All Is Not Lost

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Greetings from The Booth!

It’s been a tough week for the Washington Commanders. Going into last Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Commanders were the talk of the pro football world, leading the NFC East at 7-2, and already exceeding the over-under win total of many “experts.” Rookie franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels was not only being mentioned in Rookie of the Year conversations, but the word M-V-P was being uttered by some. Everything was going right for Washington in a 180-degree culture change in the Nation’s Capital.

Cue the The Twilight Zone theme. Against the Steelers, we were suddenly taken back to the previous regime, as a number of Dan Snyder-esque things began to materialize. First, a large portion of Northwest Stadium (I still have a hard time with the name of the venue–how about Joe Gibbs Field at NW Stadium?) was filled with Terrible Towel-waving Pittsburgh fans. It’s great to see the home stadium filled again, but too many times in the Snyder years, most of the fans at Fed-Ex were wearing the other team’s jerseys. There were times Sunday if you closed your eyes, you would think the game was being played in the Steel City.

Then, there were mistakes like 2 muffed punts, blown coverages by the secondary, and watching a 10-point 4th quarter lead melt away. Still, the game was not over until an unforced error–a penalty on a play where the Steelers were simply trying to draw the Commanders offside–gave Pittsburgh the hard-earned 28-27 victory. Disappointing for sure, but not the end of the world. A one-point loss against a potential Super Bowl contender was not a reason to drive into the Anacostia. A big opportunity was just four days away in Philadelphia.

Under the harsh glare of the Thursday Night Football lights, the Commanders traveled to the City of Brotherly Love and Lincoln Financial Field, one of the most hostile venues in the NFL, to take on rival Philadelphia. With first place in the division on the line, Washington hung in there, again taking a 10-6 lead into the final period. Then, it all unraveled. The Eagles took a 12-10 lead as momentum shifted its fickle allegiance to the Dirty Birds. With a chance to take a 13-12 lead, Head Coach Dan Quinn decided to pass on a makeable field goal and go for a 4th and 2. The gamble failed on a busted play, and 2 touchdowns later the Eagles put the game out of reach.

A palpable cloud of gloom hung over the DMV on Friday as we all felt like Cinderella at 12:01. Would we all wake up and discover that 7-2 had been a wonderful dream, and that Dan Snyder still owned the team? You could almost hear the maniacal laughter of the ghosts of Washington Football past–Bruce Allen, Larry Michael, Vinny Cerrato, Ron Rivera, and Snyder–mocking our newfound success. We were crashing back to earth.

OK, let’s take a breath. Yes, there is cause for some concern. Daniels has not been himself in the 2-game skid, as he battles an ongoing rib injury. The long break could not have come at a better time. And, on the other side are two winnable games at home against the now lowly Cowboys and the Titans, followed by a bye-week and the crucial 4-game stretch to end the regular season. As it stands now, the Commanders have a 76% chance of making the playoffs, and a record of 11-6 is entirely possible. Would you have taken that in March? You bet your burgundy and gold you would!

Until the next visit from The Booth…HTTC, HTTR!

RW

 

 

 

The Clouds Have Parted

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Greetings From The Booth!

Let the new era of Washington Football begin (whatever you choose to call the team)! This past Friday, the Josh Harris ownership of the Washington football franchise began with a 17-15 preseason victory against the Cleveland Browns. The score doesn’t matter, really. The numbers on the scoreboard don’t tell the true tale of the optimism that now surrounds the organization following the 23-year train wreck of Dan Snyder.

No, I’m talking about the “vibe” emanating from Ashburn and beyond. It’s as if a 2-decade storm has moved out of the area and the sun is shining bright. Of course, there is optimism with every NFL team this time of year, because everyone is undefeated. But this is different. An apathetic fan base is re-energized and ready to return to a stadium that in recent years has been occupied by fans of the opposing team. An organization who usually only wins “off the field” seems ready now to win on it.

