Thanksgiving Parties with the Wiz and Magic

Couple parties of interest if you're in the DMV this weekend. Dwight Howard and company will be at Park tonight, and Deshawn is hosting a party at 1223 after the Wiz game Thursday night. I think I'd rather lift heavy machinery then party with DeShawn.

RIP - Sean Taylor

It's one year to the day that Sean was shot. I have been dreading these 2 days for a long time now. It's amazing that my grand- parents that I cherish more than anything, I cannot remember the day they passed, yet Sean's passing is as fresh as ever. It was defintely a JFK moment for me. I was at my desk in Sydney, Australia when I popped open my laptop and my gmail new mail window popped open from my friend Paul stating "So Sean Taylor kicked it." My heart sunk. At Skins games I only watched 21... never the opposing QB. Wherever the play ended Sean was there. Here's an excellent tribute of his plays. I especially love the licks on TO, Jermaine Wiggins, and of course the infamous pro-bowl hit on Moorman. RIP Sean. >>> The Washington Post has a great photo gallery montage of Sean.

Eddie Jordan's Replacement

The Wiz are in disarray and it's clear that interim coach Ed Tapscott's era will be short-lived. Rumors are swirling regarding a replacement (Flip Saunders, Avery Johnson). Ahern has our own ideas:

Interim Coach: Gheorghe Muresan Hear me out on this. The Wiz are reeling. Putting in an inexperienced interim coach who has no support from the fans or players is not the right move. He's technically not even the assistant coach, he's an extra assistant. Whatever that means. How great would it be seeing Gheorge storm up and down the sideline screaming inaudible sentences like Andre the Giant. We love Gheorghe...give him a shot if the position is a week only deal.

Head coach candidates:

	Gilbert Arenas Let's be real. Gil is not playing anytime soon, and if he does, it won't be for long. He's already got Abe's $120 trillion, we might as well let him coach the team. He takes credit for the Wiz doing well, and refers to the team as "them" when they are doing poorly. Alright Gil, you know whats right for the team...show it.
	Isiah Thomas OK, hear me out again. He buried the Knicks and fell into a drug addiciton. But everyone deserves a 2nd chance, right? We're already capped out so he can't bury us anymore financially. Plus, Blatche needs a new supplier so the two of them can maybe form a new bond. (Can we please get Blatche out of here? Ernie, you split the red sea getting Caron for Kwame...please do what you do again).
	Pat Summitt She has the most career NCAA wins in history, even more than Dean Smith. With Pat Summitt at the helm, I 100% see DeShawn and Blatche responding to her. I look forward to seeing Coach Summitt doing the Soulja Boy deep in the playoffs when we sweep the Cavs. *sigh*
	Alicia Green She's our favorite Wiz dancer and will certainly bring life to the post-game interviews. She's moved up the ranks fast...give the kid a shot!
	Michael Jordan Kidding. No way I'm going there.

Joking aside, it's a tough call. I wouldn't be opposed to see Doug Collins come back for an interview. Avery Johnson I have no faith in. Players do not mesh well with his strict attitude...though at the same time, I am on the outside of the locker room and do not know much. I ran into Juan Dixon in my building last night and he said the team was really upset about Eddie and how much they loved him. That tells me two things:
1.) The team had been complacent with him, which defintely showed on the court losing how we did.
2.) It will not be an easy transition whoever we bring in

"What? Were the Olsen Twins Busy?"

Skins vs Seahawks Announcers: Matt Vasgersian/J.C. Pearson

Past games: Minnesota vs KC Chiefs
New Orleans @ San Fran (last year)

For the love of God, when do we get out of the "worst-announcing tandem" jail? I mean, we Skins fans have suffered through some bad announcers in the last decade or so. But we earned every second of any Sunday where we were served up with Sam Rosen, Bill Maas, Bill Macatee, Gus Johnson, Curt Menefee, Tim Green. Curt is now a studio guy doing the network show and is a lot better. Gus Johnson is WAY better on TV doing college basketball. The problem is, they were like interns when they were assigned to call the Redskins games in the 90's. It's 1997 and I can just hear the network execs now deciding on who announces what:
Suit #1--"Hey we got a couple guys who are a little green and need some work before we decide to give them some real games."
Suit #2--"Perfect. Norv Turner and the Redskins are playing the Saints. We're up against a figure skating exhibition on the other network. We'll be lucky to beat it."

But now? How do we end up with this tandem? Sure the Seahawks suck but this was a national game! Even the sideline reporter was a no-name. Good God. I can't be the only one who was watching them cut to coverage of the game and these two jokers while thinking, "Was there a plane crash? A car accident? Where are the real announcers? Why are there college interns running the show?"

Even after they got a chance, how many Spy vs Spy comments did Vasgersian have to make before someone in the truck outside radioed him to stop? These comments were peppered throughout the entire game and he even lost Pearson while rambling on about sticks of dynamite and acts of subterfuge. Then there was the time Matt called Sellers running for a 7 yard play up the middle and it was clearly Betts.

Sonny and Sam on the radio is clearly the way to go, even it comes with the delay that is carefully negated with a deft pausing of the TV. But then pausing and replaying during the game (which is a must) becomes tough.

