Are You Ready... To Enrage Your Fanbase?

If you have 45 minutes to kill, you must scroll through all the comments mocking U-Md.'s cocked-up football campaign:





Those are a few of the good ones. Even if many of them are inside jokes and/or nonsensical, still do yourself a favor and check them out.

A Programming Note

I wanted to pass the word along that my good friend's blog The Train of Thought, where I have posted many times over the past few years, is down due to an issue with its hosting. Anybody interested in checking out that site can find it at its original URL, http://dctrainofthought.blogspot.com , for a temporary basis.

Though most of the people who know me and know this blog are likely also regular readers of The Train, I thought I'd make sure and cover all our bases. So, please be sure to visit the temporary URL for some profanity-laced, political goodness.

Riggleman Resignation Leaves All of DC Stumped

Just as I was thinking about writing a post about the Nationals surprising hot streak, manager Jim Riggleman shocked everyone by stepping down just minutes after the team's 1-0 victory over Seattle. Seriously, every single blog or site I read, sports-related or otherwise, had the same reaction I did (which is generally, WTF?). The Nats are playing their best baseball since their first season in DC in 2005, making the timing of Riggleman's decision that much more stunning.

Riggleman cited his contract situation as the reason why:

Citing an unwillingness by general manager Mike Rizzo to discuss an extension of his contract, Jim Riggleman abruptly resigned as manager of the Washington Nationals after today's 1-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Riggleman, who had guided the Nationals to 11 wins in their past 12 games to improve to 38-37, informed Rizzo before the game he would resign unless the GM would agree to have a discussion about his long-term status. Rizzo declined, saying it "wasn't the right time" for that, so Riggleman managed the series finale against the Mariners knowing it would be his final game...

A Rockville native who grew up rooting for the Senators, Riggleman took over as interim manager in his hometown after predecessor Manny Acta was fired during the 2009 All-Star break. Ecstatic to hold what he described as his dream job, he was given the permanent managerial job after that season, though his contract never ensured long-term stability.

Riggleman was essentially given a one-year contract with two club options, the first of which was picked up after the 2010 season. His salary (believed to be $600,000) was among the lowest in the majors, and though the club still held another option for 2011, Riggleman had on more than one occasion sought an extension that would provide more stability.

"It's been brewing for a while," Riggleman said. "I do feel like I know what I'm doing, and it's at the point where I don't think I should continue on with such a short leash."

Riggleman said he inquired several times with Rizzo this season about having a discussion on his future. Each time, Rizzo said he didn't feel the time was appropriate for that discussion, including Thursday morning, when Riggleman essentially gave his GM an ultimatum.

On the surface, I can definitely see where Riggleman is coming from. I think he has a right to feel disrespected by only receiving one-year deals while also being among the lowest-paid major league managers. I can also understand him wanting to discuss where he stands with the team, even if those talks didn't amount to formal negotiations.

Ultimately, the problem I have with this is that he did it during such a successful run for the team. It certainly appears as though he was trying to use this winning spell to cash in and I can't really blame the Nats upper management for standing their ground. Riggleman is a competent, if mediocre, manager. Of course, the speculation will be that this could have a little something to do with that whole Jayson Werth blowup from earlier this season. Even if that had nothing to do with him stepping down today, it does suggest that the players probably won't miss him very much.

All Nats fans are hoping for at this point is not to lose any momentum over this. This current run has put us in a position far greater than I was expecting this year without Stephen Strasburg. Most likely, our record was going to return to normal sub-.500 levels whether Riggleman stepped down or not. I just wish that we didn't have yet another negative thing to focus on just as the Nats were unexpectedly giving us something good.

The Media Continues to Miss the Point in the NFL Lockout Debate

Let me say right from the outset of this post that nothing about the NFL's current work stoppage makes any sense to me. The fact that the owners have found enough just cause to lock out the players in the first place is iffy enough, but the way the lockout has been covered by the media calls into question how subjective their coverage is at all. For example, take into account yesterday's news that the owners were willing to negotiate a 48 percent share of revenue to the players:

Among the details NFL commissioner Roger Goodell revealed to owners Tuesday at the league's meeting in Rosemont, Ill., is that in the next proposed agreement players will receive a 48 percent share of "all revenue," without the $1-billion-plus credit off the top that had been a point of contention in earlier negotiations, according to sources familiar with the presentation.