The difference between the previous and current owner is like night and day. Although both Snyder and Harris grew up as fans of the burgundy and gold in the glory days, Snyder was not a “man of the people.” Harris, meanwhile, endeared himself immediately to the fan base by buying over 1000 of them a beer at a recent DC radio station event at The Bullpen on Half Street near Nationals Park. Harris was seen sitting in the rain among the fans Friday night in Cleveland, as opposed to being enclosed in an owner’s box out of the elements.

These aforementioned things from Harris seem genuine, while everything Snyder did seemed contrived and thrown together. Who could forget the botched Sean Taylor tribute, with an inaccurately-detailed uniform hung on a wire mannequin? How about the last-minute hiring of head coach Jim Zorn, who referred to the team’s colors as “the old Maroon and Black?” Or the many “homecoming” events that attempted to tie the team’s glory days with the present?

Now, in earnest, many past greats are returning to the team. One of them is Darrell Green, who helped the then-Redskins to numerous Super Bowls, and played 20 years with the team. Green is someone you never saw anywhere near the organization under the Snyder regime. And the list goes on, including Joe Gibbs, who brought the organization 3 Lombardi trophies, and in “Gibbs 2.0,” took Washington to 2 playoff appearances under Snyder.

Speaking of the team name, the list of signatures is now over 70,000 to change it back to “Redskins.” I don’t think that will happen, but the name “Commanders” will soon be gone, as Harris tries to tie the present with the past. It’s interesting that Harris has rarely used the name “Commanders” in his public appearances, and preseason play-by-play man Chick Hernandez almost exclusively referred to the team as “the burgundy and gold” in Friday’s game. (Friday night, I played the “burgundy and gold” drinking game, and was three sheets by the second quarter).

On the field, the pieces seem to be in place. Training camp has been spirited, if not chippy, and new OC (and possibly future HC) Eric Bieniemy is whipping a new offense in shape to compliment what should be a top-five defense. New QB1 Sam Howell looked decisive on Friday, and has some exciting weapons around him. Howell will certainly experience growing pains, but his body language shows he’s ready to be “the man.”

No one knows what the 2023 season will bring, but the clouds seem to have parted in the DMV, and now it’s time to bask in the long-awaited sunshine.

Until the next visit from The Booth, HTT?

RW

 

 

Sports Dogs Podcast: Bye Dan!

In the latest Sports Dogs Podcast, The R-Dog (Randy) and The Duke (Ryan) put the cap on a mostly-awful 23-year era of Washington professional football under Dan Snyder. Plus, a look at the Nationals’ recent first round draft choice, and a nod to the Front Royal Little League All-Stars. Hail to The Sports Dogs!

Commanders & Caps: Closing The Chapter

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Greetings from The Booth!

My sports broadcasting & Sports Dogs Podcast partner Ryan (The Duke) Rutherford texted me this afternoon to say “The Witch Is Dead.” He was referring to what looks like the imminent sale of The Washington Football Commanderskins to the Josh Harris-led group (which includes basketball great Magic Johnson) for a record $6.05 billion.  I simply texted back that I’ll believe it when I see the puddle of water and Dan Snyder saying “I’m melting!” It certainly looks like the finish line is near for a 23-year dumpster fire of an organization that has provided DC football fans few moments of joy.

I could rehash all the failed football moves, the revolving door of head coaches, the toxic work environment, the investigations, lawsuits, and the scrap heap of starting quarterbacks, but we have beaten that horse to death. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. As I’ve written before, the new owners, in my humble opinion, must do three things:

Change the name of the team (again). Immediately. The name Commanders has no connection to a proud franchise that has 3 Lombardi trophies in the case. The recent name change was a half-baked effort that alienated many former players (John Riggins comes to mind) and has reduced a storied past to a faint whisper.

Build a new stadium. Whatever it takes, get this done. Fed-Ex Field is a dump and provides one of the worst game day experiences in the NFL. And build it anywhere but Landover, Md.

