: Among the tons of Cincinnati Reds baseball schwag, not a single Pete Rose action figure, bobble head, news clipping or photograph. I thought Cincinnati was the last redoubt of pure adoration for Charley Hustle?

Back in the bar, Lee was off his work call, we had another pull and decided to head out, I grabbed a shot of the Bengals schedule card hanging over the hostess station. There we are at bottom right, Washington.

Now meet my friend Lee, framed by the aging infrastructure of the Cincinnati and the city behind. This photo is looking northeast.

We left Willie's, Lee executed a cute move with his all wheel drive Subaru and we headed about Covington Kentucky on a leisurely ride toward Cincinnati. Being that I am a novice to the area and quite excited once again to be able to engage my friend Lee in witty repartee, I ran video as we discussed our surroundings, with a great background of blues music on the radio.

Of note in this video:

Covington has drive thru liquor stores;

Even Covington's Kentucky neighbor Newport, home to the Newport Aquarium we would visit as a family on a Kentucky road trip in summer 2009, looks down on Covington;

There are horse drawn carriages on the streets of Covington;

The Roebling Bridge spans the Ohio River between Covington Kentucky and Cincinnati Ohio, this bridge was designed by the most famous American bridge maker in history, John A. Roebling, construction began on this span in 1856, it is truly a beautiful architectural specimen, John Roebling is perhaps most famous for designing the Brooklyn Bridge though he died before principal construction had begun, demonstrating once again that New Yorkers cannot let anyone famous get near their city without claiming all their works were inspired by and owing to the greater glory of New York. Seriously, the dude was not paying attention one day, got run over by a ferry boat and died 24 days of infection before brick one was laid but still 150 years later New York is all YEAH HE DESIGNED THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE SO WHAT IF HE MADE YOUR STUPID BRIDGE FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER HE WAS THINKING ABOUT OUR BRIDGE WHEN HE DID IT.

Paul Brown Stadium is awesome. For want of offers or otherwise, the Brown family has refused to sell naming rights to this stadium.

Bengals ticket prices were plummeting at the time of this game, when the Bengals happened to be 1-11-1.

I asked Lee about the lack of Pete Rose memorabilia at Willie's, Lee assured me that the Reds in general are more beloved than the Bengals, but that the hit ticket in town at this time was the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, who were heading to their first ever BCS Bowl. Note that Lee dodged the question of Pete Rose's relevance.

After we got out of the traffic jam caused by the latest festival, parade or whatever relentlessly family friendly bullshit was happening downtown, we decided to do a little shopping, so we went to the mall at Carew Tower, located right in the heart of downtown Cincinnati.

I was dying DYING to see what there was to love about Cincinnati...

Ok so this, a t-shirt from the fictional radio station from the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati which ran from 1978 to 1982, I remember watching it in prime time as a kid, then became a giant of syndication before being briefly and regrettably revived as The New WKRP in Cinncinati from 1991 to 1993. In the fullness of hindsight the best part of WKRP was its Mad Magazine satire in issue 218, October 1980, it was called WKRAP in Cincinnati:

Image from here via here.

Moving on...

Cornhole reference number two. The shirt says, Cornhole: Not nearly as gay as it sounds. Nice.

Continuing we get over to the Bengals section, here is a Carson Palmer doll that gives hugs...

... and the obligatory Reserved Parking Bengals Fans Only sign.

Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati are locked in an eternal deathstruggle for the hearts and minds of Cincinnati college basketball lovers, that is not the reason I took this photo, I took this photo because the Xavier University Musketeers logo is a blatant ripoff of the University of Virginia Cavaliers logo:

Images from here and here.

We decided to head to the Macy's across the street perhaps actually to do some shopping since all we were really doing was wandering the Carew Tower mall and snickering. As we passed the food court I caught on camera what appears to be the mall Santas' mandatory union break.

Four Santas conspiring to corner the market for Webkinz.

Continuing on through the tunnel to Macy's, we passed through that portal, Lee brought me up where I could get a good look at the diorama pictured, Lee assured me there was some historical significance to the model and or the display window, in retrospect I think he may have been bullshitting me.

We made our way into Macy's, which like everything else in Cincinnati according to Lee, has a story. Macy's corporate headquarters, or at least one of them, is located in Cincinnati, making the Cincinnati store a flagship. Federated Department Stores, owner of Bloomingdale's and a number of other regional stored and chains, merged with Macy's Inc. in 1994, and the resulting company set up shop, called Macy's Inc., set up shop in the old Federated offices in Cincinnati.

There was quite a line of kids waiting to sit in Santa's lap at the Macy's, I could not resist taking a picture of the guy in the bib overalls and Bengals cap talking to Santa. About sums up Cincinnati so far.

Despite the desperate economic situation nationwide there was plenty of commerce happening at the Cincinnati Macy's. I bought the wife a sweater.

From the Macy's we went back to Carew Tower and stopped for a drink at a bar called the Palm Court, a very sophisticated looking place with high ceilings and wood panels and chandeliers all in Cincinnati's old style art deco, I did not get the camera out for so I grabbed this one off Flickr so you can see it:

Photo from here. Top notch professional bartender service and a great selection of bourbon, the only disappointing thing about it was the overwhelming presence of the fanny pack and white sneakers crowd, people sitting at the bar tables to relax and drink water and not tip and kids complaining about no mac and cheese on the menu and parents asking if there was a Chili's nearby.

From the Palm Court we left on a leisurely ride back to Lee's house, or as they call it in Union Kentucky, the prop'ty. We saw some more of the sights of downtown Cincinnati...

Cannot recall why I took this picture of the partially obscured PNC Bank bulding, maybe Lee used to work in that building? Maybe I was just trying to get a sense for how old all the big buildings appear to be in Cincinnati.

Coming out of the parking garage, that is the Macy's on left and Carew Tower on right, downtown Cincinnati kids.

This is an open air ice rink right downtown, it is sponsored by US Bank and is free to the public, there is no charge for ice time. Lee tells me that it is so popular and so crowded that no one can ever get on the ice so no one goes there anymore.

A shot of the Proctor & Gamble worldwide headquarters, P&G has been around and in Cincinnati since 1837 and makes and sells consumer products like CoverGirl cosmetics and Crest toothpaste. A couple of grad school mates of mine went into the P&G grinder about a decade ago and we never heard from the again. Making margin on commodity items is a bitch.

I think this was shot just to give some idea of the weekend weather, overcast and bright, cold but not at all gloomy.

Another picture of the sky, the weather for the game was predicted to be very nice all things considered.

We had one more stop to make before heading out to the prop'ty, and that was for bourbon. Lee is the original bourbon drinker in my life, taking two cubes and two fingers while I was still proudly belching Budweiser and calling it good, since his move to Kentucky, the cradle of bourbon, he had developed quite a palate for the stuff and the place with the widest selection in the area is... The Party Source.

I shit you not, there is more bourbon in this place than in any one place in Virginia, the locked cabinet of one hundred dollar plus bourbons alone is larger than the entire bourbon section of my local ABC Store. Look at the smug motherfucker, that is the look that says yeah that's right, shit tons of bourbon right here, welcome to my neighborhood.

So we bought a bunch of whiskey and headed back to Lee's prop'ty in Union. Once we got there I reacquainted with Lee's family, we ate a great home cooked meal, afterwards Lee took me on a tour of the prop'ty, out in the barn, yes he has a real live barn, he showed me his homemade Obama '08 HOPE sign.

This puppy was out in the yard for the whole campaign, Lee tells me there was not a lot of Obama action happening in Union.

Last picture of the night, one of Lee's old Farmall tractors, he actually fixes these things up and tools around the prop'ty on them.

We finished the tour of the property, headed back in, we had another couple of whiskeys, Lee then wen off to bed, I fired up the laptop and finished the preview for tomorrow's game, then sat on the deck for a while and took in the quiet of Union Kentucky, very different than life in the nation's capital.

Not pictured: The rest of the property tour, including the chicken coop, the garden and the bonfire, then bunking down in the guest room slash craft workshop where there were enough glass tubes, beads and rods that I was looking for the furnace.

Tomorrow: The game.

All photos and video by me unless otherwise credited.

2011-02-06T17:57:00.001-05:00

Ohai guise. Curly R is calling Super Bowl 45 for the Packers over the Steelers by 27-24. Enjoy the game, this is a Super Bowl open thread.

Why Does this Keep Happening?

2011-02-02T23:30:00.001-05:00

Is he stupid? Or just mean.

Every so often in Washington we hear about how the Redskins and owner Dan Snyder are lashing out at the media, or creating their own internet to give unfiltered or grinding axes by firing people or lamenting media coverage of the team by people that just don't know shit. Hell, even I have gotten email from the team challenging my coverage.

There is another spasm, and it is a good one and happening right now.

Background: Back in November 2010, just two and a half months ago, The Washington City Paper's excellent Dave McKenna, something of a bete noire to Dan Snyder, see here, here, here, here, here and here if you still are not sure, published an enterprise piece called The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder, complete with an embellished photo of the owner with a unibrow, drooping mustache, pointed goatse and best of all, devil horns.

It is long and mad and beautiful, go and read it (op. cit.) right now before you go any further.

Present Day: Dan Snyder's legal apparatus, featuring the onmipresent David Donovan and newcomer Hollywood attorney Patty Glaser, have threatened legal action against the City Paper and or its ownership hierarchy, it did not go unnoticed by me or Huffington Post's / DCist's Jason Linkins that the lawyer letters did not go to the writer, nor to the editor, nor to the publisher of the City Paper, nor to the holding company that owns the paper, but in fact went to the hedge fund that owns the company that owns the paper.

Not only is Dan Snyder threatening legal action, he wants the City Paper to fire the piece's author, Dave McKenna (op. cit.), though I cannot find that reference in the legal letters being exchanged amongst the parties (links below).

Today Amy Austin, Publisher of The Washington City Paper, posted an open letter to readers summarizing the story, the paper is standing by the reporting and does not properly acknowledge Dan Snyder's arguments because, frankly, the paper has not formally heard of them, what with the legalese being directed at organizations above the paper that have no direct involvement in the production or vetting of the paper's content. As of this moment, Dan Snyder nor his representatives have accepted the paper's invitation to write a response or meet with editors.

What It All Means: Let me give you the tl;dr up front here for a change: DO NOT PICK A FIGHT WITH THE GUY THAT OWNS THE INK BARREL.

I really do not understand what the possible benefit could be from this action by the team. Why spend so much time and energy to squash one ant, or one anthill? Surely Dan Snyder understands it is not Dave McKenna per se, it is the suckitude. As long as the Redskins keep looking incompetent year after year all those Dan Snyder missteps and fuckups cannot get into the rearview and we can never really joke about those bad old days, a notion Dave himself motivates more eloquently in the introduction to his November piece (op. cit.)

And reading through the first of the three legal exchanges posted in their entirety on Amy's post today (op. cit.) reveals a very interesting tidbit: Dan Snyder is essentially accusing Atalaya Capital Management, the hedge fund that owns the holding company that owns the City Paper, of manipulating coverage of the Redskins to harm Dan Snyder's Red Zone Capital Equity investment operation, which competes against Atalaya in restaurant and media operations.

Returning to the content of Dave McKenna's piece, it is pretty damning, most of it recognizable by me, some I had never heard of, like Dan Snyder leaving cartons of vanilla ice cream to melt in former defensive coordinator Mike Nolan's office to protest his schemes, and all of it backed by links.

Kevin Ewoldt at Hogs Haven, a Redskins insider since he landed top level interviews during the ticket fiasco of 2009, posts up the crux of the biscuit, that while Dan Snyder may pretend to be mad about contrived attacks on his cancer survivor wife and blatantly laughable charges of Antisemitism in the devil image of the owner, the main issue appears to be a reference to a legal settlement by Snyder Communications for large scale forgery of customer signatures, thousands of them, effectively switching the victim's telephone provider without his or her knowledge, the settlement was in the millions.

Kevin actually spoke to Redskins attack dog David Donovan, who pointed out that Dan Snyder had sold Snyder Communications more than a year before the settlement, leading Kevin to wonder if a rewording or fact check on that one line of the piece and all this might have been avoided.

There is some question and some wiggle room here, the Hogs Haven provided link to the legal settlement dates it in April 2001, and does not mention Dan Snyder by name, so every reference in this legal news brief to quote Snyder unquote is referring to Snyder Communications, not Dan Snyder, and this would include payments, they do not appear from the wording of the piece to be coming from Dan Snyder personally.

The other Hogs Haven provided link is to the sale of Snyder Communications to a French firm, dated February 2000, yep, fourteen months before the settlement. Of note in this piece is a reference to Dan Snyder's planned departure... after the transition to new ownership. That date is unknown by me.

