Worst Professional Sports Team: Pirates vs. Redskins

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Sports was definitely a big part of my life growing up and continues to be today. I’ve been fortunate to see both the Penguins and Steelers become champions. I’ve also lived in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington DC, for over 18 years. I’m not as passionate about any of the DC area teams, but I follow how they are doing and regularly watch games of the local teams. Because of my fandom and geography, I think I’m in a unique position (along with thousands of other members of the Pittsburgh diaspora in the DC area) to evaluate who is worse between arguably the two current worst franchises in American professional sports, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Redskins. Let’s start with the Pirates.

- Since reaching the National League Championship Series for the third consecutive year in 1992, the team finished under .500 every year until 2013. The team made the playoffs via the Wild Card game in 2013-2015, but despite finishing over .500 (82-79) in 2018, the team hasn't truly competed for the postseason since 2015 and finished 69-93 in 2019.

- The team fired long-time manager Clint Hurdle, yet it doesn't appear that Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington or President Frank Coonelly are going anywhere. Bob Nutting, the owner, is certainly not going anywhere.

- The Pirates #1 pitcher, Jameson Taillon, recently had elbow (Tommy John) surgery and will likely be out for the 2020 season.

- The team’s best trade asset, Felipe Vazquez, is currently in jail for child sex charges. Yes, it is as awful as it sounds. While people can, should, and do criticize the front office for lots of things, the Vazquez arrest is definitely not on them.

- Speaking of trades, recent blockbuster deals have worked out poorly for the Pirates. The team traded now all-star Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow (who is only starting game one of the American League Division Series) for Chris Archer. They also traded possible Cy Young award winner Gerrit Cole for Joe Musgrove, Jason Martin, Michael Feliz, and Colin Moran. Yeah.

- The team ranked 27th in attendance in 2019 out of 30 MLB teams.

- Bob Nutting is almost uniformly disliked by Pirates fans.

Now, the Washington Redskins:

- Since Dan Snyder took over the team in 1999, the Redskins have two playoff wins in 20 seasons.

- Arguably the team’s best player, offensive tackle Trent Williams, isn’t playing right now. Usually when players hold out, it’s because of money. Not this time. Williams is unhappy with the medical staff and front office in how they treated him last season.

- The team is 0-4 so far in 2019 and might only be favored in one game for the rest of the season.

- The Redskins had an NFL-low 74.4% home capacity during the 2018 season, averaging about 61,028 fans per game. Many of these fans are rooting for the opposing teams.

- FedEx Field is expensive and extremely inconvenient to get to. The team is looking to build a new stadium (though the location is uncertain) when the current lease ends sometime in the next decade.

-Many people consider the team name to be racist which may complicate the team moving back to Washington.

- When the team fired General Manager Scot McCloughan two years ago, they leaked that it was because he had a drinking problem.

- Owner Dan Snider and (to a slightly lesser extent) President Bruce Allen are almost uniformly disliked by Redskins fans.

So who is in a worse situation going into 2020? Your winner (or I guess loser) is the Pirates.

There is really no hope for this team in the next few seasons. Yes, the team has some nice offensive players like Josh Bell, Starling Marte, and Bryan Reynolds, but that’s about it. The only pitching prospect is Mitch Keller, and even if he turns into 2019 Gerrit Cole, that’s not going to get the Pirates into the playoffs. You can rightly justify that the Pirates really can’t compete economically with the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Astros. However, poor drafting and development obviously doesn’t help nor does the apparent inability or interest of the team to spend significant money on free agents. Plus those trades mentioned above have been awful for the franchise. You might be thinking, if the team is so bad, maybe they can draft a big-time player. The problem is that the Tigers, Orioles, and Marlins among other teams had even worse records, so the Pirates only have the #7 pick in the 2020 draft, not the #1 or #2 pick.

As for the Redskins, they have a young quarterback with a lot of promise in 2019 1st round draft pick Dwayne Haskins. He certainly gives the team some hope, if not for this year, then the next few years. With the NFL’s salary cap, it seems like teams go from last in its division to first regularly. In addition, a potential franchise quarterback already on the roster should allow the team to score a major prospect with a likely top 5 pick in the 2020 draft after the top few teams select quarterbacks. The Redskins may even be able to trade its draft position and acquire even more picks.

