Gold Pants? Burgundy at Home?

How they look on the field is not insignificant. Its the way the burgundy pants, white jerseys, and burgundy helmets looked against RFK's bright green grass on Sunday afternoons that created an indelible, romantic image for so many of us diehards. Schottenheimer liked wearing the dark jerseys at home. Spurrier experimented with it. Jim Zorn brought us the ugliness that was burgundy on burgundy. Feh.

George Allen has floated the idea of bringing back the gold pants from the 70s, and a Cowboys blogger has announced that the Cowboys will be wearing their g-d awful white jerseys in Washington, meaning that we'll be wearing burgundy. With gold pants? Could be nice change for new era.

Debbie Downer/Thomas Boswell

"Every athlete should start from the assumption of victory. And every fan is entitled to dream of a remarkable year.

But don't make yourself miserable by expecting it."

And:

"Is there even a chance the Redskins could make the playoffs? Sure, there is. Unfortunately, it's just not much of a chance - less than 20 percent. Since '90, there have been 54 teams that lost 11 or more games, then got a new coach before the next season. How many made the playoff the first year? Ten of 54, or just 19 percent."

To which I reply:

My Redskins Hat Project, Skins Fall to Ravens, and....STEVE'S GETTING MARRIED!

A lot to get through...first, my hat. I did a fine job cutting out the cardboard insides and reducing the structural pieces, and wearing it in the shower so it shrinks to my head. Joey has also contributed by krazy gluing some cutting mistakes. However, portions of the hat still looked quite bumby and displeasing. So, I appointed master seamstress Joey to to see if she couldn't tear out the problematic seems and then sew them back tighter with red thread to create that smooth, effortless feel. And she succeeded!

Second, the Redskins lost to Baltimore 23 to 3, but again, we couldn't get to watch it live because we were out dining at Proof to celebrate Steve's engagement! Incredible, wonderful news.

On replay, McNabb looked pretty good throwing to Anthony Armstrong and Santana Moss. They would have had a really nice finish to a drive if Sleepy Davis had been able to hold on to a pass in the back of the end zone.

Larry Johnson played at running back and looked kind of lousy, but the o-line really wasn't giving him much to work with.

The starting defense also looked pretty solid. Brian Orakpo was brining a lot of pressure that should have resulted in about 3 holding penalties but the referees were being Baltimore lovin' a-holes.

Then, McNabb started to look like crap. He threw an interception, a second would-be interception was dropped, and he missed a wide open Armstrong down the right sideline. Before he left the game for Rex, however, he recovered and hit Santana for some nice catch and runs.

Overall, the starting O and D looked pretty decent against one of the NFL's top teams at the moment.

Most importantly, little Stevie and Faryn are getting married. This means a new sister-in-law for me, and a new member of Redskins Club. Clearly, this development warrants waiving the probationary period and going straight for full membership benefits for Faryn. Congrats and Mazel Tov!

So, I missed the first preseason game. Big deal.

Its not unprecedented. 3 years ago when the Skins opened the preseason against the Titans, Steve, Joey, and I were driving around Sherbrooke Avenue in Montreal trying to listen to it on the radio. It wasn't until the next morning when we were watching TSN and saw that new guy Lorenzo Alexander make a tackle after his helmet fell off and he needed to get stitches.

I watched the replay of the game and while it was nice to see a 42-17 win, it didn't seem all that great, which is ok.

What was great:

-McNabb threw a td pass to Armstrong on his second and final drive

-This guy named Brooks is super fast and scored on a punt return

-DeAngelo Hall's interception setting set up a second td.

-Rex Grossman's wide open post pattern td pass to Devin Thomas

-Trent Williams looks like a veteran and the o-line looks well coached

-Haynesworth played enthusiastically as a second stringer and was disruptive as a pass rusher

Not that great:

-McNabb threw a duck. Just one, but that's you get with McNabb. He's very good but that's going to happen

-Grossman's td pass to Sleepy Davis could have been intercepted and returned 90 yards for a touchdown

OMG, Coach, Its So Hot!

Haynseworth is supposed to be able to run 6 shuttle runs of 25 yards each in 70 seconds, take a short rest, and then repeat, in order for him to join the team in regular practice.

Shanahan says this is a special rule for Big Al. The other big guys didn't have to do it in June or April because they were at practice, walking around in shells and shorts, going through the motions.

This is total nonsense, of course, and I almost feel bad for Big Al having to do all this extra work as punishment.

And then I think about his bank account and my student loans, and I don't feel so bad for him anymore.

Back to the Future

Its been about 7 months since the San Diego game and the merciful end of the 2009 campaign. Today, is the first day of the next new era, the Shanahan years, as training camp opens today in Ashburn.

The big story is Albert Haynesworth. He decided to show up, which was really sweet of him, but the story is that he failed his fitness test even though he starved himself in an effort to avoid playing nose tackle. Its amazing how much effort people can put into doing something because of laziness--like spending hours making cheat sheets for a relatively unimportant vocabulary quiz in high school.





As a result of this failure, Shanahan ostensibly will not allow Haynesworth to practice with the team. So, that's not good.



The biggest story is supposed to Donovan McNabb's first training camp not in Philadelphia. In one interview, he said that when you're with a team for 11 years, you're not just going to be able to forget all about it and put it behind you.

Look dude. They dumped you. They kicked you to the curb. Its time to focus on us, take us out to dinner, maybe to a show.

McNabb

McNabb is the new Redskins QB. Let's skip all the whys and hows and get right to the heart of the matter--we need to have a reconciliation council forgiveness thing like they've had in Rwanda in order for this to make this work. Let's begin.



Donovan, I'll go first. Remember back in November 2000 when I flew home for Thanksgiving and to watch the Redskins beat the crap out of your fledgling Eagles team? Remember, when we had you totally bottled up for a sack, and then you faked the shit out of Mark Carrier on scramble, and scored a touchdown? The Redskins lost that game, it damaged our playoff chances, and it was really all your fault. Do you have anything to say about that?



Donovan: I'm really, really sorry. So sorry.



Me: OK. OK. Thank you. Your turn.



Donovan: Alright, do you remember in January of 2002, I was trying to get my team within one score of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game, and I threw an intereception to Ronde Barber that was returned for a touchdown, and you started laughing like a crazed hyena, and exclaimed that "this is one of the greatest moments in Redskins history?" That kind of hurt my feelings.



Me: I mean, that was kind of uncalled for. Look, I was pleased with the results, but I suppose I could have been a little more sympathetic. So, I'm sorry.