engaging write-up there Boone...the whole thing flows rather nicely! though you know I don't buy into the ending. the frustration isn't over the record. it's how they got to that record. 5-11/6-10 isn't pretty....but 5-11/6-10 and not even looking professional is bad. that's what has some of us torked.

Very good read, T. Big fan of your work with HAIL! bro.

Haha. I was actually in NC two weekends ago. My sisters and I got a beach house on the outer banks at Kitty Hawk. Found a sports bar at marker 8.5 called Captain Joe's, IIRC. There were a number of Redskins fans in there wearing jerseys, and a few Panthers fans. But most of the Redskins fans were incognito. You weren't sure they were Redskins fans - but I got my sisters to shout EAGLES SUCK! with me after every first down or otherwise good play, and by the second half, the whole place was yelling EAGLES SUCK! with us.

It was a good time.

North Carolina? Spittin' distance from DC, with a plethora of sports bars (and remnant Skins fans).

Try Australia. 3am start times for games, luck-o-the-draw satellite hookups, and often lonely nights with the headphones attached to a sketchy audio feed.

Now THAT'S challenged.

^^ The Eagls offenseive line has been very very suspect and if that continues Kolb will get Ramsey'd Spurrier style. Reid knows his young qb can't take those beatings week in and week out without starting to hear footsteps on every snap ruining his play. I never felt Ramsey recovered from the beatings he took under spurrier.

I wonder if perhaps the state of the offensive line there has as much to do with this as Kolb's play. Vick is much, much more mobile than Kolb and the line there is in bad shape with injuries. Maybe Reid doesn't want to get Kolb shell shocked.

I thought of Ramsey too. Poor Kolb. Though I have to say I'd rather Kolb take the field against us in a few weeks than Vick.

Gutsy take there, B.

I think 2000-2010 will be remembered as the decade in which the Redskins chewed up QBs and spit them out with reckless abandon, and I'm not sure Schaub would have escaped that fate had he been drafted here.

But Schaub vs. Cooley is definitely an interesting conversation.

Living near Philly for the last thirteen years, I have been able to see the unique relationships that Eagles fans have with their team and players. Donovan McNabb was never fully accepted here and it still baffles the mind.

Compare it to the acceptance that he has had with the Redskins fans. He must feel as if the weight of the world is off his shoulders and football can be fun again. That's the way it should be and we are fortunate to have #5 on our favorite team.

Welcome home Donovan.

Five Stars!

Very nice piece, Boone!

I can't wait 'till the 12th!

happy b-day big guy! and thanks for all the invested time to you, OM and all others.

Absolutely perfect, partner. Mazel Tov.

and here I was thinking: "because they can".

we've all seen the same thing in Hollywood, business world, military....and on and on. sports figures aren't unique. me thinks there is something more primal in play...but what do I know?

Thought-provoking piece, brother. A couple of related thoughts ...

1) I'm not so sure today's superstars are all that different from yesterdays ... part of me thinks we're just living in an age where everything any of them do is NEWS, which translates directly into MONEY in today's hyper-competitive, salacious-headlines-sell media environment.

Stories of Babe Ruth's 'colorful' private life are legend. Jack Kennedy apparently made Bill Clinton look like a priest (okay, bad metaphor). Even godlike Darrell Green is reputed to have a very different side to him behaviorally than widely known. Are today's athletes/public figures really all that different than yesterday's, or are they simply living in very different times?

2) Of course, that doesn't necessarily give today's uberstars who get into trouble an "out." Why? Because if they've been alive and breathing throughout their lives, they KNOW these are different times, that the paparazzi are around every corner slobbering to catch them doing anything untoward that might translate into a cash bonanza photograph. Maybe it could be argued today's athletes who get into zipper trouble are not just suffering from personality/character issues, but serious lack of judgment issues as well.

Oh, I'm not saying that there aren't people that behave properly, I just think there's something in human nature (or that gestates in some people) whereby they can't help but act up (or down) to expectations. That's not to say that they shouldn't hold themselves to a higher standard, but it doesn't surprise me that they don't because there are so many enablers out there.