Therefore it does leave some question as to Dan's involvement with the operation while the thousands of slamming offenses were taking place, it is established in law that leaving a concern does not absolve you of malfeasance undertaken prior to your departure, and the fourteen months between the sale of Snyder Communications and the legal settlement minus the transition time before Dan actually left, well he may have been there and still had an executive position when the bad stuff was happening. That would make him a party to the case.

If so, that would make David Donovan's statements to Kevin Ewoldt on the matter misleading at best and inaccurate at worst. The only way to know is to know exactly when the transgressions in the lawsuit occurred and when Dan Snyder left the company, something we likely will only find out if it goes to court.

Which it will not.

And The Washington City Paper will not fire Dave McKenna.

As expensive as the Dan Snyder legal machine want to position litigation to be, the courts do not look favorably upon free speech cases replete with factual evidence to the public figure subject's incompetence, simply because the subject got all butthurt when he read it.

Dan, stop attacking the media, stop trying to build your own media fortress, just run the frigging team and give us a winner on the field. All the attacking will stop if the team wins, just look at the trainwreck that was Jack Kent Cooke's family and no one gave a shit. Just give us a winner and it all goes away.

Dan Snyder: Getty Images from here.

Sheep Go to Heaven

2011-01-30T15:00:00.004-05:00

Goats go to Cleveland

Someone had to go in Baltimore, after the Ravens defense gave up a long drive and score to seal the Steelers win over the Ravens in the AFC Division playoff round, after receivers Derrick Mason and TJ Housmandzadeh both dropped passes in the final moments, Ravens team leadership huddled up and... decided to fire the quarterbacks coach.

That would of course mean former Redskins head coach Jim Zorn is once again out of a job.

As the firing became news over the past two days there have been two distinctly different threads on why it had to happen, both originating from the Baltimore Sun's Ravens Insider blog. One thread says they were unhappy with coach Zorn's self-admittedly unorthodox teaching methods.

And it is true, coach Zorn approaches the job of coaching quarterbacks truly from the inside, as a former NFL QB that achieved a measure of success under difficult circumstances in Seattle, coach Zorn is projecting himself and his experience onto his students, there is very little out of the Standard Coaching Manual in coach Zorn's approach. Think about it:

The slip and slide (with video), the pad drill (photo), flying yoga balls, get smaller in the pocket not larger, slow down time, if you do not buy into coach Zorn's methods he probably seems pretty corny.

Now look at his success in Washington. In 2007, Jason Campbell's third pro season, his first full season as Redskins starting quarterback and his second year with Bill Lazor as quarterbacks coach, Jason threw eleven interceptions and fumbled thirteen times in thirteen starts, twelve full games. Jason was pretty widely considered at that point a questionable decision maker in the pocket, toss in ball security problems and you have a recipe for a short term NFL starter.

Jim Zorn arrives in 2008 after a long and drawn out selection process, and amidst the optimism of a 6-2 start is another bit of good news: Jason Campbell has shown remarkable improvement as a quarterback in just one year. Take a look at a couple of things from Jason's final 2008 numbers:

No interceptions in the first six games, a 2008 total of six in sixteen games, Jason cut his per game rate of interceptions from 0.9 in 2007 to 0.4 in 2008, a year over year drop of 55%.

Seven fumbles in sixteen games, down from thirteen in thirteen starts, a per game rate drop from 1.0 per game to 0.4 per game, nearly a 60% drop.

I did at the time and still do attribute this improvement directly to the tutelage of Jim Zorn, professional development from which Oakland is now benefiting, with their perennial commitment to a downfield passing game, Jason Campbell will be a good fit there.

Now let us look at coach Zorn's time with Baltimore. In 2009 Joe Flacco was in his second year and already a two time playoff quarterback, and while I will argue Joe benefited from Jim Zorn's coaching, we can agree Joe maybe had less headroom for improvement. In 2010 Joe continued his progression as a professional, his passer rating went up along with his touchdown passes, his interceptions went down and he only fumbled once more than in all of 2009.

Was this all due to Jim Zorn? Not necessarily, maybe not even likely, just looking at it though, at minimum coach Zorn held serve and did not allow his pupil to regress, and at best he contributed materially to Joe Flacco's maturity.

You have to ask yourself, does it matter what are the methods if the Sunday finished product sells?

The other thread in the firings story is that the Raven organization, presumably specifically head coach John Harbaugh, was worried about coach Zorn being or becoming quote insubordinate unquote. Insubordination of course is a serious accusation, it means the person in question cannot or will not follow orders or has his own agenda at the expense of the team's or team leadership. Not a team player is the kind of thing you say about someone when you to damage their standing in their profession as they head out the door.

Here in Washington, Jim Zorn was anything but insubordinate. In fact he went much too far in order to keep his job and please his bosses: Acquiesce to consultants, relinquish playcalling authority, basically submit to all ownership demands because they brought a lawyer into the room and said you have to.

As Tony Almeida pointed out last night, the philosophy and insubordination issues may well be one and the same, one story creating team cover for the other. John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron may have cornered coach Zorn and said basically, come on dude, get with the program, we do not want to be known as the team that throws yoga balls around and calls it practice.

The coalescing conventional wisdom in all this appears to be that offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, himself a former Redskins quarterbacks coach under Norval Turner, and quarterback coach Jim Zorn were not compatible, perhaps it is a personality matter, perhaps it is a legitimate
difference of philosophy, Cam comes from the Don Coryell slash Joe Gibbs slash Norval Turner coaching tree while Jim Zorn is straight Bill Walsh slash George Seifert slash Mike Holmgren west coast offense.

Whatever it was, the end result is Cam Cameron has more authority over the Ravens offense and Jim Zorn is out of a job.

And Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not happy about it. According to the Baltimore Sun, Joe met with owner Steve Bisciotti and coach Harbaugh and advocated for Jim Zorn, lauding his teacher for what coach Zorn had done to help Joe with his game, and left the meeting thinking the team would retain Jim Zorn next season.

They did not and have now opened a legitimate rift in the team, Joe wondering aloud if the starting quarterback's opinion matters for anything. I guess it is a good thing for the Ravens that this happened in January and not July, still plenty of time for it to blow over, and Joe Flacco is a professional.

As for Jim Zorn, stories are already emerging that he will wind up as Pat Shurmur's offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach in Cleveland, reuniting Jim Zorn with Mike Holmgren, the man that passed him over as Seahawks coach of the future in favor of Jim Mora, who by the way was fired after one season.

Good luck on your next endeavor coach Zorn, I wish things had turned out differently for you in Washington.

Jim Zorn: AP Photo from here.

Championship Games Open Thread

2011-01-23T14:00:00.001-05:00

Your Super Bowl teams are playing today, we just don't know which

The last epic football Sunday of the year, yeah the Super Bowl is cool, teams fight harder in these games than the big day, hold onto your hats and pour a drink, it's Championship Sunday!

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, 3:00pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Bears plus 3.5
Curly R spread pick: Packers
Curly R straight up pick: Packers

Although this may not be the better game, it is the one to which I am more looking forward, the Packers have turned out to be a scrappy bunch of winners and at this point I cannot bet against them. The Bears are no slouches though, I just think the Packers have come to Chicago to win while the Bears are here to play a game. Bonus points for this game featuring the biggest poseur quarterback and the biggest wanker quarterback left in the playoffs. Double bonus points for the Division Championship rematch. Triple bonus points for both teams losing to the Redskins this year (oh I know you just dint).

New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers, 6:30pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Steelers minus four
Curly R spread pick: Jets
Curly R straight up pick: Steelers

This is the better game, the Jets have an historic head of steam here and despite all the naysaying, my god I am so tired of hearing Tim Ryan attack any Moving the Chains callers that evince an appreciation of the competitive fire from which the Jets' trash talk comes, I love the cockiness. You talk shit, you go back it up and if you cannot, then you shrug and say I lost, see you next year. New York may be the better team here this week, the Steelers find ways to win, do not bet against them at home. Take a drink every time Jim Nantz or Phil Simms mentions Ben Roethlisberger's season opening suspension, and finish your drink if they mention the allegation was sexual assault.

The wife and I are heading over to watch the early game with friends, a married couple, they are united in puerile mutual frat love for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, but on the pro gridiron she roots straight Green Bay and he loves Da Bears. Indeed, marital vows will be tested today.

This is the Championship gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Sunday Division Playoffs Open Thread

2011-01-16T12:00:00.001-05:00

Wouldn't it be hilarious if...

Two more football games today, in the traditional playoff timeslots, another great day of NFL playoffs.

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears, 1:00 pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Bears minus ten
Curly R spread pick: Seahawks
Curly R straight up pick: Bears

The Bears have really come together as a team since the bad old days when the Redskins beat them on four DeAngelo Hall interceptions of Jay Cutler, in fact since that October game leading into the Chicago bye, the Bears only lost twice, once to the unstoppable Patriots and in the season closer against the Packers when Chicago's playoff seed was set and the team had nothing to play for. As for Seattle, the story comes down to this: All the football trolls of the world like me are desperately hoping to see a 9-9 team host the NFC Championship just to piss off those butthurt over a losing team getting into the playoffs.

New York Jets at New England Patriots, 4:30 pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Patriots minus 9.5
Curly R spread pick: Patriots
Curly R straight up pick: Patriots

This is the heavyweight match of the weekend, and another Divisional playoff rubber match to boot. Jets players have been running their mouths, emulating head coach Rex Ryan, make no mistake I love the Jets' devil may care attitude when it comes to giving bulletin board material to the other team, the game would be much more enjoyable for fans if the players would talk a little more trash. The problem with this strategy is the Patriots are assassins and assassins cannot be reasoned with, cannot be intimidated and take no prisoners. I expect this game to look more like the Patriots 45-3 blowout from December than the Jets 28-14 September win.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Saturday Division Playoffs Open Thread

2011-01-15T13:30:00.000-05:00

Grudge match

Best football weekend of the year here kids, time to wallow.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers, 4:30 pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Steelers minus three
Curly R spread pick: Ravens
Curly R straight up pick: Ravens

Two teams that flat just do not get along, I love to see Division matchups in the playoffs, this is the third time these teams have met this year, with the road team winning each game. The Steelers, who many thought would be dead out of the gate missing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the first quarter of the season on a suspension, look more like they do now than they did before, that receiver Mike Wallace would look pretty good in burgundy and gold. I just think Baltimore is peaking now and with Ray Rice and that defense Baltimore will overwhelm Pittsburgh.

Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons, 8:00 pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Falcons minus one
Curly R spread pick: Packers
Curly R straight up pick: Packers

Time to put my pretend money where my real mouth is, I have seen the Packers play a lot this year and I have not seen the Falcons so much. The Packers are simply a team that is in every game, I heard a stat on Sirius NFL Radio this week, I have not confirmed it but it sounds plausible, the Packers have never been down in a game this season by more than seven points? Wow, even if that is not a real stat it sounds like these Packers, they are not a dominating team, they are simply well put together. As far as Atlanta goes, surprise me guise.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Sunday Wildcard Playoffs Open Thread

2011-01-09T10:30:00.003-05:00

Road trip!

Two great games last night, two more good ones today, in the traditional NFL playoff timeslots, belly up and let's watch some football!

Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00 pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Chiefs plus three
Curly R spread pick: Ravens
Curly R straight up pick: Ravens

The Ravens are a serious Super Bowl contender, maybe the team with the best chance of getting past the Patriots, Todd Haley had his one year turnaround in Kansas City, driven entirely be bringing in Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, two guys that are much more football smarter than Todd, with Charlie's inexplicable departure to the University of Florida the Chiefs will sink back to a more comfortable 6-10 level, I think Baltimore wins this one in a walkover.

Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Eagles minus 2.5
Curly R spread pick: Packers
Curly R straight up pick: Packers

Thanks to my game partner lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, I will be attending this game in Philadelphia, as I write this he awaits me downstairs so we can hit the road. I will pick up the thread from Tim Ryan and pat Kirwan on Sirius NFL Radio Moving the Chains from Friday, I think the Packers are the more complete team, but if I am wrong on any game this weekend, it is this one. Oh, this is not my first Packers-Eagles playoff game, I was also at 4th and 26 in 2004.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Saturday Wildcard Playoffs Open Thread

2011-01-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

The good, the ugly and the bad

The playoffs are here kids, we got an afternoon tilt and an evening affair, pour a drink(s) and let's watch some football.

New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks, 4:30 pm ET, NBC

Consensus point spread: Seahawks plus ten
Curly R spread pick: Seahawks
Curly R straight up pick: Saints

The defending Super Bowl champion Saints must travel to play the first ever 7-9 playoff team, the Seahawks who are in head coach ~~Jim~~ Pete Carroll's first year, boy that guy hightailed it out of Southern Cal while the getting was good didn't he? For those butthurt football elitists that are arguing the playoff team with the better record should always host the game, stop and use your idiot brain, the current system IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO REWARD TEAMS FOR WINNING THE DIVISION. If you want to see the quote better unquote team host the game, then just do away with Divisions and let the teams all just compete as a Conference.

