Little Danny Snyder, champion of the off-season paper title. He’s puffed up his little Danny Snyder chest for photo ops with the likes of Deion Sanders, Adam Archuleta and Steve Spurrier while spending more money and living in the now. His antics have kept Washingtonians interested while nickel and diming their pockets in the interest of boosting franchise value. Snyder doesn’t meddle as much as he used to, maybe it’s gained maturity, but that doesn’t mean that a majority of the Skins fan base has love for the guy.
Plain and simple, the Redskins are Danny Snyder’s toy. He’s spawned a beloved franchise into reflections of a faceless corporation. Being the self-made owner of the team, he certainly has the right to do so. No one is denying that professional sports is a business, but does it have to be rubbed in our grill so much? Acts such as making moves to control DC Sports Radio just don’t feel right.
About a year ago, Sports Illustrated gave Snyder a pat on the back for trying hard and ranked him the fifth best owner in the NFL. The message boarders at ExtremeSkins, an officially official Redskins message board, gave Snyder an 84% approval rating back in June. Of course, that was only judging Danny’s actions in the previous two months. Snyder certainly gained credibility in bringing Joe Gibbs back to DC (and the accompanying laissez-faire policy with the coaching staff, something Danny hadn’t been able to keep his mitts off before), as well as his patriarchal handling of the SeanTaylor incident. But not all Skins fans enjoy having the lil’ guy at the helm as his June ’08 DC Sports Bog approval rating stands at 41%, perhaps a more effective gauge of Snyder’s popularity.
So what’s to appreciate about Danny Snyder? Maintenance of relevancy. He’s a local-bred fan who seems willing to spend whatever it takes to keep the Washington NFL franchise always in contention…..for what, I’m not sure. But how many other teams possess the capable moxie to trade for a former NFL defensive MVP within mere hours of losing both the starting DE, Phillip Daniels, and a reserve, Alex Buzbee, for the entire season on the first freaking day of practice?
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Ok, so when Dan Uggla is involved (in a tragic manner), I can’t resist punning his name in a headline.
What a huge goat he almost was (and to an extent, still is), in hitting into a double play in the top of the 10th and then booting two balls on the first two batters in the bottom of the inning. I bet his mouth was as dry as a bone under a heat lamp in the desert when Grady Sizemore grounded to him in a bases loaded FC out at home-plate after Carlos Guillen was intentionally walked. I know this, Aaron Cook pitched a helluva 10th inning keeping all hit balls on the ground and in the infield. If the American League had prevailed in the bottom of the 10th, the headline would’ve read: National League Hits Every Stick On The Uggla Tree.
Getting struck out by Joakim Soria on a “knee buckler” with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 12th didn’t aid Uggla’s redemption efforts. In fact, yet another boot to the chest, the 3rd error of Uggla’s night, in the bottom of the 13th pushed him lower. Joe Buck had plenty of sympathy for the kid giving Dan the benefit of the doubt with a bad hop call.
In the end, the National League could not survive the marathon. Hopefully, next time, Dan Uggla will have a much better looking effort than going 0-4, striking out three times and leaving six on base.
Defensive MVP?
In the bottom of the 11th, Nate McLouth made a great throw to put out Dioner Navarro at home. If the National League would’ve went on to win in the 12th, I was ready to give Russell Martin the All-Star MVP for blocking the plate and making an unbelievable tag….the 3rd of the last five outs which came at home plate.
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I love to people watch. Coffee shops are good, but metro rides on the way to the debut of Nationals Park are even better:
- You got your enthusiastic 12-year-old, complete with a mitt and a blue & red Nationals “crazy hair” wig…..along with his suspiciously effeminate father, who was wearing a purple-blue jacket with a pink collar, glasses with frames you’d expect to see on a 14-year-old schoolgirl from the 1960s, and a tan Nationals hat. “It’s opening day son!…Time to break out the tan Nats hat!”
- The couple of mid-60s white women with beauty-parlor dyed hair and pudgy mid-Western décor hustling and bustling into the green line train from their blue/orange transfer at L’Enfant Plaza. Beware of such determination to find one of the few open seats for a two-stop ride…. women with their own seat cushions don’t mess around.
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Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to witness the Wizards handle the Lakers in La-La land tonight. Bummer. Combine my distaste for the Lake-show (mainly as a result of Kobe) along with bragging rights over an LA-bred co-worker, and I hate having to neglect my Wiz this evening.
Remember when the Lakers came to DC? It was the game where Caron Butler probably re-injured himself and ended his consecutive FTs made mark at 73. A truly tragic loss, 103-91, for which I stayed the entire time, and then was forced to watch a SuperBowl between two teams I genuinely dislike. Not the best DC sports Sunday.
Today, I believe, will provide some reconciliation for that February 3rd. And I have a higher mission than the Wizards-Lakers game at 9:30 tonight. I’ll be taking the trusty green line down several metro stops to check out the debut of the Washington Nationals new ball park, Nationals Park and the domestic debut of the 2008 Major League Baseball season on ESPN (8:05 pm).
I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not a sentimentalist, nor some type of baseball purist (basketball is obviously my main squeeze), but there is something about the crack of the bat and a sporting environment which is most conducive to a day of social interaction with family and friends…..awww, screw all that, I’m just ready for the cold weather to be put out to pasture.
And who knows, if the DC metro system doesn’t betray me, I just might be able to catch the end of a game where the Wizards will hopefully have the upper-hand over the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Maybe you’ve seen some of these links before, maybe you haven’t…but I liked ‘em.
