Palookaville

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Greetings from The Booth!

I want to start this week’s blog by sending thoughts and prayers to the people of Florida, who endured incredible devastation from Hurricane Ian last week. Many of us have some connection to the Sunshine State, whether it’s a family trip to Disneyworld, having relatives who live there, or just living vicariously in Florida through Jimmy Buffett’s songs. I’ve been to Key West three times, and once you’ve been there, it becomes a part of you. The rain we experienced this past weekend in the Shenandoah Valley was merely an annoyance, as compared to those who have lost everything. In some cases, entire barrier islands have been wiped away. The recovery effort will take years. Here’s to better Floridays ahead…

Changing gears, I came across one of the great movies of all time the other night, 1954’s “On The Waterfront,” starring Marlon Brando. The film won eight Oscars, including a Best Actor Academy Award for Brando. His character, a washed-up prizefighter, utters the line late in the movie, “what did I  get? A one way ticket to Palookaville.” I looked up Palookaville in the dictionary, and it’s defined as a state or situation of obscurity or failure. I immediately thought of Washington, DC, as it relates to sports.

How did Washington become Palookaville? In 2019 the Washington Nationals won the World Series. Just a few short years later they are finishing a 107-loss season. Let that sink in. It’s said that in a 162-game season a major league baseball team will win 54, lose 54, and how good they are will depend on the other  54 games. Using that equation, the Nats are 1-53 in those games. Ouch. In two short seasons, GM Mike Rizzo gutted the team of it’s championship core and committed to a rebuild. How patient the fans are remains to be seen, but it’s easy to get to a Nationals game now–just park at the Vienna Metro stop and take the Orange line to Palookaville station.

Then, there are the Commanders, formerly the Washington Football Team, formerly the Redskins. Their ineptitude under owner Dan Snyder is well documented. There have been brief periods of success like the NFC East titles in 2012 and 2020, only to be followed by immediate returns to failure. The 20-plus years of the Snyder era have been filled with bad draft choices, free agents past their prime, numerous coaches and quarterbacks, terrible on and off-the-field decisions, one of the worst game day experiences in the NFL, Fed-Ex Field filled with opposing-team fans, and a toxic workplace culture. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

The Washington Wizards are just perennially mediocre. Their last NBA title was 1977-78. Enough said.

And we come to the Washington Capitals, who won the Stanley Cup in 2018. Since then, they’ve been ousted in the first round of the playoffs every year, despite having one of the best players to ever lace up the skates in Alex Ovechkin. The Caps tease us each year with lots of regular season wins, only to make their tee times in early April.

And there you have it. But take heart, Washington sports fans. There’s always next year in Palookaville.

Until the next visit from the Booth…GO FLORIDA!

RW

 

 

 

 

Tidbits

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Greetings from The Booth!

I have no major topic this week, but I did want to weigh in on a few things, so here goes…

Let’s start with Dallas-Washington week, which used to be a big deal. It really isn’t anymore. George Allen and Tom Landry are long gone, and it’s been almost 30 years since the end of the Joe Gibbs era (not counting his mini-comeback in the early 2000s). Championships haven’t been on the line in this rivalry for awhile. And Dallas seems to own Washington recently. There’s absolutely no buzz about the game this week, and that’s a shame. Random thought: given all the team name changes recently, shouldn’t Dallas have to change it’s name to “Cowpeople”?

I’ll admit it. I’m a golf geek. I must be, because I watched way too much of the President’s Cup this past weekend. I know this because my wife’s irritation meter was about an 8 on a scale of 10. In case you don’t know, the President’s Cup is the team event that is held every other year, alternating with the more popular Ryder Cup, and is formatted in similar fashion. Unlike the Ryder Cup, which pits the USA versus Europe, the President’s Cup has the USA playing the International Team (minus Europeans). On paper, this year’s PC looked like a rout, an it ended up that way, as the Internationals were overmatched by an American team made up of the top names in golf: Thomas, Scheffler, Schauffele, Speith, Finau, etc. I’m sure only us golf geeks were watching on Sunday, when the only drama was how many points the USA would win by.

I have an idea for spicing up the President’s Cup. Let’s do away with the nationalism and have a PGA Tour versus LIV Golf event. The bad blood between the rival organizations is well documented and this would make for some great drama. Who wouldn’t want to see Rory McIlroy (my new favorite golfer) against Patrick Reed (my new favorite heel)? Man, this would be Flair versus Hogan stuff and the ratings would be off the charts. The only hurdle to making this a reality would be getting the 2 organizations to sit down and hammer out the details. Come on guys, make it happen!

Finally, on the date of this writing in 490 BC, the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon. A Greek soldier named Phidippides ran over 26 miles to tell the good news to Athenians, dying after his announcement, but was the inspiration of the marathon race. So it’s only fitting that this week, Eliud Kipchoge won the Berlin Marathon, breaking his own world record with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, and 9 seconds. There are a lot of us who would celebrate a time of 2:01 in the half-marathon.

Kipchoge has actually broken the 2-hour barrier in the 26.2, but it doesn’t count as a World Record, because the feat came in a Nike-orchestrated event specifically created to have him break 2 hours. The Nike Sub2 Project had Kipchoge running on a controlled course with pacers, and generated some controversy in the running community. World Record or not, a sub 2-hour marathon was once unimaginable.

Come to think of it, I once had a pacer. It was an AMC Pacer. I barely broke the 4-hour barrier from college to home…

Until the next visit from the Booth…GO Phidippides!

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

 

 

Remembering “Mr. August”

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Greetings From The Booth!