Finally, find a way to fill this new venue with your own fans. For too long, Fed-Ex has been filled with mostly opposing fans , and that is an embarrassment. It wouldn’t take a marketing genius to figure out how to do this. A winning football team would go along way to getting the home fans back in the seats.

It looks like a new chapter is about to begin for the Burgundy and Gold. It’s time to load up the clown car and get the circus out of town.

Changing gears, the Washington Capitals now look like the Nationals on skates. For the first time since 2014, the Caps are making tee times after this week’s regular season finale. There will be no Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, as it looks like a full scale rebuild is in order. As the team faded down the stretch, it sold off many of it’s core players who were part of the 2018 Stanley Cup Championship. It seems like only yesterday that the team was hoisting the Cup for thousands of fans on The Mall.

Like the Nats, the window has closed for the Capitals. You’ll be asked to be patient while you search your program for someone you recognize. Unlike the Nats, the Caps still have a superstar on their roster (Stephen Strasburg doesn’t count). Alex Ovechkin, who is zeroing in on Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal scoring record, will certainly keep the fans coming to Cap-One Arena, but without a supporting cast, wins will be hard to come by.

As bleak as it may look right now, hold on to this: at least the Capitals won’t be knocked out in the first round this season.

Until the next visit from The Booth…GO SKINS! GO CAPS!

RW

 

 

 

 

 

Sports Dogs Podcast: R-Dog And The Duke Talk Commanders

It’s pretty simple for the Washington Commanders: Beat Cleveland and Dallas in the final 2 regular season games, and they are in the NFC playoffs as a Wild-Card team. The R-Dog and The Duke break it down, and also talk about the QB switch to Carson Wentz and look back at the legendary Hogs, as the team honors the iconic O-line before Sunday’s game against the Browns…HTTC!

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Welcome To Hell

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Greetings From The Booth!

We’re now in the so-called “second season,” as it’s now playoff time in the high school football season, and as of this writing, the first round is almost done (only Handley has yet to play, with most games having been moved to Thursday of this week). With the leaves almost gone from the trees and thoughts turning toward Thanksgiving and the upcoming Holidays, there is a much different feel to the playoffs. But, more about that after a few quick thoughts about the possible sale of the Washington Commanders, which has been called for by a lot of the fan base…

Dan Snyder is under fire again this week after being sued by the DC Attorney General for deceiving residents about the NFL investigation into the team’s toxic workplace culture. The team is also being slammed for propping up running back and recent shooting victim Brian Robinson, Jr. as a distraction into all the above. I firmly believe that this recent mess will now fast-track Snyder into an imminent sale of the team. One of the groups rumored to be interested in buying is headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world.

This would solve a number of things. First, the 20-plus year dumpster fire of the Snyder era would be over. Second, we can finally give the team the name it deserves: The Amazons. Yes, a name that at least has hints of it’s past moniker, although I’m not sure how I feel about the Amazon “smile” logo on the side of the helmet.

Ok, back to high school football. Playoff time is special. Each week of the “second season” brings a sense of finality with the late Fall chill. Lose and you are done. For many seniors it’s the last organized football they will ever play. And for a select few teams who win a state championship, their legacy will live forever in the school trophy case.

One of those teams was the 1994 Handley Judges, who I had the pleasure of following that season as a play-by-play broadcaster all the way to Gate City, Virginia on a muddy December day. That 14-0 Judges team was known for it’s high-powered offense, and led by the Partlow twins, Brian and Michael. On paper, the homestanding Devils had no chance. But the weather (and maybe some home-cooking by the grounds crew) would be the great equalizer. After a 6-hour ride from Winchester that required one to actually leave Virginia, go into Kentucky, then back into Virginia, The Judges fans and players were met with “Welcome To Hell” signs as they entered Gate City.

