Coal in my stocking: Redskins Suffer Terrible letdown

It all came crashing to earth with only 37 seconds left in a game I thought was going to signal the turning point in Redskins history. A turning point where people could look at this victory and say that was the win that got the Redskins back on track, looking hopeful for 2005. An exclamation mark win over the Dallas Cowboys by a Joe Gibbs Redskins team would have been a great late Christmas present.

Of course that’s why teams need to play out every second of a game. Vinny Testaverde’s perfect 39-yard TD pass snatched the win away from Washington and left me wondering why I had taken the time to sit in my cold car listening to the debacle unravel instead of packing up my computer at my old house like I told my wife I was going to do.

Stunned is not the word. Shocked can’t even describe it. Cheated is more like it. Those are precious minutes I now want to reclaim so I could have done something worthwhile instead of being put through the emotional coaster.

Perhaps I won’t even attempt to listen or watch the Redskins final curtain call against Minnesota. I can’t waste precious time on choking teams.

Skins are Scarin Me

OK, I admit to being a perturbed, disturbed and unnerved
Washington Redskins fan for the first 10 weeks of the
season. But these last few weeks of a winding down
campaign have been pure gold.

Saturday's victory over the hapless San Francisco 49ers
was nice. Never mind that I actually don't have TV to
watch the game and might not for some time (thanks GMP cable for doiong that site survey in short order...not!!). The radio
broadcast was enough for me to savor every delicious play.

Hand it to Joe Gibbs to manage signing the kicker the
49ers released just in time for him to kick 3 field goals
against his former team. It reminded me of those revenge
performances David Akers puts up against Washington when
his Eagles come to play.

Lavar Arrington's return was nice to see, even though he
is a long way from being 100 percent.

So do I dare get excited about this Sunday's coming game
in Dallas? Never mind that both teams are 5-9. It's a big
game just because it's Washington-Dallas. It's a big game
because one of my fathers-in-law is a BIG Dallas fan who
keeps rubbing it in that the Cowboys have been winning
these head-to-head games every year. Well it's gonna stop
on Sunday.

And oh-by-the-way, the winner still holds mathematically
slim chance of making the playoffs since the NFC is so
godawful this year.

So there actually is something to play for on Sunday other
than pride and a sense of momentum for 2005.

I'm not getting my hopes up. But Christmas wishes can come
true, right?

Nice biceps Barry.who does those for you?

I'm sick of all this steroid talk. I'm not sick of people
finally talking about the existence of steroids and
performance enhancement drugs. That discussion should
have been elevated a long time ago. What I'm sick about
is the fact there are people "surprised" to see so many
athletes doing this stuff. Surprised that anyone would try
to get that kind of advantage.

Duh. What have these people been watching all this time
then? Professional ping pong? It's got to be obvious by
now that some people will game the system no matter what
rules are made to stop them. That's never gonna change.

Innocence is starting to become just proving you were less
guilty than someone else. Rather than just admit he's
played a big part in this controversy. Bonds claims he did
not know what was in the creams and clear fluid he applied
to himself. Uh, that makes no sense because every athlete
I've ever known has been ultra-conscious of everything
ingested/injected or rubbed on their bodies. Do you
honestly think Bonds could be that stupid? Even folks who
go into GNC read the labels!!

And how will he explain the results? Will he say if he
was amazed that his bony behind somehow was transformed
into Mr. Muscles?

Baseball will further distance itself from the fan base
that once was unwavering so long ago. MLB endure yet
another fan fallout, the kind of fallout that was stopped
by these steroid-taking players hitting so many homeruns
6-7 years ago. The very thing that revived interest in
baseball is going to be the thing that relegates this era
to the footnotes of the record books, having to be
eternally explained away as the time when "natural"
performance was not enforced, therefore all records set in
this era are questionable (I.E. tainted).

Forget about seeing me at a game. If I want to watch
steroids in action I'll tune in the WWE.

Why Am I Writing This?

Journaling has never been a strong suit for me. I never
have taken a few minutes out of my day to "chronicle" my
life. And I don't think I will be doing that in this blog
either. Like many things that are new, we use/play/watch
it a lot in the beginning and then it falls off the earth
when the shininess and newness is gone.

My intention for this blog is to establish a space for me
to express my right to free speech, saying whatever the
heck is on my mind. What I write about may be serious one
day, silly the next. You might view me as insane or right
on target depending upon your point of view. If you decide
to stop reading, I still get the benefit of writing this
stuff out of my system.

So buckle up. It could be a bumpy but exhilarating ride.