Albert Haynesworth Finally Gets Suspended

Womp Womp

Albert Haynesworth has taken a lot of heat this season for being out of shape. Clearly the people who have been criticizing him have not followed the Redskins’ season. He is in shape. That man’s mouth has been running all season. Unfortunately his arms, legs and hands haven’t been doing much at all.

The saga between him and Mike Shanahan has been crazy. Shanahan brought his years of experience and Superbowl rings to the Redskin’s locker room. Haynesworth brought his fat contract. Superbowl rings win every time and they did in this case. Shanahan suspended Haynesworth for the last 4 games of the season and hopefully he has stepped on the field for the last time as a Redskin.

It seemed like Shanahan really tried to make it work but in the end there was nothing he could do. His comments to the press were pretty telling:

He didn’t like the 4-3 defense a year ago. He didn’t like the base defense. He didn’t like the nickel defense. He didn’t want to play nose tackle, didn’t want to play defensive end [in the 3-4 defense]. We got him playing the nickel package, first and second and third down. He didn’t like first- and second-down nickel, wanted to play third-down nickel in passing situations.

Does Albert Haynesworth care. Probably not, at least Carlos Rodgers thinks so:

Albert probably don’t care… I don’t think he’ll miss $800,000.

You’re probably right Carlos. Good Riddance

Related Articles

• Redskins suspend Albert Haynesworth for remainder of season (sportingnews.com)
• “Fat Albert” Haynesworth vs. “My Way Mike” Shanahan (sportscurmudgeon.com)
• Redskins put focus back on football with Haynesworth gone (nfl.com)
• Albert Haynesworth Expected To Appeal Suspension From Redskins (sbnation.com)

Are Baseball and Hockey the Only Hope in DC

If you are a DC sports fan of my generation, you have been subjected to a pretty painful few decades. DC has not won a professional sports championship since Mark Rypien, Art Monk and co. took us to the promised land in 1992’s Superbowl XXVI. I was nine at the time and my parents took me down to the parade in downtown DC to celebrate. I’ll never forget it. It’s the type of celebration that everyone should get to be a part of in their lifetime.

It’s not too clear when we’ll have another world championship parade in DC. Clearly the Redskins won’t be the team. We turned the ball over 6 times today in a devastating 31-7 loss to our divisional rival New York Giants. It was embarrassing and emblematic of the types of losses we have seen from this team since Dan Snyder took ownership in 1999. I hate to say it but we will not win another NFL championship so long as he owns the team. It pains me to say it but its true.

The Washington Wizards won’t be the ticket either. Sure we’ve got John Wall but who else? Nick Young? Andre Blatch? Andre had a good season last year but is not the type of player I would invest my NBA championship aspirations in. I won’t even mention Agent Zero or whatever the hell name he goes by nowadays. I never thought he was a winner but after gungate and his actions since then, it’s clear that we will not be winning anything big with this guy on our team.

This leaves us with Hockey and Baseball. The Nationals made a huge move today signing Jayson Werth to a 7 year 127 million dollar contract. Werth brings World Series and heavy playoff experience to a young Nationals squad that hasn’t played in those big games. We lost Adam Dunn but kept the rest of our roster intact and will have Strasburg and Bryce Harper at our disposal. Combining guys like Werth with this stable of young talent could take this franchise to the next level.

We also have a lot of hope on the ice. With the best player in hockey as their star, the Washington Capitals were supposed to win the Stanley cup last season but had an incredibly disappointing loss in the first round of the NHL playoffs. It was the first time a one seed lost to an eight in hockey. The Capitals have the same team on the ice this season and should threaten for the Cup if they are able to pull things together at the right time.

Even though our basketball and football teams have no shot, its still exciting to be a DC sports fan. I can’t wait for the next parade however it comes.

Related Articles

• The 10 greatest sports dynasties that never happened (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• Jayson Werth Agrees To Seven-Year $126 Million Deal With Washington Nationals (bleacherreport.com)

Hard Hits and the NFL

Devastation

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 6 days you have probably heard all the commotion surrounding hard hits in the NFL. Last week was a little more devastating than normal with a number of huge hits leading to serious injuries. James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers was a one man wrecking crew against the Cleveland Browns knocking two of their players out of the game. In response to Harrison’s hits, a devastating hit against Todd Heap and another huge hit against Desean Jackson which knocked him out, the league issued a new rule which gives the commissioner the authority to fine players up to $75,000 for helmet to helmet and devastating hits. Refs can also make these calls on the field for a 15 yard penalty and ejection from the game if necessary. For a review of these plays and an explanation of the new rule watch this video.

Mark Schlereth has a very interesting take on the new rule and the hypocrisy of all of this that I tend to agree with. The NFL has always thrived on the devastating hits that help drive their ratings and the largest professional sports television deals in the world. On top of that, the owners have been clamoring to play 18 regular season games which would expose the players to a greater risk of being seriously injured.