Under the new formula being negotiated, players will receive 48 percent of all revenue and will never dip below a 46.5 percent take of the money, sources said.

In the previous collective bargaining agreement, players received approximately 60 percent of "total revenue" but that did not include $1 billion that was designated as an expense credit off the top of the $9 billion revenue model. Owners initially were seeking another $1 billion in credit only to reduce that amount substantially before exercising the lockout on March 13.

Ultimately, the two sides have decided to simplify the formula, which will eliminate some tedious accounting audits of the credit the players have allowed in the previous deal. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has stated that players were actually receiving around 53 percent of all revenues instead of the much advertised 60 percent.

So you take $9 billion in revenue last year, chop $1 billion off the top to give to the owners for "expenses" (stadium repair, construction, whatever the fuck else they want) then the players receive 60 percent of the remaining $8 billion. Now, just five years after agreeing to said deal, the owners lock out the players and are holding out for an additional $1 billion off the top, just because? How is no one seeing how arbitrary and unfair this is to the players? Considering that the league just grossed the most money in one year in the history of American sports, why are the owners of its 32 teams entitled to any more than the players?

John Clayton went on "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio earlier today and the three of them discussed the negotiations (the segment can't be embedded, but you find it in the archives here). Mike Golic was an NFL player during the 1987 players' strike, but he seemed mostly concerned that everything get resolved in order for training camps to open on time. Greenberg said that yesterday's talks showed that the two sides were getting away from "needing to win" and were now just working on a deal everyone could agree on. Both of them failed to acknowledge how we ended up in this situation; the owners and commissioner Roger Goodell deciding to stake a larger claim, among other demands.

At one point, Clayton mentions that the league hopes to get this done before the start of preseason games so as not to miss out on a potential $700 million. Just think about that for one second. The NFL stands to generate $700 million from games that don't even count, yet still believes the 32 owners deserve a larger cut of the overall pie for some reason.

The argument has been made countless times that NFL fans shouldn't care about how this gets resolved because this is all just a bunch of billionaires fighting with millionaires over money. However, that argument doesn't hold any water. The players, the league's actual workforce, and the ones who lay their bodies and brains on the line, are being asked to take less money because the owners decided it was a good time to grab a larger share. I ultimately want to see football start back on time too, but anyone who isn't seeing this current work stoppage for what it is either isn't paying attention to facts, or doesn't care to.

The greatest take on, and easiest explanation for, this whole mess came from former Redskins coaching legend Joe Gibbs:

“I have a solution for the strike right now,” Joe Gibbs told Vinny Cerrato on the radio Tuesday morning. “Here’s the solution. Let me solve it, ok, put the power in my hands. I’ll take that $9 billion, I’ll put one-half to the players, and one-half to the owners, I’ll take one percent for doing that, and we’ll be done in 10 minutes.”

My thoughts exactly.

The Death of Len Bias Turns 25

Len Bias
1963-1986

25 years ago today, Len Bias's death stunned the D.C. area, and shocked the sports world. It was one of those morbid "where were you?" moments you commiserate over years later on occasions just like this, sad hallmarks that remind you exactly how much time has gone by, and just how much of a life was never seen.

I was born in 1985, so I wasn't able to grasp what Bias meant until years later. Even still, it's hard to comprehend without being alive to watch his full life arc. The concept that there was a player as good as Michael Jordan was in college, and that he played for Maryland was hard enough to conceive as a young Terps fan. Then, for that man to die two days after being drafted as Larry Bird's heir apparent to the Boston Celtics throne... it's so tragic that I always well up any time I think about it for too long.

Instead, I'll use this space to honor the side of Bias that still brings joy to people. Instead of focusing on "what could have been," because ultimately it's impossible not to, I'll revisit what Len Bias was during his far too brief stint on this planet.

Redskins Voted Second-Worst Franchise in American Sports

ESPN asked fans to rank every team in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL from 1 to 122 in an online poll. According to fans nationwide, the Washington Redskins finished 121st:

While magazine rankings might not provide the final judgments about franchise health, the latest batch of franchise rankings from ESPN The Magazine is truly incredible. The Magazine’s 2011 “Ultimate Standings” — which provide “an overall ranking for pro sports franchises according to how much they give back to fans for the time, money and emotion they invest in them” — has the Redskins ranked 121st among 122 North American pro franchises.