New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts, 8:00 pm ET, NBC

Consensus point spread: Colts minus 2.5
Curly R spread pick: Colts
Curly R straight up pick: Colts

I have seen the magical Peyton Manning this season, as in the game he played against the Redskins, and I have seen the human Peyton, as in the game he played against the Eagles. I think we will see the magical Peyton tomorrow. I love New York coach Rex Ryan's enthusiasm and bravado and how he seems to capture the essence of the Jets, meaning when he finally leaves town it will be in disgrace.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Game 16: Redskins (6-9) vs. Giants (9-6)

2011-01-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

vs.

My Take in 60 Words or Less: All that is left is spoiling. So go do it. I'm going to the Eagles-Cowboys game. /2010season

You Stay Classy Brandon Lloyd

2010-12-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Back at you dude

Thanks to lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery for the tip: As current Broncos and former Redskins receiver Brandon Lloyd heads off to the Pro Bowl, his team's lone representative, he has a message for his three old clubs, the 49ers, Redskins and Bears:

Fuck you.

Gee who could ever have seen that coming.

Brandon Lloyd: Getty Images from here.

Game 15: Redskins (5-9) at Jaguars (8-6)

2010-12-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

at

May Take in 60 Words or Less: The notion that Donovan McNabb's agent could go on the attack and not be representing his client is total bullshit. Donovan is simply trying to avoid confrontation so he lied to Kyle Shanahan. Simple as that.

NFL helmets from here.

Season's Greetings from The Curly R

2010-12-25T14:00:00.003-05:00

From all of us at The Curly R, best wishes for this holiday season, and I hope Father Christmas brings you some special gifts too.

-Ben Folsom

Other Curly R season's greetings: 2006 :: 2007 :: 2008 :: 2009

Lantern Waste from here via here.

Game 14: Redskins (5-8) at Cowboys (4-9)

2010-12-19T12:30:00.003-05:00

at

My Take in 60 Words or Less: For the first time since 2003 I am taking the opponent to win. That's right, I switched both my pool picks to Cowboys.

Talk About Rapid Response

2010-12-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

Ouch

Go Skins dot Org, the great abstract cartoonist of the Redskins, already has artistic reaction up, Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb just chilling together on the bench. Go check the rest out here.

The Benching is now a national news story, not sure what Mike Shanahan was going for here, he sure looks like an asshole right about now.

Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb on the bench together: A GoSkins.org cartoon from here via here.

I Hope this Guy Is Still Around

2010-12-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

Bringing down the wrath of Redskins fans

If you are the guy running the Fire Mike Shanahan blog and you have not posted since September and you are still there and want some traffic, I would suggest you check the headlines.

http://fireshanahan.blogspot.com/

Mike Shanahan: AP Photo from here.

Let Me Be Clear

2010-12-17T14:30:00.001-05:00

I'll speak slowly for the trolls and nitwits and the head coach

There are three reasons putting Rex Grossman in the game, even for a play, is a bad idea:

1. There is a better quarterback on the roster. His name is Donovan McNabb.

2. The better quarterback is healthy.

3. The better quarterback is under contract for 2011.

These reasons notably do not include any discussion of Rex Grossman's ability or standing, nor of the price paid in trade for Donovan McNabb, because both are moot. Mike Shanahan has officially turned a segment of Redskins fans to rooting against their team just to be sure he gets the point. Nice work genius.

Donovan McNabb: Reuters Pictures from here.

BULL FUCKING SHIT

2010-12-17T12:00:00.007-05:00

Are you fucking kidding me

What the fuck is this fucking shit, I sit here minding my own business eating my lunch when I see a headline pop into Redskins Insider:

Rex Grossman to start over Donovan McNabb Sunday

That would be this Sunday, at Dallas, bitter NFC Beast Division rival Dallas, a team the Redskins can still sweep in the season series.

And Mike Shanahan is going to bench Donovan in favor of Rex Grossman.

This is really over the line, I have watched how coach Shanahan has handled himself this season and I am very disappointed, cutting Ladell Betts then Willie Parker and Larry Johnson left the team with no experienced tailback backing up the injury prone Clinton Portis and Ryan Torain, the Albert Haynesworth standoff in training camp went too long into the season and hurt the defense. Benching Donovan in the Lions game then spinning bullshit about it. Cutting the holder after the kicker missed two in a winnable game then making up a bullshit excuse.

Maybe that year out of football did nothing to shrink his ego, maybe he is mad with the power Dan Snyder has given him, maybe he is showing off for his son, maybe he just wants to piss Redskins fans off, maybe he really needs to see the place burnt down before he can rebuild it in his own image.

Whatever the deal, this is wrong.

And it is not just wrong because I support Donovan and want to see him play and get some return on that investment. It is wrong because the team will net nothing by playing Rex Grossman.

Washington may win Sunday with Rex, sure, even Danny Wuerffel won games as a starter, that is not the point. The point is that we already know everything we need to know about Rex. He has had his shot, he was in Chicago for six years and could not hold the starting job the year after he took his team to the Super Bowl. His success came largely from the scheme the Bears employed at the time and he is a turnover machine. Years of future success in Washington will not be achieved with Rex Grossman under center.

You only sit a healthy established starter at the end of a season when you have no postseason to play for, and when that starter may not be there next season. But Dono is under contract so it is the team's option, not the player's to have him back.

If Mike Shanahan was serious about seeing what is in the kitty for 2011 he would be starting John Beck, the darling of Kyle Shanahan, my guess is that head coach Shanahan would not start John Beck on a dare meaning this is not about Rex or the future, it is about putting Donovan in his place.

And all the bullshit about lowest rated passer and worst season of his career, that is all bullshit. This is just wrong and win or lose Sunday Redskins fans just lost some more faith in their team.

=====

Some quick reaction I have received in person, by phone, email and text since 11:30 am when the story broke:

Lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, via email: Talk about a place in total chaos at this point. I thought Shanny would prevent this sort of shit from happening. Didn't DMac have an over 100 passer rating last week?

The wife, Mrs. Curly R, via phone: They have no idea what they are doing, didn't they cut the holder after the kicker messed up?

Former co-worker Rob, via phone: Dude our team is sooooooooo dysfunctional.

Eagles fan and former roommate James, via text message: Sexy Rexy to start? McNabb out of gas or out of favor?

Post your quick reaction in comments.

Donovan McNabb: Getty Images from here.

Looking Back On When Donovan McNabb / Was A Nappy Headed Little Boy

2010-12-17T10:30:00.001-05:00

Serioiusly who has my activator

Working on a midday post about butthurt Eagles fans pissed that Donovan McNabb is not in the running for the Pro Bowl following the 2010 season because for him to have done so would have meant Philadelphia's 2011 draft pick from the trade that brought Dono here would have accelerated from a fourth rounder to a third.

In the meantime, check out that 'do. No gauge on the year, Dono has hosted five NFC Championship Game press availabilities. Any Eagles fans out there, help me out with the date.

Uncredited image from here. With apologies to Stevie Wonder for the title.

Come On Washington Post, Get It Together

2010-12-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Like the Redskins: Great idea, poor execution

Back in September, just a couple of games into the 2010 season, the Washington Post launched an iPhone app called Football Insider, a brilliant play designed to bolster the flow of eyeballs to what is already consistently the most popular topic of coverage for the paper, the Washington Redskins.

A great appliance app in concept and basic design, Football Insider pipes Redskins related content in three categories: stories, game coverage and photos. Stories are subdivided into blogs, featuring Redskins Insider, DC Sports Bog and Hard Hits with LaVar Arrington, articles from the print edition and columns; game coverage includes play by play, box score and general info like weather and for home games traffic and stadium transit; the photos are the same galleries as the paper publishes with game recaps.

Considering how much of my time is spent F5ing Redskins Insider I downloaded it immediately then with the use of a handy black app called Rename, relabeled it simply Redskins.

The 1.0 version was terrible, it kept crashing from the game menu and I stopped using it. Version 1.0.1 came out a few weeks later and not only featured the spiffy image of Donovan McNabb as you see above, the 1.0 version simply had a generic burgundy helmet with no Redskins logo, the app also... started working. No problems, no crashes, could access all menus and all content would refresh as expected.

About three weeks ago version 1.0.3 appeared and I upgraded, immediately problems came back, new annoying problems.

It crashes, most notably when I move from the stories section to the games section, though not as often as the 1.0 version. The most annoying thing is the app's inability to refresh itself. Under versions 1.0 and 1.0.1, when you switch away from the app and come back, it respawns, you see the splash image of Donovan as the menus are refreshing content.

Now, once you open it and then switch away and come back, the app takes you straight back to the content menus, not the splash page, which would be fine if the content updated automatically, BUT IT DOES NOT. In order to get the menus to refresh, I either have to go through the annoying process to shut down a rogue app, or restart the whole phone. Occasionally after a crash it will respawn and not be able to reestablish its data connection, hence the image above, in these cases I hit the Home button then go back to the app and oh yep everything is just fine again.

Cannot get much in the way of support either, the Support link on the iTunes online page for Football Insider links back to generic Washington Post help page, if there is a thread or a topic on the Football Insider app then I am not able to find it easily.

Maybe I should not bother expecting a decent app until I get a decent team.

Screencap of aborted app load by me.

A Picture of Dorian McNabb

2010-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Less than a year and look how much it has aged

Right now I am a depressed and confused Redskins fan, depressed because we are hurtling toward yet another postseason in which I watch lots of football yet none of it includes my beloved team and confused because I am getting lots of mixed signals about quarterback Donovan McNabb:

Donovan McNabb having his worst season since his rookie year in 1999? Donovan was a rookie out of Syracuse that year, coming from the college ranks where he made his living on his legs at least as much as his arm. In his rookie season he split time in Philadelphia with Doug Pederson, appearing in twelve games and starting only six. He finished the year with 948 yards passing and a 60.1 passer rating. The next season he assumed the starter role and had it every year barring injury for the next ten seasons.

Looking at Donovan's numbers over the years though, I do not see a guy that is dropping off the cliff, in fact if Donovan can pull his passer rating up seven tenths of one point, the whole story goes away and god forbid he could get it two and a half points up, with another game or two like the Tampa Bay game and a 100.7 rating, then not only is 2010 not his worst as a starter, it is not even next to worst. Plus I think the strict measure of a guy by his passer rating is lazy.

Let us walk some of the other stats. Games: Averaging 13.4 per season over career, if we remove the first season when he was part time then it is virtually unchanged at 13.5 games per season. Donovan has already played thirteen games this season, one more and he busts over his career average.

Completion percentage: A career average of 58.9 percent, 2010 number is 58.3 percent, still well within reach to bust over with three games left and if not is teetering right the average at sixth tenths of a point less. I count four seasons with a lower completion rate and one a virtual tie.

Attempts per game are nearly four per game over career average, not a surprise considering the Redskins have had an unsettled tailback position all season. He can still sling it and the coaches are not compensating for some perceived dropoff, they are telling him to GET THE HELL OUT THERE AND THROW IT.

Passing yards / passing yards per game: In terms of his per game average, Donovan is nearly 35 yards per game over his average and if the season ended now 2010 would be the third highest per game passing yards in his career. Looking at total passing yards, Donovan already has more total passing yards in 2010 than in four of the seven years he has played thirteen games or more.

It is not all rosy though, Donovan's touchdown passes are dangerously near a career low, he will need to throw two more to tie his non rookie career low, oddly enough those career lows came in one season where Donovan played only nine games and in another where he played all sixteen.

Interceptions are already at a career high by two, one of the great statistics on Donovan coming into Washington was that he was one of the least intercepted passers in league history, even though Donovan is having his worst INT year ever, check the big board for quarterbacks: seven guys, including two named Manning, have as many or more than Donovan.

Sacks are also dangerously near career highs, 2010 is already Donovan's second worst year for sacks, two more and he ties it. Of all the stats that we can apply other players' performance to, this is the one that I place the most on others, the crappy offensive line the Redskins have in 2010.

The last stat to look at is long passes, Donovan has thrilled Redskins fans with the ability to connect on long passes, Jason Campbell had the arm but not the time, chemistry or accuracy to make them like Donovan has this year, then you look at his stats and 2010 is just middling in his late year performance, since 2004 Donovan has tossed eleven or more passes of forty yards or more five time in seven years. The guy can still sling it.

So let us dial back the Donovan is having teh worst yaer of his lief bit, I am not buying it.

Donovan McNabb is on pace to set Redskins franchise and personal records for passing yards? Wait I thought he was having his worst year evar as a starter? Then how can that headline be true? Well let us look at the numbers: At his current pace, Donovan should throw for 4156 yards in 2010 if he plays all sixteen games. That would be more than he has ever tossed in his career, he has never been a 4000 yard passer ever.

This number would also place Donovan ahead of 1986 Jay Schroeder and 1999 Brad Johnson for the most passingest Redskin of all time, for a franchise that has been in continuous operation since 1932.

