The Legacy of Abe Pollin

Yesterday was a sad day for the city as one of the great DC people passed away. Abe Pollin is credited with bringing the Wizards and the Capitals to DC. In addition he is also one of the great unheralded philanthropists in the city. Probably one of the great owners of all time. A lot of the other owners who get a lot of TV time get the time for the wrong reasons. Snyder, Jerry Jones and Al Davis get credit because they are always meddling. That Titans owner Bud Adams was on Sportscenter more times than any other owner for giving the finger to fans. WTF. Pollin meanwhile did it the right way. He wasn't loud in his actions but always decisive and powerful. He brought the Caps and Wizards to DC. He brought MJ here and fired him...both gutsy moves. And in an era where owners are too crabby to shell out their own fortune, this was a guy who single handedly built the Verizon Center. A $200 million facility with his own money. Not needing any help from the taxpayers who are way poorer than he is. That facility pretty much revitalized the Gallery Place / Chinatown downtown area of DC. He won his championship ring in the NBA with Wes Unseld as the Washington Bullets in the late 70's. And let's not forget that even when Baltimore put up money for a new facility to be made for the Wizards and Capitals, he still kept the team in DC for his adopted home. A true owner and a sad day as the end of an era is gone.

NCAAB: Top 5 CAA Basketball Players of All-Time

The Colonial Athletic Association also known as the CAA is home to many universities and colleges around the Mid Atlantic and the East Coast in general. With the college basketball season gearing up, I've decided to bring you the top 5 CAA basketball players of all time.

1. David Robinson (Navy) - the Admiral was inducted to the basketball Hall of Fame this year. What else is there to say?

2. Eric Maynor (VCU) - picked in the NFL draft and doing quite fine as a rookie right now.

3. Jai Lewis (George Mason) - the yin to Will Thomas' yang. He sort of resembled Charles Barkley in his svelt shape. As a center he was barely 6'7 but he did the trick powering the Patriots to a final four run.

4. Jose Juan Barea (Northeastern) - made it to the NBA as a fringe player. At one point I think he achieved a 67 ovr rating in NBA Live. A true testament to a great player.

5. Will Thomas (George Mason) - this is a dude who does what it takes to win. If you remember he was one of the players that took GMU to their famous Final Four run. A truly historic moment.

NFL: The Future of the Redskins

This is still clearly a Joe Gibbs-type of team. You’ve got the same Doug Williams type of pocket quarterback with a cannon arm. There’s our corps of running backs who like to be bruising and physical. And even though our offensive line is as makeshift as the roof on the Superdome during Katrina, they are still an aging/veteran O-line with a tendency to like run blocking more. Our offense cannot play the finesse game of the West Coast Offense. But if we do overhaul our offense then we would have to act now. JC’s contract is up after this year and there are still lingering whispers of Zorn’s fate.

The sign ban is out thankfully but looking at the positives of things, the ban was a good thing. Why? Because actions speak louder than words. Although Snyder rarely says anything publicly about the team, and fans wonder if anything is getting through Snyder…clearly the people bringing in the signs got through to him. Disparaging remarks about Snyder and Vinny Cerrato lead to the sign ban. And our local media coverage as well as national coverage led to the removal of the sign ban. So what does this all mean? It means that there is a slightly better possibility after this season that Snyder will listen to the fans and everyone who knows a thing about the Redskins. That Snyder’s meddling has impeded any progress of this franchise and it might just stop because of the way our fans are so vocal about the Redskins. At the end of the day, DC is still a football town.

NFL: Denver vs Washington: A Rare Win

Vegas bookies had it right calling a the Broncos game surprisingly close at first glance as the Skins were only a 3.5 point underdog. In fact they probably would have fallen within that spread had it not been for punter Hunter Smith who is a special team virtuoso now credited with two touchdowns to his name.

It’s kind of weird what winning does to fans. After the win many fans were chanting ‘We Want Dallas’. They definitely don’t speak to the majority of fans. In fact they were probably just basking in the euphoria of a rare win in which we scored more than 17 points in over a year!

