It just had to be done. Sure, this is a Washington Wizards blog. And my forthcoming report from Sunday’s Wizards Fan Fest will be exactly that, forthcoming. But, for some reason, I feel the need to share/celebrate the win of the Washington Redskins over the Philadelphia Eagles. And no, this doesn’t have anything to do with a colleague of mine, an excellent writer for Truth About It.net, Rashad Mobley, being an Eagles fan. Although, I take no pity in his team’s loss.

A couple weeks ago I attended a Redskins-Houston Texans game way out in Landover, Maryland. If you were following Twitter that day, you might have noticed a mini-meltdown on my part in reaction to the loss, and the subsequent remoteness of FedEx field. (Why is that place so terrible? Because it’s not in the District, that’s why.)

While there, I captured an Eagles fan in attendance, for some reason (he had two friends who were Skins fans), and a Redskins fan of another party… interacting and ultimately being cool with each other. Although it’s safe to say they aren’t near each other this week.

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Sometimes you’ll hear people call D.C. a basketball hotbed. Or you’ll hear claims that Washington has deep basketball roots that are just waiting to blossom, especially after the takeover of the Ted Leonsis regime and the arrival of John Wall.

All good things to hear. But let’s be honest, Washington will be a Redskins town for as long as I live (unless somehow, at some point, the Wizards win four championships in 10 years, while the Skins flounder with a few insignificant playoff appearances, making the top team choice for next generation a little more difficult — a scenario that’s more of a long-distance daydream than reality, and even then …).

Nothing wrong with D.C. being a Redskins town. Football, after all, is America’s sport, even if baseball is America’s way to pass time, and basketball is more global. I’m of the opinion that all D.C. pro sports teams should be embraced together (I’m a hometown guy if you can’t tell).

Of course, in a transient city like Washington, that’s tough to accomplish. But one thing is clear, many Washingtonians take pride in their Redskins … and where better to observe that pride than at the Adams Morgan Day Festival held on Sunday afternoon? (BTW, for those outside of D.C., Adams Morgan is a popular area of the city with bars, restaurants, shops, etc.)

So, that’s exactly what I did, in lieu of watching the 1 pm NFL games or even the FIBA World Basketball Championship between the United States and Turkey live, and if favor of getting out and enjoying the outside world (and off the blogger’s couch/futon/actually, I have a standing desk now). Below I’ve captured some of the Redskins gear seen at Adams Morgan Day … and a smattering of Dallas Cowboys gear (after all, a recent poll of registered Democrats in D.C. shows that 48-percent are Redskins fans and six-percent are Dallas fans — disgusting, I know).

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File 1998 / Racine Journal Times

Back on January 16th, the Wizards beat the visiting Sacramento Kings and propelled their record to 13-26. The next day, a Sunday, the team would get a much needed day off before their match-up against the Portland Trailblazers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday.

Caron Butler in particular said he would enjoy having Sunday off because that meant he would be able to watch his “childhood hero,” Brett Favre, play one of his “good friends,” Tony Romo, in the NFL Playoffs.

Butler had trouble choosing who he would root for … although, his “shot out” to Romo (video below) seemed to indicate, in my opinion, that he was pulling for old man Favre. In any case, the Vikings won …  surely Caron would have been happy regardless, and Redskins fans were definitely happy.

But why is Butler boys with Romo in the first place? Well, as the picture above indicates, they were both on the 1998 All-Racine County (Wisconsin) basketball team. Romo is that fella wearing #35 on the far left. Butler is who you think he is. Who knew?

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Sure this is a Wizards blog, but as a DC sports fan, I can’t go without poking fun at the pathetic state of my Redskins.

Now that his play-calling duties have been taken away, I bet Jim Zorn feels just as bad as baby Falcon Heene. It’s probably only a matter of time until Zorny throws up on TV from all the nervousness caused by his pappy, Tiny Dan Snyder.

I bet if he could, Zorn would hop on a balloon and fly far into the sky, away from all his troubles.

{Jim Zorn, Balloon Boy}

And now, Wizards links …

When Gilbert Arenas was asked how he reacted to Antawn Jamison getting injured against Cleveland, he said he thought Jamison had a “cramp.” Yea, riiiiight.

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While John McCain has never heard of the internet, Barack Obama is all about some NFL Fantasy Football….and knows his stuff.

Recently, ESPN’s Rick Reilly offered a chance to both Presidential candidates to be his fantasy league running mate for a week….only Obama accepted.

So, the two sat down to nominate their fantasy cabinet going off a salary cap system. And who did B.O. choose at the running back position over the likes of Adrian Peterson?

Obama’s choice was obvious….he was going dancing with Choo Choo, he was going to hand out food stamps to Southeast Jerome, get gully with Dolemite Jenkins, get Dr. Do Itch Big to plan the health care system, and Dollah Bill to fix the economy.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama was going with none other than Washington Redskins running back, Clinton Portis…..I mean Sheriff Gonna Getcha.