Worst year ever = best year ever.

Wait, Donovan McNabb might get benched down the stretch? The latest ginned up story, principally credited to FOX's Jay Glazer, is that backup quarterback slash fumbler Rex Grossman is being prepped possibly to start or replace Donovan. For his part, Donovan was dismissive (op. cit.), and head coach Mike Shanahan was as you might expect evasive in talking about it.

This is of course bloody ridiculous. You only sit a veteran like Donovan at the end of the season if he is hurt or if he may be gone the next season and you really need to see what you have on the bench. And we all know, Super Bowl and NFL credentials or otherwise, that Rex Grossman is not an unknown quantity. Hell he may be starting caliber for all I know any more, alls I am saying is that we know everything we need to know about Rex and John Beck is certainly no option when you have a healthy Donovan McNabb. There is your fast path to cascading boos right there.

Stay with him and play with him, whatever ails the Redskins in 2010 it is not Donovan McNabb.

Photo by me of my still new Donovan McNabb number five jersey, I have only had it since 27 September 2010 and the numbering is already coming off the nylon, compare to my Santana Moss number 89 jersey I have had since the 2005 postseason, I wore that jersey for every game until this season and washed it at least twice a year and the numbering on it still looks great. Is that some sort of metaphor? With apologies to Oscar Wilde for the title.

Shattered

2010-12-05T21:23:00.000-05:00

2011 offseason starts now

A complete humilation today against the Giants, I am embarrassed right now to be a Redskins fan.

We knew there would be growing pains, we knew Mike Shanahan and his system would not turn the Redskins into a Super Bowl team in one season. We knew all this and expected to see the team struggle at times.

What we did not expect was an organization unable to field a basic NFL team. The struggles we imagined were oh man that was a close loss and damn that one play, not hey shit guys that was six turnovers today and why can't Chris Cooley catch the ball.

8-8 looks really optimistic at this point.

Metaphor as photo by me of the three year old Redskins Christmas tree ornament my eight year old son accidentally dropped today.

Game 12: Redskins (5-6) at Giants (7-4)

2010-12-05T12:30:00.001-05:00

vs.

My Take in 60 Words or Less: Are you there god? It's me Ben, if you have to give us a demoralizing blowout where the Redskins are the child being fed live to the giant python, at least please don't let have Donovan McNabb get hurt.

In other news, ~~Santana Moss~~, Albert Haynesworth, LaRon Landry and Carlos Rogers are all inactive. Great. (Ed. note, looks like Santana was a go after all, mot making much of a difference through one quarter. -Ben)

What Should I Do?

2010-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Jamie Lee Curtis?

Comedian slash Redskins fan slash radio host Danny Rouhier is out with his week twelve video that I first thought was supposed to represent Danny's internal dialogue then I see in the video description that it is a parody of a LeBron James commercial, not only do I not know this commercial, I am not even sure I could pick LeBron James out of a lineup because you see I AM A FOOTBALL FAN.

YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 11/30/2010: Beginning of the End

2010-12-01T20:00:00.002-05:00

It's a blog. NOT FUCKING TWITTER!

Wherein we discuss the end of meaningful Redskins football in 2010.

Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 11: Redskins (5-5) vs. Vikings (3-7)

2010-11-28T12:30:00.000-05:00

at

My Take in 60 Words or Less: I have no idea how to call this game, I have no idea who is going to show up for either team, I really hope the Redskins do not roll over and give the Vikings their one game new coach bump win on the road.

GOD DAMMIT

2010-11-27T22:30:00.006-05:00

Was it us?

Do you have any idea how fucking pissed off I am? Check that stat line in the image above, that is Brandon Lloyd, Broncos receiver, leading the league in receiving yards with 1046 yards in ten games, TEN GAMES THE DUDE HAS CAUGHT 54 PASSES FOR ALMOST A TWENTY YARD AVERAGE IN TEN FREAKING GAMES!

Brandon was traded to Washington from San Francisco in the 2006 offseason on the first day of free agency, the Redskins gave up two picks, a 2006 third round pick and a 2007 fourth rounder, to acquire Brandon, then turned around and gave him a seven year, 31 million dollar contract with ten million guaranteed. He was supposed to bolster a 2005 receiving corps that principally consisted of Santana Moss, Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis. Antwaan Randle El also arrived that offseason as a free agent, the Redskins had their bunch of sparkplug wideouts, no one over six feet tall.

I knew what Brandon could do, I had followed him in San Francisco and even seen him in person in the Redskins 52-17 circus in 2005, I was all about this signing, my recidivist take on Washington pushing TWO MORE Santana Moss clones in favor of pursuing a receiver free agent with size, height or physical credentials was simple: If Mark Brunell wants little guys that can get separation, who am I to disagree?

Pretty quickly though it got rough, the early returns on Brandon were indicative of how he would perform overall in his two troubled seasons in Washington. Through a miserable 2006 season that saw Mark Brunell give way to Jason Campbell at quarterback and the team win only five games, Brandon caught 23 passes for 365 yards in fifteen games, barely third receiver quality numbers, Brandon was supposed to be a solid number two that could push the number one.

In game seven that season against the Colts Brandon argued with Antwaan Randle El, the two had to be separated. Brandon did it again in game twelve against the Falcons, throwing his helmet on the field in the fourth quarter, earning the Redskins a fifteen yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. This second egregious loss of control earned Brandon a closed door sit down with head coach Joe Gibbs who you remember was supposed to be the guy ultimately behind the Redskins player acquisition decisions.

Brandon's reaction to being singled out on the team and in the media for detrimental behavior, and of being hauled behind closed doors for a verbal whipping by a Hall of Fame head coach? Not so much.

Still, coach Gibbs said he was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting and indicated Brandon would play in game thirteen against the Eagles, Brandon did not start and had one catch, off an option pass from Antwaan Randle El.

Three games later coach Gibbs had had enough, Brandon was inactive for the season finale against the Giants, the injury report indicated Brandon had bronchitis, no one believed it, Brandon's first season in a contract with ten million dollars guaranteed was a disaster.

Heading into 2007 it was not feasible to cut Brandon, Joe Gibbs and the team clearly was going to give Brandon another shot.

It did not start well. After bragging about how the 2007 offseason was the first time he had ever engaged in significant offseason workouts, Brandon gave himself shin splints and was unable to practice at full speed for the first three weeks THREE WEEKS of training camp. Still, he made the 2007 team.

And things did not get any better for Brandon. Two weeks into the season he did not have a catch. In the third week, Redskins fans were treated to one of the all time great displays of tone deafness, Brandon was featured in the Washington Post Business section as a compensated spokesman for Microsoft and their upcoming video game Halo III. In the article, Brandon named all the free gear and the advance look at the game experience the number one perk he had ever received as an NFL player, and then went on to talk about what a huge part of his life playing video games is. It would still be two more weeks, into October until Brandon got his first catch in 2007.

In November Brandon missed a team meeting and was barred from accompanying the team on the road to game eight against the Jets, and once again Joe Gibbs insisted Brandon was still important to the team and viable as a receiving option. Little did we know at that time that with seven games still left in the 2007 season that Brandon had already produced everything he would produce: two catches for fourteen yards.

One more game and no more catches later, on the last play of practice on Wednesday 14 November 2007, Brandon broke his collarbone, the team put him on injured reserve, ending a season that never really happened for Brandon. In all he missed nine games between healthy scratch, bronchitis and the clavicle injury, and produced 25 catches for 378 yards and no touchdowns. In February of 2008 the team cut Brandon, two years into thirty million dollar contract with ten million dollars guaranteed. Washington barely noticed.

Brandon played with Chicago in 2008, holding close to Washington form with 26 catches for 364 yards in eleven games. In 2009 he signed with Denver and produced only eight catches in two games.

Coming into 2010 no one expected Brandon Lloyd to do what he is doing now, Josh McDaniel has Brandon and quarterback Kyle Orton really working on the same page, Brandon has already set a career number for catches, with six games still remaining in the schedule, and is nearly four yards per catch ahead of his highest yards per catch season ever.

Something has happened, hell has frozen over, Brandon Lloyd has turned into a franchise receiver. I'm pretty pissed about it.

Image screencap detail of this page.

Thanksgiving Football Thread

2010-11-25T14:00:00.008-05:00

Grilled

A Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your family and hangers on from us here at The Curly R, this year we are back in Dumfries at the home of the Folsom parental units, grilled turkey and football all day. And now on to the timeline:

0230 Realize neighbor and cable TV holdout Tony Almeida and I have been talking about his project to distribute media into all rooms of his house and drinking whiskey for way too long, depart, corn chips and a big water, asleep on the couch.

0600 Awakened by kids ready to watch TV, move to kids room, fall back asleep.

0900 Once again the wife offers the option to stay home and sleep or get up and go with the family to a Turkey Trot road race, once again she seems surprised when I choose to stay home and sleep, move up to my own bed, close eyes and quiver.

1045 Hear family coming back into house, get up and pretend oh yeah honey I'm up, why do you ask? Shower, pack kids for overnight at Grandma's.

1215 Depart Alexandria for Dumfries, realize too late the early game, Patriots at Lions, starts at 12:30pm, not 1pm, fail to get football picks in for this game.

1305 Arrive Dumfries, realize parents no longer have wireless router I left with them specifically so I can get wireless in their house, go to plan B, fire up wireless hotspot app on iPhone, what an awesome feature.

1400 Halftime of Patriots-Lions game, blink hard to be sure I see what I think I am seeing, Lions leading by seven points. Cringe in embarrassment for Kid Rock in the halftime performance, it is an obvious lipsync and even so he sounds terrible.

1430 Time to eat, grilled turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, ambrosia, stuffing and gravy, cranberries, deviled eggs, rolls. My mom can still bring it on Thanksgiving.

1620 So much for that Lions lead, they get killed, on to the Saints at Cowboys, FOX is really lathering on the we heart our troops bit, I think exploitative is too strong a word, and if it improves troop morale then maybe it is ok, I tend to think the job of our deployed troops is sufficiently serious that we should not be mixing it up too much with broadcast entertainment. It kind of smacks of permanentizing wartime. Oh by the way I hate the fucking Cowboys.

1715 So far this game is going the way I want, off from parents' house back to Alexandia, sans kids, the wife and I will be taking a food coma nap then going to see a show later at 9:30 Club, Donavon Frankenreiter who is the guy that does the I wish that I knew what I know now song.

1830 Returned home, wallowing in post meal fatness for an hour or so before drinks with friends before the show, we are kidless for the evening.

2100 Crash wife's friend's family Thanksgiving party, feel lucky I brought a flask, this is a beer and wine crowd. Now heading out to show.

2330 Show over, it was great, Donavon Frankenreiter put on a great show, we head to Nellie's sports bar in the neighborhood for a nightcap then head home.

0130 26 Nov 2010, the wife is in bed, I am cleaning up the scene, final water and chips and I head to bed, hope everyone had a good turkey day.

Other Curly R Thanksgiving threads: 2006 :: 2007 :: 2008 :: 2009

Photo by me of the turkey being grilled by the other Redskins fan named Ben Folsom.

Allistair Spotswoolingtonworth

2010-11-24T21:30:00.000-05:00

This season McNabb has fallen over several times

Comedian slash Redskins fan slash radio host Danny Rouhier is out with his week eleven video, a sober introspection on how the fuck Donovan McNabb keeps tripping on his center's feet at the snap. If you thought it was Casey Rabach's size eleventeen sneakers that were getting in the way, the Titans game with all its injuries provides useful insight: DONOVAN TRIPPED OVER WILL MONTGOMERY'S FEET TOO. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THIS?

Get on over to Danny's YouTube channel and give some loves.

YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 11/23/2010: Dono Darko

2010-11-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

Got a mean comment? HAHAHA I LOL'ED!

Wherein we discuss a breach in the Primary Football Universe.

Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 10: Redskins (4-5) at Titans (5-4)

2010-11-21T12:00:00.002-05:00

vs.

Because no one gives a fuck and the Redskins are going to get killed.

NFL helmets from here.

Twenty-five Years Ago

2010-11-20T20:30:00.001-05:00

Their paths diverged from here

Thursday night was an important night for former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann. It was his second game as color analyst for the NFL Network's Thursday games, Joe had been out of the game game since getting shitcanned by ESPN after the 2006 season in favor of Ron Jaworski on Monday Night Football. Up to that moment Joe Theismann had been a color commentator for NFL games dating back to 1988, an eighteen year streak that ESPN had to end because Tony Kornheiser is a whiny brat that does not get along with anybody and whom the network mistakenly thought was carrying the broadcast.

How ESPN later canned Tony for another football guy in Jon Gruden tells you all you need to know about how wrong the network was to stick with that loser for so long.

Frankly though Ron and Jon does not work for me either, it is one hardcore football mind in that booth too many and with Jon trying to keep his options open for another coaching gig someday the posturing by that guy in the booth is enough to make me sugar vomit.