In both cases, the owners aren’t going anywhere. They are making good money and likely live extravagant lives, so why would they sell? They are among a small and prestigious club of American professional sports owners. While we hope they sell and the teams’ results improve, that seems unlikely.

So what do you think? Who is in a worse situation?

Photo from FoB&D Sports.

Should The Steelers Trade Martavis Bryant for Terrelle Pryor?

Let me preface this post by writing that trades between players (as opposed to a player for a draft pick) rarely happen in the NFL. Now that that's out of the way, on to the hypothetical scenario!

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant is a talented player who has made some poor decisions and/or has received some bad advice. He was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy, and now, he will not play in Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions due to "social media."

From Behind the Steel Curtain:

This stems, of course, from Bryant's outburst on the social media platform Instagram Sunday night when chided by a fellow Instagram user. A week after repeatedly refuting that he has asked the Steelers for a trade, he has openly indicated that to be his desire if his playing time and targets don't increase.

It didn't help that Bryant was "sick" and missed practice on Monday following his social media outburst on Sunday and according to Dale Lolley now of DK Pittsburgh Sports, Bryant has called off sick "for the fourth time in the past month."

That's not good in any job.

Meanwhile, Terrelle Pryor signed a one-year contract with the Washington Redskins after having over 1,000 receiving yards with the Cleveland Browns last season, his first as a wide receiver after converting from being a quarterback. It has not gone well for Pryor. From The Washington Post's DC Sports Bog:

Here’s the best way to describe Terrelle Pryor Sr.’s current status in the Washington Redskins’ offense: When Kirk Cousins was asked specifically about his outside receivers following Washington’s limp loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, the quarterback mentioned six names, including two tight ends and a running back. Pryor’s name didn’t come up.

And here’s the best way Pryor summarized his own status, when asked whether his first-half benching against the Eagles might be repeated Sunday against Dallas.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I mean, that’s a good question. I don’t know.”

As you can probably guess (the blog post title gives this away), I'm wondering if there should be a Bryant for Pryor trade. There may be salary cap ramifications, but let's pretend that there are not. Both are free agents at the end of the season.

Washington is missing a speedy receiver who can spread the field after DeSean Jackson left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Pittsburgh may want someone dependable who shows up to work and doesn't ask for a trade.

The biggest issue for Pittsburgh is Pryor's seeming inability to catch the ball over the middle or in traffic (meaning around other players and not on the Parkway East outside the Squirrel Hill Tunnel where even Antonio Brown would have difficulty catching the ball). However, maybe Antonio Brown's work ethic will rub off on Pryor to become a better receiver. He's never been around a #1 type receiver in Cleveland or Oakland. Plus, perhaps Pryor will be energized returning to his hometown team. It doesn't hurt that Pryor played with Cameron Heyward for three years at The Ohio State University, so that should alleviate any concerns about how Pryor would fit in with his new teammates.

We all saw Pryor do this against the Steelers a few years ago. Wouldn't it be fun to have a few plays designed where Pryor could do that FOR the Steelers?

Steelers-Redskins Recap

With the Pittsburgh Steelers playing their first game of the 2016 season, I'm excited to bring back my semi-regular posts with notes from Steelers games that you won't see anywhere else.

- There was a nice moment before kickoff with members of both teams and military personnel holding the American flag. I'm sure Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder was extremely proud of the gigantic American flag while in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones plotted to make an even bigger flag. 

- Washington dominated the first quarter by outgaining the Steelers 253 to 1 in total yards (these numbers may be incorrect but it felt this way). However, the Redskins only led 6-0 after failing to get into the end zone. I have to admit that I felt pretty good because I figured that the Steelers played pretty bad only to be one touchdown away from taking the lead (which is what they did).

- If you're the best corner in the game (Josh Norman), you should be able to blanket the best wide receivers like Antonio Brown. Why do you need to stay on one side of the field? Sure, Norman can boast that he Brown didn't do much against him, yet what difference does that make when your team loses by 22 and Antonio has 8 catches for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns?

- The best commercial on television is Ice T at a lemonade stand. I may switch to Geico just because of this commercial.