If this is really about the players, reduce the preseason to 2 games and keep the amount of regular season games the same. This is not the first time the length of the NFL preseason has been discussed on this blog. I was inspired to write about it after I watched Eli Manning stumble around the field with a gushing head wound during an early preseason game this season.

The thing that rubs me the wrong way is that the NFL is being very disingenuous about this situation. They are not outlawing these hits because they are concerned about their players getting hurt. While that may be a secondary consideration, it all boils to protecting their product. The NFL does not want things to get to the point where people are turned off by the aggression and physicality of the game as they might be if they watched some of the hits that took place this weekend.

The NFL is even more concerned about having a death or catastrophic injury occur during one of their games and not necessarily for the players’ safety but because an event like this would tarnish their brand. If they were really concerned about the safety and well being of their players they wouldn’t be a) calling for a longer regular season; b) denying former NFL players retirement or disability benefits; or c) promoting devastating hits by selling DVDs that glorify them on their website. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out during and after games. Will refs actually start making these calls on the field and changing the tone of the game or will this mostly be enforced through post game disciplinary actions against particular players? What do you guys think?

Watch the debate that took place between some of the guys at ESPN before any guidance on the rule was issued.

Watch the NFL’s official explanation of the new rules complete with examples from recent games.

Related Articles

• James Harrison: Is the Pittsburgh Steelers LB a Tough Player or Dirty Player? (bleacherreport.com)
• Mark Schlereth, ESPN NFL Analyst, Blasts New Rules On Dangerous Hits (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• NFL: How Much Longer Before We Start Playing Touch Football In The NFL? (bleacherreport.com)
• N.F.L.’s Policy on Helmet-to-Helmet Hits Makes Highlights Distasteful (nytimes.com)

Dez Bryant’s $54,896 Dinner

Most professional sports teams greet their rookies by hazing them in one form or another during their first training camp with the team. Some rookies get ridiculous haircuts, others carry shoulder pads and some sing or get tied to goalposts. Out of these, carrying shoulder pads isn’t the worst thing in the world and definitely beats picking up a $55k dinner tab for veterans on the team. Maybe Dez Bryant came to this realization after he got stuck with the bill from a dinner with his teammates at a Dallas steakhouse on Monday night.

Dallas rookies are supposed to carry veterans’ shoulder pads after practices during training camp. One could consider this an exercise in team building. During camp, Roy Williams told asked Dez Bryant to carry his pads off field. Dez refused. When asked about it by the media he said:

I’m not doing it… I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player’s pads.

Roy Williams didn’t take this too lightly stating that he would take the hazing to “stage two” and that every rookie in the league has to go through something like this regardless of their stock. Well apparently Williams’ stage two is leaving the rookie with a $55k tab from dinner.

Tebow

I wish someone had caught this scene on camera. Apparently guys were ordering anything and everything on the menu leaving the restaurant with bags of food. Of course the steakhouse’s wine cellar was raided by the group who reportedly purchased multiple bottles of PlumpJack Reserve at $600 a pop and even a $9000 bottle of Chateau Latour. Now that NBA training camps have started, let this be a lesson to you rookies out there. Better to take the small hit on the chin than get caught with a $55k tab unless you’ve already locked that endorsement money up. You might be good to go in that case.

Related Articles

• Dez Bryant: Roy Williams Shouldn’t Be Mad about Training Camp Incident (bleacherreport.com)

Are the Jets Imploding?

There has been a lot off talk around the league and in the media about how great the New York Jets were going to be this season and some even went so far as to label them favorites to win it all including their coach. These same folks have been quickly dropping off the radar some even reporting that the Jets may not have a winning season. The way things have looked so far they might want to quit worrying about winning the super bowl and worry about winning on Sundays during the regular season.

The Jets found themselves matched up against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night in their first game of the season. Ray Lewis and his team did not appreciate the loads of praise that had been heaped on their undeserving opponent and made this quite clear in their interviews leading up to the game. Ray Lewis called them out:

We’re talking about the Jets like we’re talking about the Saints. They [the Saints] are the defending Superbowl Champions… They’re talking like they are the Miami Heat of football. If Y’all are the Miami Heat, we gotta be the Lakers because we have multiple rings… My name should not come out of Rex’s mouth unless he’s telling someone to come block me which is gonna be a very damn hard task on Monday night.

Big Ray wasn’t lying. Blocking him during week one proved to be a nearly impossible task for the Jets. Even though he only had 4 tackles, Ray was all over the field and completely disrupted the Jet’s offense which put up only 9 points on their way to a 10-9 loss.

