Cowboys vs. Indians

This was my first Thanksgiving away from my family and to be honest, I think they are relieved that they could enjoy a home cooked meal without having to wear a homemade Pilgrim or Indian hat. Yes, my kindergarten art skills still excel beyond the classroom. Construction paper and a glue stick, it never gets old and yes, you have to wear the hat to eat.

I can’t remember the last time I used my stove when I wasn’t prepping for tailgate festivities with the White family. I attempted to make my own Thanksgiving dinner- not a tradition I will continue. But knowing another tradition was making a come back could make up for me missing my mom’s crock-pot mac & cheese; Cowboys vs. Redskins on Thanksgiving Day!

HA- Cowboys vs. Indians on Thanksgiving Day, well played NFL, well played. After a rough start and a Brandon Banks error, I felt my Thanksgiving meal starting to rise for a reversal of fortune. And then it was as if the sports gods wanted to rain on the Dallas parade and sent rain in the Cowboy Stadium (once the roof is open, it can not be closed) in the second quarter and the RG3 show featuring the Redskins began. WOW- what a show it was with 28 unanswered points in the second quarter. Total domination! 

RG3 was back in his home state of Texas and he did not disappoint in the second quarter. Maybe they ate some turkey during halftime because the third quarter was pretty boring and the Cowboys scored ten unanswered points. 35-21 with less than ten minutes left in the game and an RG3 interception. WHAT? Superman can’t throw interceptions. And just like that 35-28 for a seven point game. My heart-rate was racing and my turkey still had not settled.

Any Redskin fan will tell you that it’s not over until it-is-over. And usually, it doesn’t end well for us. But my new phrase for the Redskins and my ringtone- Anything Can Happen when RG3 is on the field!

With three minutes left, Kai Forbath lines up for a 48 yard field goal attempt. Holy Kai it was perfect and the Redskins take a ten point lead; 38-28. Redskins fans are thankful that Billy Can’t Kick Cundiff was replaced by this hidden golden foot of Kai Forbath.

My heart was still pounding until the game clock expired and the Redskins finally BEAT Dallas 38-31 on Thanksgiving in Texas and put an end to Tony Romo’s 5-0 winning streak on Thanksgiving Day. The Redskins are thankful for RG3 everyday and today we are very thankful for RG3’s 311 passing yards, 4 TDs, and the WIN!

When it’s Cowboys vs. Indians- Anything Can Happen.

PS: That Cam Newton Play 60 commercial with the little kid- HILARIOUS!

ROCK BOTTOM

"The Rock" after the loss to Mississippi State 

Smokey mountains and a sea of orange; welcome to Knoxville, Tennessee. Ah, Neyland Stadium, the place where dreams come true… for the visiting teams and fans.

Going into Saturday’s game against Missouri I was confident that I would hear the student section yell “It’s-great-to-be-a-Tennessee-VOL” Instead, I heard a non-UT fan yell back to a guy selling I will give my all for Tennessee today signs “No body wants that sh*t”.

With 0:43 seconds left in regulation the score is 28-28. UT has the ball, 1^st &10 and at UT 39 yard line- incomplete pass. 2^nd & 10 at UT 39 yard line- pass complete to Marlin Lane- no gain and Dooley let the clock run with two timeouts left. Dooley always preaches that players need to finish the game, what about the coaches? At least act like you want to win the game.

It was a nail biter that took us into four Overtimes, an exciting fake field goal, and a 51-48 loss to Missouri.  That was the seventh straight loss in SEC match ups and forcing Tennessee to look for our fourth head football coach since 2008.

Going into the Vandy game, UT is the underdog for the second straight year against the armpit of the SEC. It’s simply embarrassing. The VOLS are 4-6 this season and 0-6 against SEC teams. There’s a possibility we could be 0-8 in the SEC before this season is over and that is not acceptable.

 

Dooley, I know you are a nice guy and all, but nice doesn’t win SEC football games. Yes, there has been improvement; however there hasn’t been enough improvement to WIN A FREAKING GAME! Life as a UT fan has officially hit Rock Bottom!

I understand that while we wanted to hear on Monday that Dooley was DONE! It’s not smart to fire him without knowing who the next coach will be. The fear of the unknown would send the wrong message to recruits that we could lose. Nice comb over, love the pants, but you have got-to-go!

 

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for a football coach at Tennessee to beat Florida (and Georgia, and South Carolina). Is that too much to ask?