Conversely, Burger King's Cheetos chicken fries sound awful (though I really want Cheetos right now).



- ESPN's Jon Gruden provided my quote of the game when discussing Cameron Heyward. "He can go hard for a long period of time."
13 year old Sean smiled at this. Okay, 41 year old Sean smiled at this too.

Runner-up: ESPN's Sean McDonough on Steelers linebacker James Harrison: "The ageless linebacker is now 38 years old." 38 isn't ageless, it's 38.

Honorable mention: Gruden again. "I hope Le'Veon Bell is watching this game." There wasn't really any context to this other than Deangelo Williams playing well. Maybe ESPN was counting on a ratings boost from Bell watching the game

- The Steelers were 2 for 2 on 4th and 1 situations including Roethlisberger's 29-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown and were also successful on 3rd and short situations. I feel like Washington's defensive coordinator is going to have nightmares about 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 all week.

- Besides being partially responsible for Roethlisberger's interception, I thought Eli Rogers looked good (6 catches, 59 yards and a TD in the 1st half) in his NFL debut. I'm sure that someone already created a Mr. Rogers Neighborhood shirt in his honor. Maybe Doug?

- Although he ended up underperforming as a first round draft pick, it's nice to see Ziggy Hood still in the league. I know this Ziggy was happy to see him. 

- You'd like to see the Steelers have more than, um, zero sacks, but they did a nice job of holding a team that was one of the best in the league during the second half of the 2015 season to only 16 points.

- The Washington Post's DC Sports Bog has some great stuff about the game too.

Congrats to the Steelers on the big win! Almost as importantly, my colleague now needs to wear a Steelers tie at an organization meeting or holiday party. If the Redskins won, I would have had to wear an ugly burgundy and gold tie. Everybody dance now!

Random Thoughts

Let’s start with a quick, quick recap of yesterday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Tennessee Titans game. The Steelers defense was amazing forcing seven turnovers with four sacks. Plus, Titans running back Chris Johnson, who has had twelve consecutive 100-yard games, was held to only 34 rushing yards. Meanwhile the Steelers offense still has some work to do. The team is not going to win very often with 43 passing yards and going 2 for 15 in third-down conversions.

When I worked at Blockbuster, we had an automatic VHS tape rewinder to rewind all of the VHS tapes that hooligans failed to rewind. While at Yom Kippur services this weekend, it is easy to notice that the Torah is clearly coming to the end. I wonder if some company could make automatic Torah rewinders to take the Torah back to Genesis.

Congratulations to the Ithaca College football team for defeating Widener University 31-7. The Bombers are now 3-0 on the season.

Ithaca’s primary rival is the SUNY-Cortland Red Dragons. Because of this, I always choose to buy red delicious apples instead of Cortland apples.

Was it me or did it seem like a lot of players lost helmets or shoes during the course of Sunday’s Steelers-Titans game?

I listened to part of the Washington Redskins radio broadcast while returning from the grocery store. After Kevin Walter made a catch in overtime, either Washington broadcaster Sonny Jurgensen or Sam Huff stated that they hadn’t called Walter’s name during the game. After a long pause, play-by-play announcer Larry Michael stated that the catch was Walter’s ninth of the game.

Mark your calendars. The University of Pittsburgh men’s basketball team visits Georgetown at the Verizon Center on Wednesday, January 12th.

I had the opportunity to watch the premiere episode of tonight’s How I Met Your Mother before the show airs. This season picks up from where last season ends including another guest appearance by Rachel Bilson. Bilson may now be one of my top five actresses based solely on one of the closing scenes.

Although I didn’t notice him in the episode, JQ doppelganger Aaron Takahashi is listed on my “TV critic” information page as a guest cast member.

If I get to 100 Twitter followers, I’ll create a new TMI Thursday post. I’m currently at 96.


Finally, I can’t get enough of this video of Vince Young getting slammed to the ground by James Harrison, Aaron Smith and Brett Kiesel. I’m glad that Young is okay because I thought he may have been seriously hurt by the trio of Steelers defenders.

See The Steelers-Redskins Preseason Game For Free

I received an offer from the Washington Redskins to see the August 22, 2009 pre-season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers for free. All that I (or you) have to do is spend $260 to see Paul McCartney.