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[photo from Yahoo via the AP]

The equation is easy: turn the ball over, and the probability of losing increases. The Washington Redskins did just that on Sunday, and the fruits of a laborious inability to hold on to the ball meant win number one for the St. Louis Rams.

The reality is that this is the NFL and ‘any given Sunday’ is not just the title of a movie…..which is exactly why I expressed apprehension about the Rams game on Saturday night. Redskins fans are an odd bunch, curiously exuberant about their team, and can be easy for outsiders to hate. After the 4-1 start, I got unreasonably optimistic emails easily calling for a 7-1 record halfway through the season. Nothing pisses me off more (ok, I’m exaggerating) than assuming future success in bunches. I’m betting that many of those same ‘caught looking ahead’ optimists are the first to be pessimistic, but I doubt fans are abandoning a ship that really isn’t sinking.

Perhaps many thought the Redskins to be better than they were/are. I wouldn’t include myself in this group as my mantra has been: ‘it’s a long season.’ I won’t solely blame the loss on three fumbles. The defense looked good, the offense is still coming together. There were some winners and losers (go ahead and add a Cowboys loss to the Cardinals under ‘winners’). Maybe the focus today was too loose, or the perhaps the pony should’ve been a stallion. In any case, I do believe this team is built to be resilient.

The thing about taking a step backwards is that you are still looking forward. The Redskins are the same team that can beat anyone in the NFL, and as they proved today, the same team that can lose to anyone. Regroup, stay medium, and be ready for Cleveland next week. Read more »

In the past, the Washington Redskins were ‘messing me up, my whole head….teasing me, just like Tisha, did Martin,’ but now those days are over, and the quest for something bigger seems attainable for the tribe called Redskins Nation.

How did this team go from finding a way to lose to finding a way to win? Could the simple difference be a rookie head coach who wasn’t hired to captain the ship in the first place? A Cowboys fan, having lost that smirking smile at the losing ways of the Skins, seemed to find solace in telling me that Joe Gibbs should have been let go three years ago. Not so fast my friend. Joe Gibbs laid the foundation, allowing the current players to become men. Jim Zorn came along and has let those men loose.

Zorn has left ‘job on the line’ decision making out of his coaching strategy. In doing so, he’s brought “guts” to his team, and gained the respect of the players, all while providing a calming presence which allows for the disregard of an early 14 point deficit in the hostile territory of a division rival.

Under Jim Zorn, ‘panic’ is not part of the job description of the Washington Redskins. He’ll leave the ‘finger on the red button’ mentality to the obsessive-compulsive fans of the DC area.

Now, I must admit, upon going down by two TDs, I sent the following text message to my friends, “Boy, we look greeeeeeat. Yep, we’ll lose to the Rams next week.” Of course, my text was pessimism with intent, in mocking reference to the negativity I displayed during the Saints win. Was I genuinely concerned? As an endorser of Clinton Portis would say, “You betcha.” But did I believe my sarcastic fatalism would somehow reverse the fortunes of the day? That’s the story I’m sticking with.

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I was so content, and mostly shocked, that the Redskins beat the Cowboys on Sunday, I wasn’t quite sure how to react. There are so many Dallas fans around DC, that it would have been easy to gloat, but something inside me said that it was just another victory, and it’s still a long season. Essentially, winning is saying enough. Then again, a picture is worth a whole bunch of words. (And I’ll let others do the talking.)

The two biggest cry-babies of NFL week four. It’s an ironic circle:

1. Tank Johnson had to be restrained because Rock Cartwright celebrated on the Dallas star at the 50 yard line after the game. Tank, being a classy man himself, brought up the issue of class.

2. Mr. Irrelevant reminded us all of a Star logo controversy of the past between Tank’s current teammate, Terrell Owens, and former Cowboy, Emmitt Smith.
3. Now Owens, who I’ve tried to stress to nervously defensive Cowboys fans time and time again that you NEVER want that guy on your team when the chips are down, is doing exactly what is to be expected of him…..T.O. is saying that he didn’t get the ball enough. Evidently, the offense does not exist without T.O., yet Dallas was able to somehow beat Green Bay last week with Owens only catching two balls for 17 yards.

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flickr/jmj1000

In the artistic sense of the word, sellout, according to UrbanDictionary.com, means:

• When an artist changes their play style to make more money

Let’s equate artist to sports fan, play style to hometown pride, and make more money to wanting more wins.

Sure, everybody likes rooting for a winner. But you don’t ostracize your hometown team from your sports loyalties to wagon-jump and chase championships, especially to run into the arms of rivals. This will be a rule for my unborn son.

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My initial thought was that Jason Campbell drastically matured in Sunday’s win against the New Orleans Saints…..not from just a couple big plays, but factoring in his entire body of work on the day. But then I said, ‘wait, this is his fourth season, isn’t it about time?’ However, I realized that it’s the growing up he did in Jim Zorn’s offense which counts the most, not the chances he had during game experience in the past.