But I digress, that is not really the point, nor is Joe Theismann getting back in the booth for live games really the occasion of importance in Joe's life.

Twenty-five years ago Thursday night, 18 November 1985, was the night Lawrence Taylor broke Joe Theismann's leg live on Monday Night Football in one of the most gruesome career ending injuries that has ever been witnessed in football.

Joe's football career was ended that night, Lawrence went on to make the Pro Bowl that season, and every year for the next five seasons, he would win two Super Bowls, be named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team and to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team. A first ballot Hall of Famer, Lawrence's number is one of only eleven retired by the Giants, a team that has been in existence since 1925.

Three years after his injury, Joe Theismann resumed his football career in broadcasting, becoming ubiquitous in the sport for better or for worse. Lawrence Taylor turned to partying and drugs and a hard lifestyle, while a player he tested positive twice for cocaine, legend has it only the threat of a lifetime ban for a third positive forced him to quit.

After retiring he did lots of drugs and became the shady character that goes with the lifestyle, he was arrested twice for trying to buy from undercover officers and went through rehab at least twice in the 1990s. He lost lots of money in bad investments and became a caricature of himself in pop culture. Last year he was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident then this year it got worse, he was arrested for statutory rape of a sixteen year old admitted prostitute, he is facing trial on these charges. In a sign times are tough for Lawrence, he went to court, or rather technically did not go to court, to try and get child support payments for his twelve year old daughter by his first wife reduced.

Kind of seems like Joe Theismann got the better of that whole deal from 1985. Not judging, just saying.

The immediate aftermath of Lawrence Taylor's career ending hit on Joe Theismann: George Gojkovich / Getty Images from here.

"We rob them of their dreams"

2010-11-19T20:30:00.003-05:00

Fallen

In pitch perfect style Redskins fan slash comedian slash radio host Danny Rouhier goes Behind the Music with the Redskins for his week ten video, ever notice how you cannot get on BtM unless you made a bunch of money then lost it all or got hooked on drugs or lost a limb or something? Yeah the Redskins are like that.

YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 11/16/2010: No Air

2010-11-17T11:00:00.001-05:00

Wife excusing me from inlaws to blog? VICTORY IS MINE!

Wherein we discuss a trainwreck game of epic proportions.

Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 9: Redskins (4-4) vs. Eagles (5-3)

2010-11-15T13:30:00.003-05:00

vs.

Out of the Box: The rematch, on Monday Night Football no less, as the new quarterback plays his old team in the stadium where he won ten times in eleven years, it's the Eagles in primetime at Redskins Stadium, 8:30pm on ESPN.

=====

Quick jump to
The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
=====

The Story So Far: Well here's some shit. Quarterback Donovan McNabb was benched with two minutes to go against Detroit and the game still winnable, after the game head coach Mike Shanahan said putting backup Rex Grossman in the game gave the Redskins the best chance to win the game, Rex was offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's backup last season in Houston so presumably Rex had greater familiarity with Kyle's two minute drill. Bullshit factor: HIGH, Rex never ran a two minute drill in Houston and was not known for his late game heroics in Chicago. Poor Rex went in there, got sacked on the first play, fumbled and gave up a touchdown to seal the game.

The next day the story was about coach Shanahan's concerns about Donovan's health and cardiovascular conditioning. The health part of the comment is a reference to Dono's sore hamstrings and quadriceps, a byproduct of playing professional football for more than a decade. The cardio comment was about Dono's basic conditioning, which we have learned the Shanahans think is not good enough to play their system. Bullshit factor: HIGH, like all veterans halfway into a football season, expecially those quarterbacks stuck behind bullshit offensive lines, Dono is sore. He is also a warrior, if he walks he goes. As far as conditioning, the dude trains all offseason at altitude in the Arizona heat, the guy is more than in shape to play this position, for christs sake Malcolm Kelly, ten years younger than Donovan, could not handle Donovan's training regimen, pulling a hamstring that ultimately ended his season.

As the week wore on we heard more whispers, about coaching unhappiness with Donovan's practice habits and coaches maybe not feeling Donovan is a great fit for the system. Bullshit factor: MEDIUM, it may in fact be the case that Donovan McNabb at age 33 or any age may not be the Shanahans' idea of a scientifically perfect quarterback, and to that I ask

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER OPTIONS FOR WINNING IN 2010?

To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you go onto the football field with the team you have, not the team you may want or wish to have at a later time.

In 2010 Donovan is that guy, a better option for a winning season than Rex Grossman or John Beck, so get the fuck off your coaching high horse and play the guy like the star athlete he is.

No one ever questioned the authority of the coaches, they can bench Donovan in favor of a ham sandwich and no one disputes that, it is the lies, the whispers and the unproductive rhetoric that pisses Redskins fans off, there may be players out there that get motivated by being shat on, if that was ever Donovan he is well past that now, he is in an elite class of self motivating professionals, just give him the damn ball and let him go to work.

=====

Curly R Aside:

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Oppo Research:

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Trainer's Table:

=====

Gameplan: Last time these two teams played Donovan had a bad game, Michael Vick was separated from his ribcage and the Eagles were gasping for breath at the end. On offense the Redskins need to go after the Eagles secondary, they are missing two starters, including safety Nate Allen who was selected with the 2010 pick the Redskins traded for Donovan. On defense, just keep it up, rattle Michael Vick, make him move out of the pocket and throw on the run, let DeAngelo Hall and LaRon Landry do their thing.

=====

My Take in 60 Words or Less: DAMN YOU GET ME A SWEEP BY MIDNIGHT I WANT TO BE 3-0 IN THE DIVISION

=====

This is a nationwide game, for you watching at home on ESPN or locally in Washington and Phildelphia, we will be treated to Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski.

Enjoy the game, I will be there, this will be the 23rd of the past 24 Eagles-Redskins games for me and game partner lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, this game marks my twelfth straight at Redskins Stadium and 21st in a row overall, our tradition of attending all Eagles-Redskins games together dates back to 1999.

This is a gameday open thread.

NFL helmet logos from here.

Ready to Go

2010-11-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

Game on

Everything is in place, Monday cannot get here fast enough, got my tickets and my parking pass for tomorrow night's Eagles at Redskins game. Accompanying me this year will be two Swarthmore Drive neighbors, an college friend slash opportunist, political writer, radio host and former editor of Redskins Examiner Mark Newgent and lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery.

For Wilbert Montgomery and me tomorrow's game will be our 23rd of the past 24 Eagles-Redskins games played at any venue, for me it will be my 21st in a row overall and my twelfth in a row at Redskins Stadium. Our streak goes back to 1999, Donovan McNabb's rookie year.

If you are in the Gray lot or nearby come on down and have a drink with us, send me an email and I will give details.

P.S. - Whereas I was hoping to see the Cowboys get slaughtered today, they did not and in fact handily beat the Giants, I will say what I said last month about the first Dallas-New York game, as much as you would have loved to see the Cowboys take a beating when they are already down, Dallas winning that game was much better for the Redskins... as long as Washington remains in playoff contention.

Photo by me.

Piling On

2010-11-12T10:30:00.001-05:00

Brilliant

At some point this week I need to turn back to the Redskins, for now I am still wallowing in the midseason firing of Dallas head coach Wade Phillips and the Cowboys' smile inducing 1-7 record.

So imagine the pleasantness of my surprise when I open my weekly copy of The Onion on Metro this morning and see the Cowboys covered in Sports. Money quote:

According to a recent USA Today poll... Thirty-two percent [of the country] said that the season has been emotionally taxing for people who grew up worshipping Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith, and that those people should probably go fuck themselves anyway.

Enjoy your weekend, the Cowboys play at Giants Sunday in the late game, let us Redskins fans tune in and be the game's laugh track.

Team attending to an injured Tony Romo: Uncredited image from here.

Wade Phillips: Buh-Bye

2010-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

Don't worry Wade, it wasn't you

Something that has never happened since Jerral W. Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989 happened yesterday, Jerry fired his head coach midseason, terminating Wade Phillips after an embarrassing 45-7 loss to the Packers on Sunday, dropping the Cowboys to an awesome 1-7 in the 2010 NFL season. Offensive coordinator and one time head coach in waiting Jason Garrett assumes the reins for the rest of the season.

I am sure all of Redskinsland joins me when I say in all sincerity

HAW HAW

=====

More than simply dropping the Cowboys with finality out of the playoff race, this move makes clear how far the Cowboys have fallen, at the start of the season America's Team (lol) had high expectations of being the first team to play on its home field in the Super Bowl, number 45 of which will be played at the Taj Mahal of the NFL, the new Cowboys Stadium in February. The Cowboys are a complete mess with discipline and execution problems all up and down the team. As a Redskins fan this warms my heart like a cup of hot chocolate on a snowy day.

It did not take an advanced degree to see this coming, and now begins the apocrypha that EVERYone saw this coming, I watched the horrific showing Dallas put up against Houston in an August preseason game then went over to Hogs Haven to write about it, later that week a coworker told me was willing to bet the Rams would end 2010 with a better record than the Cowboys, it was not exactly a bold call to look at that team and think there was an overconfidence problem.

I bear Wade Phillips no ill will, I think he is a good coach, he just has an expiration date, he is an aw shucks players coach who basically ignores the offense, in addition to being the head coach Wade was also the defensive coordinator. Wade is not a fire breather so he is not going to motivate his players with his you come on you guys are professionals post game speeches, one thing I have learned from watching so much football at all levels is that player need coaching all their careers, they need to be reminded constantly to keep focus, to forget the last play because the success you earn in the NFL always starts with the next play.

Jessica Simpson, Kardashians, reality shows, a stadium with cage dancers I mean WHAT THE FUCK GUYS.

They loved being Dallas Cowboys so much the past few years they got complacent and it is simply not Wade Phillips' gig to get a stray team back on point.

=====

I wrote extensively about the Cowboys coaching search and options following the departure of Bill Parcells in January 2007, the first thing Jerry Jones did was hire Jason Garrett, as either head coach or offensive coordinator with a big to be determined hanging out there while Jerry looked at other candidates. With the Jim Zorn hiring debacle still more than a year in the future, the notion that a team would hire a guy and then determine where he fit in the organization was ludicrous and damaging, well paid players with contracts can smell uncertainty in the wind and loyalty is as much about who is in charge as who is not. Hiring a guy and then telling the organization ok he may be the guy let's wait and see was a mistake from the beginning.

So with a possible head coach in the fold Jerry went out and surveyed the landscape, coming up with Mike Singletary who had been in coaching all of four seasons at the time of his interview and who is sure to be fired from the 49ers at the end of the season, pairing Mike up with Jason who had all of two seasons coaching experience was an idea so bad that even Jerry Jones did not bite.

Norval Turner was the only other real candidate and the 49ers gave him a raise to stay, so Jerry settled on Wade Phillips, while no team can ever publicly say a guy has a shelf life, at the time I looked at the plan as this: Wade coaches for a couple three seasons then moves on, either under contract expiration or honorable resignation, the idea that it could end with a firing is a bad PR move because it would call into question the competence of the coaching and management staffs, so if Jerry really wanted to marinate Jason Garrett and then promote him in the near to middle term, it was going to have to be a joyous transition, not in the midst of a storm.

For those of you into the palace intrigue, what kind of relationship do you think Jason Garrett had with Wade Phillips with this knowledge? Have Jason and the owner had a lot of um meetings over the years?

Fast forward to 13-3 and a playoff loss on a Tony Romo snap bobble in 2007, 9-7 and no playoffs in 2008 and you get to 2009. Dallas made the playoffs at 11-5 season, capping the regular season with a 24-0 shutout of the Eagles, then an emphatic 34-14 beating of the same Eagles team in the same stadium in the playoffs.

Even though Dallas lost the next game to the Vikings, the Cowboys had achieved a milestone: Their first playoff victory since 1996. A month earlier Jerry Jones had come right out and said it, if the Cowboys did not get into the playoffs, Wade would be fired, the strong implication was also that Dallas had to win a playoff game, again what would have been their first since 1996.

So when they did and then did, Jerry was stuck, he could fire Wade after a win any more than the Giants could fire Tom Coughlin after winning the Super Bowl.

And now we have this season, soft, undisciplined players arguing on the sidelines, the quarterback out for what will be the season because a fullback did not pick up a blocking assignment, culminating in a humiliating loss to the Packers and the inevitable decision to fire Wade.

So now Jason Garrett becomes head coach in a time when the quality of his offense is strongly in question, in the midst of a storm, the guy in waiting from 2007 now has become just a guy, the seasoning he was supposed to get may actually turn out to have been dry rot, the Curly R prediction is Jason Garrett is out at the end of the season, having never been considered a serious candidate for the full time job.