That's not quite free now is it? Here's the rest of the e-mail I received:

Don't miss your chance to catch the action at FedExField. August offers many exciting events and FedExField is proud to present an EXCLUSIVE OFFER for you.

Reserve one of the best Lower Level seats for Rock-and-Roll Legend Paul McCartney's concert on August 1st and get free parking and an invitation to a complimentary pre-party with an all-you-can-eat buffet for the special price of $260.* Plus you get a choice of one of the following events for FREE:** (Sean's note: Again, that's not really free.)

D.C. United vs. Real Madrid Soccer Match • Sunday, August 9, 2009
Redskins vs. Pittsburgh (Preseason Game) • Saturday, August 22, 2009
Redskins vs. New England (Preseason Game) • Friday, August 28, 2009

* Alcoholic beverages extra! (Boooooo. For $260, I want alcohol included!)

** Ticket locations are on the Club Level. Parking included. Offer is valid while supplies last. After ordering on-line, The Redskins Ticket Office will contact you within 5 business days to arrange for delivery of your Paul McCartney hospitality wristband and the ticket(s) to your complimentary event. If you want to call the Redskins (301.276.6050), please have your Ticketmaster confirmation number ready when you call.

Sunday Links

* Ashley Diparlo and Becky Emmers of WTAE's Pittsburgh Channel website are awesome. They are even more awesome for including the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament on their Links N'@ video. This is the first time Sean's Ramblings has ever made a video, even though my blog name was not officially mentioned.

* Prior to its tour starting on Sunday in Pittsburgh (and I'll see them in DC in a few weeks), the Post-Gazette caught up with Fleetwood Mac in a fairly in-depth preview. The money quotes:

"It's exciting to us," Nicks says, "because we're not trying to shove new songs down people's throats."

Plus, Christine McVie is not on tour:

"Christine had been keeping big secrets from us all the many years. She was afraid to fly. Because she's such a tough old bird, she never let us know."

* Sports Illustrated wrote that the Pirates could surprise with the young talent. (h/t Bluey Blog).

* Speaking of hopeful things that probably won't happen, Metro will make it to Reston by 2013. (h/t Restonian)

* The Washington Nationals fired Jose Rijo, special assistant to the General Manager and the owner of a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic that the Nats have used, and General Manager Jim Bowden could be next. I receive probably 3-4 e-mails from the Nationals each week selling tickets, merchandise or providing Nationals new. Shockingly, they have not sent me one e-mail about the Bowden or Rijo situation.

* Mike of Steelahs.com wrote a nice post about his experience in the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog tournament.

* It's very easy to dislike the Washington Redskins. Owner Dan Snyder laid off 20 employees in January, but signed defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a reported 7-year, $100 million deal Friday with $41 million of that guaranteed. Good luck with that.

* Finally, I haven't been a part of Cotter's Meeting People Is Easy in many weeks, so the least I could do is link to it.

Steelers-Redskins Recap

I’m going on about five hours of sleep after attending Monday night’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Washington Redskins game. Since I need to head to work sometime soon (hooray for getting two hours off to vote so I slept five hours instead of four!), here are my notes from FedEx Field:

- I saw at least a half dozen signs of Cooley for President or Portis for President. We get it; there’s an election on Tuesday and you feel like Cooley and Portis will represent the country better than McCain or Obama. That’s very clever and unbelievably original! If only Portis or Cooley were over 35 and eligible to be President.

- The Redskins announcer sounded similar to Duff Man. Of course, his enthusiasm seemed to lessen in the fourth quarter. Oh, don’t tell me to cheer when the Redskins are on defense and to stay quiet when they are on offense. I’ll cheer when I want to cheer! Basically, don't tell me what to do as I may have the Reactance Bias.



- Are the Redskins the only team in the NFL with a marching band? I don’t ever remember seeing a non-high school band perform before the game or during halftime at a professional football game.

- Byron Leftwich looked good during the second half. I just hope that he doesn’t have to play much the rest of the season.

- The primary negative about being at the game is not knowing everything that is happening. For example, there was certainly a “what the hell” moment when Leftwich started the second half over Roethlisberger. I had to call a friend in Ohio to find out what happened to Roethlisberger and he also told me that Heath Miller was hurt. I still have no idea who blocked the punt.

