Thursday, November 27, 2008

Sean's Gone

I chose(borrowed)this title from a post I read this same time last year.
Simple. To the point. Devastating.
Those 2 words captured the pain and shock of Redskins Nation on this date, Nov. 27, 2007.
For that is the date when we lost our best player.
He wasn't traded nor did he retire. He was stolen from us by people with less brains than brawn.
Sean Taylor, safety extraordinaire for my Redskins since 2004. One moment he was limping off of the field during the Eagles game, the next he lay lifeless in a Florida hospital. Shot in the groin by intruders who broke into his home. He was protecting his family it seems. He gave little regard for his own well being that night. Everything worth anything to him that night, was in that house with him and he desperately wanted to protect them.
(Tribute Song & Video by Chris Louis.
He succeeded. We lost.
  • One year later

As I sat at the table preparing to seat the feast that my Mom had prepared for us, my mind wandered down I-95 to Florida.

Another family was sitting at a table preparing to eat but something is different this time. There's an empty chair at their table. It will not be filled again, in this lifetime, by the young, vibrant, strong, football player of a guy, that used to sit there.

It seems so unfair when someone so young, so alive, leaves us. It seems especially cruel when that person leaves because of the actions of another.

How do I know you ask?

I know because there's an empty chair at my table also. My son once filled that chair. He, too, left because of others' actions.

The Taylor family have faced a plethora of firsts since Sean's death. It will get a little easier as time pushes on. But they will never forget.

For as painful as it is for us, the fans who loved watching him on Sundays, his family's pain is far greater.

  • We knew him as the best safety to ever play this game.
  • They knew him as a son.
  • We knew him as the hard hitter that created nightmares for receivers on every team.
  • They knew him as a brother, father, grandson and friend.
  • We knew him as a quiet threat whose love for this game captivated us and gave us hope.
  • They knew him as a provider, a protector and an important part of what made them who they were.

Who do you think suffered the greater loss?

Sean's gone. We miss him. He fulfilled his purpose, whatever that may have been, while he was here.

We'll never forget.

It's not about his on field play. It's not about his hits or his interceptions. It's about a son, brother, cousin, uncle, father and friend who lost his life doing what more men ought to do. Protect what's important to them.

What was important to Sean was what he died protecting.

His daughter and his fiance'.

RIP Young Man!

Well Done!

Sean M. Taylor

4/1/1983 - 11/27/2007

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

You Can Go Home Again

Week 12
Skins vs Seahawks
The highly anticipated return of Seattle's prodigal QB, Jim Zorn is done and over with. Kryptonite is no more!
Our new, fearless leader entered his old stomping grounds and left with the victory in hand.
It didn't happen in a very dominant fashion. In fact, we barely got out with a 'W'. 20 - 17 when the dust cleared. 3 points or 300, it doesn't matter the margin, it's a victory and I'll take that any day.
While this was no "barn burner" of a game, some things did manage to improve. We moved the ball reasonably well. Sustained some pretty decent drives but still didn't manage to score TD's with each trip to the red zone.
I will admit here that this game actually became background noise because my husband became ill and needed an ambulance ride to the ER.
Being the dedicated Skins fan that I am, I have found ways to deal with such things. Thank God that there is a local branch of the Redskins Radio network in this area now. I can listen to the games via the radio. My old cell phone has a FM radio built in and it stays charged for times such as this. I usually take it to church so that I can listen to the pre game shows that start 3 hours before the 1 pm games start. If you use a cell phone for this, folks just figure you have a headset on in case you get an important call. Win - Win.
But on this day, it becomes my only connection to my beloved team. So as I walk around my hubby's ER cubicle, I hold the phone in different positions to find the spot that affects the least static. After about 10 minutes of searching, I find the "perfect" spot. It was at the head of his bed, next to the sink, right below the window. I just had to hold the phone against the wall. Simple! I can do that! But then I got an arm cramp from trying to hold the phone against the wall while cursing the poor play I was being told about by Sonny, Sam and Larry. I even gave my daughter updates as the game progressed. A "mom play by play" if you will. I'm such a good mother aren't I? My daughter just shook her head and said, "I can't believe you're listening to that here." I was like, "what?" "I'm supposed to miss this game just because my husband has the audacity to get ill during a Redskins game?" "I think not young lady." She laughs and says, "Momma, you're crazy." I say, "darn straight..I'm a Skins fan!"
Shortly after that conversation, the doctor walks in to the room. She makes a brilliant observation. An observation that only someone with 8 years of med school could make. She looks at me and says, "so I guess you're a Redskins fan". I say, as I stand there in my Redskins hat, t-shirt, jacket and backpack, "what was your first clue Doc?" She laughs and asks me if they are playing today. I say yes, that's what I'm listening to on my phone. She then calls an orderly in to the room and says, "turn that TV on for her so that she can watch the game". He does, but the game is over by then. I thank her anyway.