=====

For the record, lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery discussed this at length on the way home from the Colts at Eagles game Sunday, while listening to the Sunday night debacle on Sirius NFL Radio, his call is for John Fox in Dallas next season, I think this makes sense, with John's contract expiring at the end of the year and the Panthers in need of a change, the Carolina job is wired to Bill Cowher whose home is in the Charlotte area, Jerry Jones will strike out with Cowher and settle on John Fox.

Wade Phillips coaching his last game with the Cowboys: AP Photo from here.

Handy Accessory

2010-11-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

Let me get that for you

Quick Saturday bye week post to show off my latest piece of Redskins gear, a coworker was kind enough to gift me this Redskins keychain bottle opener and as it happens I have an immediate and relevant use for it, lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery has invited me to join him tomorrow for the Colts at Eagles game in Philadelphia and I think we may want to open a beer or two in the process.

Now that I have a real communications device check me on twitter.com/curlyr throughout the day as I microchronicle the oh so pleasant experience of attending an Eagles game as a (plausibly) neutral fan, I will also photochronicle this game for your enjoyment.

Hope you are having a great and Redskins free bye weekend.

Photo by me.

You Tell Him I Will Straight Up Bench His Ass

2010-11-04T22:30:00.000-04:00

Donovan's like so fat

Danny Rouhier is out with his week eight video on the Lions debacle, among his best work yet. For just a second this season I thought the Redskins were going to be good and we would not need Danny.

WRONG AGAIN BEN

YouTube from here.

2010-11-02T14:36:00.001-04:00

We've really hit rock bottom here. The Redskins tried out JaMarcus Russell today, I will laugh if the Redskins wound up trading Jason Campbell for JaMarcus.

Game 8: Redskins (4-3) at Lions (1-5)

2010-10-31T12:00:00.003-04:00

at

Out of the Box: Vuja de all over again as the Redskins travel for the second year in a row to play a struggling Lions team, may this time be better than the last, 1:00 pm ET on FOX, unless you live in the Detroit market.

=====

Quick jump to
The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
=====

The Story So Far: Normally the last time the teams played is later in this section, in this week's case the game is all about the last time they played, the Lions were on a nineteen game winless streak, going back into 2007, the Redskins in Jim Zorn's failing second season has head coach blundered into Lions Stadium for game three and got beat. We know what happened after that.

Meanwhile back on Earth there was a week of news. After beating the Bears in the sloppiest game ever in which cornerback DeAngelo Hall tied an NFL record with four interceptions, much of the focus of the week was on the offense, this unit has been somewhat sloppy and inconsistent with a persistent inability to close games out. Quarterback Donovan McNabb, while still thrilling Redskins fans just by being here, is on pace for just about his worst statistical season ever.

The second biggest story after Donovan McNabb having his worst season ever, has got to be Albert Haynesworth and the team negotiating a peace that allows Albert to be Albert while still allowing the team to stick with its 3-4 philosophy, the result of this new arrangement saw Albert have his best game as a Redskin, although we can now expect not to see Albert in base 3-4 sets, we will still see lots of him, doing his best Charles Jefferson impression (op. cit.), going through the line straight to the quarterback. I hope this works.

As the Redskins defense continues to be a sieve a pattern emerges: It is all about turnovers, the Redskins are sitting at seventeen takeaways and a plus eight turnover margin, good for third in the league.

Take a minute to think about this: Seven games into the 2010 season the Redskins have matched their win total from 2009. Those four wins are all quality wins with playoff implications: Two wins in the Division and two in the Conference.

=====

Curly R Aside: This week I finally upgraded from my crappy old Blackberry to a brand new iPhone, I have the Washington Post Football Insider app which pipes in Post blogs, articles, columns, game stats and photos, a very cool app. Help me out readers, what other apps are essential for the football fan?

=====

Oppo Research: Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who like Sam Bradford did in game three this season, won his first career NFL game last season in the ~~Lions epic win~~ Redskins epic fail of a game, this year the Lions do not look a lot better, Matthew went out in Detroit's game one, this is his first game back from that injury. Hopefully the Redskins can exploit this and get Matthew on his back.

The other major threat for this team is receiver Calvin Johnson, he had a big hand in last year's debacle and creates matchup problems for the Redskins. Let us see if DeAngelo can keep it up or if he has a predictable letdown.

This is of course not to disrespect defensive tackles Ndamakong Suh and Kyle Vanden Bosch, see below for more on them.

=====

Trainer's Table: Safety Kareem Moore, who played plenty against the Bears but did not actually start, is suffering lingering problems from his preseason knee injury. This is not good, Kareem is better at the free safety position than either Chris Horton or Reed Doughty.

The team this week finally admitted something everyone already knew: Right guard Jammal Brown is not fully recovered from the hip injury that caused him to miss all of the 2009 season and that made him expendable in New Orleans. Veteran utility man Stephon Heyer is right at his door and may take that job which if you have been watching the past few seasons you will recognize as a bad thing.

Fullback Mike Sellers left the Bears game with a foot injury and was seen wearing a boot after the game, he appears to be fine. Tailback slash return man Chad Simpson pulled a hamstring in practice and was inactive for the Bears game, he is to be determined (op. cit.).

Tailback Clinton Portis, he of the detached groin muscle, is still two weeks away minimum before coming back. Still predicting he has no serious role in this year's offense.

Other players appear on the Redskins Wednesday injury report then again on Friday's, those not named here will play.

=====

Gameplan: On offense the Redskins are still looking for some consistency along the line, right tackle Jammal Brown is still slowed by the hip injury that kept him out all of 2009, his main backup Stephon Heyer is as much a threat to make mistakes as block well. While not as dangerous as DeMarcus Ware and Clay Matthews, Lions rookie Ndamakong Suh and free agent pickup defensive tackle Kyle Vanden Bosch, Albert Haynesworth's old teammate in Tennessee, are menacing, setting the rhythm early is key.

On defense the plan will be to try and get to the quarterback, the Lions have talented but limited weapons on offense, the Redskins will plan to limit Matthew Stafford and force the Lions to do it on the ground.

=====

My Take in 60 Words or Less: Trap game schmap game, show Detroit the Redskins remember humiliation, take this game seriously and go kick their assess.

=====

LaVar Arrington's keys to the game: Offense / defense / special teams; Inactives: tailback Chad Simpson, cornerback Kevin Barnes, tailback Clinton Portis, linebacker Perry Riley, nose tackle Anthony Bryant and left guard Derrick Dockery, this is Derrick's fourth straight game inactive, John Beck is the emergency third quarterback.

Broadcast coverage, as you can see no one cares about this game but us and the game is blacked Detroit, Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan on the call, I like Tim on Sirius NFL Radio but not always on TV, I will be looking to give him another chance.

Enjoy the game, I will be in my usual spot on ShedTV, we watch outside as long as the weather permits.

This is a gameday open thread.

NFL helmet logos from here.

Which Five Games Was that Again?

2010-10-30T12:00:00.002-04:00

That DeMarcus Ware?

Browsing the week's games with neighbors last night I came across the NFL preview for the Jacksonville at Dallas game, check that last section, the Did you know:

...Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware has a touchdown in five consecutive games.

Say what? He has who what? A touchdown. In five consecutive games.

We decided to try and proof this postulation and were unable to. Here is what we did find:

* DeMarcus Ware has two touchdowns... in his career, both coming in 2006, one on an interception return and one on a fumble recovery and return. It is not consecutive games with a sack either, DeMarcus has eight for the season and has scored one in five of six games, but not five in a row.

* No Cowboy has scored in five consecutive games this season, receiver Dez Bryant has three receiving touchdowns and two punt return scores, though they are not over a five game consecutive streak.

* Tony Romo has thrown a touchdown in five consecutive games, though his streak this year was actually six games.

So what the hell is this all about? If it is a typographical error it is pretty epic, I think Cowboys fans are so down that the league wants to cheer them up with some happy talk and being the simple lot they are, the league knows they will not go and check facts.

Image screencapped from the NFL Game Center preview here, for reasons I do not understand the posted previews on all the major sites, including NFL, ESPN, CBS Sports, etc., all disappear at kickoff.

Think I Found My Halloween Costume

2010-10-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Schadenfreude

I have three slings left over from the bicycle crash that left me with a separated right shoulder in April, and the two subsequent surgeries. Problem is I refuse to spend a dime on Cowboys regalia, even the cheap ass Walmart shit.

Jay Leno Thursday night: "For Halloween you can stick a fork in yourself and go as the Dallas Cowboys!"

Enjoy your weekend.

Image screencapped from NFL.com homepage, linked to this story.

Got to Get this Out Before It Goes Away

2010-10-29T15:00:00.000-04:00

99.9%? Me?

I have been participating in the ESPN football pool with college friends every year since 2000, during the years when I first had kids my performance dropped off precipitously, then again when I first started up Curly R and had little brainspace for the rest of the league. Still I stuck with it, the pool is a constant and besides the other guys shame me into it when I waffle.

Apparently I am in tune with this NFL season, the image you see above is my profile, 69 games picked correctly through seven NFL weeks, straight up no spread, good enough to place me in the 99.9th percentile, and 307th overall in the game. Tony Almeida first pointed this out to me two weeks ago when I was ranked in the hundredth percentile, with a top hundred ranking.

Looking at some numbers, check the leaderboard for non spread games, 76 is the overall leader, seven games separate me and the leader, 306 spots ahead of me.

On the backside though the competition is much stiffer. I am in two non spread pools, in one the second place player has 65 wins, four fewer than me, placing him in the 98.2th percentile and nearly seven thousand spots behind me.

In the other the second place player is seven spots behind me, the same distance between me and the leader, 62 games is good for the 92.0th percentile, and over thirty two thousand spots behind me.

There is no way that I can see to measure the total player community, conservatively if the top tenth of one percent is rounded to 300 players then the total community is ((300*10)*100) = three hundred thousand players, estimated.

Of course now that I have recognized my performance I expect to tank out of the top echelon, one bad week can drop a player thousands of spots

Screencap of my ESPN Pigskin Pick'em profile here.

Whatever...

2010-10-28T07:00:00.002-04:00

...Dallas is 1-5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Redskins fan slash comedian slash radio host slash newlywed Danny Rouhier is out with his video wrapping the week seven win over the Bears, money quote:

You realize that when [quarterback Donovan] McNabb threw that [second] pick six, we were saved by our own ineptitude, on the delay of game penalty. We screwed up to prevent ourselves from screwing up even worse. That's our offense right now. [munches nuts]

Even in paradise they know Dallas sucks.

YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 10/26/2010: Remember the Good Parts

2010-10-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

A player reads the blog? OH GOD WHAT DID I WRITE?

Wherein we discuss the Redskins awesome awful defense.

Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Outlased?

2010-10-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

Srsly?

Great to see the NFL has their best copy editors on the Redskins beat.

Screencap of NFL Gamecenter from here.

Go Ahead, Hold Your Nose and...

2010-10-25T16:00:00.000-04:00

Just wrong

...root for Dallas tonight. Ugh. Sorry.

The 1-4 Cowboys are on the brink of destruction for the season, as hard as this is we cannot let them go just yet. Tonight they play the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, a win by the Giants would give them sole possession of first place in the NFC Beast at 5-2 and with a 1-0 record in the Division.

A loss would drop New York into a tie with the 4-3 Redskins, which would then move into the Division lead by virtue of a 2-0 record against NFC Beast opponents.

I guess I am going to get some satisfaction tonight either way, seeing Dallas get blown out is always therapeutic, seven games into the season the Redskins are still looking good enough to contend for the Division and we need to begin aligning our rooting interests as such.

Tony Romo crying after his January 2007 playoff fail: Uncredited image from here.

Game 7: Redskins (3-3) at Bears (4-2)

2010-10-24T12:30:00.004-04:00

at

Out of the Box: Two teams with serious weaknesses and serious strengths as the Redskins travel to Chicago to play the Bears in a 1:00 pm ET game, wait what, a 1:00 pm game?

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Quick jump to
The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
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The Story So Far: The Redskins continue to play close games against good opposition in a season that was supposed to be a sixteen game preseason for the Real Mike Shanahan Redskins, instead this team looks like it could actually contend in 2010. And most of the teams so far on the schedule have featured high powered offenses or deadeye quarterbacks.

Into this mix come the Bears this week, with none other than almost Redskin Jay Cutler at quarterback. Hilarity will ensue.

Recapping the week in Redskins football, I think the big story was the alleged shouting match cornerback DeAngelo Hall and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett got into over coverages, assignments, DeAngelo does not seem to think he and his unit mates have the freedom they need to make plays. For his part, Jim Haslett played it down, saying these types of discussions are routine. This is the second time DeAngelo has gone rogue on the team's defensive strategy, last time DeAngelo said he was going to ignore coaching calls and cover opponents' top receivers himself on every play. It is worth noting that the game following this proclamation, against the Rams, the Redskins lost and DeAngelo played poorly.

tailback Ryan Torain looks like he may be serviceable in the backfield, with Clinton Portis' future with the team not certain Redskins fans should look at every game as an audition for the team's next back. Ryan is a big back and gets most of his yardage after contact, time will tell if his body can hold up, and or if he is a product of the running backs are fungible Mike Shanahan philosophy of football. Personally I still go back to training camp, I thought Ryan was better than every other back besides Clinton, yet Ryan still got cut and spent two weeks on the practice squad before getting promoted and now like wow he is the starting tailback.