Well, the NFL Preseason is underway, and how strange was it to see the Washington Commanders in action last Saturday in the new uniforms that look nothing like the ‘Skins of old. It’s going to take some getting-used-to, as the saying goes. While the Commanders dropped their preseason opener 23-21 to the Carolina Panthers, which really is no big deal, one player stood out. Rookie QB Sam Howell played the entire second half, and led a Commanders comeback with 145 yards passing and 2 rushing touchdowns.

Now, before we crown Howell the next Tom Brady, let’s dial the excitement back just a bit. As we know, the second half of preseason games are filled with second and third stringers, some of whom won’t be playing pro football come September, at least not in the NFL. That being said, Howell seems to have all the tools necessary to be a quality pro quarterback. He has a strong arm, pocket awareness, and escapability, and athleticism. Let’s not forget that at one time Howell was projected to be a high draft pick before his stock fell a bit at the end of last season.  A few more performances like last Saturday, and Howell might move ahead of Taylor Heinicke as the Commanders’ backup.

Watching Howell Saturday made me think of a Washington quarterback who was nicknamed “Mr. August,” and though he never played a regular season snap for the burgundy-and-gold, became a folk hero in DC because of his exciting preseason play. Babe Laufenberg led many a Redskins comeback in games that didn’t count in the 1980’s. If you look up his NFL stats, you’ll see that Babe only played in 16 “for real” games, throwing for a grand total of just over 1,000 yards and had a less-than-stellar 45.9 passer rating.

Laufenberg was also a footnote in 2 of the ‘Skins Super Bowl appearances. In 1983, his rookie season, the Indiana University product was declared inactive in every contest, as Washington reached Super Bowl XVIII. After bouncing around with several teams in 1985 and 1986, including another stint with the Redskins, Babe was signed by Washington to be Doug Williams’ backup in 1987, but the players’ strike interfered, and replacement players were used. Long story short, Laufenberg was only on the roster for 2 games that year, and when the ‘Skins eventually won the Lombardi Trophy, he missed out on a Super Bowl share by one game.

Laufenberg would go on to play for the Dallas Cowboys, and again, was the bridesmaid, but never the bride, backing up the likes of Troy Aikman. It was in Texas that Babe would earn his fame after football, becoming a highly regarded broadcaster, earning several awards from the National Sports Media Association and working as a color analyst beside Cowboys play-by-play man Brad Sham. Laufenberg also suffered personal tragedy in 2019, losing his son Luke to lymphoma. But it’s those great Redskin comebacks that Babe Laufenberg will be remembered for in Washington.

Sam Howell has big shoes to fill…

Until the next visit from The Booth…GO COMMANDERS!

RW

 

Baseball Cards

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Greetings from The Booth!

Well, were just about into the dog days of August, which mean county fairs (please keep me away from the fried Oreos!) and NFL training camps. For me, those two things go hand-in-hand. In my line of work, I often had to broadcast at our local county fairs on Friday nights, the rush home in time to see the Burgundy and Gold play a preseason game. Of course, the games mean nothing in the standings, but it’s always great to see your favorite team actually playing football. It’s an appetizer until they start playing for real in September.

I’m also reminded of a funny training camp story from back in the day when the (then) Washington Redskins used to train in Carlisle, Pa. I worked at a station that carried the ‘Skins games, and as a promotion, we would take some listeners up to Carlisle for a day during training camp. One year, my friend Mike Burton went along for the ride. Back then, Mike was the spitting image of Skins’ great Russ Grimm. I can’t tell you how many kids and adults wanted Mike’s autograph that day, mistaking him for the famed “Hog.”  Good times, good times.

Changing gears, this week a mint condition 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card went up for auction online, and it could break the baseball card auction record. It’s estimated the final cost of the Mantle card could top $10 million. when the Heritage Auction sale ends August 27th. The current record is $6.6 million for a 1909 Honus Wagner card.

If you are like me, your mom threw away your baseball cards (along with the Lionel .027 gauge train, classic comic books, and full-size G.I. Joes) a long time ago. I never got anything close to a Mickey Mantle card. I always seemed to get the Zolio Versailles or Eddie Brinkman cards. In fact, every pack I opened seemed to contain those cards, which ended up in the spokes of my orange Schwinn Stingray bike.

The baseball card industry has come a long way, with multiple companies selling cards, not only for baseball, but action heroes, Pokemon, etc. Back in the day, there was Topps, and that was it. In 1969, for about 10 cents, you got a pack of 10 cards, along with a stick of gum. The gum was usually as brittle as a piece of glass and hard as a rock, but it made the pack of cards smell really good. The gum has gone the way of the dodo bird, but it might have been my favorite part.

Here’s to my Hawk Harrelson and Paul Casanova cards…wherever they may be.

Until next visit from The Booth…stay cool and enjoy the dog days!

RW

 

 

VA. House advance a bill to help bring pro football to the state

According to Insidenova.com the Virginia House of Delegates voted 14 to 7 to help bring pro football to Virginia.

The bill advanced by the Virginia House of Delegates will allow the creation of a Virginia Football Stadium Authority.

The bill has to now pass the Senate and then be signed by the governor before becoming law.

The stadium authority group could be appointed by the governor to fast track and issue bonds for the construction of a professional football stadium in Virginia.

Sites being considered for a possible stadium are in Loudoun and or Prince William Counties.

A new stadium in Virginia could lure the Washington football team to the Commonwealth.

Washington’s current contract with the Landover Maryland site expires in 2027.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.