That means the Redskins are behind the Raiders, who finished 104th. They’re behind the Clippers, who were 105th. They’re behind the Bills (107th), Knicks (109th) and Wizards (110th, sorry Ted.) They’re behind the Islanders (114th), and the Thrashers (115th), who aren’t even the Thrashers any more. They’re behind the chaotic Mets (117th), and the flagging Kings (119th).

In fact, the Skins are ahead only of the Bengals, putting them in territory not often associated with a franchise that won three world titles within the past 30 years.

Even more troubling, perhaps, was the result of the ESPN fan survey, asking fans to rate on a scale of 1-5 how their commitment to their favorite team had changed in recent years. The Redskins finished tied with the Kings for 116th in that category.

No D.C. area team was the best or the worst in any single category. The Ravens finished 21st overall, followed by the Caps (27th), Orioles (67th), Nats (78th), Wizards (110th) and Skins (121st). Last year, the Caps were 11th, followed by the Nats (94th), Redskins (102nd) and Wizards (120th).

The rankings, according to the Mag, are based on efficiency in spending fan money compared to on-field performance, while also factoring in feedback from 70,000 fans in online and independent polls. The categories include “bang for the buck” (24.3%), players (16.6%), fan relations (16.5%), affordability (14.1%), stadium experience (9.1%), ownership (9.0%), title track (6.7%), and coaching (3.9%). The full rankings are in the “Best in Sports” issue that hits newstands on Friday.

As a devoted, but embarrassed, Redskins fan, I find these rankings to be pretty accurate. It's one thing to simply lose a lot of games, like Nats or Wizards have for the past several years. The Skins' standing on this list comes down to our long string of national embarrassments, particularly the Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth sagas. When you can't go five seconds without being involved in a controversy, it's usually because your team has an incredibly inept and dysfunctional organization/front office. So I guess we have this 11-year long magical clusterfuck under the ownership of Dan Snyder to thank for that. Better watch what I say though, I don't want to get sued.

Another Agonizing Defeat for Canada in the Stanley Cup Finals

I wasn't able to catch any of the Boston Bruins' Game 7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, so I don't have very much analysis to offer. Call me un-American, but every year after the Capitals eventually choke in the first or second round of the playoffs, I immediately start pulling for any Canadian team to lift the Cup. It just means so much to them, in fact it quite possibly means more than any sport does to any nation in the world. Especially for fans in Vancouver, because while Montreal and Edmonton had dynasty after dynasty back in the day, and even the Calgary Flames won a couple in the late 80's, the Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup.

This series was very bizarre in the wild momentum swings that occurred as the games alternated between the two cities. Each of the first three games played in Vancouver was a nervy, tense affair, with the Canucks winning all three by a close margin. Conversely, the games in Boston were raucous free-for-alls that resembled hockey's old days, where everybody pretty much brawled in the time between each goal. The Bruins won each of those games in a rout.

The Bruins were able to buck that trend by winning Game 7 on Canadian ice, though the 4-0 scoreline in their favor was somewhat familiar. I wasn't really a fan of their team after Boston captain Zdeno Chara's vicious hit on Montreal's Max Pacioretty was met with a slap on the wrist by the NHL's disciplinary committee. However, I was able to overlook that due to the fact that they mercifully knocked the Tampa Bay Lightning out of the playoffs, preventing a team with no history and no fanbase from winning a second Cup before the Caps had won a single one. They also got a taste of their own medicine, so I guess all has been forgiven as far as I'm concerned.

At least the Bruins are an original six team, and they hadn't won since 1972. But seriously, Boston has won enough already. Curse of the Bambino, my ass, the Red Sox have won two now, you've had the Patriots and even the resurgence of the Celtics. Add the Bruins now and you've got all four major pro sports franchises winning a title within a decade. Now go away, please and get back to losing stuff.

Yet Another Reason I Love DeShawn Stevenson

This piece of awesome news hit the media this morning:

IRVING, Texas - So maybe there was a little too much celebration for at least one of the Mavericks.