Then, under somewhat suspect circumstances, the Judges awoke on Game Day Saturday to find a field that was an absolute quagmire. The word quickly spread that a groundskeeper had “accidentally” left a sprinkler system on. Folks, I was there–the field was unplayable for a state title game, but the contest went on as scheduled. Despite all the adversity, Handley took an early 12-0 lead, but that would be all the scoring for the good guys as field conditions worsened. The Judges would have to hold an the end on with a game-saving tackle, a generous clock operator, and several batted-down Gate City passes for a 12-7 win and the state championship.

A mud bath never felt so good.

Until the next visit from the Booth…good luck to our remaining playoff teams…and remember, be true to your school!

RW

 

If I Owned The Team…

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Greetings from The Booth!

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” That was the classic line delivered by the great Al Pacino in Godfather: Part 3, But it also applies to my love-hate relationship with the Washington, DC football franchise. 2 weeks ago, I didn’t watch a second of the Commanders’ loss to Tennessee. Last Thursday, the WVU game overlapped with Washington’s game with Chicago, and my Mounties won out, for the most part, as the Commanders-Bears game set football back about 100 years.

However, the Commanders continue to pull me back in because of the soap-opera nature of the organization. Every week there is new drama, mostly off-the-field stuff. This week, the drama, as usual, swirls around team owner Dan Snyder (surprise!). There now seems to be a groundswell among other NFL owners to force Snyder to sell the team, something fans have wanted for a long time. Continuing investigations into the team culture and constant bumbling on and off the field have made a once-proud franchise the NFL’s laughingstock.

To stave off a vote of league owners–24 are needed to force Snyder to sell–The Dan has allegedly compiled “dirt” on some of the team owners, by hiring a private investigator, a claim Snyder denies. Things have gotten so bad that Snyder has alienated the one friend he had in Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones, who served as a mentor to Snyder when he first bought the Washington franchise. To be continued…

Anyway, with the ouster of Snyder a real possibility, I started to think about what I would do if I owned the Washington Commanders, and what it would take to return the team to respectability, so here goes:

Change The Name (again): Yes, I would immediately re-brand the team. The Commanders name seems half-baked, and no one I know likes it. Yes, the new uniforms are kinda cool, but there is no real tie to the team’s glorious past. I know the costs will be great to do this, but I’m working under the assumption that if I’m an NFL owner, I can afford to do this. I’d probably stop short of the original name, but something that ties the present to names like Riggins, Gibbs, Sonny, etc.

Get A Stadium Deal Done: No mincing words here. Fed-Ex Field is a urinal. It’s also home to one of the worst game-day experiences in the NFL. New digs in DC is preferable, but Northern Virginia works for me. This item is a must.

Get The Fans Back: Every game for the Commanders is basically a road game, because Fed-Ex is filled with the opposing teams’ fans. This is inexcusable. Yes, winning is the best solution to get fans back, but beyond that, I’d hire the best marketing people I could find, and figure out how to fill the seats again with Burgundy and Gold.

Stop The QB & Head Coach Merry-Go-Round: The number of Quarterbacks and Head Coaches under Dan Snyder would fill the Greater DC Area phone book. While I would not meddle in day-to-day football operations, I would choose a bright, young coaching prospect and tell my football people to get a franchise QB, and let him go through his growing pins on the field. I would be transparent with the fans and tell them that a few painful years will result in good things down the road. Let’s stop with the re-treads and has-beens and build something that is our own.

So, there you have it. Now all I need is about $300 billion.

Until the next visit from The Booth…HTTR!

RW

 

Commander Carson

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Greetings from The Booth!

As I start the new week, I’m a little burned out on football after a weekend full of it, but that will change as the week wears on. After calling the Strasburg-Warren County game on Friday night, I spent most of Saturday morning trying to figure out how to watch the WVU-Kansas game that night (I finally figured it out and had to spend $9.99 to get ESPN+ on my Fire Stick). I shouldn’t have bothered, as my Mounties were shocked by the Jayhawks in OT, 55-42. The last Kansas team to score that many points was probably their basketball team, so the seat is now pretty warm for Neal Brown, whose team is now 0-2 for the first time since 1979. He’s gotta go, but the buyout is $20 million, so don’t hold your breath if you’re a WVU fan.