- Negative #2 was sitting under a speaker.

- My ticket stub for Monday’s game features a picture of Antwaan Randle-El. That was the only time I remember seeing him all night.

- If I was a Redskins fan, I would be upset with the fact that the Redskins only tried to throw the ball deep once. Maybe Santana Moss wasn’t 100% healthy, but if he’s out there, try throwing the ball deep to him or Randle-El.

- The Steelers defense was outstanding! One player who may not get much credit, but I thought played very well was cornerback William Gay. I don’t think he ever got beat and the passes completed in front on him were quick throws in which he quickly tackled the receiver after only a few yards.

- Is punter Mitch Berger still hurt? His punts seemed to be short.

- My preview of Monday night’s game on MVN was pretty accurate. If the Redskins handed the ball to Portis on fourth and goal inside the 1 instead of trying to throw it, I would have nailed the score too.

Finally, I (partially) attribute the Steelers success to the fact that I decided to wear my Steelers jacket and not attempt to wear both the jacket and the Louis Lipps jersey. My streak of the Steelers winning while I’m in attendance continues to at least 12 games over almost 15 years.

I’m going to wear my Steelers jacket proudly on the Metro and walking around Northern Virgina. It’s going to be a great day! Oh, if you are looking for free election food (and made it all the way to the end of this post), Sabine…Shot the Food (h/t lacochran) has a list. Please note that I’m not convinced that Chick Fil-A is giving away a free sandwich as I ate at the Arlington location yesterday and did not see any Election Day promotion. In addition, if you bring your I Voted sticker to California Tortilla today, you will receive a free taco coupon.

As always, a real recap of the game is available on the Post-Gazette.

Washington Fans Will Love This

Even though he has nearly completed his first term in the House of Representatives, this sign still looks odd, particulary for Washington Redskins fans:



Photo: Sean's Ramblings

Steelers and Redskins Fans Wanted

The new Emeril Green show airing on Planet Green is looking for Redskins fans to appear on the show to cook tailgating food with Chef Emeril Lagasse. If you are interested, send an email to foodshowcasting@gmail.com and be sure to include the following: name, address, occupation, age, and a little bit of info on what your current tailgating meal includes. I was told that the show is looking for Redskins fans because the show is taped "in the DC area so we need someone who is local." Regardless, if you’re a Steelers fan or a fan of another NFL team, you have my approval to send them an e-mail.

Meanwhile, Mosser Casting is seeking Steelers fans as extras for the short film Tommy and Me on Saturday, August 9 at Heinz Field. There is no pay, but they will have BYO tailgate afterwards. However, you can’t just show up; you need to contact Ray Werner, the creator of the film, in advance. Ray needs your name, and you need information of where to go, how to dress (lots of black and gold), where to park (free) and exact time (early afternoon). Contact Ray at raywerner@mac.com or visit tommyandme.com. Since I mentioned above that Steelers fans should contact Planet Green, I guess it’s only fair that Redskins fans in Pittsburgh could contact Ray.

In case you were wondering here is the premise of Tommy and Me:

The story shows the compassion of the people, merchants in the Strip for an elderly homeless guy named Tommy, who is befriended by a young guy who works at Mike's Stuff (Mike Feinberg's). In the story, Tommy, who has a great white beard, is nicknamed Steelers Santa and becomes an icon of the Steelers Nation. The story unfolds from there.

The film is dedicated to Operation Safety Net who help care for the homeless in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Taylor Goes to Washington

Woodland Hills High School’s own Jason Taylor is now a member of the Washington Redskins after being traded from the Miami Dolphins for a 2nd round draft pick in 2009 and a 6th round pick in 2010. Personally, I’m excited that I’ll be able to see the Pittsburgher in action as I haven’t watched too many Dolphins games over the years. Actually, I probably won’t watch many Redskins games either, but I’ll see highlights on local television and hear about the team on area radio. I hope that he has 15+ sacks and returns to the Pro Bowl. If the Redskins turn out to be 1-15, I’d be fine with that too.