Now why did we win? Let’s break it down into simple terms. The Skins were coming off a bye, well rested. The Broncos were coming off a Monday Night game on a short week. And Clinton Portis didn’t play in today’s game meaning Ladell Betts carried the ball over 100 yards rewarding the few fantasy football players that picked him up this week.

Is this a sign to come for the future? Hell no. This type of perfect storm of us coming off a bye and a team coming off a short week only happens once every seven years. We’ll probably be back to our old ways unless of course Portis continues to be hurt and Ladell Betts gets the starting nod a lot more.

Why is Betts better than Portis? Here’s why…

1. He practices much more than Portis and has taken half of the 1st team snaps as Portis because Portis is a lazy bum and he already got paid.

2. Less miles on Betts’ legs. Portis took a beating during the Gibbs’ era where he was used as a John Riggins/Stephen Davis type of running back when he obviously wasn’t.

3. Furthermore, Portis tends to not use his blocking properly. He’s a quick cutback type of RB while Betts is more patient and tends to let the blocking develop. Betts’ running style helps the offensive line because not only is he simply effective in the running game, but at least they can use some play action in the passing game and the defense can’t just pin their ears on the quarterback anymore.

MLB: Riggleman and the WSH/ATL fines

Just want to make these comments really brief.

I approve of the Riggleman re-signing. Clearly he was a better manager than Manny Acta was and they showed during the span of Riggleman's regime that the Nats were at the very least, not the worst team in baseball as some tend to think.

As far as the fines for Haynesworth, Landry and Mike Smith are concerned...I didn't see the whole scuffle so I won't comment on Haynensworth. Landry started the thing sorta with a hit out of bounds...fine. Mike Smith's 15,000 fine though was very fair. For a head coach to act like that was very inappropriate.

NBA: Wizards Injury Bug Hits Again

This is so frustrating. The one time Arenas is not injured everyone else is. Here's a runthrough of the people that are injured as of right now.....

Caron Butler
Antawn Jamison
Mike Miller
Randy Foye
Branden Haywood
Javaris Critennton

So pretty much all our good players except for Javaris is injured. WTF.

NFL: The Atlanta Scuffle

Well I didn't watch the Atlanta game last Sunday but I did see a live look in plus Sportscenter highlights of the broo haha so this is what I think of the people that were involved...

He was helping out his teammate Laron Landry. Then things got heated. Falcons players and their coaches smh pretended like it was an episode of the Warriors and he got surrounded. Good thing he didn't throw a punch considering the strength and conditioning coach of the Falcons were talking some shit to Hall and Mike Smith decided to bring out the inner thug in him by acting like some head mob boss or something. F-ing ridiculous...both coaches should be fined. Hall should probably be fined too even though he showed incredible self restraint when he was the one that was trapped by all the Falcons players. It's important to note that what caused this, the late hit on Matt Ryan by Laron Landry...well both players walked onto the field again acting like it was nothing.

NFL: Ravens vs Bengals Week 9

Yesterday marked the first time I ever spurned watching a Redskins game for a Ravens game and it was well worth it. A good friend of mine who is one of the few Ravens fans in this area decided that it was time to convert me over to their side after seeing the futile attempts of football by the Redskins. Although I showed unwavering loyalty despite my hatred for the person who owns the Redskins, he still continued to woo me over to Baltimore's team. Since I wasn't in the mood seeing my preseason Super Bowl pick, the Atlanta Falcons methodically demolish my favorite team, I figured why the hell not let's watch the Bengals vs the Ravens.

I come over there and saw my pal and his dad watch the game. Already I was a little alarmed as I saw not quite the It's Always Sunny in Baltimore viewpoint that they both had. Apparently the Ravens' defense was not quite their usual self as Carson Palmer was picking apart the defense with short intermediate passes. Ocho Cinco made a couple spectacular grabs and the Ravens were hurt by many penalties that helped continue the Bengals' drive. In my mind Cincy is and will be the NFL's version of the Iowa Hawkeyes always living in danger but not today. It's always a fact that former employees always come to play and Marvin Lewis made sure that the Bengals didn't get too comfortable even into the 2nd half.

