By now, most people will agree that Bradley Beal is a keeper—and that isn’t just because his agent, Mark Bartelstein, recently said, “I’m sure lots of teams would like to have Brad, but the Wizards have absolutely no intention of trading him.”

But that’s not all that interesting. Beal was projected to be a “keeper,” and was expected to produce as the No. 3 pick in the last draft. And he has. Beal was named December’s Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, and, over the last three games, the former Florida Gator has averaged a plus/minus of plus-10.7 per game, along with 18.3 points (63.6% from 3-point range), 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists.

What’s more interesting is the reason why he’s been able to get better game by game, even before John Wall made his season debut. The easy analysis would be to say, ‘Oh, the game is finally slowing down for Beal.’ He even said so himself after Monday night’s 29-point thumping of the Orlando Magic: “The game’s starting to slow down for me more, and I’ve gained a lot more confidence.”

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D.C. residents cheered when three new escalators opened at the south entrance of the Dupont Circle Metro Station in October 2012. The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) closed the southern entrance for repairs for nearly nine months, but the wait was worth it, in theory. WMATA had decided to strip the entrance and rebuild from scratch this past summer, finally doing away with some of the least reliable escalators in the system.

New “transit-grade” escalators promised a better commute—to “unsuck” D.C. Metro—in one of the city’s busiest, and deepest, subway stations. In reality, Metro and its faithfully frustrated riders were forced to deal with 20 outages in the first 40 days after the grand reopening.

Construction is a constant in the nation’s capital, but, for one reason or another, it never seems to go according to plan. Just ask any Wizards fan who is still waiting for their team to climb out of the gutter.

Supporters of D.C.’s pro basketball team have suffered through nearly 200 losses and some of the worst basketball the Association has ever seen for almost five seasons now. We all know about owner Ted Leonsis’ blueprint for rebuilding his Washington Wizards: stay financially flexible, sign free agents and develop supposedly talented prospect. And, perhaps, trade some of said prospects for major players when the opportunities arise.

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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.

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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.

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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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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.

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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?

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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 »