Mike Vick, Kevin Kolb and the Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles might have a situation on their hands. Most sensible people questioned their decision to basically give their 11 year starter Donovan McNabb to a divisional rival to usher in the Mike Vick Kevin Kolb era. The Kolb era was put on standby as he suffered a concussion in their first game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. The folks over at PTI and Around the Horn had a field day on ESPN on Monday shouting quarterback controversy to the hilltops. Meanwhile the Eagles have put themselves in a really foolish situation and have basically tied their hands.

They have been preparing to go through this season with Kolb, a pocket passer, as their number one guy. Meanwhile they were planning on giving the most dynamic quarterback in the league Vick a few snaps here and there to help them pick up a few yards. After his performance on Sunday, the Eagles either need to trade Vick or make him their starting quarterback. He was making precise strikes downfield, getting it done on the ground and looked like the pre dog fighting Vick when his number was called. He did make a few errors but nothing that won’t come back to him with some more time under center in game situations. They are not getting any value from keeping him on their bench and need to do something sooner rather than later.

Based on reports coming out of Philadelphia, Vick might be starting on Sunday against the Detroit Lions. Kevin Kolb has not practiced since Sunday and failed concussion tests today ESPN.com reports. If Vick comes out on Sunday and has another solid game one has to wonder whether or not he should be given the number one job especially if Kolb comes back and puts down a few mediocre performances. It will be great to watch this mess play out.

Related Articles

• Philadelphia Eagles Football: Kevin Kolb The Starter, But Michael Vick Should Be (bleacherreport.com)
• Philadelphia Eagles QB Situation: To Vick Or Not to Vick, That is the Question (bleacherreport.com)
• “Kevin Kolb Out, Michael Vick In: Eagles Score, Packers Still Lead 27-10” and related posts (zennie2005.blogspot.com)

Ines Sainz and the NFL

Her outfit that day

In case you haven’t heard, the New York Jets have come under fire for acting up when a reporter from a Mexican TV station named Ines Sainz was covering one of their practices and interviewing players in their locker room. During practice, Jets coaches allegedly threw the ball towards Sainz on purpose and players would howl at her when they ran past. The antics continued in the locker room as players continued howling and approaching Sainz inappropriately. This incident has sparked a debate about allowing reporters especially females into male locker rooms and Clinton Portis‘ comments did not help. During his debut on the Mike Wise radio show he stated:

You know man, I think you put women reporters in the locker room in positions to see guys walking around naked, and you sit in the locker room with 53 guys, and all of the sudden you see a nice woman in the locker room, I think men are gonna tend to turn and look and want to say something to that woman. For the woman, I think they make it so much that you can’t interact and you can’t be involved with athletes, you can’t talk to these guys, you can’t interact with these guys.

And I mean, you put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes, somebody got to be appealing to her. You know, somebody got to spark her interest, or she’s gonna want somebody. I don’t know what kind of woman won’t, if you get to go and look at 53 men’s packages. And you’re just sitting here, saying ‘Oh, none of this is attractive to me.’ I know you’re doing a job, but at the same time, the same way I’m gonna cut my eye if I see somebody worth talking to, I’m sure they do the same thing.

Having been in these situations as a player I can definitely see where Clinton is coming from. Some guys and a number of women are always “on” no matter what the situation and won’t let any opportunity pass them by especially when they are half naked on a testosterone high in many cases after having won a game. Why not look twice? On the other hand, there are a number of people who are able to control themselves in these types of situations. This interview is part of my responsibilities as a professional athlete and I’m going to take it seriously even though my rippling pecs and abs are in this beautiful reporter’s face. Probably not the easiest thing to do but everyone should be able to exercise at least some restraint.

Darnell Docket of the Arizona Cardinals also weighed in on the situation via tweeter:

All I can do is LOL at the jets Female Reporter! She walks into a locker room full of men and think some one not gonna say nothing LMFAO. I don’t know what was said to her or whatever but u just have to know u going into a TEAM LOCKEROOM, and if its that serious WOMEN STAY OUT!

He also commented on her outfit

Now why would u wear this!!! IM DONE!!

Put the tape measure away

Darnell might have a different view on this reporter because of her actions when she interviewed one of his teammates during the week of Superbowl XLIII as this picture shows. When is it appropriate to pull out a tape measure in the course of a legitimate interview and use it to measure someone’s body part? NEVER!!! This is pretty unbelievable. At this point all professionalism is out the window and the whole tone of the interview would change. Want to measure anything else??

Not everyone has come out in favor of the Jets. No matter what the situation, people need to be treated with respect and there was clearly none here. Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post wrote an article clearing the air about some of the myths surrounding locker room interviews and makes some interesting points most notably that no one has to be undressed in front of reporters if they don’t want to be. There are multiple rooms in professional and collegiate locker rooms that are off limits to reporters. If they choose players can get dressed in there, shower and dress immediately after games, or shower and dress after the reporters leave. I found the fact that male reporters are allowed into WNBA locker rooms pretty interesting too. You never hear about this kind of stuff happening in those situations but maybe it does. Who knows?