Irving police arrested Dallas Mavericks guard DeShawn Stevenson Tuesday night for public intoxication when they say they found him wandering disoriented in an apartment complex.

Officers got the call about an intoxicated person at the Grand Venetian apartments at 6201 Love Drive about 10:30 p.m.

When police showed up, they spoke with Stevenson, who apparently did not know where he was.

I know this sort of thing is normally frowned upon, but I'm thinking that DeShawn Stevenson is equally as thrilled and as shocked as anyone that DeShawn Stevenson has won an NBA title before LeBron James. I say let the man celebrate.

I also read courtesy of Steinberg that Stevenson supposedly didn't go out the night after winning the finals, claiming that he stayed home with his pregnant wife being a "good husband" and a "responsible father." Nevertheless, I'm going to continue believing that DeShawn has been on a three-day long bender, presumably still wearing his Dallas Mavericks game jersey, living it up in the afterglow of finally gaining the upper hand on LeBron. Good on him.

And once more, for good measure, is this:

Get it Together, USA

The U.S. Men's National team, looking for an appropriate response after a disappointing loss to Panama this weekend, took on island nation minnows Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup last night. USA won the game 1-0, but the response we were looking for was nowhere to be found:

After Saturday's stunning upset loss to Panama, the U.S. rebounded -- to a degree -- by defeating Guadeloupe, 1-0, courtesy of Jozy Altidore's 25-yard piledriver in the first half. In the process, the Americans secured second place in Group C of the Gold Cup, and now they'll face a red-hot Jamaica side in Saturday's first quarterfinal at RFK Stadium in Washington.

Of course, in the aftermath of the Panama result, there was always going to be more to judging the U.S. performance than the score. When Panama drew with Canada, 1-1, in the evening's first match, it dashed the U.S. hopes of coming back to win the group, but also gave it the knowledge that a draw would be good enough to progress. So the questions centered on whether the Americans would show more fight in defense, more composure on the ball, and deliver the kind of result that would send a message to their Gold Cup competitors.

Well, two out of three is what they had to settle for on this occasion.

In truth, it's certainly possible that the fact that the U.S. only needed a draw to advance to the next round weighed on their performance. It's also true that Guadeloupe, a French protectorate that is not eligible to play in World Cups, lost their other two group matches by one goal. The bottom line, though, is that the Americans were expected to perform. Not just to embarrass a much smaller opponent, but to prove our own standing within our confederation. A lackluster win over Canada, a pretty definitive loss to Panama on home soil and a one-goal win last night is simply not getting it done.

It would be one thing if we sent an experimental roster full of up and coming young players to this tournament. To some extent, that is the case for players such as Tim Ream, Alejandro Bedoya, and Juan Agudelo, to name a few. However, this is still our senior roster with all of our stars (Howard, Donovan, Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Altidore). Really, more important than the actual scoreline from last night was how the team played, and by all accounts we played like a team that had to scrape out a 1-nil win against a miniscule Guadeloupe side on U.S. soil.

When all of your best players are collected and the performances are still lacking, the responsibility is ultimately going to fall on the head coach. A quick Google search for "Bob Bradley hot seat" would suggest that the man in charge has been in danger of losing his position since prior to the 2009 Confederations Cup. In my opinion, it's hard to look at him and point to any one thing that he has done, or hasn't done, to warrant firing him and hiring a different coach. This is where the USSF, led by Sunil Gulati (looks like a broke-ass, unfunny Aziz Ansari), needs to once again take notice to how other soccer associations do things.

It is extremely rare for one coach to oversee a national team over more than one World Cup cycle, which is what Bradley will theoretically get the chance to do. In his case, the roster we have could arguably achieve greater things than a Round of 16 appearance, and it's possible that we may need another footballing mind to help get those types of results from them. Realistically, we may be tied to Bradley for another three years unless the team falters badly enough to see him get dismissed after the Gold Cup. The downside to that, however, is that the calendar year up to this point would have been a wasted opportunity to help get a new coach acclimated.

This makes the USA's quarterfinal match against Jamaica that much more significant. The players could well be playing to save Bradley's job yet again, though when you think about it, it's like they've been doing that for almost two-and-a-half years straight.