 

All this flirting with Gruden has to be too good to be true. It’s obvious that we want him and we are willing to pay celebrity money to make it happen. There’s just too much “speculation” on the situation and lets be honest, only those in the Tennessee fan base actually believe that Gruden could happen. Just thinking about Gruden makes me want to sing Rocky Top! It would be a game changer for the program and a platform for Gruden to show his true colors in college coaching. His ability to recruit would be second to none and the miracle that could revitalize the brand of Tennessee Football. My fingers are still crossed, but we are prepared that it might not happen. UT fans have suffered a lot more disappointment over the years.

 

The Monday after the Missouri loss, I was wearing a UT hoodie in the grocery store and I hear a man 70+ years old yell “Go VOLS”! I paused and then turned and looked at him. He still had a fist in the air from fist pumping. I smiled and we began talking about Tennessee Football. He is a UT alumnus with family still in Tennessee and he is still cheering for the Big Orange. He summed up the problem in one sentence “I just want to be respected again”. 

The Good Ole Days

Did the Redskins know they had a game on Sunday? Did they realize they were playing a 1-6 Carolina team? Did they know it was homecoming? Did they know how many heroes that were in the stands? Do they know the history of the throw back uniforms? Do they know about the Good Ole Days?

Redbull shortage, ready for a bye-week, too cold, blah, blah, blah- bottom line: THE TEAM DIDN’T SHOW UP TO PLAY!

 

How do you NOT score on 4^th & goal on the one yard line? Only to have Carolina drive the ball 99 yards and score seven.

 

21-6 with 3:19 left in the 4^th quarter, two touchdowns nullified and third time is charm- Royester scores 21-13 with 1:34 left. Can someone explain why we wouldn’t go for two? I understand that a failed attempt would take you out of the game, but at this point what do you have to lose? Hypothetically, say Shanahan went for it and the score was 21-14. We stop Scam Newton and we get the ball back (which DID happen). We would have had the momentum with 0:17 left to move the ball/hail mary/RG3 special powers unleashed and the chance to TRY and WIN the game! Anything can happen when RG3 is on the field, so why not try to win with each second of the game?

 

On Dallas’s 17 yard line, Romo hail married on 3^rd & 20 with 5:35 in the FIRST quarter of Sunday night’s game for a 65 yard completion to Ogletree. Next play 1^st & 10 on Atlanta’s 18 yard line. My point; it took ten seconds off the clock to move the ball down the field and to put them in scoring position. The Redskins had seventeen seconds to at least TRY to make it look like they wanted to win in the fourth quarter in a must win game.

 

As a Redskins fan, I’ve been a loyal fan my entire life. My dad tells me stories about the Good Ole Days of the Washington Redskins. Stories about his hero, Sonny Jurgensen, the Hogs and the Fun Bunch, but these are all just stories to me. I wasn’t born when Sonny was in his prime and I was too young to remember the mid 80’s and early 90’s of Washington pigskin. So basically from 2^nd grade (1992) to present I have been a fan of a 139-186 Redskins team that has only made it to 4 playoff games (losing all of the divisional games) in 20 years. The previous 20 years the Redskins were 197-104 with 11 play-off appearances, played in 4 Super Bowls and won 3 rings.

 

And when you think about it, it’s hard to be a Redskins fan. But still, we are some of the most loyal fans in all of sports; you’d have to be to support a team who has finished last in their division 9 times, second to last 7 times and only finishing in second place 3 times and ONE first place finish in the past twenty years.

 

I went to college in South Carolina and the local bar didn’t show Redskins games (owner was an Eagles fan and a total prick) so I would listen to the games in my car on SIRIUS satellite radio so I wouldn’t miss a game. Since moving to the DC area four years ago and thanks to the White family, I almost have perfect attendance to all home games. I’ve traveled to away games in Dallas, Carolina and Pittsburgh. Rain or shine, wind or snow, the fans show up every game. Is it too much to ask for a team to show up and play?

 

Last week in Pittsburgh with 0:26 left in the game, the team takes a knee. (I know, there was no way we were coming back from being down 15 points) but for the love of the fans, act like you want to win and finish the game. The fans stayed until the end and finished the game.

 

Thank you sports gods for RG3- I don’t want to imagine how awful this year would be if we didn’t have him. (As in, instead of just losing, we would have been killed with nothing/no one to make us believe that the Good Ole Days will come again.)