>> I never really liked Chris Berman. Some wonder why. I now present, via The Big Lead, a sizeable Deeewshhhh.
>> My friend Chris has a t-shirt that says ‘No More Drug War‘ — Hence, an enlightening post from True Hoop.
>> I would love to have Ocho Cinco in DC. Would that let Lil’ Danny Snyder off the hook for all this coaching B.S.? Hell no. UPDATE: Mr. Irrelevant has a great pic of Ocho Cinco with some Redskins jerseys.
>> What would you do if your dad sold your Michael Jordan rookie card for drugs? Would you decide to make it to the NBA? Rafer Alston did. True Hoop links to this New York Times article from 1994 by Tom Friend about current Houston Rocket, Rafer Alston aka Skip to My Lou.
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(refers to the page number on the bottom of the Mitchell report pages, not in the PDF)
Paul Lo Duca – Page 208
Who he got them from: Radomski
When he got them: July 26, 2004 – $3,200; August 7, 2004 – $3,200; at least 4 additional transactions.
When they worked: Probably when he started dating pop star Rietsa
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Very interesting article by Rick Cleveland of the Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) – all about college football coaches and the high salaries they receive, especially when compared to those of professors.
Rick says that big-time college athletics is a business, but seems skeptical at the inherent culture.
He’s exactly right about the business part. But why do people go into business? To make money. Yes, it can be hard to digest for academia, but the money educational institutions make from their participation in this “business” allows for the betterment of the school as a whole.
Also see, The Business of College Sports, a True Hoop blog entry.
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UPDATE: Very good blog post by Marc Fisher of the Washington Post, Listener: Two Stations, Two Sean Taylors, which discusses the differing coverage of the Sean Taylor tragedy from DC’s two main sports radio stations.
The passing of Sean Taylor was a pretty surreal moment for me. I went to bed on Monday evening, probably like many of us, thinking that he would be okay. The coverage on Washington, DC’s Comcast Sports after the Wizards-Mavericks game seemed to indicate that the positive signs shown from Taylor meant that recovery was imminent. Part of my morning alarm routine involves my bathroom television coming on at a certain time, to coincide with my blackberry alarm. On most days, except for after Redskins losses because I want a little separation from the sports world, the station is tuned to ESPN 2 for the Mike & Mike In The Morning broadcast. Today, Tuesday November 27th, I woke up to the sentence that Sean Taylor had died about an hour earlier that morning. Yes, a surreal moment. Yet, I can’t begin to imagine how shocking the news of his death was for family, friends, teammates, coaches, the entire Washington Redskins organization, and anyone who ever had personal contact with Sean Taylor. When I first heard of the incident on Monday morning, the shooting itself, I was taken back a little, but casually figured that Sean Taylor would survive.
The thing is, I wasn’t even shocked that Taylor was shot in the first place. And I can’t pin-point the exact reason for this feeling. Even Michael Wilbon, in one of the several versions of Pardon the Interruption leading up to Monday Night Football, said that he was not surprised when he heard about the shooting. I’d be willing to bet that this was the case for many of us, but why?
The very first Washington Post online story released around 11:26 am on Monday, November 26th could not yet provide any details outside of the fact that Taylor had been shot in his home, and that he’d been air-lifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. The article went on to give a brief account of Taylor’s time with the Redskins, along with the fact that he grew up in south Florida, the son of a police chief. Then followed the run down of Taylor’s troubles since he entered the NFL, including the ATV assault incident, the suspicion of drunken driving, the skipping of off-season workouts, the absence from the NFL mandatory rookie symposium, and the spitting in the face of Michael Pittman.
In an email chain among friends, my boy Chris expressed his displeasure at the simple fact that the article mentioned Taylor’s previous run-ins with authority:
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Here are the points: Yes, Gilbert’s knee is bothering him, and the 07-08 Washington Wizards are not the same as a result. But this should not be the case.
Now the facts: The Wizards are not playing any defense and they have shown glimpses of quitting on their coach, Eddie Jordan. The solace taken is that the players, the team, know this. Do they have the desire to change the course? We will see today at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Like no dancing for Chad Johnson ’till .500, no keys to the game until a Wizards win.
Just win baby. Hey, at least the Skins seem to be gaining steam after a slow start. They’ve got a 12-7 lead with just under 2 minutes left in the half as the Wizards and Hawks tip it off.
1st Quarter
The Hawks have promising youth on the inside in Horford and Josh Smith, but the Wiz do well in trying to establish a Haywood inside offensive presence early. Reliable, easy, points need to start coming from somewhere. In fact, I’d be curious to give a detailed look at all NBA rosters. I’m willing to bet that the Wizards are the only team in the entire league without a consistent post scorer. If you’re looking for some answers, you could start there.
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Facts:
1) New England’s team this year might be the best ever
2) The Skins are a borderline “decent” team
3) The Skins had no fight in them yesterday
4) Bill Belichick and the Patriots organization are completely classless. Before, I didn’t really like the Patriots….but didn’t hate them as I would other teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Knicks, Lakers…and most of all, the Cowboys. Well now, they might have been propelled right to the top.
Cowboys – 1a
Patriots – 1b
Red Sox – 1c
….To go for it on 4th down, up 38 points, on the Redskins 6 could result in nothing more than Belichick being an egotistical a-hole. Completely, and utterly, classless. And then, in the post game press conference to say, “What did you want us to do? Kick a field-goal?”
A mockery of professionalism in the sport. Read more »