With all the focus on player concussions and head trauma in the news it was probably not a great time for tight end Chris Cooley to get bopped on the head, we found out after the Colts game that Chris took a shot in the first half, then returned before pulling himself from the game, he sat out two days of practice then was back and is expected to play.

Defensive nose end Albert Haynesworth did not play against the Colts, he returned too late in the week from the funeral for his brother, or his head was obviously not in the game, take your pick of stories, now the NFL trade deadline has passed and Albert and the team have ten games to figure out if there is a relationship there. I am disappointed the team did not manage to get rid of Albert, for all we have heard the team was never shopping him realistically, rather was looking for a trade value so high that only a dumbass team would go for it, part of me is still surprised Vinny Cerrato did not sneak back into the complex at Ashburn and try to trade two first round picks back to the team for Albert.

Rocky McIntosh, linebacker, enigma or both?

The last time these two teams met was the bitter cold game thirteen of the 2007 season, quarterback Jason Campbell went down with a broken kneecap, Pride of Walpole Todd Collins came in relief and the Redskins won 24-16 to keep their slim playoff hopes alive in the aftermath of Sean Taylor's death and what would become Joe Gibbs' last season as head coach. Todd is now Jay Cutler's backup in Chicago.

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Curly R Aside: I know coaching is coaching, that all players, Dan Marino and Peyton Manning included, need coaching even when they are at the top of the profession, I get that, take a look at what is happening with Brad Childress and Brett Favre, I have always thought that coaching for an advanced player such as Donovan McNabb was essentially limited to getting him familiar with the offensive scheme and continual feedback on reading defenses. When I read this week that the Redskins were coaching Dono up on his motion and mechanics I thought that was a little silly, the dude is in his twelfth year of doing this professionally, at this point he is what he is and making him feel like he is being coached up just because he is with a new team or the coaches want to assert themselves is a way to piss him off. That said, if he is complacent in his mechanics or quote trying too hard unquote in his rush to get familiar on the fly with the offense, then perhaps he needs it.

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Oppo Research: Chicago is summed up as a team with a dangerous quarterback, failing offensive line, inconsistent receivers, a solid running game, a ferocious run defense and questionable pass defense. Jay Cutler has been eat to shit, three weeks ago he was sacked nine times in the first half and left the game with a concussion, if you give Jay Cutler time he will burn you, if you get to him you can stop the whole offense cold.

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Trainer's Table: As indicated above, tight end Chris Cooley suffered a mild concussion in the Colts game, he drilled Wednesday, practiced Thursday and should be good to go for the game.

Linebacker Rocky McIntosh, who missed the Colts game with a concussion suffered in the Packers game, should be back this week.

Tailback Clinton Portis is still out with his groin tear and is still weeks away from return.

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Gameplan: On offense Washington will be facing a ball hawking Chicago defense, with as little momentum as the Redskins have been able to apply consistently when they have the ball, I expect to see sluggish offense and a lot of punts, capped by hopefully just enough Donovan McNabb theatrics to win the game.

On defense the Redskins are facing a team that cannot pass block, Jay Cutler has been sacked 26 times so far this season, and that has a great running game, there could be problems. Washington is established as a great pass rushing team that can apply pressure though gives up more yards than any team in the league. In the run game the Redskins are ranked near the bottom of the league at 24th, I think this means the Redskins blitz heavily to try and stop the Bears passing game before it can get started, forcing the Bears to win on the ground.

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My Take in 60 Words or Less: Two teams with weaknesses matched to strengths, I think we see fireworks today.

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LaVar Arrington's keys to the game: Offense / defense / special teams; Inactives: tailback Clinton Portis, left guard Derrick Dockery, cornerback Kevin Barnes, tailback slash kick returner Chad Simpson, linebacker Perry Riley, nose tackle Anthony Bryant, defensive end Jeremy Jarmon and third quarterback John Beck. This is Derrick Dockery's third straight healthy scratch, the team is trying its best to move on at left guard.

Broadcast coverage, by land area this is the biggest broadcast of Fox's early slate today.

Enjoy the game, for the first time in a month I will be back on ShedTV. Maybe with a whiskey.

This is a gameday open thread.

NFL helmet logos from here.

Little Bit Like an Episode of Full House

2010-10-22T07:00:00.002-04:00

A show I never watched but I don't hold this against Danny

Danny Rouhier is out with his week six video wrapping the loss to the Colts, Danny tell us what you really think of Cris Collinsworth, and double internets for the David Terrell reference.

YouTube from here.

The Folsom Point 10/20/2010: The Surgeon

2010-10-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

Something happened? YEAH I HAVE AN OPINION ON THAT.

Wherein we discuss the precision of Peyton Manning.

Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

Game 6: Redskins (3-2) vs. Colts (3-2)

2010-10-17T20:00:00.004-04:00

vs.

Out of the Box: Back to the national stage, another opportunity for the Redskins to show they are a real team as the Colts come into Washington for Sunday Night Football, 8:00 pm ET on NBC, am I dreaming or is a winnable game?

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Quick jump to
The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
=====

The Story So Far: Do you believe? It seems the team is starting to, Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb are bleeding their confidence and experience into the rest of this team, it has been a long time since the Redskins had legitimate leadership, and sadly I include the Joe Gibbs II years in this review. They say a good team cannot win if the players do not believe they can win. The Redskins have had decent to good teams in the past five years and have not had a lot of success overall.

Meanwhile back on Earth the Redskins have played Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, emerging rookie phenom Sam Bradford, Michael Vick and Aaron Rodgers in the first five weeks of the season, why the hell not throw a Peyton Manning in there just to rub it in a little. Whatever the outcome of this game, this stretch of elite quarterbacks, including Jay Cutler next week, should end up making this defense better.

There was an odd synchronicity of coverage this week leading up to tonight's game, about how both teams, the Redskins and Colts, were still in the process of finding themselves going into week six of the 2010 NFL season. Little different in what it means for each team to be finding itself though.

The Redskins are a wild west gambler walking the razor's edge every week, shooting their way out of barfights and taking out veteran gunfighters from fifty paces, knowing it could all be over any time. Four of the Redskins five games so far this season have been by a touchdown or less, and all four of those games, including the Redskins three wins, have come down to the last play of the game. Looking back over the four plus years Curly R has been covering this team, this is the norm though (op. cit.).

See Oppo Research below for more on how the Colts are looking to find themselves.

Speaking of head coach Mike Shanahan, although I have questioned some his personnel moves, it is unquestionable that there is a method to his madness, he is already in the process of building a team from the inside out.

We are learning a little more about the release of third year receiver Devin Thomas, that happened on the eve of last Sunday's game against the Packers, coach Shanahan did not think Devin was a good fit with the team, based principally on coach's belief that Devin is not really committed to football (op. cit.), apparently coach also thought Devin was a bit of a showboat. Devin never made it to the market, he was claimed off waivers by the Carolina Panthers.

As a footnote to this preview, the last time these two teams played, not counting the Hall of Fame preseason game one in 2008, was game seven of the 2006 season at Indianapolis, the Curly R preview is decidedly downbeat as the 2-4 Redskins played the 5-0 Colts, this game featured the defensive ends Phillip Daniels and Andre Carter nearly ripping Peyton Manning in half in the first quarter, the Redskins were actually leading by one point at the half before Peyton woke up and threw three touchdown passes in the third quarter, the Redskins went on to lose 36-22 to drop to 2-5.

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Curly R Aside: Sunday Night Football play by play announcer Al Michaels has been one of the voices of football for about as long as my attention span permitted me to watch games, long enough in the business to learn some really solid preparation habits, and despite that longevity Al consumes alt media including blogs covering the teams he will be working. He has also been in the business long enough to develop some pretty depraved show business fetishes, hey Al when the game is over tonight you can come over to my house and dress up in ladies panties and bite me on the back, I will even let you sodomize me if you promise to give Curly R a shoutout tonight during the game tonight. (Ed. note: Thanks to all the emailers pointing ot my mistake, obviously I had Al Michaels confused with Marv Albert, my apologies to Al Michaels I may have offended. -Ben)

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Oppo Research: As alluded above, the Colts are also a team looking for their identity, it is not the same situation as the Redskins, see the Colts know their identity and when we say they are looking for it we mean like they lost it and are looking up under the couch and between the carseats, it is just a matter of time until they find it. Quarterback Peyton Manning is having a great season, three Colts receivers have thirty catches or more, not even one Redskins player has thirty at this point.

Indianapolis' weakness on offense right now is at tailback, starter Joseph Addai and backup Donald Brown are both hurt and may not play, third string ball carrier Mike Hart is on deck, when this guy gets fifty yards in the game they say it's awesome.

On the other side of the ball defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis both present serious challenges to the tackle spots, do not be surprised if the Redskins tight ends stay home more often to block in this game.

Former Pro Bowl safety Bob Sanders continues his downward spiral into retirement, he is injured and will not play so go deep Donovan.

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Trainer's Table: Both Redskins tackles, rookie left tackle Trent Williams and right tackle Jammal Brown, suffered knee injuries in the Packers game last week, both had negative results on magnetic resonance imaging tests this week, by Wednesday Jammal was back on the field while Trent was not, Stephon Heyer practiced in Trent's place at left tackle (all op. cit.), Trent is expected to play tonight.

Linebacker Rocky McIntosh suffered a mild concussion in the Packers game last week, I do not even think I remember seeing him get hurt, he came in to work Monday with a headache, when the team resumed practice Wednesday Rocky was not with them, Rocky sat out Thursday and Friday, he is not ready to go and is inactive for the game, HB Blades will start in his place (op. cit.), HB is a fine reserve linebacker, having tutored under London Fletcher all four of his NFL seasons.

Tailback Clinton Portis is the only player out for sure with the groin tear suffered two weeks ago against the Eagles, this week Clinton opened up about his time and legacy with Washington, he swears he will be back, whether for this team or another (ibid.), he wants to break the ten thousand yard career rushing mark and wants to become the Redskins all time leading rusher (op. cit.), he would be breaking John Riggins' record, Riggo and Clinton have had a strained relationship over the years and many Redskins fans are conflicted over whether Clinton should be the greatest ever in burgundy and gold.

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Gameplan: On offense the Redskins are going to have some options, Indianapolis is 29th against the run and all star safety Bob Sanders is out of the game, Washington may actually be able to produce offense against this team. Expectation is the team will stick with its workhorses, receiver Santana Moss and tight end Chris Cooley, if things go well on offense they will manage to get some other players in involved. Possibly Anthony Armstrong, the 27 year old second year player that s elbowing Joey Galloway out of the way?

On defense, even defensive coordinator Jim Haslett admits there is only so much you can do to stop Peyton Manning, keeping with an early season theme of Brian Orakpo's disruptive influence, go after Peyton, try and force him to make decisions faster, no one is better at reading defenses than Peyton Manning so if you have to play him you want to get as much pressure as possible and not sit back try and solve him. If Brian and his linemates cannot get to Peyton then let us see 2010 NFC Defensive Player of the Week for 2010 week five LaRon Landry smacking the shit out of some white jerseys.

On special teams, kicker Graham Gano is establishing a pattern of missing kicks, the team keeps bailing him out, they need to figure out if something is wrong, or if 75% accuracy on field goals, good for 22nd in the league, is just how Graham rolls.

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My Take in 60 Words or Less: Expect this one to look more like the Texans game than the Eagles or Packers games for the Redskins, I expect lots of passing, not a lot of running and a decent amount of scoring. This can happen.

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LaVar Arrington's keys to the game: offense :: defense :: special teams. Injury report, the only player for sure out is tailback Clinton Portis who is hoping his groin muscle reattaches back to his legbone at some point in the not too distant future. Inactives include linebacker Rocky McIntosh who is still suffering from a concussion suffered in the Packers game last week, cornerback Kevin Barnes, tailback Clinton Portis, left guard Derrick Dockery, a healthy scratch his second straight week, nose tackle Anthony Bryant, tight end Logan Paulsen and defensive nose end Albert Haynesworth, Albert is physically healthy though just back from Tennessee where he laid his brother to rest and did not practice enough to qualify.

Broadcast coverage is national, for the second time in the first six weeks of the season the Redskins take the stage for Sunday Night Football, we will be treated to the dulcet tones of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth who I am really getting sick of caveating that I like the dude.

Enjoy the game, the action moves down the street tonight to Tony Almeida's house, we will be watching over the air high definition on Tony's big screen running DVR on his linux driven home media system. Cable? FEH!

This is a gameday open thread.

NFL helmet logos from here.