That loss ruined an otherwise good weekend of football, as the Marshall Thundering Herd took down number-8 Notre Dame (whose own Head Coach is the first in Irish history to start 0-3 in his first 3 games. I’m no big Marshall fan, but they may be the best team in West Virginia right now.

On Sunday, the Carson Wentz era began in Washington as the NFL took center stage. I was a day of roller-coaster emotions, as the franchise quarterback de jour started fast, leading the Commanders to a 14-3 lead. Then, the offense bogged down as Wentz threw 2 really bad interceptions and the Jaguars took a 22-14 lead. “Commander Carson” then turned things around and threw 2 TD passes, including the game-winner to rookie Jahan Dotson with under two minutes to go in the 28-22 victory.

I think the game was a microcosm of what we’re going to get from Wentz–the highest of highs, like his 49-yard strike to Terry McLaurin in the fourth quarter, and mind-boggling lows, like the interception of a screen pass that almost cost Washington the game.

All that being said, I like the weapons that Wentz has at his disposal, and this could be a fun offense to watch as the season goes on. One game does not a season make, but Dotson looks like the real deal. His game-winning catch in the corner of the end zone was breathtaking. Commanders’ Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner found creative ways to get playmaker Curtis Samuel the ball on Sunday, and it was great seeing TE Logan Thomas in the lineup. RB Antonio Gibson had a solid day, and when the game mattered, McLaurin made the big play.

As a footnote, in what has become typical of this bumbling, stumbling embarrassment of an organization under Dan Snyder, an official Commanders truck outside Fed-Ex Field on Sunday was selling mugs with the team “W” over top of an outline of Washington state. The mugs quickly became unavailable, but it’s not clear whether they sold out or were pulled.

Good thing the Commanders were better at football than geography on Sunday.

Until the next visit from The Booth…HTTC!

RW

 

 

A Calming Influence

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Greetings from The Booth!

It just got real this week. The annual “Meet The Fall Coaches” event was held Monday night in the Buzzy Plaza between The Wilkins Center and Shentel Stadium at Shenandoah University. Burgers on the grill, beverages, and mingling with fans, athletes, and coaches…what’s not to like about that? And despite a very hot and humid evening, there was that certain something in the air that hinted of the coming Fall football season.

Speaking of football, have you noticed that there has been very little drama coming out of the Washington Football Team training camp this Summer? With owner Dan Snyder’s wife in charge, it looks like the football people are actually being left to do football things. We saw that for the most part last season, and what happened? The WFT went 7-9, but it was good enough to win the NFC East in Head Coach Ron Rivera’s first season with the team.

Rivera has been the calming influence in the middle of a stormy franchise. As talk of the toxic team culture under Snyder and his minions and the name change swirled around the team, all Rivera did was coach the burgundy and gold to a division title, even as he was battling cancer. Unlike the other rare division titles in the last 20-plus seasons, there is even talk by many pro football “experts” of a repeat in 2021. It seems a solid foundation has been laid.

The other calming influence on the field seems to be the (assumed) starting quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, who brought his talents, veteran leadership, and trademark beard to DC in the offseason. Fitzpatrick has been there and done that, having played for just about every other NFL franchise in his career. The WFT could have done a lot worse. Fitzpatrick is a solid NFL quarterback who has numerous 4th quarter comebacks on his resume.

Word is that Fitzpatrick has slowly learned the Washington offense, and is developing chemistry with the much-improved talent that was added in the offseason. With a projected top-5 defense filled with stars like Chase Young, things certainly look bright. We will find out soon.

Former team executive Bruce Allen once infamously said “we’re winning off the field.” It finally looks like the Football Team can win on the field.

Until the next visit from The Booth…HTTR and GO HORNETS!

RW