As the game went on I saw something a little startling. My friend was always the realist in every single sporting event or real life event and pretty much everything. Except for this game. He continued to be optimistic even in the final minute. LOL kind of reminded me of myself during Gibbs' stretch of coaching this decade.

All in all, a great day for me as he couldn't continue to bash the Skins anymore, well at least on that day. The highlight of that game was when Fabian Washington broke Chris Henry's arm on accident. And Baltimore fans might want the greatest Raven of all time back after all seeing as Steven Haushka missed his second big kick of the season. Of course he will redeem himself next Monday Night against the woeful Cleveland Browns via garbage time XPs and FGs. That is if he lasts the season.

My take on the Ravens: they win the games they are supposed to win especially at home, empowering the fans thinking that it is last year's team all over again. But they will lose the road games they are supposed to lose on the road. The Steelers game at Baltimore will definitely be a toss up and I see the Steelers win that win but it could be anybody's guess. I think they make it to the playoffs. They will definitely go at least 9-7 with a 50/50 chance at 10-6 going through as a wildcard. They win their wildcard game. Maybe they win the divisional game but I doubt it and they certainly won't go to the Super Bowl. Like it or not this is a one and done team in the playoffs unless the Ravens recapture their old glory again. Ray Ray is getting old and Joe Flacco isn't the big time QB that fans in Baltimore think he is quite yet.

NBA: 2009-2010 Washington Wizards Preview

Now that we took care of the sad side of DC sports it's time to preview what should be the biggest NBA team turnaround this season in the Washington Wizards. They've quietly added some depth to the team, a new coach and the biggest addition of all, Gilbert Arenas is back from injury.

Last year you may remember the Washington Wizards and their injury plagued, exhibition season. The big 3 aka Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison were mostly relegated to the hospital. Eddie Jordan our offensive expert was fired early on in the season after failing to play defense. Now that seems to have changed somewhat.

On the opening game the Washington Wizards quietly surprised the Dallas Mavericks and beat them convincingly at Dallas. Currently sitting 2-1 Agent Zero has opted for an incognito approach to the season being blog-less and attracting less attention than his previous seasons. If that makes any difference remains to be seen. The Wizards have tough games coming up @ Cleveland and against Miami this week proving to be a great litmus test on how they fare against the rest of East.

The additions of Mike Miller and Randy Foye gives added depth in the guard spots. Flip Saunders meanwhile provides a welcomed addition to the coaching staff giving the team a more well rounded approach than Eddie Jordan.

NFL: Never Have I Ever

Never have I ever...been so happy to see the absence of my favorite team playing. The relief and the lack of pain of NOT seeing the Redskins offense is truly comforting. The last time I ever felt this way was last Sunday, when the Skins played Monday Night and I knew we wouldn't lose or play horrible 1920's football.

Never have I ever...been so mad at a public figure in my life. Daniel Snyder single handedly turned the Redskins into more than just a laughing stock but a clown version of the Yankees mixed in with the senility of Al Davis. Never wanting to let go and let experts deal with the football aspect of things. Daniel Snyder is not a football man. He is a communications guy. You should not have let Norv Turner go when we were still in playoff contention, still had a winning record and coming off our very last division title. You should never let go of Marty Schottenheimer, a guy that was going to turn the team around finishing the season with 5 straight wins, instilling discipline in the team after the whole Spurrier debacle and could have easily turned our team into the 1990's version of the Chiefs or the Schottenheimer era Chargers. Hopefully this team will get 3 wins and will be an ABYSMAL failure like it should be because we're playing a brutal schedule the rest of the way out (ATL, DEN, DAL x 2, PHI, NO, SD, NYG). Our only winnable game in the next few weeks is Oakland and even they can be a challenge to beat. So to end all this...

Never have I ever...wanted my favorite team to lose their remaining games. My grandmother always said no pain, no gain. If this is the only way Snyder realizes he has to fire...himself, then dammit lose every single game. ;_;