My husband gets admitted to the hospital. He's got some sort of infection in his dialysis access tube. Happens quite a bit. He'll be ok.
So will I since we came out the victor.
Coach Zorn's triumphant return to the land of Starbucks and Space Needles was everything he said it would be. Tough, hard fought. We got a few turnovers. Interceptions by Landry and Springs. A miscue from Betts near the end of the game almost had me reaching for the oxygen that was plugged into the wall over my husband's bed. But on the following play, Springs get his gift specially wrapped by Matt Hassleback(beck..tomato..tomahto). Seattle's out of time outs. We simply kneel to run out the clock and head back to DC with a 7 - 4 record.
We face the Giants on this coming Sunday. A rematch of the debacle of opening day. Hope we fair better this time around.
In a few days, Redskins nation will face a painful memory as we mourn the 1st anniversary of the death of one of our own. That will be handled in a different blog on Thursday.
We'll see if that motivates or overwhelms them. Only time will tell.
Off to tace the pain and the Giants.

HTTR!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

From Rally Rags.....

To Crying Towels...
Week 11
Skins vs Cowboys
Some NFL promotions are born just so they can fail. This was one such promotion.
If you don't know what I'm talking about then you're no Redskins fan.
I knew the moment I heard a certain radio station was going to hand out what they were calling "Rally Rags" to the first 50,000 fans in attendance at last Sunday night's game, we were in for a rough ride. The last time that a towel was handed out at Fed Ex field it was for a very different reason. The outcome of the game however, was the same.
Anytime you pick pocket another team's mojo, you create bad karma. These "gimmicks" often accidentally create many pages of auctions on ebay due to the "collectability" of the swag.
But I digress.
We attempted to copy Pittsburgh's long standing fan participation of waving the "terrible towel".
Bad karma plain and simple!
Dallas came to town on Sunday night and I'm just now recovering enough to write this week's blog. That should tell you something.
High hopes of a sweep plummeted as the game went into what seemed like it's 50th hour(actually it was the 4th quarter). Skins clinging to a 3 point lead at 10 - 7. I knew down in my B & G soul that 10 points wasn't going to be enough. As that dreaded time clock,(you know the one that advances so slow through 3 quarters of play and then miraculously moves at the speed of light once the opposition scores the go ahead points.), did what it always does and showed 4 zeros that indicates time's up and the Redskins on the short end of the stick.
14 - 10 was the final score but not the Coup De Grace. Those "stolen" towels waved in a mockery to those of us not lucky or unlucky enough to see that game in person. Constant reminders of our lack of originality. Kinda like the way our offense has been playing. (Did I say that out loud?)
Some of our "firepower" was gimpy. Others were gimpy and sucked it up in order to give us a fighting chance. But even Superman has a few bad days.
In the end, it was another game of missed opportunities. 2 INT's that resulted in zero points.
Overthrows and sacks plagued Jason Campbell, the O-line showing it's age with each passing game.
The defense did a better job than the 'O' overall. After all it takes skills to hold down a 4-fingered QB in his prime (sarcasm meter overload). Seriously though, by the end of the 4th quarter these guys were whupped! Dallas controlled the ball for over 11 minutes of that quarter. Can you say tired & winded? I knew that you could!
There were a few questionable calls made by the men in zebra shirts on both sides of the ball. So you can't really walk with that crutch very far.
Although it appears that if you wear a blue and silver uniform with a star on your hat, you can score a TD without the ball actually breaking the plane of the end zone. Who knew? (Sarcasm meter reading 10 on a possible scale of 10). I wasn't aware of this rule as it only applies to one team in the league. Bummer for the us and the rest.
So where do we go from here? To Seattle of course!. The kryptonite of the Redskins, Qwest field. The Seachicks record won't dazzle or warm the cochles of any of their fans' hearts but I bet they're beside themselves with joy that it's Washington a coming to call.
Perhaps we snap out of whatever nightmare we've been living in for the past few weeks to pull one out on the left coast. All things considered the worse part about this past Sunday's game was simply the fact that it was against Dallas. That fact alone causes great anguish. The chance to bury your hated, divisional rival doesn't or hasn't been a frequent occurrence. We should learn to jump on that bone!
I like what I see for the most part on the field. Zorn will be more than anticipated I believe. I'm not giving up on him or the team. But let's stop reverting and start the forward progression again. Then maybe these towels will be used to wipe up the opponent's tears the next time.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