At the bottom of this entire debate is professionalism. As a female reporter covering a male professional sport and interacting with these men in personal settings, it would be wise to keep everything on the up and up. These guys all talk and tweet and any unprofessional actions you take will linger with you throughout your career until something like this happens. Ines should have probably left her tape measure at home when she was interviewing the Cardinals player and stopped herself from sitting on the shoulders of Indianapolis’ offensive line. This applies to male reporters too. If you don’t act professionally you will not be respected in that way. If you’d rather act buddy buddy and shoot the breeze with guys they will probably view you differently from someone who is there to do their job.

Attire is critical in this situation as well. Men and women alike can appreciate well sculpted bodies and judging by the pictures below it looks like Ines was blessed. Unlike many of the on air personalities on the American networks, she is a very curvaceous woman. It seems like these guys were not prepared for her and just completely lost control of themselves. This should have never happened but it all could have been avoided by some simple steps on both ends. Check out the photo gallery of Ines and come to your own conclusion.

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Related Articles

• Darnell Dockett Mocks Ines Sainz After Alleged Harassment (huffingtonpost.com)
• Clinton Portis Comments on Ines Sainz: ‘She’s Gonna Want Somebody’ (blippitt.com)
• Jets-Sainz mess brings ugly locker room misogyny to light (cbssports.com)
• Ines Sainz Isn’t Upset. So Why Is Everyone Else? (blogs.forbes.com)

Jets – Ravens

The New York Jets have been drowning in praise and hype since this preseason. I was a little late to hop on the gravy train and people were upset with me when I told them that I didn’t know they were favorites to win the Superbowl! At the time I felt out of the loop. After reading up and really taking a look at teams around the league I realized why I didn’t know the Jets were favorites to win it all this season. Because they aren’t! Self expectations do not carry the day when it comes to Superbowl favorites.

Sure Rex Ryan is over the top and likes to curse and fire his guys up but the fact that he labeled his team Superbowl favorites should not carry any weight. Neither should the Jet’s appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks. After a couple off-season moves, expectations in the Meadowlands are through the roof when a more realistic and reserved approach would make a lot more sense. This team only won 9 games last season and could have easily missed the playoffs all together. They had a great run once they got there but snuck in.Tonight’s game against the Ravens will expose their true colors and show us if all of the hype is real. Ray Lewis summed it up best in this video.

Related Articles

• Monday Night Football: 10 Bold Predictions for the Jets-Ravens Showdown (bleacherreport.com)
• Jets must Knock ’em dead (nypost.com)

Hail to the Redskins!

Drop the hammer Laron

The Redskins are 1-0! The Redskins are 1-0 and they just beat the Cowboys! They just beat the Cowboys!!!! I just had to get that out. A lot of people have been saying that the Redskins got lucky last night and only won the game because of the call. It is true that if the call wasn’t made, we would have lost but that call was made because Orakpo made a hell of a play coming off the edge on the final play of the game and was held! Without that hold Orakpo would have made a late night snack out of Romo. He got a great jump on the play and capitalized on the fact that the Cowboys’ offensive tackle was vulnerable and made him commit the hold.

It’s easy to point to the Cowboys’ mistakes because there were tons of them but we have to point to what the Skins did to win this game too. The Cowboy’s should have taken a knee before halftime but they didn’t. The Redskins’ defense capitalized on this mistake took the ball from them and ran it into the endzone to go into the locker room. Our defense stepped up and made a huge play when they had the opportunity and did so throughout critical points in the game.

Who DAT!!!

The Trophy

After a long depressing wait, my favorite time of year is here again. Not my birthday, not the end of another sweltering DC summer but a new season of professional football!! Fantasy leagues are set and everything is good to go, almost everything at least. My Skins are and will always be a big question mark after about a decade of heartbreak and disappointment :-/. In any case, the season gets underway tonight when the New Orleans Saints begin the defense of their Superbowl Title at home against the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of last season’s NFC championship game.

Over the past few seasons Drew Breese has quietly become a fan favorite amongst NFL quarterbacks. On the other hand, even though its hard to argue against Favre’s HOF status, his recent offseason antics have made him look like an asshole and really pushed a lot of fans away from him including myself. It’s just hard to respect a guy who shows up to press conferences wearing clothes fit for working a field and waits until the very last moment to announce his “comeback” in order to miss training camp while we all sit around like fools and watch.

I’m fired up about tonight’s game but can’t wait for my Skins to take on the Cowboys Sunday night. Win or lose, it will be one of the biggest games in Redskins history. Hopefully we’ll come out on top.

Back to Brett… this hat probably smelled like my high school track locker room after a few dogs got loose in there and tore the place up. Just look at it