Silver lining: At least Tony Siragusa was not in our broadcast.

P.S. If you watched last night's NBC broadcast of Football Night in America, you saw Jerome Bettis' uneven hairline. It was amazing. I challenge you to watch it and NOT see it. It was one of those things where it clearly wasn't done on purpose like an old-school Kid-n-Play fade or back-in-the-day BobbY Brown. No, it was obvious from the rest of his entire haircut that a ridiculous amount of time was spent on the lines (the zigzag sideburns making way for the beard). No way I am convinced this was not a botched do. It was as if when he was getting his haircut someone asked him if he liked Kordell Stewart or "like-liked" Kordell Stewart.

Eddie Jordan Canned

So it's definitely bitter-sweet news hearing Eddie was fired. It's hard to imagine a 1st place Eastern Conference coach can get fired a year later, but so it goes in the NBA. Rick Carlisle got fired and he took his team to the conference finals.

As for the Wizards, it's been a BRUTAL 2 weeks. We're the laughing stock of the NBA (again) and there's simply no way we can continue the year like this. I don't think anyone blames Eddie, but change has to be made. The Gilbert situation is absolutely crushing the Wiz and it's obvious that, along with the Brenda injury, it is too much for any coach to handle. Phil Jackson couldn't even get us out of the gutter. We're the STL Rams of the NBA. It's ineveitable that Antawn Jamison is next to go to get back some cap room. With his prime years all but over, we might as well let him go and get back some value in return. I just pray we can throw DeShawn in the deal and get him out of here too. If I see any of our rookies partying with DeShawn off the court I for sure will be busting through some red rope VIP areas.

Drink This Before Reading

Our offense is 13th in the league.
Our defense is 4th in the league.

We are 6-4. If the season ended today we would be in the playoffs.

We are playing one of the worst defenses in the NFL this week against the lame duck coach of a team that our current head coach knows better than anyone we have.

The league's 2nd leading rusher is a Redskin and he is playing this week.

We are in control of our own destiny.

We are 3-1 on the road, and we have 3 road games down the stretch where we will be favored.

All that said, here we are, face to face, a couple of sil---wait, here we are facing our first MUST-WIN of the season. Remember last season when we had to go to New York and Minnesota to grab must-wins prior to clinching a playoff berth? This week we get a Seattle team on the road that is in shambles, playing for a coach that is packing up his desk. If we were the Wizards we would lose this game by 20. But I think Zorn is the difference maker this week. I think he has a plan and I think you will see the Redskins make a statement.

We won't go game by game predicting wins and losses. I think we have to look at 2 groups of games from here on out. Seattle, Cincy, and San Fran are one group of games we simply have to win out. NYG, Philly and Baltimore are the second group of games. We need a win out of this group. Should we get back on the winning track here in the next week, the Ginats loom large. If we fail to surprise them the way we did against the Cowgirls and Iggles earlier this season, it becomes a matter of splitting the Philly/B-more games. Are we capable of winning both? You bet. Are we capable of losing both? You bet.

Everyone wants to look at that Rams loss as where our season was lost. I think just the opposite--it stands as a glaring reminder of what is possible in this league as we play in games exactly like this week's game in Seattle. It is a motivational tool that reminds us that we are not the kind of team that can get away with stupid mistakes against even the league's bottom feeders. No loss is a good loss, but our season is not yet lost because of one game.

Weren't we 6-7, and 5-6 prior to making 3 and 5 game runs to clinch playoff spots in two of the last three years? Let's not panic now. For all those people who want to woefully claim this team is no different than the ones Gibbs led down the stretch, here's hoping they embody that one trait Gibbs' teams had--the ability to come down the stretch strong. And we have not even set it up as hard for ourselves as we have in past years.

It is simply too early in the season to get down on these guys. Was it that hard to predict this team would struggle at some point this year? Come on. This isn't a bad team struggling. This isn't Cincy or Detroit playing teams tough but not finding the winning solution. This is a team with a stout defense and a capable offense that is getting in its own way. This is fixable.

Keys to Victory:

Protection. We have less protection than a room full of drunk high school prom-goers. Get it right.

Turnovers: 2 INT's, 1 fumble recovery.

Sacks: 4

Special teams: get DeAngelo Hall back there to return a punt or two.

Play-calling: 55% pass, 44% rush

Redskins Gayfest

We don't know if homosexuals follow the NFL, or the Redskins for that matter, but if they did, then they certainly would love this clip. This is a behind the scenes shoot for Easterns Motors....jump ahead to the 1:40 mark, which is about where this still-frame of Cooley's legs appear.



Actually, now that I think about it, there are gay fans. Last year I sat in the upper deck at Fedex for the Cowboys game with my friend's Dad. Amazingly, there were 2 gay Cowboys fans sitting directly in front of us (Cowboys jersies and all). They weren't flaming, but it was bad (arms around each other, smiling a lot). My friend's Dad and I absolutely crushed them with insults so mercilessly they had to leave by the 3rd quarter. I don’t remember all the insults but I remember asking the one dude “So if Romo throws a touchdown today, does that mean you get to receive tonight?”