There seems to be some mixed reactions about the trade. Overall, I think most Redskins fans are excited about adding an established pass rusher, but there is some concern about whether giving up a 2nd round pick is too much. In addition, The Washington Post’s Mike Wise writes that "the Redskins genuinely have to worry where Taylor's heart is in regard to football."

However, I feel like most people are not asking the important questions. Will Giant Jason Taylor join Jason Taylor in DC? I think it would be cool to see Giant JT on Pennsylvania Avenue.



The second question is will Edyta show up for some games.



Are John Riggins or Tony Kornheiser asking these critical questions? Someone get Dan Steinberg on this stat!

Steelers vs. Redskins 2008

Since the Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field during the 2008 NFL season, I thought I would contact the Redskins to see if there were any group ticket sales. Between the number of transplanted Pittsburghers I know in the DC area, the number of friends and family who would travel from Pittsburgh and beyond to attend a Steelers game and the few friends that I have who are actually Redskins fans, I figured that I could easily find enough people to qualify for a group. So I called the Redskins and asked if they had group tickets available. They did. Great success! So here is what the group package for 25 people entails:

- All you can eat
- All you can drink (pop and/or alcohol)
- Pregame field passes
- Box or suite seats (I couldn’t remember what the sales manager told me)

All of this for just $800! What an amazing deal! Oh wait, the group deal is $800 per person or a grand total of $20000. In that case, I think I’ll pass.

The Redskins representative said that the only group packages they sell are for suites/boxes; they do not sell group tickets because they are not "the minor leagues." The more I thought about it, the more I realized that he was correct. A minor league team would never do any of the following:

- Sign Adam Archuleta to a 6-year, $30 million contract; bench him partially through the season; and cut him at the end of the season.
- Hire an offensive coordinator before hiring a head coach, and then a month later, hire said offensive coordinator who has never held a position over quarterback coach as the head coach.
- Charge fans way too much for everything from concessions to parking. (Actually, that’s probably all sports owners.)

Maybe I was overreacting and being a bit unfair. Even though I live in the DC area, I don’t follow the Redskins nearly as closely as I do the Steelers. Therefore, I asked the guys at DC Pro Sports Report their thoughts on the Redskins organization.

What are your thoughts about the Redskins recent head coaching search process?

It was a bizarre mess, wasn't it? I think Daniel Snyder [or The Li'l General, as I call him] enjoys meeting with coaches and chatting up other NFL bigwigs. I think he's trying to learn from them, but I think he also enjoys the media attention lavished on the Redskins during these times. I didn't have a problem with the hiring of Jim Zorn, though Ron Meeks was my preference at the time. Snyder has tried recycled NFL coaches [Marty Schottenheimer] and college [Steve Spurrier] and even dipped into the team's own history [Joe Gibbs] for a solution and nothing worked. So I don't have a problem with giving the top job to a guy who has never been a coordinator. You'd have to say that the best coach in the NFC East the last decade has been Andy Reid and he had never been a coordinator when the Eagles hired him. Zorn probably has as much of a chance to succeed in D.C. as anyone else. His biggest challenge won't be dealing with the opposition, it'll be dealing with his own front office, where authority rests with Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato -- two men not exactly famous for their encyclopedic knowledge of football.

What Was the Worst Transaction During the Snyder Era

Boy, there is a lot to work with here. Hiring Spurrier was an obvious mistake. I think they overpaid for Clinton Portis, but he's been a good player when healthy so that can't be the worst. The competition is too stiff for that "honor." I think trading a first day draft pick to that idiot Brandon Lloyd and then giving him a fat new contract was pretty stupid. Cutting Brian Mitchell so they could sign a crippled Deion Sanders [against the wishes of then-coach Norv Turner] was a big screw-up. Chucking the fattest contract in history for a safety at Adam Archuleta was pretty typical of Snyder. I guess I'd go with cutting Brian Mitchell to sign Deion Sanders. Redskins fans loathed Sanders before he came to town, never warmed up to him in our uniform and missed Brian Mitchell [who is still a fan favorite here] terribly. That one was bad for many, many reasons.

What separates the Redskins from every other NFL team?