For a D.C.-related tie-in, Sunday's match will take place at RFK Stadium. With tickets costing $60 a pop, I will not be in attendance, but it's still very cool all the same. Let's hope for a better result than the USA World Cup qualifier I did attend at RFK in 2001, when we lost to Honduras in front of a pretty much split crowd. I'll never forgive you, Earnie Stewart!

Mavs Validate a Nation's Schadenfreude, Win NBA Title

In lieu of a widespread explosion of joy, the nation more or less let out a collective sigh of relief that "those guys" didn't win as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Maybe that's just how I felt, and I am ultimately surprised by that, but the reaction to LeBron & Miami's failure was a lot more muted that I expected.

To me, there was a more visceral and venomous reaction after Game 4 when everybody realized that LeBron was sucking in the fourth quarter of every game of the series. Pretty much all the media coverage I saw was pretty tame compared to that, apart from Deadspin who basically spent all day ripping on him every hour, on the hour.

I was glad to see the Heat fail for a myriad of reasons, but the main one was that three of the best players of our current generation weren't able to just join one team and walk over everybody else to a title right away. Even in the immediate afterglow of such a glorious result, I still know that there is an overwhelming likelihood that they will win one someday. It's just great that they didn't win one in their first year, and we have to go through an entire season and postseason next year before they even get to challenge for one again (that is, if there even is a season next year).

But personally, that's even bigger than all "The Decision" nonsense at the outset of the season, all the pyrotechnics of their preseason NBA equivalent to a midnight madness in which LeBron famously set a goal of winning seven consecutive NBA championships. Underneath all of my fury towards the Heat was the fact that I've always hated dynasties, going back to when Jordan's Bulls were dominant. It's the same principle that exists in international soccer, where there are no salary caps and very little regulation of any kind when it comes to building a roster. When a billionaire decides to buy a club and buy the best players in the world at any price, then pay them double or sometimes triple the amount any other club could pay in salary, it skews the level of competition so much it almost defeats the purpose of sport altogether.

Though LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh didn't break any rules by joining forces, it still just warmed my heart to see such a sure thing fail when it mattered most. Maybe they will get rid of dead weight over time and acquire younger, cheaper, more skilled role players to supplement their superstars. But the Mavericks gave us all a reason to keep watching games, even the result seems like a foregone conclusion. They also gave Dirk vindication for 2006, which is just plain awesome. But perhaps the most brilliant thing the Mavs gave was a title to DeShawn Stevenson before LeBron had won any, which subsequently gave us this shirt. And that's just about the most glorious thing any Wizards fan can take away from this series.

Welcome to the Terrordome

Stevie Wonder - Look Around by DCJonesy

More specifically, welcome to my new blog. This has been in the works for a long time, so it feels good to finally get this off the ground and moving. I'm still in the process of tinkering with the site design, so the color scheme and general layout are subject to change. I just didn't want to wait any longer to put pen to paper (perhaps "fingers to keyboard" would be technically correct).

So what should you expect to see here? That's a good question, actually.

One of my main reservations about starting my own sports blog was determining what niche I would try to carve into such a broad blogging landscape. DC-themed sports blog from the fan's perspective? It's been done before, and way better than I could do it. What about a hard-hitting, topical blog focusing on the real issues, both on and off the field? I'm not nearly as qualified as someone like Dave Zirin, who does it better than anyone out there (and who I stole the name of this very post from). Comedic/snarky blog delving into sports' seedy underbelly? That's Deadspin territory, and I love their blog but it's not what I'm mainly interested in writing about.

So I'm basically going to make it up as I go along. The important thing was just to start writing about something. Hopefully, over time my writing will become a bit sharper, my thoughts a little more coherent. In the meantime, I'm going to pretty much just start rambling about whatever topic I see fit. I'm glad to get this going while the NBA and NHL finals are still going on, and I also hope this makes me pay closer attention to the ongoing NFL lockout as I start writing on that subject as well.

Lastly, if you're wondering about the Stevie Wonder song at the top of the post, it may offer some clues towards the name of the blog. I look forward to sharing my thoughts here in this space and I hope that all four of you reading this gain something, if anything, from what I have to say.