Yeah I Am Totally Sure It Was Because the Redskins Did Not Want a Big Play Receiver that Can Do Everything

2010-10-15T23:00:00.001-04:00

Doesn't think he got a fair shot

While go back over stories from last week I was struck by something I read in the Washington Post last Saturday, it was in the print edition on Sunday, Packers gameday. Receiver Devin Thomas on his release from the Redskins:

Maybe they just don't want a big-play receiver that can do everything.

No Devin I do not think that was it. I think it was more along the lines of maybe they just want a guy that can run a reliable route, catch the ball when it hits his hands and that does not play smaller than his size.

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Devin Thomas was former shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato's first draft pick as senior VP of Shit Disturbations in 2008, upon the retirement of Joe Gibbs owner Dan Snyder having fully elevated Vinny to the highest post any executive would prior to the 2009 meltdown and the begging and pleading for new real actual general manager Bruce Allen.

Going into the 2008 draft the Redskins needed, what else? Offensive line and defensive line help, they were old and hurt. Instead they used all three second round picks, two garnered in a big day of trades, on pass catchers, Michigan State receiver Devin Thomas, USC tight end Fred Davis and Oklahoma receiver Malcolm Kelly, the theory here obviously being that with new head coach Jim Zorn's brand of west coast offense that despite the age and lack of talent in other key positions that with all these pass catchers the Redskins could just play their way out of structural weakness.

Devin showed up to his rookie training camp out of shape, could not pass the receiver conditioning test then pulled a hamstring. Better (preseason) receivers were released on Cut Day that year in anticipation of some future performance Devin would be able to achieve.

His rookie year in 2008 with a pass happy new coach looking for a receiver to hang his offensive hat on, Devin started one game and missed six games due to injury, he finished 2008 with a modest fifteen catches for 120 yards and no touchdowns, Devin did find the end zone once in 2008, on a reverse run against the Giants in game twelve, a 23-7 Giants rout in the freezing rain.

Going into 2009 the expectations machine was on high for Devin, so high that I got the sense that team was saying it to make themselves feel it like, looking at that sad piece of trash you married and telling her MAYBE IF WE HAD ANOTHER BABY THAT'D BRING US CLOSER. IN 2009 Devin finished with 25 catches for 325 yards, he started ten games and had three touchdown catches, his notable game, the one that the Devin Thomas apologists latched onto was game twelve against the Super Bowl bound Saints, in a 33-30 loss Devin had seven catches for 100 yards and there was a tiny contingent in Washington that was shouting in little voices HE'S FINALLY ARRIVED.

Arriving in 2010 with a new coach and new general manager Devin had to start all over. All those things that were forgiven about Devin in favor of the upside were brought front and center and Devin was told, like everyone else, that he would have to win his job, that it did not matter where he was drafted or what his potential was, he was going to have to deliver.

They never saw it in Devin, giving 38 year old Joey Galloway and undrafted Anthony Armstrong depth spots ahead of Devin, his last gasp was in the return game and when head coach Mike Shanahan finally decided to take Brandon Banks out of the garage there was no need for a decent kick returner that the team did not trust to run a correct route or catch a ball that hit him in the hands.

In the end Devin lived in Washington for two seasons on potential and exited when he was not able to deliver in real life. I wish it had worked out with Devin, it did not and sadly the Redskins lose nothing without him. I wish Devin the best in Carolina and hope he comes back here with them in 2012 and proves me wrong by having a strong game in a Panthers loss.

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It is said in that January meeting for Vinny's promotion that Vinny told Dan he could lead the team, that Dan told Vinny he believed in Vinny but was going to hold Vinny to his pledge to rebuild the team, and he did by firing Vinny in December of 2009. That 2008 draft was already in tatters before the team finally decided to part ways with Devin Thomas.

Devin Thomas: Getty Images from here.

Happy Birthday LaRon Landry

2010-10-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

Harbinger of BOOM

Please join me and the entire staff of The Curly R in wishing a happy birthday to Redskins safety LaRon Landry, LaRon turns 26 years young today.

A first round pick of the Redskins in 2007 out of Louisiana State University, LaRon is in his fourth season with Washington, LaRon has truly come into his own in 2010 with a defensive scheme that allows him to maximize his talents for roaming sideline to sideline and knocking the shit out of opposing players. In five games so far this season LaRon leads the NFL by one measure in total tackles and solo tackles and there is no question he is one of the NFL's most improved players this season, he is laying a streak of fear everywhere he goes and even Sports Illustrated's Peter King is wondering if anyone in the NFL right now is playing better defense than LaRon Landry.

After projecting as a strong safety, playing near the line, coming into the NFL, LaRon was forced into duty as a pass covering free safety after the shooting death of teammate Sean Taylor in 2007, in 2008 LaRon seemed to embrace this position and like the team overall thrived in the first half of the season before looking vulnerable and falling prey to weaknesses and lack of discipline as a 6-2 started ended with an 8-8 finish.

In 2009 LaRon seemed to suffer from a lack of coaching and or a lack of focus as his vulnerability to receiver stutter moves became the stuff of jokes among football fans, last season ended with LaRon moved back up to the line, though still looking out of position and making mistakes and many Redskins fans wondered if LaRon was always going to be a headhunter, looking for the big hit, at the expense of the less than occasional late hit, and not able to assess the play developing at the line.

Come into 2010 and LaRon is the poster child for what is working in the Redskins switch to a 3-4 defense, LaRon can present so many looks and is so versatile in this defense that opposing offenses must account for him on every play. LaRon has one forced fumble and pulled in one interception, both in the Green Bay game Sunday, the forced fumble ended the Packers opening drive after two plays and the interception saved the game for the Redskins.

That is by no means the extent of LaRon's defensive contribution this season, he is laying some of the hardest wood I have ever seen and opposing players know what happens when LaRon meets you: You lose, a visibly exhausted receiver DeSean Jackson pulling up rather than be creamed by LaRon on the next to last play of the Eagles game two weeks ago happened right in front of my seats, I am telling you that for every hit LaRon lays this season there is a video session happening for all future opponents where the skill position players look at each other in silence and hope they are not the guy to get bricked.

Give him a new contract and I MEAN LIKE RIGHT NOW.

Happy birthday LaRon!

LaRon Landry: Getty Images from here. Apologies to Speed Racer the movie for the tagline.

The Folsom Point 10/13/2010: Do We Actually Want This?

2010-10-13T23:00:00.001-04:00

Set own posting schedule. CAN'T MEET OWN POSTING SCHEDULE!

Wherein we discuss the merits of Clinton Portis as the greatest Redskins ball carrier of them all.

Image by me with apologies to Advice Dog.

It's Getting Harder

2010-10-12T22:00:00.001-04:00

But I'll try

Danny is out with his week five video wrapping the Packers game, in which he sports the rocking Washington Bullets throwback jersey and nitpicks a few things about the 3-2 Redskins. Bonus points for the Matt Bowen reference.

YouTube from here.

Game 5: Redskins (2-2) vs. Packers (3-1)

2010-10-09T10:00:00.004-04:00

at

Out of the Box: A 1:00 pm game at last, lucky Redskins got this as a home game, the high flying Packers land in Washington for an early game on FOX, a test of the secondary and linebackers ensues.

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Quick jump to
The Story So Far :: Curly R Aside :: Oppo Research :: Trainer's Table Gameplan :: My Take in 60 Words or Less :: Preview Generalia
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The Story So Far: Well look at this, with one quarter of the season in the books the Redskins are leading the NFC Beast. My my. And unlike in previous years, it looks as though the team is actually ready to play against Division rivals, in an environment where a team is building and results are uncertain and not expected in the first year, it is really nice to see the Redskin beat both the Cowboys and the Eagles.

And I still cannot figure out this team, they play differently from one half to the other and quarterback Donovan McNabb seems to suffer a second half drop off in games, except of course for those few passes to keep the team in the game and possibly win. Is this a conditioning issue? Talent? Strategy? Is the team just still learning to play together? Because that is what I think it is.

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Curly R Aside: Ok enough is enough, after a summer when Donovan McNabb's contract was not a story but Donovan McNabb's contract was not a story was a story, it is now October and it is official: Donovan McNabb has earned a top payday from the Redskins and they need to get the Donovan McNabb's contract is not a story story off the front page and make Donovan McNabb's new contract the story. PAY THE MAN.

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Oppo Research: There is a great bit of revisionist history out there about how much better off the Packers are without Brett Favre or how moving on with Aaron Rodgers was such a great idea. Both of these are true and not true, true in the sense that Aaron has been a great quarterback for the Packers, quarterback is most certainly not Green Bay's position of weakness, and if there is a better example in the modern era of a good quarterback waiting his turn and learning the game before getting his shot and shining, I cannot think of one, the Packers had been paying Aaron first round money since 2005 and the time was here to move on and start him.

Not true in the sense that Brett Favre is clearly still capable of playing this game at a high level and if the team was willing to risk losing their investment in Aaron Rodgers in exchange for keeping the Brett Favre era going a couple more years, then so be it.

They made a good football move in going forward with Aaron and made a bad public relations move by getting all butthurt over Brett's indecision then making him report to camp as the backup then shipping him out to the Jets when everyone knew he wanted to go to the Vikings. In future years Packers fans will remember Aaron was good but that they did not want to see Brett go out like that.

Now that the Vikings are struggling and not looking like a Super Bowl threat demanding to go to Minnesota kind of makes Brett look a little childish doesn't it?

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Trainer's Table: Tailback Clinton Portis suffered a groin injury in the third quarter of the Eagles game, magnetic resonance imaging results are not back yet, though Clinton is still hobbled and will not play, Ryan Torain will get the start in Clinton's place. No one argues that Clinton is a tough guy, of all the injuries in Clinton's career, dislocated shoulder, broken hand, concussion, acute tendinitis right around training camp, Clinton claims never to have had a groin injury before (op. cit.). I think the talk of the end of Clinton Portis in Washington is a bit premature, then again what the hell do I know.

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Gameplan:

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My Take in 60 Words or Less: The Packers are a solid team with weaknesses on offense, the Redskins must exploit those because I do not think Washington's offense will shine bright today.

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B roadcast coverage, take a look at that, it is about as national as you can get for the 1:00 pm game, for the second week in a row we will be treated to the broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, I like this team as much as you can like any self important announcer with a fake TV voice and a one the former players I hate the most.

Enjoy the game, I will be watching from a comfy chair in Charlottesville Virginia.

This is a gameday open thread.

NFL helmet logos from here.

Brian Orakpo Was Not Held as a Child

2010-10-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

Becoming unstoppable

Last Sunday night my game partner lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery and I got back to Alexandria from the Eagles game in Philadelphia around 11:30 pm, the wife was there to help me pour the boys into bed and to see Wilbert Montgomery off on the last leg of his trip back to Fredericksburg, after he left she gave me her impressions of the game as she saw on TV, culminating with the humorous comment from one of her friends that Brian Orakpo must not have been held as a child. Because he is getting all that attention now. (Ed. note: The missus tells me the friend says she heard it from a caller on a radio show. -Ben)

In the season opening game one against Dallas Brian drew a holding penalty against replacement right tackle Alex Barron, after the initial euphoria wore off there was some amusing talk around the league, particularly among butthurt Cowboys fans, of a hometown call and how OMG they could call holding on every play OMG and this was the league wanting Mike Shanahan to get the opening win.

Turns out despite drawing another four holding penalties in the next four games, replays regularly are showing Brian being held behind the line.

The guy simply is turning into a force already in his second year, he has the traditional speed move, the ability to get outside the tackle off the snap, forcing the tackle to play from behind and either push Brian around the play or commit the hold.

As John Keim observes in the Washington Examiner today, Brian also can engage the tackle straight on, get inside his pads then redirect quickly around the side, forcing the tackle to make a lateral move, and most tackles cannot match Brian's side to side speed so they end up holding.

Brian does not have the club or the feint-swim moves of a freight train Reggie White type defensive end, and he may never have them, he is not that size and he may never need them, he can just take you on and beat you around the play.

These types of observations, that a guy like a Brian is drawing a high number of holding penalties, also have the effect of working the referees, now that it is in the open that this is what Brian does, the Ron Jaworskis and Pat Kirwans of the world are going to talk about it openly, if I was head of the Redskins video shop I would as we speak be preparing a tape of all the holding penalties on Brian that have not been called and I would deliver that tape with a big burgundy bow to the league office before Sunday's game.

Brian Orakpo being held by Dallas right tackle Alex Barron on the last play of the Cowboys game: AP photo from here.

Conflatulations Danny Rouhier

2010-10-07T22:00:00.008-04:00

Marriage and the Redskins are sacred bonds

Danny Rouhier is out with his week four video, we learn the terrifying details of Danny's Eagles gameday experience, Danny actually flatlined and for a time was clinically dead.

As a married man I can say with authority that faking your own death is not sustainable as a method of blocking game time on Sundays.

YouTube from here.