After The Bye..

Well, the 'bye' week has come and gone. Time to go to work again. I've slowly come to appreciate the "bye". No worries. Sit back and watch other teams squeak out wins or absorb losses. There was a time in my Redskins fan history when I viewed the bye as a reprieve from the disaster that was a horrendous season of failed coaches and player experiments. "At least we'll win this week, we have the bye." "Huh?", is what I would usually get. "Well at least we can't lose this week", I would then say. "Oh yeah that much is true.", was often the final comment. The only thing about the bye is that it's only 1 Sunday. Does it make a difference? Sure. Ask anyone and they will tell you it does. It's a time for the players to rest weary, banged up bones, coaches to relax and figure new and creative ways to get the same plays to look like something different, for fans to collect their brains and soothe their often overused cardiac muscles. Exhale, inhale. Exhale, inhale. Better. Now comes the game after the bye. Ours happens to be against our chief rivals, the Dallas Cowboys. Yes, folks....Dallas week is upon us again. And despite the Redskins being a game ahead of the Cowboys in the division, the Redskins are the underdogs for this game. Oh, silly me, I forgot, they're the Cowboys. You know the team everyone thought would be #1 in the NFC east and promptly march right into Tampa and take that Lombardi back to Texas without so much of a whisper of disagreement from the other 31 teams in the league. But here we are, week 11, the good guys are 6 - 3 and the evil ones are 5 - 4. Evils are starting to get desperate in order to live up to their own fantasies. They're coming off their bye as well, so we shouldn't even bother to play this game. Romo may be back(everyone knows that's the only reason they've been struggling of late right?) (uh huh mmmmkay). Forget that Dallas lost to the Redskins in their first meeting with Romo at the helm. That makes no difference; that was then, this is now. (So say the mediots.) The bye apparently has transformed the Cowboys' defense into some sort of a resemblance to a good defense. I wasn't aware that the bye is a miracle worker of that magnitude. Then I hear that Clinton Portis may NOT play! Seriously? Is he hospitalized? Is he on death's doorstep? I'd be ridiculously surprised if CP doesn't get on that field come Sunday night. My rested heart would immediately require an oxygen supplementation if he can't play. So much for the bye helping the fans. Dallas week stirs the very soul of every Skins fan from sea to shining sea. "Only death would keep me from it!"(Color Purple sound byte alert!) We've added some new blood to the mix. DeAngelo Hall, cornerback extraordinaire. Hails from Chesapeake, VA. Attended VA Tech. Had a bout of diarrhea of the mouth on some occassions but landed in Oakland, which seems to be the NFL's dumping grounds for those players not willing to get along well with others. He only played 8 games with them, which translates to $9 million per game with that contract that the old coot gave him. Not bad when you're only 24. He should understand the depth of this rivalry having lived in VA. Perhaps this time someone else's trash becomes our treasure. We'll watch Mr. Hall and hope he lives up to his own self image. We also get the luxury of coming off the bye to face Dallas on the national stage. Football Night in America. We have the Sunday night game which I don't like. We just poo-poo'd the game against Pittsburgh on last Monday night so I'm not a fan of the spotlight games. There was such a bruhaha made about how many Steeler fans "invaded" our house. I still don't understand the "shock". There are tons of Steeler fans in the surrounding area. Plus Pittsburgh is only about a 3 hour trek. This phenomena was discussed ad nauseaum on a number of message boards and blogs. So I'm not going to pander to that crowd especially since it's about 2 weeks removed now. I expect Skins fans will show up in huge numbers for this game. If they don't, then they don't. It's not the worse thing that can happen. The worse thing would be to receive a spanking at the hands of this shell of a Dallas team. So sharpen up your spears, tone up your vocal chords and bring your 'A' game Skins fans. We've made it through the bye week and it's time to get back to work. It's Dallas week and that means only one thing: WE WANT DALLAS!!