 

Humor me. Why is the Redskin sideline of the stadium in the shade/cold and the visitor sideline is in the sun/warm? Kyle Shanahan’s nose looked like a clown the entire game, the players were draped in coats and sitting close to each other on the bench to stay warm. Looking at the Redskins made me even colder. Across the field, the Panther’s are moving around and staying lose. I understand in baseball putting the visitor’s bullpen in the baking summer sun, but in winter football, basic common sense tells me I want my team in the warm sun. Just a thought…

 

Dan Snyder was advised to change the way he ran the team. He took a back seat and let his management and coaching staff run the program. It’s been a few years and after this year with no real change- I hope Snyder holds them all accountable and makes changes himself.  

 

If I was Snyder, I’d never hire a head coach whose son is the offensive coordinator. If Kyle was “that” good, then he could get a job at any other NFL team. His only previous experience was one year at Houston 2008-2009. Mr. Mike Shanahan, honestly- was Kyle Shanahan the BEST OC you could find? I hope you both are renting.

 

It’s hard to be a Redskins fan when you watch your team play as if they don’t care, a coach who doesn’t finish games and a loyal fan base that is tired of watching a team SUCK year after year. It’s a bye week in Washington and if I was the coach, the team would have two-a-days all week and the entire team and staff would donate this week’s paycheck to charity. Goodell and the Players Union can fine me all they want, but when you have a history of winning, your fans will pay you back.

 

I hope that one day I will be able to experience the Good Ole Days of the Washington Redskins.

1934 Called, They Want Their Uniforms Back

The White family does it again! I’m so thankful they always invite me week after week and year after year to watch the Redskins play. So what did I say when they offered me tickets to go to Pittsburgh for the Redskins vs. Steelers game? HAIL YEAH! Who cares if it’s cold and raining with a little wind, all you need is your big girl panties and a poncho. And maybe layers and layers of burgundy and gold to keep warm.

For years I had named M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, as the most unorganized stadium for fans to enter. That was until I checked Heinz Field off of my bucket list last Sunday. Hands down- it’s a debacle! After being “in line” an hour before kick off, I was confident we would be in our seats before the National Anthem with plenty of time for me to booooo as Roethlisberger was introduced. However, we were still waiting to get in and to our seats and I missed the perfect booing moment. Hello, front office; you are losing so much money from fans “waiting in line” when they could be inside ordering beers and hotdogs! Also, what stadium doesn’t accept credit cards at the concession stand?

 

Dan Snyder isn’t the most popular owner in the NFL, but he knows you have to get fans in quickly and they will spend money. Snyder figured out that teams can lose on the field, but don’t take a loss of revenue from not having the logistics strategy of how to get fans in faster. Now, if FedEx only had more Coors Light in the stadium, they would be a gold mine!

 

To the 6’3, 300 pound Hulk Hogan wanna-be Steeler fan with a beer gut bigger than me who kept pushing his way through the crowd with his gut: Just because you can see over me, doesn’t mean you’re getting in front of me. Like most 5^th grade “line cutters” he was a big bully. At one point, I seriously contemplated jabbing my EpiPen right in his stones. And guess who made it in the game first- ME!

 

But for the most part, Pittsburgh fans were nice to us Redskins fans. Actually, they didn’t even care we were there and this was before they lit up the score board. I’ve never seen so many Carhartt boots in my life; it’s truly a blue collar town and stadium. One man even asked me if I needed a hug at the end of the game- HA I laughed and said ‘nope, I just need a team that is able to CATCH THE BALL!’

 

I was more embarrassed to witness the temper tantrum from D-Hall than I was to lose the game. You can’t expect to win when you drop 10 catches, but I expect a team of grown men to have a little respect for the game. Fans in the nose bleeds could hear D-Hall’s F-bombs at the refs. It’s not the refs fault D-Hall can’t cover. I honestly don’t care if the head linesman Dana McKenzie missed the call that caused D-Hall to be taken down by Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders, there’s no reason your teammates should have to restrain you from trying to fight an official.

 

But let’s talk about the real embarrassment of the Heinz Field: who picked out the Steelers Uniforms? They looked like prisoner bumble bees who got scalped below the waist. Hey, nice nude pants, said no one ever! If this was an ugly Halloween costume contest, the Steelers won! Or maybe it was a wake up call to Big Ben of what he looks like in a prison uniform. Anyway you look at it; it’s a hideous look for Pittsburgh and an embarrassment to the game of football. Please, burn all of them!

The crowd wrapped around Heinz Field