Well, in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was greatness that set the Redskins apart. Only the 49ers were run as well as the Redskins during that time. To win 3 Super Bowls with 3 different quarterbacks and 3 different tailbacks is truly an incredible achievement. It may never be equaled. Right now, I'd say Dan Snyder is what sets the Redskins apart. That's probably just the way The Li'l General likes it. Nothing pleases him more than to be seen as the big shot making the tough decisions for the team. Alas, most of the decisions he makes are incorrect. He's done well by basically ignoring free agency this offseason [terrible free agent class and ridiculous contracts thrown around], but Snyder usually follows up one good decision with 5 or 6 bad ones, so we'll see if he can finally get and stay on the right path.

What is your least favorite part of attending a game at FedEx field?

Now, that's a tough question. It's a toss-up between being gouged for parking, sitting near drunken idiots who won't shut up or put their shirts back on, and losing to some other lousy team in our own place and ruining my entire Sunday.

My questions did have a bit of a negative slant, didn’t they? I guess there is a good reason for that. After realizing that I was not going to spend $20,000 to attend the Steelers-Redskins game, the Redskins sales guy suggested that I try StubHub.

I guess I should have asked Charley Casserly if he had any ticket connections.

Steelers-Redskins Recap

The Steelers defeated the Washington Redskins 12-10 in an almost meaningless preseason game last night. There are two reasons why I wrote the word almost before meaningless. First, the Redskins suffered injuries to two of their key players, quarterback Jason Campbell and linebacker Marcus Washington. The headline to this morning’s Washington Post article states “Redskins Escape with a Bruise,” so it sounds like Campbell’s injury is not too serious. Second, and more important for me, I got stuck in pre-game traffic on the Beltway on my drive to Baltimore. The traffic added at least 30 minutes to the trip.

As for the rest of the game, I only watched a few minutes. As I’ve written before, I really don’t care about the preseason. It sounds like I didn’t miss much as neither team was particularly happy with their performance. The Redskins have concerns about their running game and offensive line. The Steelers offense struggled and the defense had difficulty stopping the Redskins on third down. Just let me know when the real season starts.

All About the Steelers

I have not written about the Steelers for some time, so I wanted to share my thoughts about the preseason and the new mascot. As all Steelers fans already know, the team won their first preseason game on Sunday night against the New Orleans Saints. woo-hoo. I seriously could care less about preseason games. My only hopes for a typical preseason is that the first team plays decently in the few series they are actually in the game and, more importantly, that no one gets hurt.

This year is a little different since Mike Tomlin is in his first year as a head coach, so I care that he’s getting “game” experience in that position. However, I still vividly remember Steve Spurrier’s debut as the head coach for the Washington Redskins. The team was very impressive in his first preseason going undefeated. Over the next two seasons, the Redskins went 12-20 and the "ball coach" returned to the SEC. While I truly believe that Tomlin will have much more success as an NFL head coach than Spurrier, this just goes to show that the preseason means little. Therefore, I’m done writing about it...except for this:

The Washington Redskins are promoting a “Preseason Special Package” for the August 18th game against the Steelers. Here’s the details:

Purchase the Preseason Special Package and receive the following for only $499.00...over a 50% savings:
• Two (2) Prime Sideline Seats
Enjoy the best sightlines in the stadium plus access to the club level concourse where you find wonderful amenities including hundreds of flat screen TVs, two sports bars, Club Macanudo - Washington's largest cigar lounge, Hooters, Johnny Rockets, Phillips Seafood & much more.

• Two (2) Tailgate Club Passes
o Opens three (3) hours prior to the game
o An all-you-can-eat BBQ
o Meet & greets by Redskins Alumni and Cheerleaders
o Receive a complimentary Redskins Yearbook
o Games for all ages

• One (1) on-site Parking Pass
o Park close to the stadium and be a few steps away from FedExField

If you're interested in this wonderful opportunity to spend $500 to watch back-ups and practice squad players for three quarters, call (301) 276-6800 and order the Preseason Special Package today!


Finally, the Steelers announced the name of the new mascot. I already wrote about this atrocity when the mascot was revealed suggesting “Unnecessary” as the name. Instead, the mascot will be called Steely McBeam.

I hope I'm the first person to give Steelers rookie defensive end Ryan McBean the nickname Steely McBean!