*The above video was put together by a fellow fan for the RedskinsHeads.com community. This talented young man has given us a song for each week of the season. I believe this is by far his best work. If you like what you hear..check his web page out at http://www.chrislouis.com/

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Momma Said

Week 9
Steelers at Skins
There'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my momma said. And it was.
Once again, Skins fans braved the emotional rollercoaster ride that is Redskins football.
High Hopes
We've got high hopes, we've got high apple pie in the sky hopes. On the verge of 7 - 2, wanting to take the Nestea plunge into the upper crust of NFL society. A win would have silenced the doubters. Doubters that seem to multiply as the season plays out. Not just the media doubters, but the fan doubters as well.
*THUD* That's the sound hope makes when it falls.
Monday Night Football. National stage. ESPN cameras. The commish was in the house. A chance for the Skins, my Skins, to shine. Unfortunately, the Steelers had other plans for the evening.
The game started well. An on-side kick, Skins grab it! "Cha-ching!" We have the ball in Steeler territory on the first play of the game! The football gods were posed to say "cheese". But the gods can be cruel. Ball on the Pittsburgh 36 yd line. We couldn't muster a first down. FG team comes on. It's good for a 3 - 0 lead. No need to panic. Kick off.
Steelers with the ball. Turnover, a la Pete Kendall-ish. "Here", the football gods say, "take it, we'll even put it on a platter for you." 3 plays later, we say, "no..that's ok, we'll just kick another FG". 6 - 0.
Somewhere down in the pit of my B & G stomach, I know the tone has been set in the wee minutes of this game. This isn't good by any one's interpretation. No way!
The Reality
Clinton Portis -- 13 carries for 51 yards. (stomach bubbles & tumbles)
Jason Campbell -- 24 of 43 for 206 yds and 2 interceptions. He held out as long as he could. He had thrown 271 passes without an interception. He exhaled. It had to happen sooner or later. I'm glad it's done with. Now perhaps we can get past this "perfect QB" moniker. That must have been a pressure cooker for him. He was also put onto his back 7 times! 7!
Steeler 'D' is ranked #1 for a reason. They're pretty good. They came ready to play. And play they did. Offensive series after offensive series was squashed by the Steelers ferocious 'D'. Nothing we did seemed to work. Sputtering like that old '74 Pinto I used to drive in high school.
I wished this game to be over but it kept lingering like the leftovers from last week's main menu sitting in some one's stomach.
There was a glimmer of hope when it was reported that a gimpy Rothlisberger was done for the moment and the back up was sent in to man the helm. Byron Leftwich, draft pick bust extraordinaire! I was almost giddy with the notion that the Steelers were reduced to bringing in Leftwich.
Just when you think you know is when you really don't. As the football gods often do, they mocked & laughed at Skins fans as "Lefty" sustained the longest drive of the game upon his entrance. It resulted in a TD. The rest, as they say, is history.
You know it's not your teams' day when the back up QB comes in and hand you your rear end on a platter.
Yes, momma said there'd be days like this. But she didn't say I had to like them!
VIVE LA BYE! We need it! HAIL!