The stereotype about Redskins fans goes that even after the most minuscule of battle victories (such as a media-hyped free agent signing or a preseason win), they assume that the war’s end result will ultimately culminate with a February victory cigar. I actually take this typecast purposely overboard to annoy my local Cowboys, Giants, or Eagles fan.

But let’s be honest, despite a great day across the board (my sarcastic in-game pessimism before Campbell led the team to a triumphant comeback didn’t sit too well with my friends), this team still has a long way to go before they are able to comfortably weather the unpredictable NFL storm.

The win versus the Saints does provide reasonable hope for increased Monday morning cheer among the Skins faithful in the future. How much Jason Campbell grew up on Sunday doesn’t really matter, rather it’s about how much he is able to build upon this accomplishment in the coming weeks.

Best of the Web:
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Redskins Nation will be killing the radio shows, blogs, and message boards over this one. I was defeatist at first, calling for a 31-3 loss after the hurtin’ Brandon Jacobs put on LaRon Landry. But then, as the defense got into rhythm, hope was built, albeit pessimistic hope….because after all, I am Redskins fan.

I’ve never been so silently frustrated at the offensive play calling…..even after witnessing years of persistent Joe Gibbs running it up the middle over and over again. I understand it was Zorn’s first outing, but couldn’t help wondering if he’d been on the sidelines of many live football games before. The first half would have been absolutely disastrous had the Redskins not scored. Not electing to call a timeout with all of them left and seconds ticking away in the Red Zone? Incomprehensible.

The Washington offense looked to be testing scenarios in the waning moments of an inconsequential preseason game when the fire was in the hole, down 16-7 as time was running out. The term “sense of urgency” will be thrown around in the coming days. So where was it? Do we chalk this up to Campbell’s insecurity with the offense? No, he’s not a rookie and Zorn wasn’t born yesterday. Shifting up a gear when the situation calls for it should have been refined, adequately at a minimum, before game one.

This season is going to be a learning process, we knew that after the last two preseason games. If things start to click, NFL history has dictated that momentum can turn at the blink of an eye. Maybe the players, led by Campbell and the ‘C’ on his jersey, need to focus on learning the offense, but it’s Jim Zorn’s job to get everyone on the same page. Zorn will learn quick that in DC, if you’re throwing others under the bus every week, eventually that bus is going to go in reverse and run over you.

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And now, knee-jerk quotes from the peanut gallery:

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flickr/ableman

With the late July legal win for the Washington football franchise, it’s safe to say that the Redskins will be the nickname of the team for the foreseen future of countless generations. Essentially, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that a 16-year old Native American lawsuit attempting to invalidate a trademark on the Redskins name was not filed within a timely manner of when the trademark was issued in 1967, and to do so now would cause the franchise too great of an economic hardship. The court did not comment on the racially offensive nature of the legal battle and the case now heads back to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Recently the pot of questionable racism was stirred when The Big Lead compared the use of “Redskins” to the “eye slant” photo of the Spanish men’s basketball team, and then when Mr. Irrelevant refuted the comparison. Debates such as these will unquestionably continue as long as Redskins is the team nickname.

What is a Redskin? The reasoning behind the meaning seems to split into three areas of thought: the skin color of Native Americans, the warpaint Native Americans used before battle, or the bloody scalp remnant resulting from a Native American crossing the path of a bounty hunter.

Most accounts can agree that team owner George Preston Marshall changed the franchise name from the Boston Braves to the Boston Redskins in 1933 to recognize then coach, William “Lone Star” Dietz. Dietz, who claimed half-German, half-Sioux background, embraced what he perceived to be a Native American heritage.

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Leave it to a Dallas Cowboys fan to point out an article about Redskins safety Reed Doughty in this past Sunday’s Washington Post. He happily cited the piece as a prime example of the ineptness of the Washington Redskins organization. After reading it, I was obliged to agree.

Doughty, selected by the Redskins in the 6^th round of the 2006 NFL Draft, filled in after the untimely death of Sean Taylor last season. He grew up and attended college in Colorado, suiting up four seasons for the Northern Colorado Bears.

Reed Doughty, like most of those who have attained professional ranks in their sport, has faced many obstacles in his football career, but none greater than being severely hearing impaired. Being diagnosed with problems as a child, Doughty dealt with his handicap by learning to read lips and memorize hand signals in college. Only recently, after the 2007 season, did Doughty’s wife encourage him to use hearing aids during the course of play.

Inspiring story right? So how did Danny Snyder’s play toy screw this one up?

[from Doughty Confronts Loss of Hearing on the WashingtonPost.com]

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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?

Jason Taylor to the Redskins has the sports world buzzing. Whether you think Taylor dancing his way to the DMV area is a good thing, or not such a good thing, it is…..something. To me, a 2nd and a 6th rounder is worth acquiring an impact player rather than chancing it with turning over stones to find a defensive version of Michael ‘Beer Man’ Lewis, even if Taylor is just a one or two year rental.
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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.

Friend’s article makes me wonder, ‘how on earth did a guy with the history of Rafer make it?’ And while the piece very insightful, it contains a lot of sensationalistic crap, like:

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